Breaking Bonaduce

As one of the many people to have met Danny, I may have spent more time with him in a one on one basis than most others. Yes Danny has an addictive personality, so what? We all have some bizarre behavior that we wish we could change. I have witnessed Danny with Gretchen and Isabella and he couldn't have been a better husband, friend and father. If any of you actually know Danny, then watching this show will make you laugh, cry and feel for the entire Bonaduce family as they try to cope with Danny and his actions. We live in the USA and that means we ALL can make choices. If you don't like Danny, don't watch the show. If you do like Danny or at least need to watch the train wreck, watch and tell everyone you know to watch. I applaud Gretchen and Danny for being this BOLD in letting us into their personal world.

This is a fender bender. This is self-centered, and aggrandizing. Danny is no longer interesting-just sad. Gretchen, while clearly beleaguered, is tough for me to figure out.

No, I am afraid for Danny that the car crash is yet to come, and when it does, we will all be mortified, despite what we've all seen coming for years.

In fact, I am mourning already. I think the guy could have been a great character actor, and could have had a much better life than he has led. I would much rather see him in a sitcom or even a "B" action movie than this.

Further troubling me is that the Bonaduce's are listed as producers on this mess.

I will not go beyond the two episodes I have already seen because I doubt seriously that there is any saving grace for these people, and that makes me very sad.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope he gets a deal for a good acting gig that enables him to provide for his family and show off his intelligence and talent-especially his sense of irony. But I'm nearly as old as he is, and having lived that long, I know better.

Oddly enough, I turned off the second episode just before it ended, chastising myself for looking on for so long. I flipped channels to a local affiliate, which was running the original "Reefer Madness." It's everywhere. We can't escape it.

No, I will turn it back on when I am wrong; when Breaking Bonaduce Season Two is subtitled "Turning the Corner: AGAIN!.

I want to be wrong here. I really do.

"Breaking Bonaduce" is a new reality show, but not really. This is a new form of reality television (which I loathe to begin with) - it's public airing of dirty laundry. And as appalling as it is, it's also like watching a car crash - you can't take your eyes off it.

Dante "Danny" Bonaduce is a troubled guy and has been for years. Watching this he strikes me as a selfish, annoying, sarcastic, addictive, abusive human being. When it's not coke, it's heroin. When it's not heroin, it's steroids. When it's not steroids, it's alcohol. When it's not alcohol, it's pills. He's always addicted to something (his latest thing is fitness and steroids). He's weird and disgusting.

Earlier in the year he announced on his radio show that he had cheated on his wife and lost a lot of fans. His show was then canceled when people stopped listening.

Creating this TV show is a way of drawing viewers again. It's very much all for controversy - on the commercials he's practically asking us to watch. "You have every right to watch that car crash," he says. Well, duh. Like, of course we do, it's on friggin' TV.

The show is hard, gritty and visceral. I like it. It is appalling, yes. But it's also strangely fascinating.

Worth catching if you're flipping channels some night with nothing else to watch.

Watching this reality series is like watching a slow moving train wreck, it's awful, it's horrible but you can turn away.

What to say about Danny and Gretchen that hasn't already been said? They are both celebrity whores big time to allow cameras into the meltdown that is called their marriage.

This is the second season and sad to say, things are not improving for the family. During the first season I had a lot of compassion for everyone involved, but now I am beginning to think Gretchen is using Danny both monetarily and for the "fame" itself. Not that he is perfect, God knows how F****D up he is, and I'm sure living with him would be difficult at best, but to make the man beg and grovel and not to let him touch you? I don't get it, either you love him and are willing to give it another go for the like 1,000th time or for God's sake cut him loose!!!! He deserves at least some honesty for crying out loud. She seems to get off on him telling her how much he loves her and needs her and can't live without her and she acts as if she could care less. She's a heartless bitch in my opinion. The recent episode of her going to Boston with him proved that. She went to look like "Gretchen Bondaduce, supportive wife" in public and then they get back to the hotel and she invites him to sleep in her hotel room and then tells him he is not to touch her? What the hell? I don't get it.

And Dr. Gary, what is up with this guy? He looks like he has been Botox'd to the max, he can't even move his face when he is chastising Danny and he has obvious anger towards Danny that tends to make him side constantly with Gretchen. They are like 2 sorority sisters getting together to cut up poor Danny. Don't get me wrong, Danny pushes everyone's buttons, but Dr. Gary always sides with Gretchen instead of trying to stay impartial and make both the adults in this relationship own up to their dysfunctional ways. Gretchen is not the perfect saint that Dr. Gary tends to make her out to be. I think she is totally manipulative.

The obvious victims in this whole mess are the 2 Bonaduce children. How sad for them that their mother hates their father and encourages her young son to make fun of his father's bipolar disorder!!! In 20 years we will probably be hearing about these 2 kids multiple stints in rehab, arrests, etc.

Watch this show if you must (I have to say, once you start watching you can't stop)but don't be surprised if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Danny is beyond sorry.

He keeps making the same mistakes, and is no longer interesting to watch. At first I could feel for him, as an addict myself. My heart went out to him at the beginning, and somewhere along the line he went over the line. It is almost as if he is continuing this behavior to keep the show going, and at the same time is seriously risking his life, and the welfare of his family, especially his children. It is difficult even to have pity for the poor boy. I think he needs to watch this show, maybe then he might have a chance a saving this marriage. I can't understand how Gretchen stays with him, and I keep wondering how much is just for show, and how much is love. Danny, get a life - a new one that is! ...and don't get me started on Dr. Gary. What is with him and his face? His skin looks like it's stretched to the max. Besides that, looks don't mean a thing, yet he seems not to be particularly impartial. I think, he too, is keeping this going for his own monetary gain and often not in the best interests of either Gretchen or Danny. These people are few confused and each remind me of a dog chasing its tail. sad, very sad. C'mon pull yourselves together.