Today's Entertainment

BY KATE O'HARE REALITY TV revives the family dinner There's something magical about sitting down around a big table, sharing a meal, sharing stories, maybe having an argument or two, but experiencing a rare solidarity that's hard to achieve in other settings. For many families where members are scattered at dinnertime, or for families separated by circumstances, the family dinner may not happen every night, but only on Sunday or a holiday or other special occasion. And for some folks, friends make up the fellowship of the dinner table. For all these realities, there's reality TV there to reflect them. Returning on Tuesday, July 17, for its second season, TLC's "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," features child beauty pageant participant Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson and her family in rural Georgia. In between pageants, Honey Boo Boo and her family – parents June ("Mama") and Mike ("Sugar Bear"), and her three older sisters – sit down to family dinners on a weekly family food budget of $80. So along with the help of coupons and other strategies, June's thrifty meals often feature "roadkill" – free venison from deer killed by cars. Or if there isn't any roadkill, Mama may make "sketti," the family word for spaghetti, served with meat and an unusual sauce made from microwaved tub margarine and ketchup. In one scene, Alana is watching her mother cook and learns when "sketti" is done by seeing if a flung strand sticks to the cabinet doors (if it does, it's done). TLC even features a regular video segment on the show's official website called "Cooking With Mama June." Recipes included are pork-chop casserole with canned cream of mushroom soup, milk, green beans (canned or fresh) and boneless pork chops, served with rice. There's also "mashed potato multi-meal," June's version of a shepherd's pie. It involves browning the hamburger, mixing large dollops of butter and milk in with the mashed potatoes (fresh or from a bag), and layering those with canned corn and shredded cheese in a pan. If "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" isn't your style, you can gather around with Louisiana's duck-call-making Robertsons of A&E Network's reality hit "Duck Dynasty," who begin each meal with a heartfelt prayer. "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" There probably aren't as many prayers – and probably a lot more scheming and strategizing – when the housemates of CBS' "Big Brother," airing Wednesdays, come together for a home-cooked "house dinner." Fans of MTV's now-ended reality hit "Jersey Shore" sometimes got to see the rambunctious roommates at the New Jersey seashore house eat big Italian dinners. That tradition continues on MTV's spinoff "The Show With Vinny," which launched in early May. Former "Jersey Shore" roommate Vinny Guadagnino welcomes celebrities to his Staten Island, N.Y., house for home-cooked Italian eats and candid conversation with his family and friends. BEST BEACH MOVIES Sandra Dee Mayim Bialik (left) and Marcie Leeds "Jaws" 8 The Goshen News • TV Spotlight • July 15-21, 2013 BY JAY BOBBIN "From Here to Eternity" (1953) The embrace in the wet sand between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr remains one of film history's most enduring romantic images. "Gidget" (1959) Sandra Dee was the original screen incarnation of the surfing-crazed title teen. "A Summer Place" (1959) New England beach scenery is a big component of the love story in this classic drama, with Sandra Dee (again) and Troy Donahue as the romantically involved children of former lovers. "Beach Party" (1963) A whole franchise – and massive teen idolatry of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon – sprang from this admittedly lightweight but quite entertaining comedy. "Jaws" (1975) Well, of course. The tourist resort Amity Island is packed with holiday revelers ... thanks to a mayor who doesn't want to threaten the local economy by mentioning that a great white shark has been prowling the waters. "Lifeguard" (1976) A magnificently tanned Sam Elliott wonderfully embodies the title, figuratively and literally, in this surprisingly sensitive portrait of a man at a life crossroads. "The Blue Lagoon" (1980) Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins make the most of the surrounding sand and sea as youngsters stranded in the South Pacific. "Beaches" (1988)With that title, this popular, largely beach-house-set weeper starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey is a must for this list. "Point Break" (1991) The many surfing sequences make a beach a prime locale for this adventure about a novice FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) tracking a bank-robbery gang. "Six Days, Seven Nights" (1998) The island locale adds much to this comedy-adventure about a stranded pilot and passenger (Harrison Ford, Anne Heche). "The Beach" (2000) Another film whose title guarantees inclusion here, director Danny Boyle's melodrama casts Leonardo DiCaprio as a student seeking a rumored paradise. "Cast Away" (2000) A beach and a volleyball are Tom Hanks' principal "co-stars" in this drama about a plane crash survivor who learns to use what nature provides.

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