"Poor" TV is Not So Poor

During our class discussion and also the article we read for class, some people may have been led to believe that the stars of the shows like Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo are poor in real life.

False.

Duck Commander, the family owned company that "Duck Dynasty" was created around, was founded in 1972. That's surely before the creation of it's TV show. According to this article, the first year Phil Robertson was in production he made $8,000. Over the next few years, he made almost $500,000. That doesn't seem poor then or now, considering the business only continued to flourish, even before the A&E TV show.

Alana Thompson, other wise known as Honey Boo Boo, is a slightly different story but still has resources. In the beginning of this video, from the TLC original "Toddlers & Tiaras", we see Mama June and family messing around and throwing household paper products, then you realize "woah, that's a stock pile!" At approximately 0:45 seconds, we notice a mattress on the floor, no box spring, no furniture. However the house is covered in trophies and ribbons. Curious. If you know anything else about extreme couponing, or even just based on this clip of Mama June on "Extreme Couponing", we could believe that Mama June coupons to save money for Alana's dresses. The average toddler pageant dress runs between $50-$150, not including costumes for the "talent" portion.

On the contrary to Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty we have "Porter Ridge". A group of people, friends & neighbors really, who live just outside of Bloomington, IN, who own struggling businesses. In this article, we read about Porter Ridge, two "simple" men who's business' were dying. These guys really did do the show for the money. The article even states "Watson dreamed up new hope for the duo, plus quite a few friends in rural Owen County, by pitching a reality series to the makers of cable-TV sensation “Duck Dynasty.”"

It infuriates me to know that some people make TV shows on these networks that make fun of the poverty they may or may not be in. The real poverty in this system could be those who are so desperate, they are willing to make fun of them selves, or be made fun of by networks and viewers just to save their lifestyles.