Gene Simmons Family Jewels – season premier on A&E
Tonight was the season premiere of the A&E reality television series Gene Simmons Family Jewels. I had not watched the previous seasons of the show so I was interested to see what it was all about. I did watch Gene when he appeared on the NBC reality competition show Celebrity Apprentice and he is nothing if not a smart, shrewd and competitive business person. To be honest I didn’t see that side of him at all in the show. What I saw was a caring and compassionate father, wanting nothing but the best for his little girl Sophie.
Before I go into a review of tonight’s episode a few things caught me by surprise. As I mentioned, I have not watched the show before and didn’t know too much about the people in the family. In this day and age when marriages don’t seem to last very long it’s impressive to see a celebrity couple who are still together after more than 23 years. I read somewhere online that they have a cohabitation agreement to cover things like insurance but they are most decidedly “happily unmarried.” I was also impressed with how many family photos and home videos they had on display. I guess I found that kind of traditional yet surprising that this family would partake in such a middle American type activity.
OK, my review of the show. It begins 16 days before Sophie’s sweet sixteen party. At this point in time Sophie doesn’t realize that she’s going to have a party. Her lovely older brother Nick played an integral role in the planning of the event. Nick is all ticked off, blaming Sophie for scratching his car. She claims that she didn’t do anything to it, but then remembers that she might have “touched” it the other day when she got out of her car. You can see the wheels in Nick’s head turning – Sophie must pay for this damage. Gene and Shannon were hanging out on the couch and go up to bed to finish whatever was going on downstairs, and Nick, Sophie and their friends go and hang out in the kitchen. Sophie and her friend had just returned from someone’s sweet sixteen party and hated it. She said it was too large. She had fun going to it, but would hate it if it were her party. Actually I think her words were close to that she would kill herself if it was her party. Nick was obviously listening to Sophie.
The next day Nick approaches Gene, hinting around that Sophie’s big birthday is just days away. He begins to hint at the idea of a large party. Gene said that Sophie didn’t ask for a party but Nick “reminded” him that perhaps she was hinting at it herself, not wanting to come out and ask for one. So Gene decides that he’s going to throw a big bash for his little girl for her sweet sixteen. Gene takes Sophie out for a ride. He tells her to guess where they are going. Then he comes out and tells her that he is going to surprise her by bringing her to the location of her sweet sixteen party. Sophie protests “but I didn’t ask for one” but Gene chides her “how could I let you turn sixteen without a party?” He brings her to the Beverly Hilton where they meet with the catering manager. He’s talking about grand entrances – the drapes being opened while Sophie makes a dramatic entrance like in a car or on a horse. Sophie asks for something a bit more low key.
Later Sophie asks Gene who told him that she wanted a party. Gene replies that no one needed to tell me, I’m your father. Sophie realizes that it must have been Nick who told him, so she pays a visit to him while he’s in the shower, flushing the toilet and burning his arm. Nick’s a bit PO’d about this, so he goes to Gene and asks him whether he has a dress for Sophie yet. Gene thinks that is her department, but Nick says it would be more fatherly if he picked it out himself. In fact, Nick offers to help him go and pick out the perfect dress.
Now at this point I’m thinking to myself about the Gene Simmons I saw on Celebrity Apprentice. This is not the same man. Nick knows exactly how to manipulate him –what buttons to push, what to say, and how far to go with everything.
Gene and Nick go to a designer gown rental place and pick out some hideous dresses for Sophie to choose. There’s this striped number with a slit up the back, a dress with ample “butt padding” and this pinky-peachy-flowy 80’s style prom gown. In fact, when Sophie tries on the last dress Gene said it’ll be perfect for our father daughter dance. Huh? Sophie protests – this is something for a wedding, not a sweet sixteen. Gene tells her no, that it would be cool. Sophie confronts Nick, thanking him for picking out such awful dresses. He’s just loving this.
Shannon and her sister have a conversation with Gene after this “fashion show” and say that they need help in planning the party, that Gene is over his head. Gene thinks Sophie will be upset, and think that he is abandoning his fatherly duties. The ladies say that he can boss the party planner, an idea that Gene finds favor with. The ladies also think that Sophie will be grateful that Gene is no longer micro-managing the party.
Sophie and her friends meet in a frozen yogurt place, and they’re talking about dates for the party. Sophie decides that she’ll take one of Nick’s friends because it will really tick him off.
Gene finds a box of cards and photos from Sophie’s childhood. He spent so much time on the road when Sophie was young that sometimes the only way he could experience her birthdays was through the home movies Shannon sent to him. He’s reflecting on the fact that he missed so much when she was younger. This is when I realize that Nick did manipulate Gene, but it wasn’t because he was something other than the persona I saw on Celebrity Apprentice. It was because he felt guilty and sad for missing out on so much with Sophie and now he has the means and the opportunity to do something memorable for her birthday and he is going to do whatever he can to make the day special for her.
What happens next I also found surprising. After a conversation with her mother, Sophie says that she knows somewhere Gene could help with the party. She calls him, gives him an address and asks him to meet her. He thinks something is wrong, but it’s actually a dance studio. Sophie arranged for them to take dance lessons so they could have a father daughter dance at her party. She wanted to surprise everyone by having them do some proper dance moves. Sophie later says that she first thought the whole idea was lame, but realized how much it meant to him so she decided to do it. A very surprising, mature and thoughtful action from such a young girl. This is what I found surprising – her level of maturity at such a young age.
Sophie decides that her party should have a masquerade theme, and Gene is put in charge of finding a caterer. Sophie and her friends come home one day to see trays of food on the counter – they devour the food and just love it. Gene is talking with a potential caterer, fessing up that he’s meeting with others until he sees the girls have loved his food and hires him on the spot. Nick decides to give Sophie an ice sculpture as a present. That’s just bizarre. Gene is preparing a speech in case he’s asked to speak at the party. Nick, ever the pot stirrer, says that Gene does so much better when he just rambles on and isn’t prepared. Nice.
Sophie does in fact invite one of Nick’s friends to be her escort for the party. Nick answers the door the night of the party to run into his friend Wes and he is just shocked to find out that Wes is Sophie’s date. Wes asks if it is ok with him – I guess it was because the next thing out of his mouth was a shout up to Sophie, telling her t hat her date was there.
The party took up the rest of the show, and it did look as if it was fun for Sophie and what she wanted. The cake was stunning and who wouldn’t love a chocolate fountain? There was a photo booth for her friends to take pictures. Gene and Shannon took advantage of it but their pictures were more, shall we say, natural than the kids. As in naked. Shannon loses some of the pictures. Someone hands them to Nick. He’s freaked out by it. But then again, most children hate to think that their parents still have sex. Didn’t they just do it that one time when I was conceived, and oh yeah, that second time for Sophie but never again????
Nick confronts Sophie about Wes. How close are you guys? Sophie tells him that they are close enough that they’ll be doing a lot of kissing. Nick is grossed out and calls out Wes to the parking lot. Wes admits that it was all a joke to tick him off.
A family friend sings a tribute to Sophie, and a few of the friends are blaming Nick for setting it up. He claims that he wishes he thought of it himself, but in the credits says to the camera that he hopes Uncle Tony didn’t embarrass you too much.
A sweet moment was when Sophie’s friends invited her crush Chase to the party. She thought that he didn’t know she existed. He seemed to like her. I thought it was so cute in an innocent way.
More party scenes, then Gene calls out Sophie for their father daughter dance. It was a really nice moment. He gets choked up when he speaks before the dance, something I didn’t expect to see from him. The cake comes out (a really cute cake too). Nick makes a speech, telling a story that when she was born he asked their mother when she was brining her back to the “hopsicle”. Then he said he’s glad they didn’t bring her back because he wouldn’t be able to do what he’s about to do – smear birthday cake all over her. This turns into a full-fledged food fight, and I guess it’s not uncommon for it to happen in their household. There’s cake all over the floor when Chase comes over to ask Sophie to dance. He walks towards her then falls flat on his butt, sliding on the cake that’s on the floor.
All in all I enjoyed the show. I loved the dynamic between Nick and Sophie, such a typical yet not typical brother sister relationship. And I think that some of my preconceived notions about Gene Simmons and this show were proved false. I think I might have to add this show to my list of reality television programs to watch and blog about.
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