Here Comes Honey Boo Boo

***Here Comes Honey Boo Boo*** is an American reality television series featuring the family of child beauty pageant contestant Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, who rose to fame after appearing in *Toddlers & Tiaras*. The show revolves around Honey Boo Boo's and her family adventures in the town of McIntyre, Georgia. It was produced by Authentic Entertainment and aired for four seasons on TLC from August 8, 2012 to August 14, 2014, and was later cancelled in October 2014 when cast member June "Mama June" Shannon was seen with registered sex offender Mark Anthony McDaniel. Episodes filmed for a fifth season were aired as a single two-hour special on April 21, 2017.

## Episodes

Main article: *List of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo episodes*

 1
 2
 3
 4
 Specials

## Reception

### Ratings

*Here Comes Honey Boo Boo* attained a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic, attracting 2.2 million viewers with its series premiere, with the first season becoming one of TLC's highest-rated shows. The episode "A Bunch of Wedgies", aired during the 2012 Republican National Convention, attracted almost 3 million viewers and scored a 1.3 rating amongst 18- to 49-year-olds, the highest rating in that age group for any cable program that night.

### Critical

The series received predominantly negative reviews from television critics during its run, with some characterizing the show as offensive, outrageous, and exploitive, while others called it a must-see. *The A.V. Club* called the first episode a "horror story posing as a reality program", with others expressing concern of child exploitation. James Poniewozik mostly praised the show but criticized the producers for "the way the show seems to assume that those viewers will look at this family and the world." A reviewer of *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-Dixie line". *The Guardian* also criticized the attempt to portray the Thompsons as people to "point and snicker at," *The Hollywood Reporter* pronounced it as "horrifying". *TV Guide*'s "Cheers and Jeers 2012" issue commented, "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*."

June Shannon herself was criticized for her daughter's diet, which included "Go Go Juice", a blended mixture of Red Bull and Mountain Dew containing as much caffeine as two cups of coffee and given to her daughter during beauty pageants.

### Parodies

*Here Comes Honey Boo Boo* proved popular to the point of being lampooned by other shows and various celebrities. A major example is the *South Park* episode, "Raising the Bar", which satirizes the public's reactions to the show's titular family and concerns child exploitation. Other examples include the animated series *MAD*, in a skit called "Here Comes Yogi Boo Boo", and the competition reality show *RuPaul's Drag Race*, in which contestant Eureka O'Hara impersonated Alana during the show's recurring "Snatch Game" challenge. The show was also parodied in a scene from *Scary Movie 5* that parodies *Sinister*, in which Simon Rex is frightened by an Alana lookalike. Christopher Walkin, Colin Farrell, and Sam Rockwell even took time from promoting their film *Seven Psychopaths* to deliver a dramatic rendition of the show.

## Cancellation

On October 12, 2014, TLC announced the show's cancellation after reports surfaced that June Shannon was dating Mark Anthony Daniel Sr., who was convicted of aggravated child molestation of an eight-year-old in March 2004 and is listed as a registered sex offender with the Georgia Sex Offender Registry. Shannon's eldest daughter Lauryn "Pumpkin" Shannon confirmed to being the child whom McDaniel had molested. The reports prompted Shannon to admit to *Entertainment Tonight* that Lauryn's father was not actually McDaniel as previously stated, but another registered sex offender named Michael Anthony Ford, who served time for exploitation of minors after being caught on *To Catch a Predator* in 2005. The reports led to a number of episodes filmed for a potential fifth season being left unaired, though four of them would later be released as the two-hour special *Here Comes Honey Boo Boo: The Lost Episodes* on April 21, 2017.