Gene Simmons Family Jewels

[MamaJunebug]

And if anybody else here does I'd be happy to speculate.

 

The thing's scripted out the wazoo, but it's still fun to watch, mostly because of Sophie, Nick and Shannon in that order.

 

This recent thing with the separation is, well, hitting close to home for a lot of folks, myself included. It seems pretty reality based. Either that or Shannon's a much better actress than her resume gives credit for, and Gene does a danged good job of acting shaken to close to his core.

 

I'm betting it all winds up with them becoming engaged with a huge diamond, if not getting married. And I'm hoping it does. Gene and I share a birthday! I'm so tickled by that. Because I've done a bit of late-in-life growing up, myself.

 

I can't imagine that marrying the woman who's made his life liveable will do anything to the rockstar image he's perpetuated ... and that was some of the speculation, that his fans would consider him a sellout for making it legal.

 

I'm hoping we get to see his father, in Israel.

 

OK, that's all the thoughts I had, disjointed as they are. Wanna tawk? No big whoop. I'm here.

[Nothing2CHere]

My husband is a HUGE Kiss fan (would dress up as Gene Simmons's character to attend their concerts), so of course I have caught the occasional episode. Surprisingly, he doesn't watch it religiously, but I think it has more to do with when it's on, he's not usually watching TV and forgets that it's on.

Anyway, we missed the season premiere episode but caught the two from last night. And I had watched the Chelsea Handler/Kathie Lee & Hoda/Joy Bauer interviews online, and totally believed that Shannon was Truly.That.Pissed. But after the apparently oh-so quick reconciliation they showed last night, I'm starting to think that these current interviews, at least, were staged just to get people to watch, and I'm feeling a little like a stooge for falling for the act. Because I am starting to think that this season is going to end with an engagement, and if that's the case, then why were they acting so, so, so upset during the recent interviews.... I can believe that they really did have this big blow-up months ago when taping started, but if everything's good now, don't be toying with my emotions like this and making me think that you're still currently on the outs :naughty:

I also noticed that Gene kept trying to divert questions with his, "So, it's a nice day today" comments in all three of those pre-premier interviews, which is also making me lean towards the "it was all staged" side of the fence.

I do, however, love love love Nick & Sophie so much.

[MamaJunebug]

Girl! That was my reaction immediately upon seeing the reconciliation last night -- "You jerks, you still acted all peaced off on the publicity circuit." OTOH, I don't know how else they could've done it if they wanted folks to tune in for the second week's episodes.

That's pretty cool about your hubs doing a mockup of the Demon. I was such a "who's KISS?" person up to last year, I wasn't even sure what songs KISS did other than "Beth." :hand: Again, don't hate. *chuckle* I'm one of those people who knows the songs she likes, has no idea who sings 'em.

I should amend my previous statement about who I like most. I like the House most, with the kids a close second, then Shannon, Snippy and Gene. Surprised my Tivo hasn't died on the vine from all the times I've paused it just to marvel at the architecture, design and decoration.

I really hope Shannon's re-do gets completed, want to see the changes they make! :shhh: <--I see that as a 'crossed fingers' smiley. I'm lame.

:D

[Nothing2CHere]

That house is pretty amazing... *sigh*

I didn't know much about Kiss until I met my husband, too. He's loved them ever since he was a little kid, but that's also because he loves monsters and as a child of the 70's, he was all, "Ooooh, monster doll!" when he saw the Gene Simmons dolls in the store. He's a music geek in general, though. Just, obscure stuff about bands that formed before he was even born, and he can identify these artists on site - I'm like, "OK, maybe if you played the song I'd recognize it."

I did notice that they used Gene's therapy session for all it was worth, cutting back and forth between that and other scenes, making it seem like it was several sessions when it was all the same one because they were in the same outfits. Ah, editing! Even though they reconciled, I got the impression that Shannon was still a bit miffed with him in the next episode, and now I've got to keep watching. Alas, we're still living in the 90's and haven't acquired TiVo yet :?

[MamaJunebug]

Ooh! Thanks for that, sistah friend! I was going to check to see if it was one session or two, you've saved me the time I can now spend checking out yon House!

Very cool about your husband's affection from childhood -- so now do you have an endless supply of KISS stuff to buy him for special gift-giving times???

[Lainey]

MamaJunebug, there is a crossed-fingers smiley. <--There ya go. Page 5 of the smileys.

I like to watch that show when I come across it, but I don't watch much TV, so I haven't seen it in a long time. I think Gene and the boy kid (Nick?) are pretty funny. I don't remember much about the girl.

[1004srs]

I watch it too. Seen them in concert a couple of times. One of my guilty pleasures. :oops:

I do watch the show for Nick, Sophie and Shannon. Shannon seems like she was a great Mom. I also like when her sister is around.

[Nothing2CHere]

Very cool about your husband's affection from childhood -- so now do you have an endless supply of KISS stuff to buy him for special gift-giving times???

Alas, nope, because he's already bought it all himself already. And I draw the line at the Kiss Coffin

(Fortunately, he is sane enough to not want one, anyway)

[Nothing2CHere]

I do watch the show for Nick, Sophie and Shannon. Shannon seems like she was a great Mom. I also like when her sister is around.

I love the video snippets from when the kids were younger - I wish they'd show more of them than just the quick 10-second shots they usually do.

[MamaJunebug]

MamaJunebug, there is a crossed-fingers smiley. <--There ya go. Page 5 of the smileys.

I like to watch that show when I come across it, but I don't watch much TV, so I haven't seen it in a long time. I think Gene and the boy kid (Nick?) are pretty funny. I don't remember much about the girl.

I'm in your debt!!! thank you. 8-)

Sophie does tend to be more laidback and less verbal than Nick. It's fun to think of one's own kids, or siblings, or friends, looking at some of their interaction on the vintage videos.

I love when Nick was (is?) going through his drama-queen phase, where he was always loudly proclaiming that Sophie was tryin' to KILLLLLL him! And Sophie would just stand a few paces away and watch him with mild interest. :lol:

Now they're grown, Nick still has the flair for the dramatic (I've started looping a scarf through my belt loop in his honor when we go out. It actually has caused people to think I'm way more sophisticated than i am!) and Sophie still seems to enjoy standing/sitting apart and making a quiet wisecrack without cracking a smile.

But they're both so grounded. And when Sophie was bringing the home truths to Gene, I really believed she wasn't acting, that they had caught her in the first and only confrontation she had with her dad over Shannon's exasperation.

It looks as though Gene tried to be an involved dad when he was home. Shannon, wisely keeping the kids busy and actually interacting with them, appears to have been a great mom. I mean, look how N & S have turned out!

Welcome to and thanks for the comments from all the other fans of the "other" FJ! ;)

[MamaJunebug]

I'm sorry to start a second topic on the same subject, but I can't open the old one!

And I'm keen to think this one over!!

Last night they showed Gene, Shannon and the incredibly wise Nick in Israel. Shannon arranges for a meeting with Gene's half-brother and 3 half-sisters and their families. Unclear whether Gene knew his father had had more children after he and Florence split, but the reactions seemed awfully genuine.

Then they got to the cemetery (or maybe a scene before that) and I couldn't look at the screen. Loudmouthed, uber-confident, ultimate lone wolf Gene Simmons was in such emotional turmoil that I felt improper, looking at him.

Srsly. It seemed as real as it gets. Did anybody else watch? Anybody else want to just tawk? No big whoop. ;)

[Nothing2CHere]

Drat, we totally forgot this was on! I'll have to catch it on a repeat and then get back to you. I did read over the current posts on the Family Jewels thread at TWOP, though, and others shared your thoughts, too - that the cemetery scene was almost like they were peeking in on a really private moment.

Now I HAVE to watch this episode!

[MamaJunebug]

There's not a lot of convo over at TWoP but what there is, subscribes to the idea that Gene's reactions were real. I taped it in HD, and you know, that is one unattractive older man, Gene Simmons. The fact that Shannon is with him through all these years, moved heaven and earth to make things happen for him in Israel and elsewhere, well, that woman really loves him. Really.

The show is a money-maker, like everything else GS does, but I tell you, this recent episode has me thinking, "best commercial viewing of 2011 so far." Because nothing else has shown me the triumph of love like this.

I mention "commercial" because I've seen plenty of real love in the stories from Joplin, Missouri and other places hard hit this year. For scripted stuff, though, this GSFJ episode has it in the bag.

[Burris]

I don't watch much TV, but my husband watches Family Jewels when it comes on. I've always thought GS' family is impressive and there's a sort of genuineness to the whole thing that most reality TV seems to lack.

I think Simmons' reaction was unfeigned. It seems unlikely he'd indulge emotion on purpose when such might damage trade with certain segments of his fan-base.

I'm starting to think, and I feel almost prurient for even guessing about this, that the reason Simmons won't marry Shannon Tweed is because he's afraid not that she'll change but that he'll change and eventually do something that would constitute abandonment.

[MamaJunebug]

He's alluded to that in as many words ... "I'll become the guy who..."

However, it seems to me that finally thinking about his father, finding out that his father's second wife also took the children and left (as Gene's mom did) and working through some of his issues, he may have half a chance at making it legal with Shannon.

She has certainly proven her quiet, unfailing love for him.

Gene and I share a birthdate, and it's been interesting to see him 'growing up' even as I've done some of my own. Never too late!

[MamaJunebug]

Just watched the replay of a 2010 episode in which they go to Amsterdam and tour the Anne Frank Museum House and meet two Holocaust survivors and their families.

Gene tells the story that I read in one of his memoirs, how his grandmother chose to die with her own mother rather than let the old lady face death alone. His grandmother said to her daughter Flora, who was 14 and who would become Gene's mom in 1949, something like, "Survive, and God will bless you" and went to her death.

It's got me thinking a lot. I'm going to try to continue to snark only on ideas, not on people, even people as odious as the Dominionist community produces.

People forget that possibly more than 6,000,000 Poles and Gypsies and Slavs were murdered in the Nazi evil. And why? Because somebody with a big mouth was able to persuade others that "the Jews are the cause of all our problems, the Poles and Gypsies and Slavs are inferior beings, suited for field work like horses." And then of course there was the persecution of homosexuals.

I've had my prejudices in the past. Heck, i still have wariness of some people, and I need to work on that while keeping my street smarts.

Lately there's been two or three -- not many, but way more than I want -- people on the radio station I listen to, declare that homosexuality is a choice and a sinful one at that. This, coupled with my denomination's insistence that women are not to be ordained as pastors, has me quietly moving out of my denomination. Not sure how, not sure when it will be complete, but it has started, now.

Not that I equate that denomination with anything evil!!! The people who set the doctrines for it are educated, wise .... and in a couple of major (for me) instances, wrong. Just wrong. I can't support it any more.

BTW, Gene Simmons' show didn't make up my mind. I made up my mind when I thought of what happened to distant cousins of mine (I imagine there were quite a few) in Poland, and what my first cousin, now on earth, faces as a homosexual in a decades-long, committed relationship. One of the gentlest people I know, with the best sense of humor, patience and caring.

As Gene Simmons quietly wailed as he looked at Anne Frank's photos, "What did she [or my cousin] ever do to anybody?"

It makes no sense.

I'm so glad I've got FJ to speak my mind into. <3

[dcmhejbl62]

MamaJunebug, ((((hugs))))

I know you have a great love for your denomination and your friends and family there. That's a hard place to get to, but I guess there's a feeling of peace too, isn't there?

I can definitely relate; I've been there before and am heading that way again. I'm mostly fine with my denomination per se, there are no large matters of conscience, although I do have nitpicky issues. But the institutional Christian church as a whole (of which my denomination is a part, obviously)... ugh. It's getting hard. So many unspoken prejudices, so many unwritten rules that "demote" you as a follower, so many sacred cows, and always the "business" model. I sit in church, with all these wonderful people whom I love and respect, and think, we couldn't have gotten further away from what Jesus came to do. So much just feels... wrong.

Anyway... positive thoughts and prayers directed your way. ; )

[dcmhejbl62]

We happened to watch Family Jewels for the first time last night. He certainly seems genuine, and his wife seems to love him. I was moved to tears during the cemetery scene, and then turned to my husband and said, "They shouldn't have filmed that. They shouldn't be showing this." It was not just a private moment, it was almost sacred in a non-religious sense. This aspect of the reality TV genre just wigs me out, anybody else?

[MamaJunebug]

Thank you, dcm,etc., and yes, I too thought it was too personal, but GS has lived his life exhibitionistically so it doesn't surprise. I enjoy re-watching GSFJ episodes but will certainly FF thru that part & some others.

Mostly, thank you again for the first part of your message. :). You and yours are in my prayers for peace. XO

[MamaJunebug]

Alecto, & whoever else proposed this, I loves ya! Thank you for providing!

Whether or not the current story line about the family's woes is real, or how real it is:

Certain women of a certain age can identify with Shannon Tweed, reaching a point in life at which they very seriously ask, 'Is that all there is?' WRT their spousal unit. Not all have Shannon's personal fortune, or the prospect of landing half of a billionaire's fortune in a palimony suit. Even so, they think about life beyond an unsatisfactory, long-term relationship.

I think this is what's keeping me glued to new episodes.

I'm also seeing some of my own, wonderful dad in Gene's words, "I provide! We've gotta have money, and I bring in the money, and that excuses me from stuff I don't wanna do. Stuff that involves emotions...."

Like where Gene is touring and misses Sophie's HS graduation. The wha'???? I missed that episode but hearing about it didn't surprise. Gene possibly didn't want to experience the emotions and signficances of that ceremony, that day.

Continued admiration for Nick & Sophie, and therefore, for Shannon. What a great job she did in raising two sensible, drug-free (or at least, addiction-free), thoughtful children into responsible adults!

Also, thanks to them for broadcasting the winter scenes of Saskatoon during the worst heat wave this year. OH, it was so good to see snow!!!!! :clap:

[Crackedeggs]

we follow this avidly. loved the show, was thrown a curveball when this season started!

I have a so called tribute site to sophie as a like or a friend on my facebook page. Thing is, she's been pretty clumsy in her attempts to make everyone believe it's just a tribute site run by someone else, and there have been many dead giveaways to it being really her, like a poignant statement about " what is it you are looking for" when the episode where Shannon first blows up at Gene aired, just as they were getting heated in the fight, a few other statements, and, amusingly, a post from Nick Simmons real facebook account one night when she was posting a million pics of herself and changing the profile pic 20 times in a row that said " my sister is bored!". She deletes giveaways pretty quick, but I've seen a few now, so I'm pretty sure it's her running that page. Most of the people who post there think its her too, by how they address her directly.

[MamaJunebug]

Oh mah dawg that's great, Crackedeggs! If I were better at FB I'd try to look it up. (I'll ask one of the Juniors, aka my kids.) :D

[anniebgood]

I just watched the episode where Gene and Shannon and Nick go to Israel and it ends with him sobbing at his father's grave. I think the older Gene gets the wiser he may become. If Shannon accepts his proposal tonight, it will be a tremendous leap for Gene.

I enjoy watching it in spurts, and I guess I'll have to DVR the episode tonight. :geek:

[Alecto]

OH OH OH EFF YOU SHOW!

I tuned in just to see what she would say and I got a big, fat To Be Continued....

[anniebgood]

So next season we'll know if she said yes.

I follow Shannon on Twitter and she talks about the show when it's being filmed. I wish them Mazel Tov.