Lifetime will air the Season 4 premiere of its hit reality TV show, Dance Moms, this week. The star of the show is Abby Lee Miller, a hotheaded dance instructor who pushes her talented young troupe (8- to 13-year-olds) to dance provocatively, and bosses around their mothers who seem incapable of saying no to Miller. The mothers have enrolled their children in Miller’s dance school because Miller is the best, and they want the best for their children, no matter what.
Seeing the success of Dance Moms, Bravo is launching a new series about extreme parenting – Extreme Guide to Parenting. Beginning August 7, each hour-long episode will showcase a variety of families raising their children with alternative styles including “eco-kosher, shamanistic” and “conscious-attachment.” (That’s not what Gwyneth and Chris Martin just did, BTW.) One couple experiments by not communicating with their 16-month-old daughter. It’s agony to watch but you’ll feel better about your own parental shortcomings. Extreme Guide to Parenting is produced by Punched in the Head Productions who gave us MTV’s True Life.
