Family Business Season 2 Directed by Anthony Marsh & Jay Blumenfield
Starring: Seymore Butts, Cousin Stevie, Mari Possa Country: USA Year: 2004 Official Site: Family Business
Before receiving a Family Business copy for review, I had neither heard of Seymore Butts, nor of Family Business, since 1) I don't have the cable 2) I'm not into porn—and even if I were, censor-happy crackerjack video chains such as Blockbuster don't carry these kinds of films—they'd rather cover their walls with the latest Ashton Kutcher masterpiece.
Anyway, let's get back to business. Family Business is a reality show following Adam Glasser—aka Seymore Butts—a loving single dad whose job is making porn films—in case you're wondering, his stage name gives you a hint as to his onscreen signature. Because, as he states on the show, money gets easily "lost" in this industry, he has hired his mom as the company's accountant and his cousin—super-champion screw-up Stevie—as his logistical/marketing go-to man. The show follows the parallels between their personal lives and business adventures and as you expect this gets pretty entertaining.
One of the main issues I've always had with reality shows is that they're not truly authentic, swapping realism away for its own ersatz since they censor sex and language—at least in the US. Family Business certainly solves that issue since there is no censorship whatsoever in describing the wild behind-the-scenes of this particular world. The only traces of a cut that I can sense are at the level of Adam's personal life as I suspect the pornographer gets more "action" with his cast than they are willing to show—there are hints here and there, such as when his mom calls him while he's in a limousine with two actresses ready to give him a good time.
The great strength of Family Business is that the show can be watched at three levels, which makes it appealing to different audiences and not only to the so-called perverts. First, there is Adam's personal life, which provides an emotional and effective dimension to the show. Not only does he come out as a great guy, caring for his employees—a far cry from the image you have of a porn director/producer—but he perfectly sets boundaries between his job environment and his life as a single father. Not only does he have a very close bond with his son, who is the most important person in his life, but he also turns out to be very wise during his dates, something you wouldn't expect from someone called Seymore Butts—this is probably when Adam takes over. The second level of the show is its tongue-in-cheek humor, most of the time centered on cousin Stevie's emblematic screw-ups. Finally, there is of course the porn dimension, which obviously appeals to the senses.
The box set contains the 10 episodes of Season 2 with some bare extras—a series of short interviews. In the first episodes, we follow cousin Stevie who, trying to build on the momentum of his 5 minutes of fame, decides to get an agent and turn to acting. Walking around most of the season wearing a t-shirt featuring his picture and the url of his website, Stevie is some kind of Don Quixote, a dreamer who is always glorious in his failures. His presence gives the show a spoof-like edge that the filmmakers know how to play well: for example, at the end of the first episode, they make a comparison between porn and regular acting, and you get the feeling that porn actors might be better performers than the myriad of bad actors haunting Hollywood's second-rate acting schools.
Stevie is also the star of episode 2 where, after forgetting about his wedding anniversary, he is forced to fly to Las Vegas to make up with his wife, with everything of course planned by Adam. Episode 3 proves to be the kinkiest and funniest entry. Adam decides to give Stevie the chance to direct his own films and he ends up casting an Asian actress who, when she takes off her clothes, turns out to be a transvestite. Unless you are into these kinds of things, you will probably get as disgusted as I was—but one thing that saves it is to see the look on the face of the male actor at that very moment, which is priceless. After this already successful endeavor, Stevie goes on and shoots some weird S&M segment involving a guy dressed as a dog and a girl using chicken as props—go figure. In episode 4, Adam goes on a business trip to Florida, leaving Stevie in charge in the Valley, which of course leads to multiple catastrophes, the funniest involving mixing up his vacation pictures with the stills of a video, resulting in a picture of him on the beach finding its way on the cover of a DVD.
Episodes 5, 6 and 7 are the weakest entries but in Episode 8, Stevie gets back to business, when his attempts at casting non-adult entertainers for some Internet show, are another big—hilarious—failure. Episode 9 could be called the Revenge of the Nerd, as during a trip to Chicago, Adam takes along Stevie's nephew and, within 48 hours, provides him with a life-altering experience! The season ends on a more effective note, with Adam hooking up with his films' star, Mari Possa.
Amusingly enough, as I was hanging out on Melrose last weekend I ran into cousin Stevie, Mari Possa and another actress at the opening of a—cheesy—store on Melrose. I didn't stick around too long so as not to risk ending up on the show and passing for a fan of Seymore Butts flicks, but cousin Stevie and the actresses had the same kind of natural way of acting and accessibility that make the show appealing, contrary to the creepy image we have of people working in this industry. I'll probably never see a Seymore Butts film, but watching these DVDs made a convert out of me and I can't wait to see Seasons 1 and 3. I guess I've finally found an acceptable degree of reality TV.
Family Business Season 2 review
