Here Comes Honey Boo Boo
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 Sorry TLC, but we're not here to see some kid get fat.
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Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is an American reality television series that aired on TLC featuring the family of child beauty pageant contestant Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson. The show mainly revolves around Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson and "Mama" June Shannon, and their family's crazy adventures in the town of McIntyre, Georgia.
Why It Will Make You Say ‘Boo!’ To This Show
- It blatantly encourages child obesity, since it promotes the use of "Go Go Juice" (a simple cocktail of Red Bull and Mountain Dew) and "Sketti and Butter" (spaghetti with ketchup and melted butter or margarine). By the time the show ended, Alana weighed 125 pounds (about 56 kg), despite being only 8 years old at the time.
- It features exploitation of the family's life style and specifically child exploitation. "Mama" June Shannon feeds her daughter, Alana the aforementioned "Go Go Juice" to get her ready for beauty contests, because the beverage has a huge amount of caffeine in it.
- The show is nothing more than cheap entertainment, with the Thompson family being portrayed as a stereotypical redneck family for the audience to laugh at.
- Mama June is selfish and sadistic to Alana, aka Honey Boo Boo.
- It is filled to the brim with gross-out moments as the family often displays their disgusting habits and behaviors. One scene in particular shows gnats crawling around Mama June's toe.
- The family always yells and swears at each other (although it's bleeped out, it's still annoying otherwise).
- Along with Toddlers and Tiaras, it severely damaged TLC (jokingly called The Laughable Channel)'s reputation.
Redeeming Qualities
- There are a few funny moments here and there such as Alana's "I don't even think I'm a real person. I think I'm a fish", quote.
- It's spin-off, Mama June: From Not to Hot, while not the best show in the world is a little bit better and a vast improvement over this show.
- At least the show is nowhere near as bad as Toddlers and Tiaras, though it is still a bad show whatsoever.
Reception
The show was widely criticized by rotogravures like Forbes and The Guardian for its stereotypical portrayal of the protagonist family and its freak-show like entertainment based on overall exploitation of the life of the Thompsons. The most negative review was perhaps given by TV Guide magazine, which commented: "Jeers to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo for existing. Alana Thompson and her family have lowered the TV bar to new depths while introducing viewers to the terms 'forklift foot' and 'neck crust.' In a word, ewww."
Cancellation
The reason the show was cancelled was because Mama June was dating a registered sex offender. The man had previously violated June's oldest daughter 10 years earlier. And nothing of value was lost. But the Thompsons now have a new show on WETV, titled "Mama June: From Not to Hot".
Trivia
- Due to how abysmal the show is, multiple parodies exist out of it, such as the South Park episode "Raising the Bar", Sugar from Total Drama: Pahkitew Island, Smosh's "Addicted to Honey Boo Boo" video, and MAD's "Here Comes Yogi Boo Boo" featuring Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo.
Videos