Eight months since Whitney Houston drowned in a hotel bathroom, her loved ones are set to debut in a reality show about…life since then. According to the U.S. TV channel Lifetime, which will air The Houstons: On Our Own, the 14-episode docuseries will allow viewers to "see the Houston Family as they come together to deal with the loss of Whitney and focus on Krissy, the 19 year-old daughter of Bobby Brown and Whitney, and the only heir to her mother’s estate."
Indeed, the show zeroes in on Bobbi Kristina (Krissy), who is living in an Atlanta suburb with Whitney’s brother Gary and his wife, Pat Houston — Whitney’s former manager, executor of her estate and Krissy's guardian. Other loved ones involved in the series are Pat and Gary's 14-year-old daughter Rayah; Krissy's grandmother, Cissy Houston (whom the gang visits in New Jersey) and her family friend/fiance Nick Gordon. Check out a preview here:
“WTF? Totally unnecessary," rapper/activist Chuck D tweeted when the show was announced in May. And a crescendo of critics' voices have joined him in their disgust, with most calling the show exploitative.
Not so, says Pat. In fact, a Houston family reality show was in the works well before Whitney's death. "A little over two years ago we shot a pilot called ‘Power Brokehers,’ with the ‘hers’ because it was about successful women and how they balance different parts of their lives,” she told the New York Daily News. The show included Whitney, Pat, Gary, Rayah and Krissy. When Whitney died, the existing concept simply evolved into a show about how Whitney's family coped with the tragedy, and her mother Cissy joined the group.