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The Ties That Whine October 18, 2006 Anything goes when the Carter kids air their dysfunctional ways Forget Ozzy and his house full of untrained dogs or Whitney and Bobby and their blatantly discussed bathroom habits. The Carters are the most dysfunctional celebrity family to suck us in for 30 minutes a week since the overplayed trend first started with the mumbling, cursing Osbourne clan. But unlike the parade of fading icons -- Ozzy, Gene Simmons, Whitney -- and nauseating couples -- Nick and Jessica, Britney and K-Fed, Travis Barker and his soon-to-be-ex blonde who looks like Tammy Faye Baker with clear skin -- this show focuses on a different family dynamic: siblings. Nick Carter, the strapping blond heartthrob of the Backstreet Boys, had the brilliant idea to corral his three sisters, Bobbie Jean, Leslie and Angel, the twin of Carter's 18-year-old pop hunk-lette brother Aaron, into a tony McMansion in Beverly Hills and live together for the first time in a decade. See, while Nick was off making millions by crooning "I Want it That Way" to thousands of swooning girls who didn't care that the song made as much sense as Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" which is, to say, none -- Angel pursued modeling, Leslie struggled to jumpstart her own singing career, Bobbie Jean wallowed in the drama of her life (she was "most damaged" by their parents' divorce, says Nick) and Aaron entertained the Nickelodeon crowd with his own calculated fizzy pop. Somewhere along the way, the Carters' parents apparently did some heinous things to their kids, things that the girls seem more willing to forgive than the boys. Nick and Aaron recently appeared on Howard Stern's radio show and claimed that their parents -- mom in particular -- took millions of dollars that was rightfully theirs. This was also the same interview where Nick announced that when he was 15, he lost his virginity to then-14-year-old Debbie LeFave, who grew up to become the infamous Florida teacher who bedded an underage student. Now that would make a good episode. Anyway, the Carters are clearly a family with issues and Nick is intent on rekindling a bond with his siblings, particularly obnoxious weasel brother Aaron, who likely never endured a second of discipline in his life. Within minutes of the first episode, Aaron acts like a 9-year-old, jumping off the house balcony into the swimming pool, completely ignoring his brother's sensible protestations. These two are the key to the program, and by focusing on their intense love/hate relationship, you can much more easily tune out Bobbie Jean's drunken sniping. In the first couple of episodes, Nick is shown losing his temper to an almost frightening degree, but it's sometimes hard not to sympathize with the guy. He asks his sisters to clean up the dog droppings piled in the house (yes, that staple of any celebrity reality show, the pooch with overdubbed whines, is present). They ignore him. He asks Aaron to be considerate and stop his in-home recording session at a reasonable hour so the family can sleep. Aaron stomps his feet and retaliates by hurling a nasty Paris Hilton story back at his brother, who dated the wannabe porn star. When their mother is hospitalized (for a "problem" never specifically identified), the family gangs up on Nick when he balks at sending her money. He eventually caves and later expresses what looks like genuine hurt when telling his siblings that she never bothered to thank him. There's a lot of screaming and crying and general angst, that, sadly, doesn't seem contrived, so this is one of those houses that you'll be glad you don't inhabit. But still, it takes guts to air your family therapy sessions to the world, and even though the show isn't always easy to watch, it's brave enough to offer the kind of painful reality from which most people hide. Source: timesdispatch.com |