TV Land just hasn’t held the same appeal for me since it started moving away from the time-tested “classic television” format in favor of premiering new reality series like “High School Reunion” and “She’s Got The Look.” I mean, what, like there aren’t enough reality series out there…? They can’t maintain the familiar brand name so that the network remains the equivalent of comfort food on your cable dial, where you can always go to find a classic TV series, no matter what the time of day…?
Apparently not, because in addition to greenlighting second seasons for both of the aforementioned shows, now the network is trotting out “Family Foreman,” a new reality series which follows the bustling home life of sports legend, business entrepreneur, and multi-grillionnaire George Foreman.
Now, clearly, I’m not looking to bust George Foreman’s balls…and not because he could far more easily bust my balls, but just because he’s such a nice guy. (That, and my wife and I use one of his grills on a regular basis.) As such, I figure the least I can do is set the stage a little bit for you, in case you might be interested in checking out the series. So, in no particular order, here are the top 5 things that Foreman said during his panel that’ll make you go, “Gosh, he really is a nice guy, isn’t he?”
5. “It’s so important now, for me especially, to show family and reality because I go around the country, and there are a lot of fathers jumping ship these days. And they feel like, ‘Well, I lost a job. I better get out of here or something.’ So I constantly kind of impose on them that, ‘Hey, a family consists of mom, dad, children,’ blah, blah, blah, and knows their neighbors and the whole deal.”
4. “For over 31 years now, I’ve been a preacher, a minister at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s what I really do. I moonlight as a grill salesman to feed all these kids, but in reality, that’s what I do: (I’m) a preacher. As your kids grow older, you’ve got to make sure they know, ‘Look, I’m a preacher. You are not.’ So I spell it out in the show that my faith is my faith. Whatever faith they have, I don’t know yet. But they’re having fun with their lives. Let them find it as they grow.”
3. On why he named all his kids George: “When you’ve been hit on the head by Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Evander Holyfield, and Muhammad Ali, how many names do you expect me to know, or come up with? It would be confusing if they weren’t all George!”
2. “I just want to have fun. The best thing in the world is to wake up in the morning with a feeling like, ‘We’re going to have some fun! And you’re going to meet a lot of people!’ And that’s what the show is all about. You can’t predict the future, but you can have fun anticipating some fun.”
1. On why he agreed to do a reality show: “My life has been an open book, and sometimes guys are peeping over the windows and peeping over the gates taking pictures of me, anyway. I just said, ‘Come on in.’ That’s all.”
Dammit, he’s just about got me wanting to watch the show now.
