Breaking Bonaduce (2005–2006) User Reviews

it's getting boring

[Raj9096 · 4/10 · 17 November 2006]

Danny is beyond sorry.

He keeps making the same mistakes, and is no longer interesting to watch. At first I could feel for him, as an addict myself. My heart went out to him at the beginning, and somewhere along the line he went over the line. It is almost as if he is continuing this behavior to keep the show going, and at the same time is seriously risking his life, and the welfare of his family, especially his children. It is difficult even to have pity for the poor boy. I think he needs to watch this show, maybe then he might have a chance a saving this marriage. I can't understand how Gretchen stays with him, and I keep wondering how much is just for show, and how much is love. Danny, get a life - a new one that is! ...and don't get me started on Dr. Gary. What is with him and his face? His skin looks like it's stretched to the max. Besides that, looks don't mean a thing, yet he seems not to be particularly impartial. I think, he too, is keeping this going for his own monetary gain and often not in the best interests of either Gretchen or Danny. These people are few confused and each remind me of a dog chasing its tail. sad, very sad. C'mon pull yourselves together.

Those crazy Bonaduce's!!!!

[tamstrat · 5/10 · 16 November 2006]

Watching this reality series is like watching a slow moving train wreck, it's awful, it's horrible but you can turn away.

What to say about Danny and Gretchen that hasn't already been said? They are both celebrity whores big time to allow cameras into the meltdown that is called their marriage.

This is the second season and sad to say, things are not improving for the family. During the first season I had a lot of compassion for everyone involved, but now I am beginning to think Gretchen is using Danny both monetarily and for the "fame" itself. Not that he is perfect, God knows how F****D up he is, and I'm sure living with him would be difficult at best, but to make the man beg and grovel and not to let him touch you? I don't get it, either you love him and are willing to give it another go for the like 1,000th time or for God's sake cut him loose!!!! He deserves at least some honesty for crying out loud. She seems to get off on him telling her how much he loves her and needs her and can't live without her and she acts as if she could care less. She's a heartless bitch in my opinion. The recent episode of her going to Boston with him proved that. She went to look like "Gretchen Bondaduce, supportive wife" in public and then they get back to the hotel and she invites him to sleep in her hotel room and then tells him he is not to touch her? What the hell? I don't get it.

And Dr. Gary, what is up with this guy? He looks like he has been Botox'd to the max, he can't even move his face when he is chastising Danny and he has obvious anger towards Danny that tends to make him side constantly with Gretchen. They are like 2 sorority sisters getting together to cut up poor Danny. Don't get me wrong, Danny pushes everyone's buttons, but Dr. Gary always sides with Gretchen instead of trying to stay impartial and make both the adults in this relationship own up to their dysfunctional ways. Gretchen is not the perfect saint that Dr. Gary tends to make her out to be. I think she is totally manipulative.

The obvious victims in this whole mess are the 2 Bonaduce children. How sad for them that their mother hates their father and encourages her young son to make fun of his father's bipolar disorder!!! In 20 years we will probably be hearing about these 2 kids multiple stints in rehab, arrests, etc.

Watch this show if you must (I have to say, once you start watching you can't stop)but don't be surprised if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I like watching the car crash

[MovieAddict2016 · 12 September 2005]

"Breaking Bonaduce" is a new reality show, but not really. This is a new form of reality television (which I loathe to begin with) - it's public airing of dirty laundry. And as appalling as it is, it's also like watching a car crash - you can't take your eyes off it.

Dante "Danny" Bonaduce is a troubled guy and has been for years. Watching this he strikes me as a selfish, annoying, sarcastic, addictive, abusive human being. When it's not coke, it's heroin. When it's not heroin, it's steroids. When it's not steroids, it's alcohol. When it's not alcohol, it's pills. He's always addicted to something (his latest thing is fitness and steroids). He's weird and disgusting.

Earlier in the year he announced on his radio show that he had cheated on his wife and lost a lot of fans. His show was then canceled when people stopped listening.

Creating this TV show is a way of drawing viewers again. It's very much all for controversy - on the commercials he's practically asking us to watch. "You have every right to watch that car crash," he says. Well, duh. Like, of course we do, it's on friggin' TV.

The show is hard, gritty and visceral. I like it. It is appalling, yes. But it's also strangely fascinating.

Worth catching if you're flipping channels some night with nothing else to watch.

theoretically puts the reality back in reality-TV

[postmanwhoalwaysringstwice · 9/10 · 15 December 2006]

As a genre Reality-TV has been one of the worst plagues to overtake popular culture, however VH-1's "Breaking Bonaduce" seems to have hit on a winning combination of televised entertainment and documented life. Taken at face value, it follows the "Patridge Family" star, Danny Bonaduce, deep into his middle-age. He's been married to his wife, Gretchen, for the past sixteen years, and is presently a foul-mouthed, abusive, alcoholic husband, who is resistant to change, and has an addictive personality whether it be for drugs, women, or himself. His train wreck life, which he often blames on his status as a child star, and his train wreck marriage, as shown on the show present Danny as the real-life heavily flawed embodiment of Tommy Gavin (ala FX's "Rescue Me"). Danny's life and personality seem to be so chaotic and so volatile that it's impossible to keep from watching the impending self-destruction. It's unreasonable to assume most of this show is a put-on since no one involved can act that well, which leads the audience to wonder why anyone would permit cameras in so close on their tarnished reality. Nonetheless the upsetting and the heartbreaking make for some solid entertainment, via a well-produced cautionary tale.

Private life on display

[Ritag2 · 8/10 · 4 September 2006]

It was amazing to see a couple let TV cameras into such private parts of their lives. I couldn't stop watching, but I also couldn't help comparing this couple's need for the spotlight to most people's idea of private business and family cohesiveness. Danny and Gretchen married on their first date, and have had trouble in their marriage from Danny's drug problem and girl chasing. This show follows both of these people through several weeks of their lives as they go to rehab and to therapy. You get to see them have real problems and try to solve them, and you soon almost feel like a voyeur as you realize that these people are not like the rest of us in their need for attention (and perhaps money). It is fascinating stuff, but I can't believe that having your private life exposed this way could be good for your marriage.

What a Jerk!!

[Catherine1472 · 1 March 2007]

Here is a man, known for his role in Partridge Family..now he is a washed-up, drek who is full of testosterone, profanity, anger, pills and you name it, he's addicted!! What about his children? they are greatly influenced by their dad's foul behavior!! Poor Isabella, she is about to enter adolescence, and having Danny for her father spells embarrassment..how would you feel if you were 12, and you had two gal pals over..your mom is a well controlled, normal-behaved woman..and they see/hear your dad going to town, cussing and throwing testosterone-induced tantrums..what will they tell their parents and other schoolmates?? that your family is whacked!--that is, of course, in the mind's eye of a pre-adolescent..and that's human!!

and let's not forget Little Dante, who I believe is three or four..In one episode, Anger Management, the cameras show Danny sailing with Gretchen and the kids..Danny's fussing and bitching about not leaving the sailing trip in a rush, yet Gretchen needs to so she and her band, Mudflaps, can do soundchecks, hair and make-up for their gig that night.. and a nanosecond after that, we see Dante Jr. smacking Isabella on the back for trying to hold him from getting too close to the boat stern..and Gretchen says, "Stop it." can Dante be in danger of adopting his dad's abusive behavior? and what about (forgot which episode) in which, you moms out there (I am only an aunt), when Danny puts his genitals on the bed of the photocopier in their house and xeroxes "pics" of it??? that is sooo not appropriate!! what if, at school, Dante tries that in the administrative office? for sure, he would buy himself some principal time and possible in-house suspension and a therapist visit. And last but not least, Gretchen, his long suffering wife, who gets herself embarrassed at the above gig (Anger Management) by Danny, pulling out a bandmember to chew him out for photos of Gretchen having her back walked on by another bandmember." and she is always having faith in that selfish man.

How real is the show?

[goodmanjeff · 17 September 2005]

First off, I don't usually watch reality TV shows. However, I was always intrigued by Danny. As an adult, he always came across as funny and glib, and not at all whiny like a lot of the former child stars you see who blame their parents and the industry for their drug & alcohol addictions and deviant behavior.

How real is the show though? Obviously, Danny has a lot of inner demons and addictions to work out. I get the feeling though that a lot of the show is fake, due to the cameras following him around, and the pressure to make his life seem more chaotic than it might really be. Let's face it. If he worked out his problems in 3-4 therapy sessions, the show would be boring. People watch the show to see the "train wreck." Previews already show him shooting himself up with steroids, and going into a "roid" rage in the streets.

Danny is a professional actor. The more crazy and dramatic he acts, the more people will be intrigued to watch his show week after week. I don't deny that we partially see the real Danny, but who knows if he ups the ante on the dramatics to hook in the viewers.

I would be interested to hear what other think about BREAKING BONADUCE.

JG

This is not a car crash....

[cwhyel · 18 September 2005]

This is a fender bender. This is self-centered, and aggrandizing. Danny is no longer interesting-just sad. Gretchen, while clearly beleaguered, is tough for me to figure out.

No, I am afraid for Danny that the car crash is yet to come, and when it does, we will all be mortified, despite what we've all seen coming for years.

In fact, I am mourning already. I think the guy could have been a great character actor, and could have had a much better life than he has led. I would much rather see him in a sitcom or even a "B" action movie than this.

Further troubling me is that the Bonaduce's are listed as producers on this mess.

I will not go beyond the two episodes I have already seen because I doubt seriously that there is any saving grace for these people, and that makes me very sad.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope he gets a deal for a good acting gig that enables him to provide for his family and show off his intelligence and talent-especially his sense of irony. But I'm nearly as old as he is, and having lived that long, I know better.

Oddly enough, I turned off the second episode just before it ended, chastising myself for looking on for so long. I flipped channels to a local affiliate, which was running the original "Reefer Madness." It's everywhere. We can't escape it.

No, I will turn it back on when I am wrong; when Breaking Bonaduce Season Two is subtitled "Turning the Corner: AGAIN!.

I want to be wrong here. I really do.

Dr. Garry stinks!

[pikassocatering · 2 November 2005]

Is it just me or does anyone else think this Dr. isn't on his game? First of all Gretchen needs to take a lot of responsibility for her actions that drive Danny to his situations. Although no one person can be the excuse for what you do they can still play an active roll in your insanity. When she was amongst all the strippers while DRINKING she could have made a choice as a married woman and told her friends that she doesn't want to partake in this, that she's a married woman and will go out with them but not hang around for this. She had a responsibility to make a decision also! Instead she told her husband that she didn't arrange the party and had nothing to do with the SURPRISE. She's lying to him and then wonders why it drives him crazy. Second, what kind of woman doesn't want sex with the man of her dreams or someone she truly loves? If she really loves him still!!! She has issues this stupid Dr. hasn't even broached and if its plan to the layman's eye why isn't he addressing her issues and stop pushing on Danny so much. In life there are always actions and reactions and he isn't very good if he can't take off the blinders and see that. In my opinion he isn't worth anything on this show and they need someone who will look at both sides objectively. If she doesn't want sex with him get out of the marriage.......PERIOD! Intimacy is a huge part of all relationships and by denying him that she is setting up this chaotic behavior, perhaps she is so used to this behavior its become a way of life. This is the stuff Dr. Garry isn't getting!!!! IN SHORT, HE SUCKS

Breaking Bonaduce

[wasago · 11 November 2005]

I can't help watching this show. If it is all true, he has a lot of problems to work on. I loved watching Danny's show when I was a kid and have always wondered what he has been up to. I was happy to see he has had some success. I hope he will be able to turn his life around for his family, but I think his wife needs to work on her issues, also. He chose not to go to strip clubs, because it would upset his wife. Gretchen refused to ask her friends to tell the male strippers to leave, even though she knew her husband would be offended. Why the double standard, Grethchen? Yes, watching the show can be appalling. However, I am more appalled that KYSR Radio kicked him when he was down in July. Shame on them and I have a feeling they will regret their actions in the future.

Give Danny some credit

[jon-dreymann · 16 September 2005]

As one of the many people to have met Danny, I may have spent more time with him in a one on one basis than most others. Yes Danny has an addictive personality, so what? We all have some bizarre behavior that we wish we could change. I have witnessed Danny with Gretchen and Isabella and he couldn't have been a better husband, friend and father. If any of you actually know Danny, then watching this show will make you laugh, cry and feel for the entire Bonaduce family as they try to cope with Danny and his actions. We live in the USA and that means we ALL can make choices. If you don't like Danny, don't watch the show. If you do like Danny or at least need to watch the train wreck, watch and tell everyone you know to watch. I applaud Gretchen and Danny for being this BOLD in letting us into their personal world.

I believe the execs at VH1 are evil for letting (and probably suggesting) that the Bonaduces do this

[thinkofthat · 19 October 2005]

This is a family in pain, obviously. And to allow them, or probably encourage them to display their pain on TV is harmful to their children in my opinion. I feel a lot of sympathy for what they are going through, but they have these two small kids who are being mentally raked over the coals by having their families trauma displayed on public TV. Why would they want to do this to them? I can just picture their daughter at school trying to explain to her friends why her Daddy slit his wrists. It's just evil. I mean, come on. Someone has to be the voice of reason. How is it ethical to allow these parents to do this? I know that the Bonadices are the exec producers, and it was probably all their idea, but still. WHy would they LET them do this?

Really caused a lot of emotion from me

[jimmyolsenblues · 27 November 2005]

I am an alcoholic, I am a lonely divorced father of two beautiful children. My xwife does not have custody because she is a twice convicted arsonist and heroin addict. I can pick them can't I. This show produced a tremendous amount of emotion. "Everything collapses because I'm a freak show", I am sure we all have felt like that once. But until you have to explain to your daughter why mommy can't live with us, I have a my own opinion of what it is like. This show upset me so much, I called my x on her cell and her home,nothing, I went out go Chinese . Chinese always makes me feel better. At least I get to come visit you, the daughter asks. My daughter is not allowed to visit me because I dropped her off at school one day and disappeared for two days. I screwed up my life and I am alone and I suffer every day. I feel really bad for Danny, and I feel really bad for me.

Can't take my eyes off this!

[rennelsmagon · 20 October 2005]

Maybe it's because Danny got me through many a morning drive in hideous rush-hour traffic (STAR 98.7), but I feel for this guy. I feel even more for his family. This is a guy who's been through some serious pain in his life. He's always been very open and honest about his life on his radio program, but that's what made him so real and unpretentious. Most of us can't identify with that, and yet we stand to make segment's on it. I keep watching, rooting that he will pull through.

It's sad that people who don't really have a clue (Yea buddy, his name isn't Dante "Danny" Bonaduce. Dante is is son.) are commenting.

I only wish he and his family the best.

Breaking Bonaduce's

[karencaparelli · 7 July 2006]

I really loved the first season and I'm looking forward to season 2. For those who post these negative comments, you need to realize that this show is just for entertainment purposes and should be viewed as such. I, for one, found the show to have a certain quality of production that surpassed that of the other reality type shows. (i.e. Brady). I can only hope that season two has that same type of production quality. Either way, I'm going to watch it, as I'm sure most of you will.Also, for you fans out there. I found a website for Gretchen's new clothes line. It's pretty cool and I'm going to order something today. it's www.bonaduce.biz