Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Why can't I stop watching the Dramaduce?

Breaking Bonaduce is hard to watch, nay...painful to watch. It is reality television at it's most invasive, ugliest self. The show begins shortly after Danny (yes, that Danny) reveals to his wife, during their couples therapy that he has had an affair, which is exactly as uncomfortable as it sounds.
Add to Danny's infidelity his drug use, alcohol and steroid abuse, and a more than a touch of bi-polar tendencies.
He yells, he threatens the camera crew, he cuts his wrists. He's a classic drama-queen, incapable of accepting any responsibility for his own circumstance.
He says in the opening of every episode, "If he hadn't asked the question 'Have you ever been unfaithful to your wife?' none of this would have happened." Forget that had his infidelity, not simply the revelation of it is what brought them to this point.
The weird thing is, no matter how much I want to hate the Bonaduce, I can't seem to. He has that charm, that special thing which all batshit people have that keeps their loved ones coming back for more.
I know this type of charm well and I've been subject to it in more than I'd like to admit. I know that feeling you get when you're with someone and they're about to explode. You try to contain it, you make jokes, you try to lighten the mood, but you know it's coming. It's a deep, sinking, helpless feeling like watching someone jump from a building. You can't stop it, there's nothing you can do, but duck and cover.

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