The live-goat-cam suggests things are humming along smoothly at the Beekman farm in upstate New York. Even smoother are the quips, recipes and soap products offered by goat owners Brent and Josh.
If you tire of Oprah telling you how to live your “best life” or Martha Stewart instructing you on “good things,” if you care more about the comic side of composting than the strictly green aspect, these guys are a gift.
For those not content to watch the kids chew on straw (straw or hay? are they the same thing? clearly this city slicker hasn’t had experience beyond the webcam), “The Fabulous Beekman Boys” is now in its second season on cable’s Planet Green (Comcast channel 201). New episodes air at 8 p.m. Tuesdays.
The boys who bought the Beekman farm and mansion were a city couple who occasionally ventured upstate to collect apples, only to wind up as gentlemen farmers — with a cable reality show, a book and a retail empire to support their back-to-nature endeavor.
They got away from it all. Now it all (including camera crew) follows them through their “seasonal living” regimen, bickering and all.
Heirloom recipes, a home-grown and slaughtered Thanksgiving dinner, a narcissistic llama and a retail store opening on Main Street of tiny Sharon Springs were just a few of the first season’s highlights.
They’ve found their niche, and the concept of bringing a “lifestyle” reality gig to mainstream cable TV is thriving.
Brent is the down-to-earth creature of habit; Josh is the former drag queen and large-scale dreamer. Brent’s the doctor; Josh is the ad executive, author and quipmeister.
More officially, Southern-accented Brent Ridge is from North Carolina. He is an assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was vice president of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. He writes for The Huffington Post.
Josh Kilmer-Purcell was born in upstate New York and raised in rural Wisconsin. He is the author of “The Bucolic Plague,” about finding the farm and launching a new life there. (His previous books are “I Am Not Myself These Days” and “Candy Everybody Wants.”) Kilmer-Purcell is a columnist for OUT magazine and a contributor to NPR.
The series is educational but can also be a riot.
Here’s hoping the retail element — their company, Beekman 1802 — doesn’t overwhelm the novice style that’s made the show appealing. If they get too slick about the products and cookbooks that result from their farming adventures, the might as well go back to the city.
Then there’s the bickering problem. They tread close to discomfort with on-camera arguing, meant to add a layer of “reality,” perhaps, but ultimately an unnecessary, unfunny and unpleasant distraction.
Lifetime pickups.
Expect triple the amount of “reality” programming from Lifetime next year. The network unveiled its 2012 slate this week, including “Modern Love,” from Jenny Bicks (“Sex and the City”), about a single dad who ends up writing a newspaper’s love advice column and learns blah-blah-blah in the process.
Coming this summer from Lifetime: “The Protector” with Ally Walker (“Profiler”) as a single mom and LAPD homicide detective, with Tisha Campbell-Martin and Miguel Ferrer.
And “Against the Wall,” starring Rachael Carpani (“NCIS: Los Angeles”), Treat Williams (“Everwood”) and Kathy Baker (“Picket Fences,” “Medium”), in a cop-family drama.
USA, too.
Cable’s most-watched network, USA, this week announced 13 projects in development — eight dramas, five comedies. They include a comedy starring Nathan Lane, a drama from Mark Gordon (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and a comedy called “Big in Japan,” about a boy band from Kara DioGuardi (“American Idol”).
The broadcast networks are scheduled to make their new season announcements the week of May 17.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
