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I'm Watching MILF Manor So You Don't Have To!

That TLC Dating Game Show

When I first heard about MILF Manor, I thought, “At last, they’re finally making that MILF Island show from 30 Rock!” I’ve been on a huge 30 Rock binge for the past few months. In fact, 30 Rock is one of my favourite shows in the world. So I was trying to figure out what this new show would be about.

But’s it’s not a 30 Rock show, it’s something else. Oh yes, it is.

There are some spoilers in here for MILF Manor, but I won’t name any participants so as not to ruin any surprises for those who might be curious enough to dive in.

The Premise

Eight beautiful women ages forty to sixty are hanging out in a beach house in Mexico, and they all have one thing in common.

An appetite for very young men.

Each woman believes she’s on a dating show to meet and fall in love with a younger man.

In the first episode, we briefly meet the purring cougars. We learn a bit about their lives and motives, then they line up before a curtain, ready to pounce on some cubs, uh, meet their potential suitors.

The curtain rises.

Hopeful smiles turn to WTF!

The big twist, in case you haven’t heard by now, is that the young men in the dating line are their very own sons.

Eight moms, eight sons.

The sons were picked because they have a penchant for older women. They too thought they were coming on a dating show. They thought they were going to meet some cougars.

But they didn’t know their very own moms would be there in the cougar lineup.

Hello, Mrs. Robinson indeed.

Excuse Me?

As a mom to two young men myself, my jaw was on the floor when that curtain went up. I saw the show when it first aired, and that part, that twist, had actually been kept under wraps before I saw it. So I was surprised too!

I sat there, wondering what I would do if one of my sons was standing there in the dating line.

I’m pretty sure I would leave. No, I know I would leave unless there was something in the contract that I signed. We don’t know what’s in the contract. We just know that mother and son didn’t know they were on the same show. I’m pretty sure most of them didn’t know.

Once the initial shock was over, everyone stayed.

Let the Games Begin!

And so it began.

The most awkward show to ever play on television.

I keep scratching myself from the ick, yet I can’t look away, and I wait with bated breath each week for the next episode.

After watching this show for several weeks, I’m still not sure how anyone “wins,” but it’s a lot of cringy fun. Kind of. I think. I’m not sure.

The show, of course, has challenging games of skill in-between everyone hanging out and getting to know each other.

The first game was mom had to guess which man was her son. This was accomplished by mom wearing a blindfold and then running her hands up and down each man’s naked chest until she found her son.

Puke!

In my real life, if I hadn’t left when the curtain went up, I’d have left before playing that game. MY GOD!!

It gets worse.

Is Therapy Included for the Participants?

There was one game I’ll never get over to my dying day.

Each person was supposed to write down a deep dark sex secret, something sexual they’d done, on a piece of paper, and it was put up on a board called The Wall of Shame. Mothers had to guess which ones their sons wrote, and sons had to guess which ones their moms wrote.

Many of the statements were pretty benign such as watching the sun rise naked, however, there were a couple of doozies. One statement revealed someone had an orgy with several other women. But the kicker was the one where it said, “I slept with your best friend.”

It was revealed that a mom had slept with her son’s best friend.

Again, my jaw was on the ground.

Why would you say that?

Why would you DO that?

Holy crap!

It’s been a few weeks, and I still can’t stop thinking about it.

What a way to find out your mom screwed your best friend; on TV in front of everyone. Sheesh!

The son was pretty devastated at first as he didn’t know. I would be too. I hope he gets tons of therapy for that maternal revelation. He claimed to be somewhat over it in the next episode, but I’m not sure you get over that kind of thing that fast. I’m sure their relationship has changed a bit going forward. I’m sure he’ll always wonder what else she’s done to him in his life and whether he can trust her. I’m sure, too, that he’ll never really see her the same again.

Why would she pick that incident to put on the Wall of Shame? How could she do that to her son? Surely she could have written anything else in the world. I’m still furious.

I wasn’t sure about a couple of other things people wrote either.

Just stick to orgies and public sex, sheesh! Especially when your mom/son is right there, and you have to watch their face!

None of these sons and mothers are ever going to be the same again. Not after seeing some of things they’re seeing on this show!

Games Galore

The show went on to more games and another twist.

The producers added a secret elimination game.

A mother and son couple was sent home.

Surprise!

A new couple arrives.

The new mother-son team apparently didn’t know the specific details of the show either, or so they say.

The new mom is actually an actress from several movies and shows long ago if you Google her. However, on MILF Manor, they just say she used to be an actress, and they don’t reveal her famous credits. I won’t reveal them here either, so you can be surprised, or you can Google them for yourself.

The new son dived right into one of the games, eating an orange like you would eat…you know…

How’s It Going?

Some sons spend more time blocking their moms than going after their own dates. Some moms are already voicing disapproval at some of their son’s choices.

A couple of couples have managed to sneak off and enjoy each other, on the beach, with a whale, in a steam room, in a shared bed…it’s not clear to me who all has gone “all the way” yet, if any.

It’s all so weird.

It’s a crazy dating game, and it has super low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. The ick factor is enormous. The youngest man is about nineteen or twenty, and the oldest lady is sixty.

I actually have zero judgment about the age differences, to be honest. I’m still wondering how old I am myself. How I feel isn’t what is showing; I still feel very young, so I’ve always understood age gaps. I’ve been in a few large age-gap relationships myself, both as the young one and as the old one.

However, the creep factor is high when you’re dating a young man and your son is right there watching while he’s dating a woman your age.

It’s just weird.

What If The Roles Are Reversed?

People who hate the show point out among many things, that if it were older men and younger women, it would be different. People would be up in arms. It’s a show that couldn’t exist at all…so some say.

I’m not so sure. As someone of a certain age, I’ve seen older men with very young women my entire life. That age gap has always been around, so a dating show of fathers and daughters wouldn’t be nearly as shocking. Not for most of us.

But this mother/son business, yikes.

Mother and son sleep in the same room. So if someone wants to get busy, the other one is right there!

It’s no surprise that MM has a stinky rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics’ reviews don’t include the entire show. I’m not sure how many episodes it is. I suspect it’s not long. Maybe there are only a couple of more episodes. I don’t want to read ahead and get spoilers.

As I said before, it’s unclear if there’s supposed to be a winner or how we know the game has concluded.

How Many Reality Shows Do I Watch?

My own reality fare consumption isn’t that big; well, maybe it is. Like many, my TV watching went way up the past few years during the lockdown, but it had been climbing up for me anyway before that as I’m not as active as I was when other people lived with me. So the TV in my apartment is always burbling away for company.

I tend to put on reality shows as background noise so that I can putter with mundane tasks like laundry or paperwork. I don’t like screaming shows like those Housewives shows, although many of the shows I watch do have screaming moments. I’ll stop watching shows for a few episodes sometimes, too, if they’re turning into a screamathon.

These days, the rotation tends to be:

90-Day Fiancé and all the tentacles like Before The 90 Days and Happily Ever After. There was even an Off the Grid one that I hope they bring back. The only spinoff I watch is Darcy and Stacy but even that I barely watch as there’s too much screaming and nattering about stupid, superficial stuff. I usually have the sound way down while I sort socks or whatever. I don’t watch any of the others like Family Chantal or Loren and Alexi. Nope.

600 Pound Life and the tentacles like Where Are They Now? are often on tap. Sometimes 1000 Pound Best Friends, and I very rarely hatewatch 1000-Pound Sisters.

I hatewatch My Big Fat Fabulous Life. Not sure if I’ll watch the new season. I loved it when it first came out, the first season. I rooted for Whitney Thor and the show to succeed and thought it might be interesting, especially Big Body dance classes and such. But then it turned into a boychasing whineathon. And her narcissism shows big time; it’s hard to root for her at all.

I gave up on Sisterwives years ago. Couldn’t stand Cody when it began, and he grew worse as it went along, and I actually stopped watching it, although I’ve watched recent ones where the women are all leaving him. I’m thrilled those women finally left, and they’re still young enough to experience real love and happiness.

Meri should have stayed gone when she tried dating and got catfished. But she likely came back for TLC coin and drama; I know I would. She should have left when he made her get divorced so he could marry his favourite wife, Robin and adopt Robin’s three kids even though the father wanted them (and Cody had about 18 of his own). UGH. Now it’s just Cody and Robin. Good. They are perfect for each other.

I’m looking forward to Brother Husbands. I hope it’s a new one and not the one they showed a few years ago.

How Will It All End?

Will I keep watching MILF Manor?

You betcha! I don’t know how this plane is going to crash, but I’m invested now to see how much more cringe they can pile on!

One thing the writers’ strike, oh so many decades ago now, brought us was Reality TV. If we didn’t have the evolution of Reality TV, we’d never have seen it morph into a ridiculous show like MILF Manor. And funny enough, Milf Island on 30 Rock was the first episode back after the writers’ strike.

Do you watch MILF Manor? What do you think about it all?

Which couples are you rooting for?