Good Evening folks. I thought I’d drop another Wednesday blog on you, probably one of the final ones. I’d rather do these types of things on Saturday when I’m a little more relaxed anyway. Several shows end their season this week. Hardcore Pawn, American Chopper, I think South Beach Tow ends its’ season this week and many others (including Revenge, tonight). The winner of American Idol will be chosen tonight and I’ll write about that tomorrow or Friday. We’ll see how the days go.

A lot of the reality shows, or at least the ones I watch, are centered around bickering or all out hate for one another within the casts. Often, these days, this bickering and feuding is within the family featured on the show. On Hardcore Pawn, we’ve had the Seth vs Ashley feud since day one of the show it seems. It’s normal for siblings to rival, my sister and I did. I never called my sister a bitch however as I’ve seen some of these other brothers do. Seth and Ashley each think they know it all and the other disagrees. Fine. They each lie in wait as if waiting to pounce on the other as soon as something happens that proves the other wrong. As long as these two work together, especially on camera, it’s always going to be that way too. However, I’ve NEVER seen one let an outsider jump on the other. That is, with them it appears, I can jump on her all day long but don’t you ever do it. I choose not to work with my sister because we would probably be at each other’s throats just like they are. However, it would be the same in that, don’t ever come after my sister.

Those watching American Chopper have for the last 10 years seen father and son butt heads. Usually all over trivial BS. Bottom line with them is this. One doesn’t like to be told what to do and the other can’t stand that his son won’t do what he’s told. So it’s better that they don’t work together. About three and a half years ago, that’s exactly what happened. The reality fight to end all reality fights. Or did it Start them? We saw a father and son part ways over what probably began as some trivial thing but was the straw breaking the camel’s back from years of bickering back and fourth. Sr sued Jr for his 20% share of the OCC business and Jr sued Sr for trying to tell him that the business was worth zero dollars. We watched as Jr tried to start his own shop and as his father tried to put up roadblocks. We saw Sr launch a ridiculous looking likeness of his son off of a ramp. We’ve seen several other childish pranks from Sr that in themselves are probably harmless. In the context of all that was going on however, they weren’t. Not to Jr and not to Mikey. What we didn’t see though, was retaliation. Jr just went on about his business, got married, opened his own place and by all appearances, has turned it into a success. Did he take from his father’s resource pool to do so? Likely. How many companies are there out there that can provide a CNC waterjet machine after all?

Mikey has left the building. He’s quit the show. He feels that the only way to ever have fences mended between he and his father is if one or both of them is no longer doing the show. So he’s chosen to be the one that leaves. I really do believe that his reason for leaving the show is that simple. I wish him the best of luck with the other irons he has in the fires and with his father.

My point of discussing these two shows on this particular blog is this. We’ve not seen any of the bystanders get involved in the family fights. While they may listen and may even comment, I’ve not seen a single person inject themselves into it. In both of these cases, the bystanders, typically employees, cannot easily leave, they need their day jobs. I know in the case of Hardcore Pawn, the people we see on screen do in fact work at American Jewelery and Loan, I saw some of them there on a day when the cameras were not. I suspect the same is true with American Chopper. Aside from an occasional pot shot in response to something that has happened, the bystanders remain fairly neutral and do their best to stay out of these family squabbles.

I think you can grasp where I’m going with this family fight type thing. Seth and Ashley have probably been fighting since the day the youngest one learned how to crawl and dared to touch one of the other’s toys. Paul Sr, by his own admission, was basically an absentee, alcoholic, dad. Now in the last several years, he’s trying to have a normal relationship with his kids. Not going to happen I’m afraid so he’s going to have to figure out how to be a dad after not having been one. They are just going to have to agree to move along to get along.

Over in NJ on that other network however, we see a brother and sister feud that boggles my mind at times. Not that they argue but what the bystanders are doing here. Whatever is going on between Teresa and her brother started long before RHONJ. I actually think it started between the two Joes but that’s fodder for another discussion. I think Teresa made her first mistake, on this show, regarding her brother, in confiding in her ‘friends’, the bystanders. In part, I blame her for bringing in these bystanders. It’s an animal that she quickly lost control of however in that, none of these people seem to have ever left the playground at elementary school. I firmly believe that many of these fights are fueled by the ‘bystanders’. I’ve seen time and time again where I believe that what did happen would not have happened if it weren’t for these bystanders. What really boggles my mind about it though is that JoGo allows others to bash his sister. Remember what I said above. I’ll jump on her all day long but don’t you ever do it. That, for me, puts a whole other dynamic on it and is why, I blame him more than Teresa for continuing whatever this fight is about (which I don’t think either one of them could actually tell us it was about BTW). I think he and his wife came on to this show, in part, to participate in and publicize this family fight. I can’t draw any other conclusion because of the fact that, he allows these people to trash his sister and he does so because they’ve seemingly chosen his side. By his side, I mean he and his wife and all that comes with them. He’s done so in the name of fame. One of the first phrases we heard out of his mouth was “you’re garbage”. I don’t know about Your brothers but if I heard people talking about my sister the way these people do Teresa, they would be crawling on the ground looking for their broken teeth with a mouth full of bloody stumps. Just as many say that Teresa could put a stop to all this nonsense, So could he. Both of them need to slap muzzles and shock collars on these bystanders. That would be a tremendous start in putting an end to all the bickering between them. Of course as long as the common thread between them is a ‘reality’ show, that won’t ever happen. Mikey, has left the building. Of course for our perception of what’s going on, I blame the biggest bystander of all. Bravo and Andy “the hyena bitch” Cohen.

Until next time,

Peace.

MTH.