Review: 'Lone Star Lady'

Trust is an under-appreciated part of the television viewing experience, particularly when it comes to reality or "non-scripted" TV. At this point, most viewers probably expect a certain level of producer/editor intervention in even the best reality programs. They understand that some scenes might air out of order or that clips may have been edited to heighten certain storylines.

But because the nature of television is to continually push the limits of convention, there is a whole subgenre of reality TV that is as tightly edited and assembled as any scripted television show. I don't think any show can completely hide that level of intervention, but the best of them can at least keep it from showing up too obviously in the course of the episode.

Sadly, not all producers are capable of having that level of self control and after years of heavy-handed manipulations, viewers are skeptical about even the most well-meaning of efforts. It's difficult to look at a show and not think to yourself "I wonder if this really happened, or was it encouraged by the producers?"

I bring all of this up as a way of explaining my mixed feelings about "Lone Star Lady," the new reality show premiering this Sunday on A&E. There are a lot of things to recommend the show, but after watching the first episode my overall impression was that I didn't quite believe what I saw.

"Lone Star Lady" focuses on Rochelle Carnes, a full-time mom living with her husband and four boys in Johnson City, Texas. Until five years ago, the family was living in a mobile home. But after the family hit oil, things have changed and they're now living a much more comfortable life in an average sized house. But with the added money comes the challenges of keeping everyone's expectations in check and raising kids in as normal a way as possible.

The main story arc of episode one focuses on the desires of the boys to move into a larger house. They all share a bathroom and several share bedrooms. They know the family now has the money to move into a much bigger house and several of the younger sons think a butler wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

Much of the back-and-forth in the episode is what you would expect to see. The family checks out a couple of possible houses, with Rochelle and her husband undecided about what they should do. Rochelle's sister and parents live nearby and they argue against the move.

For all the predictability, the episode is fun to watch. The Carnes family is entertaining and while the kids sometimes seem a bit too glib with the punchlines, if you don't over-think what's going on it's easy to enjoy it all.

But the ending of the episode ruined the mood, with a scene that just seemed awkward and manipulative. After all the angst over moving, Rochelle and her husband blindfold the kids and take them out into their backyard, promising to show them something that will solve the lack of bathrooms problem. Hey, they've placed a couple of porta-potties in the backyard for the boys to use. Sigh.

I have no idea where the porta-potty idea came from, but it just seemed to be a scene that was there because the producers needed a way to end the episode. It didn't fit in with the rest of the episode and it was a moment that killed all the good will that had been built up in the previous twenty minutes.

I'm not going to say that you shouldn't watch "Lone Star Lady." I'm willing to look at the next couple of episodes and give it another chance, based primarily on the fact that the Carnes family can be quite charming. But I'm also hoping I won't see more moments like the porta-potty scene, which is almost to scare me off the show entirely.

"Lone Star Lady" premieres Sunday, July 13th, 2014 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on A&E.