October 9, 2007
WOW Vet: Bryce on Ice
A few years back, I was a producer on Bravo's Sports Kids Moms & Dads when 16-year-old Bryce Gruwell was a competitive figure skater on the show. Well, he's since given up competing, but is now skating in the national tour of Disney's High School Musical: The Ice Tour.
– Angela Rae Berg
June 12, 2006
It's Not All World Cup
Maria Calleia, who was supervising producer on WOW's Sports Kids Moms & Dads, always keeps her eye on the ball. She writes:
Hey, spread the word – Oprah's re-airing the episode featuring Craig Irwin (the football dad) and Sharon Toups (the cheerleader mom) from the critically acclaimed WOW series Sports Kids Moms & Dads today, Monday, June 12. The promos have screamed, "Obsessed sports parents, Monday at 3!"
"All I know," adds Moye, "is that Maria's not picking up her phone, but after seeing her handle these parents, I'm expecting to see her at Oprah's next Legends ball." [Ed note: Does that mean Moye will be attending the ball, too?]
July 21, 2005
Sonja, Kicking and Screaming
Sixteen-year-old soccer player Sonja Roberson and her family, from Loganville, Georgia, were followed by the WOW cameras for three months for Sports Kids Moms & Dads, then cut from the broadcast and used in a series of compelling "webisodes" that follow the Wednesday airings. Now, after licking her wounds, the fleet-of-foot teen has been enlisted by the WOW Report to review the Bravo series, mouthing off in podcasts after each episode, which she watches at home with her mom & dad and younger sister. Call it Sonja's revenge.
Listen here to Sonja's review of Sports Kids episode 8.
July 20, 2005
Last Game of the Season
Sad to say that tonight is the final episode of Sports Kids Moms & Dads. Will cheerleader Sarah make her mom proud at the National Cheerleading Championships? Will TJ and Lindsay's girls' basketball team make it to the state championships? Will Trenton continue to look for fame with the Glendale Bears, or try to make it elsewhere? Will Karli's mom finally make her say "Adios, amigo" to her beloved horse, Disco? Will Bryce skate through his test to make the advance from intermediate to novice? What does the future hold for the athletic kids and their committed parents? Find out tonight at 10PM on Bravo.
(Photo: Trenton makes a catch?)
July 14, 2005
Sonja, Kicking and Screaming
Sixteen-year-old soccer player Sonja Roberson and her family, from Loganville, Georgia, were followed by the WOW cameras for three months for Sports Kids Moms & Dads, then cut from the broadcast and used in a series of compelling "webisodes" that follow the Wednesday airings. Now, after licking her wounds, the fleet-of-foot teen has been enlisted by the WOW Report to review the Bravo series, mouthing off in podcasts after each episode, which she watches at home with her mom & dad and younger sister. Call it Sonja's revenge.
Listen here to Sonja's review of Sports Kids episode 7.
July 13, 2005
The Bryce Is Right
Sharon and Sarah continue to prepare for Sarah's upcoming trip to the Nationals; Craig and Trenton find out whether the Bears will go to the playoffs; Karli completes her competition at the Canterbury horse trials; TJ, Lindsay, and the New Roads Jaguars continue their winning streak in their goal to make it to the state playoffs; and Bryce (above), after failing to qualify at Jr Nationals, decides to test to advance from his current ranking as a men's intermediate skater to men's NOVICE skater. When the pressure's on, will he be able to skate it?
That's tonight at 10 on Bravo. Episode 7 of Sports Kids Moms & Dads.
July 6, 2005
No TV Till You've Finished Your Cheers
Cheerleader Sarah (above) faces her toughest competition. Trenton has one final game to win before the playoffs. Bryce finds out if he made the cut at Jr Nationals. Mother and daughter, TJ and Lindsay, both get a night out on the town. Karli and family scramble to get to the Canterbury Horse Trials in Florida. That's all tonight on episode 6 of Sports Kids Moms & Dads at 10PM on Bravo.
June 29, 2005
Horse Maneuver
Tonight, on episode 5 of Sports Kids Moms & Dads, Karen give the girls some surprising news about Karli and Disco's future, Bryce finally gets his chance to perform at the Jr Nationals, TJ puts Lindsay on lockdown, and Sarah faces her toughest competition to date. 10PM, Bravo.
(Bravo Sports Kids schedule)
June 23, 2005
Sonja, Kicking and Screaming
Sixteen-year-old soccer player Sonja Roberson and her family, from Loganville, Georgia, were followed by the WOW cameras for three months for Sports Kids Moms & Dads, then cut from the broadcast and used in a series of compelling "webisodes" that follow the Wednesday airings. Now, after licking her wounds, the fleet-of-foot teen has been enlisted by the WOW Report to review the Bravo series, mouthing off in podcasts after each episode, which she watches at home with her mom & dad and younger sister. Call it Sonja's revenge.
Listen here to Sonja's review of Sports Kids episode 4.
June 22, 2005
Sports Animated
The new issue of Sports Illustrated has a piece about Sports Kids Moms & Dads, the fourth episode of which airs tonight at 10 on Bravo. SI's Frank Deford says SKM&D is "an absolutely compelling series, all the more so because we are repelled by the parents and touched by the children, these surrogates for their parents' delusion."
June 20, 2005
Color Commentary
Have you missed any of Sports Kids Moms & Dads? Or not listened to Sonja's next-day podcasts of the episodes? There's always Chris Eades. Eades would like us – and you – to know that he's been recapping the show in that insanely detailed, archly opinionated way he did for Showbiz and Showdog Moms & Dads.
Karen asks when their trainer will be returning with the horses, and Karli explains that the girl is going to look at Disco on Sunday. Karen is all "What girl?" and Karli gets this look of pure disgust in her eyes. She tries to get her mom to remember what she's done, and can't believe she doesn't recall shattering her entire world by selling her horse. Once Karen is clued in, Karli gets fed up and starts to walk away, but Mom says "It's a very big... change. It's really commendable that you're... heading in there." Even Karoline has this look like "What the hell is wrong with her?"
June 16, 2005
Sonja, Kicking and Screaming
Sixteen-year-old soccer player Sonja Roberson and her family, from Loganville, Georgia, were followed by the WOW cameras for three months for Sports Kids Moms & Dads, then cut from the broadcast and used in a series of compelling "webisodes" that follow the Wednesday airings. Now, after licking her wounds, the fleet-of-foot teen has been enlisted by the WOW Report to review the Bravo series, mouthing off in podcasts after each episode, which she watches at home with her mom & dad and younger sister. Call it Sonja's revenge.
Listen here to Sonja's review of Sports Kids episode 3.
But first, an important message from Tom, WOW's head of technology: Now that WOW has gotten into the podcasting game, we've added enclosures to our RSS feed (Atom is coming). So if you use a feed reader that supports enclosures, like NetNewsWire, you can automate listening in, and even getting it to your iPod. You do have one? There's even a few pictures in there for you, if you have the iPod Photo.
June 9, 2005
Ice Ice Baby
Millie, posting on the Sports Kids Moms & Dads forum on the Television Without Pity message boards, says, "A little advice to all my fellow snarkers.....do NOT make a drinking game about every time Sk8rMom says 'double axel'. I am so quesy right now."
June 8, 2005
June 2, 2005
The Cable Guy
Last night I went to premieres of my two favorite shows! They were very different; one on the Paramount lot (all swish and delish), the other at Hollywood Billiards (all ghetto and gritty).
THE COMEBACK - HBO (Paramount lot)
THE FOOD
Mountains of expensive tasty food. For dessert, they had cupcakes! Cupcakes are the new truffles!
THE DISH
Apparently, one of Lisa Kudrow's character's habits, was inspired by something another (real) TV star actually does when meeting powerful executives. That's all i can say.
THE SHOW
Kudrow's performance is heart-aching. If it weren't so funny, it would kill you. Be on the lookout for her quiet moments. The camera lingers and you have no choice but to experience the pathetic desperation of her character's delusional mind. But that's just the beginning; her character's madness, like that of so many out here in Hollywood, is so perfectly packaged, we find ourselves confusing her insanity for mere character flaws. We are genuinely rooting for her. For some, the entire conceit may feel too "insidery," but to me it's flat-out subversiveness. And it's not just Lisa's performance, it's the entire show! It's a full-throttle attack on the wonderful world of television – and what could be more subversive than one of TV's biggest icons leading the way! That's what "friends" are for!
SPORTS KIDS MOMS & DADS - BRAVO (Hollywood Billiards)
THE FOOD
No food, just beer!
THE DISH
Who is sleeping with who at World of Wonder. My lips are sealed!
THE SHOW
OK, full disclosure, this is a WOW show, okay, there, I said it. But c'mon, I can be objective! It's amazing. Don't let the concept mislead you, this is not superficial trainwreck TV. There is a depth to this series that will catch many off guard. It's a genuine evolution of the "moms & dads" brand into fresh new territory. Be prepared.
As I drove home, I realized that these two shows have something in common that attracts me to them. In very different ways they both struggle to confront truths, to go beyond the black-and-white reality that is ironically a result of the gazillion-channel super-saturated televisual world we now live in.
– Randy Barbato
June 1, 2005
This Sporting Life
Tonight's the night. Sports Kids Moms & Dads premieres at 10 on Bravo, in the spot recently vacated by the wildly popular Showdog Moms & Dads. (World of Wonder has a way with enthusiastic parents.) Two of the parents from Sports Kids (Dad Craig, whose son Trenton plays football, and Mom Sharon, whose daughter Sarah is a cheerleader), just appeared on Oprah, and the goddess of daytime called the series "riveting" – and you can quote her. Click on the poster above to visit Bravo's Sports Kids Moms & Dads site or click here for WOW's SKM&D page.
Here, WOW staffers take a break to watch Sports Kids parents on Oprah. Sports Kids supervising producer, Maria Calleia, is seated, second from right.
(Photos: SS)
May 31, 2005
Teaser
Karli, the 17-year equestrian, rides a horse that costs as much as a luxury car so she offsets the cost by mucking stalls every weekend. Watch her gallop the bridle path to glory when Sports Kids Moms & Dads premieres tomorrow on Bravo at 10PM.
May 25, 2005
Sports Kids Pregame
Some of the sports kids from Sports Kids Moms & Dads will be showing up on NBC's Access Hollywood tonight at 7:30PM. It's a good guess that they'll be talking about their Bravo series which begins airing June 1 at 10PM. Meanwhile, watch this clip.
Score!
Susan Stewart's "Hits & Misses" column in TV Guide gives Sports Kids Moms & Dads a score of 8. In next week's issue Stewart raves:
Oh, those pesky parental pathologies! The producers who took on stage moms and dads now turn their gimlet eyes on the parent as coach. Among the five kids followed are Trenton, age 8, whose dad has him on a grueling seven-day training schedule to prep him for a pro football career; and Karli, whose $40,000 horse is breaking divorced mom Karen's budget. Kids is so outrageous you may wonder if it's for real. Sadly, every soccer mom in America knows the answer. MY SCORE: 8
May 24, 2005
Wait, Don't Touch That Dial
On June 1, Bravo will launch "webisodes" immediately following airings of WOW's Sports Kids Moms & Dads. The series documents five parents who are super involved in their children's athletics, much the way the showbiz and show dog moms and dads fussed with their two- and four-legged projects. The short webisodes that follow each episode of Sports Kids will be the continuing story of a sixth child, a 15-year-old soccer player. (Broadcasting & Cable, Bravo's Official Site, Schedule)
May 20, 2005
Teaser
Ice ice, baby. This 16-year-old hopes his double axels and triple triple lutzes will propel him into the top-10 category of US male junior figure skaters. Watch him glide, leap, 'n' spin when Sports Kids Moms & Dads premieres June 1 at 10PM on Bravo.
May 5, 2005
Teaser
He's eight, the fastest kid in the league, and knows there's a Heisman trophy in his future. This NFL-bound phenom is one of the stars of Sports Kids Moms & Dads, premiering June 1 on Bravo.
April 29, 2005
Teaser
Colleges began looking to recruit this young basketball star at age 14. Now Mom has to keep her daughter's focus on the game and off the boys. She's just one of the kids on Sports Kids Moms & Dads, starting June 1 on Bravo. (Watch the trailer)
