Reasons Why "The Houstons" Is a Disastrous Mess

Even in the title card, Whitney's presence is looming....

Celebrity deaths are always attention-grabbing and intrigue-provoking, and sometimes a response from the deceased's family is necessary to help bring some kind of closure and understanding to the ensuing chaos.

Unfortunately, in the reality television age we live in, these families are increasingly finding public refuge on the tube, sharing with the public their grieving process. 

That said, I don't think there has been a more exploitative, awkward, inappropriate, and plain old messy situation than the one the Houstons are currently in with their show.

Seven months after the passing of pop icon Whitney Houston, her surviving family members, including her daughter Bobbi Kristina, have opened their grieving process to the world with "The Houstons: On Our Own" on Lifetime. Although it was pretty obvious from the jump that this would be a little difficult to deal with, actually watching the show is a completely different ball game.

I don't understand why Pat Houston thinks anyone cares about the life of her family. I don't think anyone is morbid or creepy enough to want to follow a family as they grieve for their loved one, but the fact of the matter is we don't know the Houston family, period. We have no vested interest in them, so watching Pat and Gary play basketball and Pat and her daughter shopping for the BET Awards means nothing to us as viewers. It just seems contrived, no matter how many scenes we get of Pat dabbing her eyes as she reflects on Whitney. We don't want to see them grieve for Whitney so openly, and we don't care to see them not grieve, so where's the premise.

And then there's Bobbi Kristina. Whitney's only child should be nowhere near this program. It is obvious that she is still grieving, and she needs to be allowed that time in peace, not in front of cameras. She is the most authentic part of the show (probably because she doesn't care about how the world sees her, like the rest of the family), but her life has already been under a microscope as Whitney's daughter growing up. Can't she have some time to find herself. I mean, its not like the public has been hounding her for information. Quite the opposite, it's as if the family is hounding the public, begging for us to care.

Bobbi Kristina's relationship with Nick Gordon, her "adopted' brother who she was raised with, is another aspect I found so inappropriate. Seeing Nick refer to Pat as "Auntie" and even Whitney as "Mom" is so weird and awkward, especially since Nick is clearly in a relationship with "Krissy". For a couple trying to insist they aren't related, they are not helping their cause with how close he is to the family, as if they were family. 

Maybe I have no right to judge that relationship, but it is up there for public consumption. That is the problem. It shouldn't be. Yes, people will speculate about Bobbi Kristina, but there is absolutely zero reason why the world needs to know how the Houston family is coping with Whitney's death. It is morbid, awkward, and, at its worst, exploitative of the diva's memory.