Where 'Duck Dynasty' came from.. and where it's going. + Short history of TV Family Reality Shows

First, a prediction:

• Chances of Robertsons continuing on A&E:  over 90%.
• Chances of Phil missing more than one episode taping: 10% or less
• Chances of Phil backing down and saying he was wrong in his GQ statement: ZERO

UPDATE:  Well, day late, dollar short.  A&E already came to terms and Phil's gonna miss none.  Let's see how my other predictions hold up.
 - But that's nothing.  For some reason Jesse Jackson took too long to organize his typical extortion scheme against A&E and 'Cracker Barrel' {heh.. the irony of that}.
Guess he's out'a practice and I dont know why, since he knew Sonny Boy was in the slammer for plain old Chi-Town style flim flamming and wasnt running the family race biz.

I love figuring out solutions.  I made a living doing that, not just technical solutions but applying those to the human interface. Which involves understanding human nature applied to reality in a given environment or situation. Usually involving payback on investment or activity.

The 'REALITY', here, is that the Robertsons hold ALL the cards and A&E hold NONE.

Oh, there's lots of 'analysts' pointing out that in this 'battle of wills' there are two sides, both standing to lose millions if there's no meeting of the minds.  The implication is that the family will 'negotiate' a settlement in order to keep the show on air.

Snicker! Stupid Yuppies!  They assume that the Robertson family is (still) in it for the money.  Oh, there will be a negotiation, alright, and here's the result:



First:  "In Jesus' name we pray."  will appear in the grace Phil invokes with every episode.  And there will be more on the faith-based activities of the family. 
- Why am I sure of that?  Because Alan, the pastor-son, is now to be involved.

Phil will make a statement, and it will appear coinciding with his 're-instatement of taping.  But it will be no more than an illumination of his statements, explaining to the ignorant what it really means in terms of his faith.

And some show fans will leave, there will be some... perhaps MANY.. new ones.
The ones that leave are those who watch to chuckle at the zany antics of those inbred redneck hicks.  The new ones will be fascinated to discover how the family reconciles its faith to its situation and money.

And A&E will pay them more per episode.

I COULD  be wrong in any or all of that.  But because I've been around rednecks, I believe there's good chance I nailed it.  I balso believe, rather than the family not getting that, it's far more likely that this foof was tacitly set up by A&E to keep ratings up.

Phil is not stupid. Phil is Phil.. ask Terry Bradshaw
And the whole family is a reflection of Phil.
Phil is a sinner, who had many transgressions against his family, who has seen the light and God has rewarded him.

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The first  TV family reality show was PBS' 'An American Family',  of the early seventies.

It was a gut wrenching program in which a family was undergoing a divorce and a son came out of the closet as gay, on air.

Recently we've seen the Osbournes, Driving Force, and Gene Simmons' Family Jewels.

I liked Jewels the best though it was obviously scripted to a large extent.

Later, 'Real Housewives of ____'. I'm not even going there. Nothing in it for me.  Likewise 'Jersey Shore'.  Bunch of self centered asses with little redeeming value.

Strangely -  or not - one 'reality show' did get my attention in the mid -00's: The Simple Life with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richey.

I thought it was pretty good because it mostly pointed out how difficult it was for the girls to adapt to everyday circumstances requiring rudimentary skills. I thought Nicole acclimated more easily