I’m the first to admit that the last thing any of us needs is another set of Kardashians. But, if our spare set of wealthy kids and their mother exhibiting their everyday rich people lives on the boob tube is Dina Eastwood and her kin, we can handle it. The action of Mrs. Eastwood and Company is decidedly taking a scoop from the Kardashian sundae, but it’s got a cherry on top: It’s actually endearing.
Dina and her daughter Morgan have the typical 15-year-old versus uncool mom relationship; it’s a nice break from the momager nightmare that the Kardashian kids have with Kris Jenner. Added to the mix is Francesca, the 19-year-old daughter of Clint Eastwood and actress Frances Fisher, and stepdaughter to Dina. She’s the girliest of the bunch, and the one who looks to have a rocky relationship with her boyfriend, photographer Tyler Sheilds, 29. Still, Francesca is light years from becoming the Kim of the series — even if she does think babies are scary looking.
The pilot tries hard to make the Northern California town of Carmel — where Clint was once the mayor — as much like LA as possible, but we’re not fooled, video editors. Really, it’s just the sort of place where Dina’s housekeeper Lisa goes outside to feed and cuddle with the family’s pot belly pig, and comes inside in time to convince Dina to get a belly button piercing so Morgan won’t want one. (How else is she supposed to respond to her 15-year-old’s industrious PowerPoint presentation stating the pro-piercing case?)
When Dina takes to the idea instantly, we start to get a little wary. Is she just like Jenner, trying desperately to hang on to her youth so she can feel like one of the girls with her daughters? Nope. After Dina not only goes through with the piercing, but gets the most embarrassing belly ring she can find in order to parade it around in front of her daughter’s friends, she makes Morgan do the stomach-turning duty of taking the piercing out before Clint gets home. Between the blood and Morgan’s embarrassment over her mother showing off her less than perfect midriff at school, the 15-year-old wants nothing to do with piercings of any kind. It’s moves like this unconventional patenting tactic and the fact that Dina has no qualms about showing any part of her middle aged (albeit still in damn good shape) body that makes this matriarch and her brood a pleasant little reality family.
Of course, no reality show can survive without melodrama so we’ll have to see how this family handles it when the cameras roll on the rough parts. But, first impressions go a long way and Mrs. Eastwood and Company is off to a cute little start.
Follow Kelsea on Twitter @KelseaStahler.
[Image: NBCUniversal]
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