Breaking Bonaduce

This is a fender bender. This is self-centered, and aggrandizing. Danny is no longer interesting-just sad. Gretchen, while clearly beleaguered, is tough for me to figure out.

No, I am afraid for Danny that the car crash is yet to come, and when it does, we will all be mortified, despite what we've all seen coming for years.

In fact, I am mourning already. I think the guy could have been a great character actor, and could have had a much better life than he has led. I would much rather see him in a sitcom or even a "B" action movie than this.

Further troubling me is that the Bonaduce's are listed as producers on this mess.

I will not go beyond the two episodes I have already seen because I doubt seriously that there is any saving grace for these people, and that makes me very sad.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope he gets a deal for a good acting gig that enables him to provide for his family and show off his intelligence and talent-especially his sense of irony. But I'm nearly as old as he is, and having lived that long, I know better.

Oddly enough, I turned off the second episode just before it ended, chastising myself for looking on for so long. I flipped channels to a local affiliate, which was running the original "Reefer Madness." It's everywhere. We can't escape it.

No, I will turn it back on when I am wrong; when Breaking Bonaduce Season Two is subtitled "Turning the Corner: AGAIN!.

I want to be wrong here. I really do.

Watching this reality series is like watching a slow moving train wreck, it's awful, it's horrible but you can turn away.

What to say about Danny and Gretchen that hasn't already been said? They are both celebrity whores big time to allow cameras into the meltdown that is called their marriage.

This is the second season and sad to say, things are not improving for the family. During the first season I had a lot of compassion for everyone involved, but now I am beginning to think Gretchen is using Danny both monetarily and for the "fame" itself. Not that he is perfect, God knows how F****D up he is, and I'm sure living with him would be difficult at best, but to make the man beg and grovel and not to let him touch you? I don't get it, either you love him and are willing to give it another go for the like 1,000th time or for God's sake cut him loose!!!! He deserves at least some honesty for crying out loud. She seems to get off on him telling her how much he loves her and needs her and can't live without her and she acts as if she could care less. She's a heartless bitch in my opinion. The recent episode of her going to Boston with him proved that. She went to look like "Gretchen Bondaduce, supportive wife" in public and then they get back to the hotel and she invites him to sleep in her hotel room and then tells him he is not to touch her? What the hell? I don't get it.

And Dr. Gary, what is up with this guy? He looks like he has been Botox'd to the max, he can't even move his face when he is chastising Danny and he has obvious anger towards Danny that tends to make him side constantly with Gretchen. They are like 2 sorority sisters getting together to cut up poor Danny. Don't get me wrong, Danny pushes everyone's buttons, but Dr. Gary always sides with Gretchen instead of trying to stay impartial and make both the adults in this relationship own up to their dysfunctional ways. Gretchen is not the perfect saint that Dr. Gary tends to make her out to be. I think she is totally manipulative.

The obvious victims in this whole mess are the 2 Bonaduce children. How sad for them that their mother hates their father and encourages her young son to make fun of his father's bipolar disorder!!! In 20 years we will probably be hearing about these 2 kids multiple stints in rehab, arrests, etc.

Watch this show if you must (I have to say, once you start watching you can't stop)but don't be surprised if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Here is a man, known for his role in Partridge Family..now he is a washed-up, drek who is full of testosterone, profanity, anger, pills and you name it, he's addicted!! What about his children? they are greatly influenced by their dad's foul behavior!! Poor Isabella, she is about to enter adolescence, and having Danny for her father spells embarrassment..how would you feel if you were 12, and you had two gal pals over..your mom is a well controlled, normal-behaved woman..and they see/hear your dad going to town, cussing and throwing testosterone-induced tantrums..what will they tell their parents and other schoolmates?? that your family is whacked!--that is, of course, in the mind's eye of a pre-adolescent..and that's human!!

and let's not forget Little Dante, who I believe is three or four..In one episode, Anger Management, the cameras show Danny sailing with Gretchen and the kids..Danny's fussing and bitching about not leaving the sailing trip in a rush, yet Gretchen needs to so she and her band, Mudflaps, can do soundchecks, hair and make-up for their gig that night.. and a nanosecond after that, we see Dante Jr. smacking Isabella on the back for trying to hold him from getting too close to the boat stern..and Gretchen says, "Stop it." can Dante be in danger of adopting his dad's abusive behavior? and what about (forgot which episode) in which, you moms out there (I am only an aunt), when Danny puts his genitals on the bed of the photocopier in their house and xeroxes "pics" of it??? that is sooo not appropriate!! what if, at school, Dante tries that in the administrative office? for sure, he would buy himself some principal time and possible in-house suspension and a therapist visit. And last but not least, Gretchen, his long suffering wife, who gets herself embarrassed at the above gig (Anger Management) by Danny, pulling out a bandmember to chew him out for photos of Gretchen having her back walked on by another bandmember." and she is always having faith in that selfish man.

As one of the many people to have met Danny, I may have spent more time with him in a one on one basis than most others. Yes Danny has an addictive personality, so what? We all have some bizarre behavior that we wish we could change. I have witnessed Danny with Gretchen and Isabella and he couldn't have been a better husband, friend and father. If any of you actually know Danny, then watching this show will make you laugh, cry and feel for the entire Bonaduce family as they try to cope with Danny and his actions. We live in the USA and that means we ALL can make choices. If you don't like Danny, don't watch the show. If you do like Danny or at least need to watch the train wreck, watch and tell everyone you know to watch. I applaud Gretchen and Danny for being this BOLD in letting us into their personal world.

This is a family in pain, obviously. And to allow them, or probably encourage them to display their pain on TV is harmful to their children in my opinion. I feel a lot of sympathy for what they are going through, but they have these two small kids who are being mentally raked over the coals by having their families trauma displayed on public TV. Why would they want to do this to them? I can just picture their daughter at school trying to explain to her friends why her Daddy slit his wrists. It's just evil. I mean, come on. Someone has to be the voice of reason. How is it ethical to allow these parents to do this? I know that the Bonadices are the exec producers, and it was probably all their idea, but still. WHy would they LET them do this?