“The Houstons” comes way too soon

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:10:00 +0000

Whitney Houston died eight and a half months ago this past February. By May, her family was filming a reality TV show. The simultaneously low-key but exploitative series that has resulted, “The Houstons: On Our Own,” began airing last night on Lifetime. The premiere episode ended with the family gathered beside Houston’s grave on Mother’s Day, sobbing. The series doesn’t gloss over the grief: It puts cameras on it. And even when they’re standing back, filming the family from a “non-invasive” distance, the whole thing feels pretty wretched.

“The Houstons” features Bobbi Kristina, Whitney’s daughter with Bobbi Kristina Brown; Whitney’s brother Gary; his wife, Pat; their 14-year-old daughter Rayah; Bobbi Kristina’s controversial 23-year-old boyfriend and formerly adopted brother, Nick; and occasional appearances by Whitney’s mother, Cissy. The 19-year-old Bobbi Kristina — who goes by Krissi — introduces herself to the camera as the daughter of the “infamous badass” Bobby Brown and the “beautiful princess” Whitney Houston, which sums up the strange frequency the show’s participants are all operating on: both hyperaware of what “the world” thinks, and unaware ov how strange and removed describing one’s father as an “infamous badass” sounds.

Salon.com > bobbi kristina

“The Houstons” comes way too soon