If you hadn’t seen a hundred fading celebrities make their career comebacks on reality TV, Pete Rose’s new reality show would have really been something to see.
But the streets are so littered with these shows there’s hardly room in the dump for them anymore.
However, there is something here that is so touching that it sometimes defies the genre.
It’s been 24 years since Rose was banned from baseball for betting on the team he managed, the Cincinnati Reds — every night. No, he didn’t bet on them to lose, but the rules are the rules, and the rules strictly forbid gambling.
Rose has moved on and now has a gorgeous, younger fiancée, who is a former Playboy model, named Kiana Kim. She in turn has two kids, Cassie, 14, and Ashton, 11.
Rose, who has spent these past years earning big bucks signing autographs and living in deep regret, still imagines that one day, the current baseball commissioner, Bud Selig will reconsider and allow him back into the game and into the Hall of Fame.
The cameras follow Rose and his new family as they live their day-to-day lives. We find out that the gorgeous Kiana wants to get her implants out and her old, flat boobs back — boring standard reality TV fare.
We go to their engagement party — which is not what they hoped since his kids and her sisters don’t show, which is not regular fare.
When the producers aren’t busy trying to turn the thing into “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” and they allow real drama — the horror of what Rose turned his success into — the show works.
I expected to hate this show, but Rose is funny and irreverent and full of regret. Kiana is more genuine than you would expect. In fact, she says, “I’m no gold digger” and was a successful business woman and home owner well before she met Rose.
From time to time, there are glimpses of old teammates and those encounters are pretty hilarious.
Is this a showcase for Rose to again bring his case before the public and put it back on Selig’s radar? You bet. Will anyone care? I don’t know.