Photo: TLC
Alaina “Honey Boo Boo†Thompson and her family have catapulted to that weird form of reality television shame-fame that combines classism, mild scorn, voyeurism, schadenfreude, and fleeting authentic affection. They’ve become national icons of something or other over the course of just a few weeks — and TLC only had to pay the family $40,000. HBB et al earn between $2,000 and $4,000 per episode, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which is pretty low for a first season of ten installments. Sadly, there is no mention of what Glitzy the Pig’s severance package was like. We miss you, Glitzy.