SUPERNANNY - Combat zone!

Every week I think that the kids on Supernanny can’t possibly be more out of control than the kids on last week’s show – and every week I am wrong.

On this episode, Jo Frost travels to Southern California to help the combat fatigued McKeever family, whose two boys have turned their house into a gladiator arena. River, 6, and Hunter, 7 have developed their own mixed martial arts style that emphasizes kicking, sucker punches, and their specialty, strikes to the groin. I have to hand it to those boys; their groin strike kung fu is strong. River and Hunter get a lot of practice in by sparring with each other and ambushing their parents. Thank God they didn’t have any pets. Or maybe they used to…

When Jo comes calling, the boys think they’ve found a new target. You can see the blood lust in their eyes. “We need to beat up that lady,” one of the boys says. 

They give it a good shot, too.  Supernanny takes a beating this time, but maintains a Gandhi-like calm through the whole thing. The kids even attack the camera crew – I hope they got hazard pay for this episode.

And the mouths on these kids! I’ve never heard so much profanity beeping on the show. Clearly these kids were capable of imaginative and lengthy streams of obscenity that would make a Marine drill sergeant blush. 

Of course, River and Hunter’s behavior doesn’t exist in a vacuum, as Jo is quick to point out. Mom Lucy is so worn down by the kids that she snaps and yells at them and even calls them “idiots.” That’s tough to hear, even if the kids are rabid little attack monkeys. Nobody should call their kids names, that’s not cool.

Dad Corey is the real issue, though. He spends all of his time at work and when he’s home, he shows little patience or interest in the boys. The guy is emotionally distant, apathetic, and just generally checked out – he seems to prefer spending time on the computer to spending time with his kids. 

Jo calls him on it. She describes him as selfish and sulking and at one point says, “Everything that is going on here is due to you.” Ouch. Corey isn’t ready for that level of truth, and ends up locking himself in the bathroom. I gotta say, it’s hard to feel sympathy for the guy.

He comes around, though. The patented Supernanny Tough Love breaks him down and then builds him up. By the end of the show he seems to grasp the level of responsibility and influence that he has over his kids and their behavior, and he sucks it up and gets on with the difficult and sometimes painful duty of fatherhood. In his case fatherhood was physically painful – the guy took more than a few shots to the groin zone.

I wish the McKeever family success in getting the boys under control. In the absence of success, I hope they invest in some body armor.

--Dave Campbell

Comments

[Ginny Slagle]

Super Nanny is currently filming an episode in my neighborhood -actually right across the street. None of the neighbors were notified in advance (or for the first several days of production) re: what was happening, why there were strange vehicles all over our street making it difficult to back out or pull into our driveways, why there were dozens of strange people all over the street, why sight lines are blocked up and down the street making it dangerous for children that might run into the street, etc. Today I was approached by a production assistant because when I was working in the yard evidently I ended up on some film. No I didn't sign a release and as I said to the assistant, any shots of myself or my home must be deleted - I will take legal action. Just because one neighbor can't control their brood is no reason to disrupt an entire street/neighborhood for an extended time period. Not everyone in this country wants 15 minutes of fame and to be a part of realty tv.

[Debbie]

Oh, my goodness! Just go along to get along. People can be so difficult just for no reason. I truly don't get it.