Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a reality television program on TLC that features six-year-old child beauty pageant participant Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, along with her mother June Shannon, father Mike Thompson, and three older sisters. The show is mostly filmed in and around the family's hometown in rural McIntyre, Georgia, United States.

The Thompsons originally gained fame appearing on TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras, which follows the lives of child beauty pageant contestants and their families. It has been reported that the family is paid a salary of $50,000 per episode, and Alana Thompson's own net worth is $300,000.

Cast

Series regulars

• Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson
• June "Mama" Shannon
• Lauryn "Pumpkin" Shannon
• Anna "Chickadee" Shannon
• Jessica "Chubbs" Shannon
• Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson
• Kaitlyn "Baby Kaitlyn" Shannon (Season 1.10 onwards)

Recurring

Guest Starring

• Lee "Uncle Poodle" Thompson
• Tony "Crazy Tony" Lindsey

Co-Starring

• Tyson Jackson

Ratings and reception

The series premiere episode attained a 1.6 in the 18"49 demographic, attracting 2.2 million viewers. The series was one of TLC's highest-rated shows in its first season. The fourth episode, airing on the third night of the 2012 Republican National Convention, attracted almost 3 million viewers and scored a 1.3 rating with those 18-49, the highest rating that night with the age group of any cable program, though about 20 million in all were watching the convention. Fox News convention coverage was second in the time period with a 1.2 rating, followed by NBC coverage with 1.1.

Critical reaction to the series has been mixed, with some characterizing the show as "offensive," "outrageous," and "exploitative," and others calling it "must-see TV."

The A.V. Club called the first episode a "horror story posing as a reality television program," with others worrying about potential child exploitation.

James Poniewozik mostly praised the show, but criticized the producers for "the way that the show seems to assume that those viewers will look at this family and the world."

A reviewer for Forbes criticized TLC as trying to "portray Alana's family as a horde of lice-picking, lard-eating, nose-thumbing hooligans south of the Mason"Dixon line," stating that "it falls flat, because there's no true dysfunction here, save for the beauty pageant stuff."

The Guardian also criticized the attempt to portray the Thompsons as people to "point and snicker at," saying, "none of the women or girls who participate in the show seems to hate themselves for their poverty, their weight, their less-than-urbane lifestyle, or the ways in which they diverge from the socially-acceptable beauty standard."

The Hollywood Reporter pronounced the show "horrifying" explaining, "You know this show is exploitation. TLC knows it. Maybe even Mama and HBB know it, deep down in their rotund bodies. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a car crash, and everybody rubber-necks at a car crash, right? It's human nature. Yes, except that if you play that card, you also have to realize that human nature comes with the capacity to draw a line, to hold fast against the dehumanization and incremental tearing down of the social fabric, even if this never-ending onslaught of reality television suggests that's a losing effort. You can say no to visual exploitation. You can say no to TLC. And you can say no to Honey Boo Boo Child. Somebody has to."

June Shannon herself has been criticized for her daughter's diet, which includes "Go Go Juice," a mixture of Red Bull and Mountain Dew that contains as much caffeine as two cups of coffee. The mix is used to get her daughter ready for pageants. Shannon has responded to this criticism saying. "There are far worse things... I could be giving her alcohol." She has also been praised by Mother Nature Network for her "keen business sense" with which she feeds her family on $80 a week by clipping copious coupons, playing Bingo, exploiting roadkill, and acquiring child-support checks from each of her four children's fathers.

The animated TV series South Park lampooned the show's stars in its season 16 episode "Raising the Bar."

The show was criticized by TV Guide in their "Cheers & Jeers 2012" issue, which comments, "Jeers to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo for existing. Alana Thompson and her family have lowered the TV bar to new depths while introducing viewers to the terms 'forklift foot' and 'neck crust.' In a word, ewww."

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

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Season 2 (2013-)

No in Season	No in Series	Title	Original air date	Production Code	U.S. viewers (million)

Specials

TV Guide confirmed, when Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was renewed in September 2012, that three specials will also be airing, for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

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