No business like show business - Kathy Jefcoats

Like a train wreck, to which people are drawn and horrified by at the same time, I found myself addicted to Bravo's "Showbiz Moms and Dads." I don't know that I have seen all the episodes but I know I have seen enough. The documentary follows five sets of parents as they push, prod, bribe, force, flatter and otherwise coerce their children into show business – all the while insisting they aren't stage parents but supporting their offsprings' desires.

Puh-leeze. These parents make Gypsy Rose Lee's mother look mildly interested. It is scary that people like this actually live and breathe. How anyone could watch these parents in action and not think the kids are being abused mentally and emotionally is beyond me. The lines between parent and child are blurred to non-existent. Instead, they carry on a warped relationship where the kid seems to hold all the cards except in the case of the Vermont family where the dad is living in a dream world from which his children have no escape.