Kid Stars Get Their Chance to Shine on VH1 Reality Series

I remember watching "The Partridge Family" as a child.  Sure, the music was a bit corny and the acting performances were less than stellar.  In the end, the show made its point that show business doesn't have to ruin a family.  Now, one of the stars of the show, Danny Bonaduce, is hosting a reality show that is proving the opposite:  Hollywood can screw up a kid--and his or her parents.  (And if anybody would know, Danny would be an expert.)

"I Know My Kid's a Star" airs on VH1.  Ten teams consisting of a child-star wannabe and his or her micromanaging parent compete in various challenges.  It's not just the kids competing against each other in competitions like interviewing and auditioning.  The parents are also judged and rated on how well they manage their child and protect him or her from becoming a casualty of the Hollywood production machine.  Each week one team is voted off the show, that choice belonging solely to Bonaduce.  I've only seen one show, but I can tell you that for the most part, the kids are more mature than their manager-parents.

For instance, Melissa, the nearly anorexic rocker chick mom of Haley, can't seem to distinguish between her career as an actress and stuntwoman and that of her up-and-coming daughter.  In the challenge I witnessed, she spent so much effort trying to coach her daughter's cartoon-character voiceover than the producers actually had to throw her out of the studio.  Amazingly, Haley did much better after her upstaging mom split.  Needless to say, that revelation didn't go over well with Melissa.  Then there's Gigi, a dancer who's working to help her daughter Alai break into the industry.  Watching Gigi grill her daughter over how she should feel about acting makes me wonder who is trying to start a career here.  It's evident that Alai isn't as ga-ga over acting as her mom wants her to believe she is.

The teams share living space in a mansion where they interact between challenges.  Of course, the tension between the parents can be cut with a knife.  The scheming and backbiting that I saw in just a few minutes was enough to make me glad I have that Y chromosome.  Women can be so...evil...!

As a host, Bonaduce does a good job.  He's brash and loud but he has good things to say to each kid concerning their performances.  He also gives them tips on what they can do to improve the next time.  He seems to genuinely care about the kids.  As for their parents, let's just say he's still cordial, but I get the feeling that he wouldn't mind ripping off their heads for the way they treat their kids.  Sounds like marriage and parenthood has been good for this former child star who has experience more than his fair share of pitfalls in his Hollywood experiences.

I'll probably be watching this show regularly, if for no other reason than because I want to see how the kids overcome their parents' overbearing, obnoxious influences.  And their parents?  A little advice.  Stop living vicariously through your children.  And what goes around comes around.  So watch your mouths and your backs.  This is, after all, Hollywood, where successes are few and casualties are many.