Porn DVD Review: Seymore Butts' Family Business - 2nd Season

This is basically a review of the Showtime series Family Business, since the DVD is just a direct import of Season 2 of the series to this format. So if you’ve seen the show on Showtime, there’s nothing new for you to learn here. This review is for people like myself who had never seen the show at all, or had seen very little of it.

Even though I’d never watched the show up until now, obviously - promoting the adult industry myself - I’d heard of it. But I somehow thought that Family Business was a drama along the lines of 6 Feet Under, and that the folks were all playing characters. You know, a family involved in the porn business vs. the funeral business.

Well, as I soon found out, while this is a show where the family is involved in porn, the participants are all playing and being themselves. Great, I initially thought, Another celebrity reality show. Be still my beating heart.

Nothing against Seymore Butts (aka Adam Glasser). As a matter of fact, I (along with most people who see the show) would tend to root for the guy for several reasons: his business sense is very acute; the ups and downs he goes through rival that of the owner of any “normal“ business; his mother is constantly on his case about finding the right girl, etc. He is the highlight of Family Business , in my opinion. Other than the consistent stream of performing porn stars that make appearances throughout the series. So actually, the porn stars are number one in my book, but you get my drift. He’s a very compelling guy and it’s hard to hate him. Dare I say it, you almost want to be him on many occasions.

The show’s regulars include Bishop who is Butts’ production manager (I think) and the resident prankster; he keeps things light in the working environment. Cousin Stevie is - to hear he himself tell it - actually a cousin to Butts’ father. He (Stevie) is kind of intense, patience is not his strong suit, but in the end he’s a well-intentioned, fun-loving guy.

Then there’s Butts’ mother, Lila, who seems to be very understanding considering what her son does for a living. All I know is that if I did what he does, my mother might accept it, but she’s not going to be that involved in its inner workings. I guess my Mom’s just old-fashioned that way. :)

And last but not least is Brady, Butts’ son. What is the deal with the kid, anyway? I know he’s understandably an integral part of his father’s life, but he seems out of place in Family Business . Even though he’s a little kid, you can’t tell me he doesn’t know weird things (porn shoots to us grown-ups) are happening underneath the roof he’s living (“Daddy, why does the sofa smell funny?”). After all, Butts actually has the starlets come to his place of residence for his shoots. It’s a little uncomfortable seeing this 6 year old in this otherwise sexually-charged atmosphere that is the porn industry.

But as much as they’re all basically good people, I just don’t care to see Cousin Stevie take acting lessons. Or see Butts go out on blind dates arranged by his mother. (And while on the subject of his mother, how can Butts constantly complain about his mother being nosy about his love-life when he’s the one that has her involved in his Family Business anyway? If Butts lets her into one aspect of his life, she’s going to want to be involved in most aspects of it.)

When I used to like reality shows (before they got overdone to death), it was the Survivor-type series that appealed to me. You know, where there were many personalities coming together and clashing. There just aren’t enough series regulars here (the afore-mentioned five, to be exact) to hold my interest; and for the most part, they all get along famously anyway. How boring is that?

Other than not working for me on a reality-TV basis, Family Business didn’t have enough titillation for me either. Maybe because I’ve been a fan of HBO reality shows like G-String Divas , Real Sex , and Cathouse. There’s just something about these latter shows that do gratuitous sex shots just right. So for the average fan looking for some boobage, those shows do it much better than Family Business . That being said, there’s still plenty of female flesh to go around in Butts’ show.

The series is not lacking for well-known pornstars sometimes baring a little, sometimes baring much more: stars such as Alexis Amore, Mason, Belladonna, Avy Scott, Flower Tucci, Kiki Daire (maybe not so well-known, but she‘s one of my favorites), Alicia Rhodes, Katja Kassin, Jesse Jane, etc. If you are a porn star fan like myself, you’re bound to find someone you recognize or really like.

The problem I have in writing this review is that, although I - as a fan of porn stars - would see the Family Business series if someone told me what it was about ahead of time, I’m not sure the average adult fan would want to see it. So even though I would see it for the parade of starlets, I can’t go overboard in recommending it to the lay fan (er, the pun wasn’t intended but it’s funny just the same) for such a reason.

I don’t want it to come across as if I’m thrashing the series, because there are some genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments here. Not to mention the fact that the entire Family Business season ends on a good note (at the conclusion of the tenth and last episode), and I’m not going to give that ending away. Nevertheless, a wholesome ending to a tale about the adult industry may be far more than a viewing audience has any right to expect, see, hope for, or anticipate continuing. Enjoy it while you can.

Seymore Butts' Family Business - Second Season