New Releases

About Video Marketplace

Video Marketplace Forum

Troubleshooting & Support

SoozyQ:

TV Reality Show Fathers for Father's Day

Published June 11, 2007

In the reality TV business there are quite a few copycats, and programs usually fall into a specific category. For example, there are the talent shows American Idol and America's Got Talent. Adventure shows are well-represented by Survivor and The Amazing Race. Dating shows include The Bachelor and Flavor of Love, and there are the lifestyle shows 8^th and Ocean and Laguna Beach. There are shows about B-list celebrities, losing weight, cooking, fashion design, and the list goes on and on. To get even more specific, there is even a group of reality shows that revolve around celebrity fathers and their families!

While the category was first pioneered by rock singer and Xbox Artist of the Month Ozzy Osbourne and his family in the MTV series The Osbournes, shows like Hogan Knows Best and Run's House are even more interesting, and both series are available on Xbox LIVE® Video Marketplace. What makes these two shows fun to watch is that amidst their rich and famous lifestyle, wrestler Hulk Hogan and hip-hop/rap pioneer Rev Run are down-to-earth and hilarious Dads. Other reality TV Dads include Travis Barker in Meet the Barkers, Danny Bonaduce in Breaking Bonaduce, and Gene Simmons in Gene Simmons: Family Jewels.

It might be best to listen to Hulk Hogan.

And, at least for Hogan, he's not just acting like a good Dad for the show, because he was among eight men who were honored with a Father of the Year Award earlier this month at the 66th Annual National Father of the Year Luncheon, presented by the National Father's Day Committee. The award is given to deserving fathers for exemplary parenthood, according to the committee's Web site.

Hogan Knows Best (VH1, TV-PG)
Currently in its third season, Hogan Knows Best is a reality sitcom series about heavyweight champion Hulk Hogan and his family, which includes wife Linda, daughter Brooke, and son Nick. While Hogan still participates in wrestling, he also devotes a lot of time and energy helping to guide his children into their own successful careers. In season two, Brooke recorded her first album and the family moved to Miami Beach to help her new music career. It's definitely entertaining to see "the Hulk" being a concerned Dad, and doing things like buying dozens of FHM magazines after Brook is in a sexy photo spread.

Run's House (MTV, TV-PG)
In the mid-Eighties, Run-D.M.C. became the first hip-hop group to release full-length albums and helped push hip-hop and rap into the mainstream music scene. The trio was co-founded by Joseph Simmons (aka DJ Run), younger brother of Def Jam co-founder and Phat Farm founder Russell Simmons, who occasionally shows up in episodes. In 2001, Russell Simmons was honored with a Father of the Year Award.

Also called Rev Run, the younger Simmons and his family are the center of Run's House on MTV. Simmons runs the family with humor and fatherly love, but it's his relationship with his five kids—Vanessa, Angela, JoJo, Daniel (aka Diggy), and Russell (Russy)—that makes the show entertaining. And all of the kids, with the exception of the eldest Vanessa, are jokers like their Dad. In one episode, Rev Run picked up Diggy at the bus stop in a gorilla suit, after Diggy said he was embarrassed that his Dad was picking him up in a Rolls Royce.

Interested in listening to Rev Run rap or Brooke Hogan sing? Download Zune software on Zune.net to access Zune Marketplace, an online store where you can listen to 30-second clips or download Brooke Hogan's debut album "Undiscovered," or Rev Run's solo album "Distortion."

Article by SoozyQ