Wahlburgers follows family in fairly surprising show

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Reality shows featuring families of assorted stripes have become a staple of cable TV. Their quality, however, varies widely.

The shows can be cheesy, hokey, funny, silly, inspiring, shocking or just plain stupid. There seems to be a series for anyone’s taste.

Those featuring “real” people can easily lapse into parody, with the thinly disguised purpose of making fun of the family being profiled. For example, on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, TLC frequently runs subtitles so the hicks and yahoos can be understood by “regular” viewers.

Others, such as Duck Dynasty, are simply modern versions of a family sitcom. The alleged “unscripted” shows are, in reality, series.

The most egregious wastes of time are the reality shows featuring “celebrities.” I’ve yet to understand the bizarre fascination with the Kardashians, or with Gene Simmons or his Family Jewels.

Others in this frivolous “docusoap” category include The Osbournes, Growing Up Gotti, Hogan Knows Best, The Simple Life, Being Bobby Brown, The Princes of Malibu and many, many more.

Blame it on America’s fascination with celebrity, no matter how undeserved.

Don’t just take my word on it. I ate lunch at a press function with Anna Nicole Smith in 2002 shortly before her reality series debuted on E! I asked her if it seemed the E! series was making fun of her. Her somewhat addled response: “Yes. I suppose so. [Long pause] I don’t mind.”

Smith mumbled this while feeding chicken tidbits to her miniature poodle Sugar Pie under the table.

The network tagline for The Anna Nicole Show was “It’s not supposed to be funny. It just is.” Sad is what it really was, especially in light of her son’s death just four years later, and her own some four months after his.

Which brings us to the latest reality series featuring a famous family - the Wahlbergs.

Wahlburgers premieres at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on A&E and it’s something different for the genre. I was pleasantly surprised when I previewed the first episode.

First of all, the series isn’t simply about the famous acting Wahlberg brothers, Mark and Donnie. It’s more about their older brother, Paul, and their force-of-nature mother, Alma.

Mark and Donnie are the youngest and most famous of Alma’s nine kids, but chef/ restaurateur Paul is their professed “most talented” sibling. The series follows the efforts of the family to expand their Hingham-based hamburger restaurant to a second location in nearby Boston.

All the Wahlbergs come across as down-home folks who well remember their humble beginnings.

Along for comic relief are Mark and Donnie’s original entourage and childhood pals,Johnny “Drama” Alves and Henry “Nacho” Laun.

But the real star of the series is Alma. One running gag is which son is her favorite. It’s also clear that none of these grown-up men makes any big decisions without their mother’s blessing.

The cynical may look at the series as one big infomercial for the Wahlberg family restaurant, but at least there won’t be any subtitles.

Billy Bob speaks. If it seems that TV drama is frequently better than the movies these days, there’s a reason. Speaking at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour last week, Arkansas native Billy Bob Thornton weighed in on the subject.

Thornton told the TV writers, “The entertainment business can pretend all they want, but the movie world has changed drastically, particularly in the last five or six years. If you want to be an actor, get on a really good series in television because there’s where it’s at.”

Recent examples are TV shows featuring Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Bacon, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Don Cheadle, James Spader and Kevin Spacey, to name a few.

The Oscar-winning Thornton stars in the forthcoming 10-part FX series Fargo (inspired by the movie), which debuts in April.

The series also stars Martin Freeman (Sherlock, The Hobbit), and will have different characters from the film (no Marge Gunderson). Thornton will play Lorne Malvo, a drifter who changes the life of insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Freeman).

Colin Hanks and Allison Tolman play local cops.

Empire ending. HBO says Boardwalk Empire will end after a fifth season this fall.

Canned series. I’ve gotten a couple of emails asking, so if you missed the memo, Copper was canceled after its last season on BBC America.

Salinger showcase. If you really, really enjoy the late J.D. Salinger, then brace yourself for the 21/ 2 hours of American Masters: Salinger at 8 p.m. today on AETN. The exhaustive special about the author’s life features interviews with 150 friends, colleagues and doting celebs, from Danny DeVito to Tom Wolfe.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: [email protected]

Style, Pages 20 on 01/21/2014