Gene Simmons Family Jewels

OMG!!! I just watched the first episode of Gene Simmons' reality TV show GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS and laughed my ass OFF!!!

I'm caught up with STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP (and have watched the current episodes AT LEAST twice each) and caught myself up on this season of VERONICA MARS and thought I'd poke around iTunes for more shows.

I was hoping to find LITTLE BRITAIN, as Gnomey LOVES it. I have it in my Netflix queue, but I was hoping maybe iTunes had it. I didn't find the show, but I found the complete collection of RADIO SHOWS!!! Apparently it began as a BBC RADIO series back in 2001!!! HOW FRIGGIN' COOL IS THAT?!! (Audio-whore that I am...) So, natch, I bought that and look foreward to experiencing the aural version of the sketches!

But then I was looking around and remembered that I had seen Gene Simmons' reality show on iTunes, and looked to see how much it cost. I discovered that the complete series (this season, anyway) was 8 episodes, total! And I've already forgotten how much it cost, but I was excited that I could totally catch up with the show in 8 episodes! So I bought it and watched the first episode "Happily Unmarried".

AND I LAUGHED SOOOOO HARD!!!

Being a long-time KISS fan, I had no idea Gene Simmons had a vulnerable side! I've seen, heard and read many, many MANY interviews with him, read both his books, know his music by heart, seen KISS in concert 6 times... I feel like I kinda know the cat.

But to see him with his AMAZING family, and to see how much they mess with him... My head almost exploded, lol!

When he's "at work" (i.e. being a member of KISS or being Gene Simmons: Rock God) he comes off as this smart, but wildly over-bearing hardass. (And I'm sure there is plenty of truth to that persona or else he wouldn't, I suspect, have been as successful in business as he has.)

And yet you totally get the sense that when he's "Geney" -- non-husband/father -- he takes so much (well-intentioned and playful) crap from his loved ones, lol! His son actually refers to Gene as being the most "whipped" guy he knows, lol! (Gene Simmons, the World Class womanizer and sex addict!)

The juxtaposition of The Demon and Geney is hysterical and shocking, but here's what's REALLY mind-blowing (to me, anyway) about that: He's letting us see that! What I mean is, if he were really a push-over with a huge ego that wants us all to be scared of him, he WOULD NEVER allow us to see his vulnerable side. As a pushover with a huge ego, I know that we only allow people to see the aspects of our personality that we're comfortable with them seeing. So for him to invite a camera crew into his home and allow (because I'm not under the illusion that Gene Simmons doesn't CAREFULLY and thoughtfully CONTROL everything that gets out that has to do with Gene Simmons) them to show him as the butt of loving familial pranks, reveals that he's comfortable with this persona, as well!

And why shouldn't he be?

He's got a GORGEOUS and smart and funny non-wife (if you don't know about Gene, he's idealistically opposed to the idea of marriage, which is what the first episode focuses on), and goergeous and intelligent teenage kids, and he could not have these things -- or rather, he couldn't KEEP these things -- if he weren't, himself, just ONE HELL of a man! You don't raise smart kids if you're not smart. You don't raise funny kids if you're not funny. It simply doesn't happen.

And you DO NOT allow yourself to be seen taking crap from people if you don't know deep down that it's all an expression of love. We (particularly Americans) are VERY self-conscious. We have a tendancy to lie to OURSELVES as much -- if not more -- than we lie to those around us about who we are. We can't be made to look the fool; we can't be made to look "weak"; we can't be made to look "bad". Heaven FORBID someone sees our vulnerability!

So here's this guy who's spent a career being a badass and being VERY savvy with his public image (remember that no one knew what KISS looked like without makeup until they decided to take it off!) and he's comfortable showing us a vulnerable side.

Which says to me that the man beneath both personae must be pretty bullet-proof.

Blah.

Just my little observations and opinions and hero-worship.

Anyway, the show itself was HYSTERICAL!!! I was laughing SO HARD, but in that THE OFFICE kind of way a lot of times -- not the current American version but the original British version, where you're so uncomfortable that you're almost covering your eyes because you can't bear to watch, and yet you HAVE TO see what happens next! I mean, they guy's letting us see this, so it can't be the WORST thing that's ever happened to him, and yet... YIKES, he looks uncomfortable!

And I'm not even into Watch-Em-Squirm "entertainment"! I friggin' HATE Reality TV on principal. But THIS SHOW is FUN! You feel almost like you're getting to hang back-stage with Gene Simmons... WAY back-stage... Like, AT HOME with him, lol!

I don't think you even need to be a KISS fan or a Gene Simmons fan to really, really enjoy this show! You just need to have heard SOMETHING about Gene Simmons... ANYTHING... Good or bad.... Just anything, lol! (I feel very confident about this, because my Mom loved THE OSBORNES and she really only knew who Ozzy is in a general sense of his public persona: he made "satanic" rock music and was banned from performing at the Ector County Colisium in the early-80s by the Odessans for Decency. And that was enough knowlege to allow her to enjoy the day-to-day life of this rock legend just being a human being.)

Okay, I think I'm gonna watch the next episode now: "Next Generation Rock Star".