The Honey Boo Boo Trainwreck: She's No Shirley Temple

"You better red-neck-onize!"

Whether you love the show or despise it, the fact is that TLC's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a ratings success. In fact, Perez Hilton reports, the show recently received the highest ratings of its record-breaking season—nearly 3 million people tuned in to watch.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo has become a pop culture phenomenon,” one show rep told Hilton. “What you see is what you get and we are excited to share even more of Alana and her family's unbridled hilarity, sincerity and love with our viewers.”

Train-Wreck Allure?

We wondered whether people were watching the show for its “unbridled hilarity, sincerity and love,” so we asked our Facebook community what they thought about Honey Boo Boo and her family—and they didn’t hold back.

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“I think it's a horrible show that glorifies the worst kind of behavior and lifestyle by turning it into a comedy,” posted Jim Threadgill. “The fact that it’s popular at all is just sad. By far one of the worst things on ‘television.’”

Threadgill added that the appeal of the show is its “train-wreck factor,” noting that he is pretty sure that’s why his wife watches it.

“I can’t stomach it,” he said. “Also sadly, it reminds me of a lot of people that I grew up with in southern Missouri. I’m so glad I moved to the city!”

“That Family Needs Help”

Kelly Kirkbride said she refuses to watch the show because she couldn’t stand “Honey Boo Boo,” whose real name is Alana, when she watched her on Toddlers and Tiaras in previous seasons.

“From what I have seen of commercials and news clips, that family needs help,” Kirkbride said.

Chris Carboneau had just one thing to add: “Is it real though?”

Is This a Case for CPS?

Threadgill and others mentioned that some of the antics on the show could be used as evidence against the family if child protective services were called in to investigate, but he added that the producers of the show probably highlight the “worst things about the family.”

Most agreed that the show is probably engineered to “highlight the crazy,” like many reality TV shows, but that at last the family seems to have a lot of love for one another, even if they are physically unhealthy.

Pulling No Punches

Some of our Facebook friends were even bolder in their statements about the Honey Boo Boo show.

Kelly Pollard Wadlow weighed in, noting that she couldn’t stand the show or the family.

“And I’m sorry, but not the little girl either. There is no reason in the world that people need to raise their children to think it’s ok and normal to act like such Hoosiers,” Wadlow said. “And if they are (which we all know they are) pulling out the worst stuff for the show, the fact that they act like that to make it the worst stuff is awful.”

Wadlow added that the fact that the family speaks so unclearly that the show often requires subtitles is “awful.”

“Yes, I realize they are from the south and they have a stronger accent, but it’s still bad,” she posted.

 “Surely if you wanted to watch a bunch of fat hicks you could just go to a trailer park and watch it in 4D rather than in HD or 3D,” posted Cal Black. “It goes to show that you can literally put any garbage on TV and people will watch it.”

She’s No Shirley Temple

Nance Rosen said that while Honey Boo Boo is “no Shirley Temple,” she’s not sure that exploiting a child for mass entertainment is the right thing to do in any era.

“The Olsen twins say they really regret their childhood years,” Rosen posted. “And if their billion dollar fortune doesn’t assuage the loss of those years, the minor amount of money Honey Boo Boo is ‘earning’ probably won’t sit well with her later on.”

Add your voice to the conversation! What do you think about the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo show? Share your thoughts in the comments section, below!