All In The Family

I saw "Paper Moon." We don't even know for sure if Moses is really Addie's dad at the end of the movie. And that Trixie Delight and all her talk about "bone struchah." It was a highly memorable experience. Now, thirty-seven years later, Ryan O'Neal and his daughter Tatum are teaming up again, only this time it will be a reality TV show. It will be about their attempts to reconcile. I'm pretty sure that I would rather watch the "Paper Moon" series that was on ABC in 1974 for one season. At least that had Jodie Foster.
It is a scary thought to imagine the size of the check that had to be dangled in front of these two to try to put their differences aside. How natural will it be to see them coming together to settle old scores and get back to being a loving family once again, with a swarming camera crew and dangling boom mic? Tatum's fee for appearing on "Dancing With The Stars" probably doesn't cover the rehab, and her daddy has to find a way to live down the fact that his daughter is the one who won an Oscar, which may be why he was hitting on her after Farrah Fawcett's funeral. It's sure to be every bit as fascinating as any other reality train wreck on your cable dial this fall. It's what "real" TV is all about these days, but don't be fooled. Those aren't "Real Housewives." In the real world, drunken college types have to fish their own car keys out of the jacuzzi. In reality, we fight with our parents and it's really pretty dull. Kind of like "Nickelodeon" without Burt Reynolds.