16 replies to this topic

[Pig Voice]

Now I want to see the same show with beauty pageant moms!!

There was a great one on HBO that followed around a little southern girl named Star or Skye or something silly. Her family was pretty white trash, and the mother spent tens of thousands of dollars a year on the pageant crap. The little girl was so adorable and came off as genuinely sweet, but I felt for her because of the pressure she was put through. If you have a chance to catch it sometime, you will be as horrified by the situation as you were by Stage Moms.

[soapygirl]

Oh god I saw that documentary. I have never been so completly disgusted and at the same time heartbroken in my life. The law may not call what that mother was doing child abuse but I have never seen a more clear cut example of emotional abuse in my life.

The greatest irony is that little girl was very pretty but when she had her face gunked with makeup, her hair teased beyond recognition she looked more like an small ugly adult. And all for a beauty pagent.

[soapygirl]

Sorry for the double post but I think the four month gap might help my case.

For anyone out there who wants annother snarking-on-stage moms fix, I present you: Vh1 Driven: Stage Moms which will be playing on Monday, May 3rd at 2:00 PM.

[IvySpice]

Ooo thanks! [sets VCR] I'll be back to snark tonight!

[Dana Girl]

Was I the only one who caught it?

Oy vey, but the boy's mom was psycho. Or maybe just Duncan Nutter with a vagina.

[Ty]

You mean Duncan Nutter doesn't have a vagina?

[Albanyguy]

I hope that Bravo signs Linda and her offspring for Showbiz Moms & Dads, Part Deux. That woman is batshit crazy if she thinks that she has a future in acting or that her whiny slug of a son is the next Frankie Munoz. The best part was the final credits where it said that the son is still "auditioning" but that the daughter (whom everybody pretty much ignored) actually got a job doing an animated voiceover. I'll bet that Sonnyboy has been abruptly dethroned from his place as Mama's favorite child.

Actually, I do feel sorry for the poor kid. Like most the kids profied on these shows, he's being forced to live out his mother's fantasies. He can't even have fun on his birthday without Linda bitching at him about his "career"! And did you notice how she was shoving that script full of nudity and dirty language at him? She kept saying "I know you don't want to do this and I respect that", but it was clear he was going to do it or else.

But, really, who would want to see him naked?

Edited by Albanyguy, May 3, 2004 @ 8:11 PM.

[SiameseCatLady]

I hope that Bravo signs Linda and her offspring for Showbiz Moms & Dads, Part Deux. That woman is batshit crazy if she thinks that she has a future in acting or that her whiny slug of a son is the next Frankie Munoz.

Oh, please, oh, please. I just want to hear her tell us all again how her father was H.R. Puf'n'Stuff and she's been in the biz since she was 5 years old! I'd kinda like to see Married to the Mob Mom on Showbiz Moms & Dads, Part Deux too.

Ellen's mom seemed almost normal, but I don't think if my child was having panic attacks from her stressful schedule, I'd continue with it. Yeah, the child has a great singing voice and apparently acting talent, but she's only 10. Let her play in the yard and put her in community theater in the summer and when she's 16 or 18 and can make up her own mind what she wants to do, give Broadway another shot. I also felt really bad for little brother having to "live in the car." Is there a dad in the picture? Can't they find a friend/neighbor/relative for him to stay with so he has some semblance of a normal life?

[soapygirl]

But, really, who would want to see him naked?

Not me!!!

But really, I was suprised that he was so against cursing and nudity. I figured he was looking for any excuse to say no to his mom. I was also suprised by his age. He does not look or act like a fifteen year old boy. Much more like a 12 year old. This whole acting buisness seems to stunt these kid's growth. (I guess with good reason, since they are probably auditioning for parts where the character is 3 or 4 years younger)

I said it already but I agree with you SiameseCatLady Ellen has the rest of her life to be on broadway, she doesn't need to do it right now.

[IvySpice]

Did they say Ellen was having panic attacks? I thought they just said "some adult stress symptoms."

I know another former Little Cosette who grew up OK. She went to a good college (where I met her), had a normal social life, etc. She left college after a couple of years when she got a job on a soap opera, and she's still there and very successful at it...and it's clearly exactly what she wants to be doing. I don't know her family, but she seems to have her act completely together as a human being, so at a minimum raising a healthy child on Broadway CAN be done.

Linda. There are no words. Watch the show. Do you like what you see?

[Albanyguy]

Linda. There are no words. Watch the show. Do you like what you see?

Since these women seem to have no sense of appropriate behavior or any sense of irony, Linda will undoubtedly love what she sees: "I look so beautiful! Now the whole world will see me on TV and recognize my star potential. I'll be famous just like my father! Papa, can you hear me? I'm a pretty girl!" Or else she 'll fall back on "I'm a wonderful mother. They just edited it to make me look bad!".

Edited by Albanyguy, May 4, 2004 @ 8:04 AM.

[Agent Sculder]

I saw this today and these women are crazy. You could tell that Gia wasn't really into it. Lord was she bad! I'm so glad I wasn't the only person thinking: "The father must be a gangster. That woman is straight out of Sopranos central casting!"

Ellen and her mom seemed to be the most "normal", if you can say that about a kid who collects unemployment. She didn't appear to be spoiled rotten like Linda Tripp's son. Ther's another woman living vicariously through the kid. She needs to realize if she wants her kid(s) to be famous, no one will hire them if they hear about what a horrible stage mom you are. Your kid has to be amazing for producers/directors/casting people to put up with that shit.

I wanted to act as a kid, and I even took a couple classes, and was in a couple local productions, and I'm so glad my mother never pushed anything.

[DeepRed]

I finally saw this today too. Great googly moogly! Where to start? It's very revealing that Linda "Tripp" speaks of her acting career in the present tense: things "aren't happening for her NOW," but might someday. No they won't, lady. Ever.

And then there's Soprano Mom and her ugly house. Thousands of dollars spent on expensive floral arrangements and ugly furnishings. Poor Gia, her daughter, MIGHT stand a better chance of losing her accent if mom took some diction lessons too. The kid will never lose her accent if she has to listen to mom's honk all the time. And I agree that Gia 's not really into it.

Did I hear clearly that Soprano Mom "smacked" Gia at one point (on the day of the big audition)? Very nice.

Linda's son (I forget his name) didn't act like any 15-y.o. boy of my acquaintance. 12, maybe; I agree. And what was he doing in that one car scene, trying to crawl down into the corner by the door? Yeah, mom, he REALLY wants to be an actor.

[IvySpice]

her ugly house

Ugly really isn't the word. Virginia says that money can't buy fame; well, it also can't buy taste. Carmela Soprano is Thom Felicia compared to this family. I mean, the place was like one of those glitzy baby pageant dresses turned into a home. Did you get a load of the acting coach's reaction when he saw that million-dollar palace of crap? "So this is your movie room...and you have the alien in your house? That's...beautiful."

The kid will never lose her accent if she has to listen to mom's honk all the time.

The kid will never lose her accent because she has no ear. She cannot HEAR her own accent. Henry Higgins could adopt her tomorrow and it would never go away. She's been listening to standard American English in movies and on TV her whole life; if she can't begin to mimic it, there's no hope, coaches or no coaches. It's the equivalent of being tone deaf. Her Spanish/French/German accent, when she hits high school, will be as wholly inept as her attempts at Middle American.

I think she's cute and she seems like a sweet girl who wants to please her mom. Get her into soccer or dance or painting on velvet.

Young Mr. Bendik does seem immature for his age, but it seemed to me to be a natural reaction to the way he's being treated. He can't even watch a movie with his friends on his birthday? A grown man would try and hide behind the car seat if he had to be abused by that deluded witch on camera. Honestly, she should be grateful that he's got friends, and it's a very good sign that he does. If he can make it out of the house alive and get to college, he'll catch up.

[DeepRed]

I mean, the place was like one of those glitzy baby pageant dresses turned into a home.

This, and most everything else you wrote, had me spraying soda out my nose. IvySpice! Good one! My friend likes to say this about horrifically tacky interiors she sees: "Yeah, they spent a million dollars decorating it, but they spent it all at the Dollar Store."

You've thought about the show more than I have: the fact that Gia's already heard plenty of standard American English elsewhere by now but has no ear; that the Bendik boy may straighten out by the time he's older (and manages to get away from SmotherMother). For his sake, I hope so, or he'll be standing in the checkout line at Home Depot with a shovel, a bag of lime and a picture of Mom in his pocket, and a copy of Catcher In The Rye in the other.

Edited by DeepRed, May 4, 2004 @ 1:52 PM.

[neophoenix]

I have to add, I also watched this a few days ago and watching Linda at the end trying to rationalize what a "tough mom" was cracked me up! Girl is delusional beyond belief.

[jmslsu01]

Remember this show? Looks like Ellen made it to the L.A. La Boheme production after all.

Review of show and cast list