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TCA Press Tour: Here come the househusbands

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Why should housewives get to have all the fun on reality TV?

There are househusbands too, you know, and on Aug. 15 you’ll get to meet some of them on Fox Reality Channel’s new show, ‘Househusbands of Hollywood.’

The cast includes:

--Former Los Angeles Dodger Billy Ashley and his celebrity make-up artist wife, Lisa

--Aspiring actor Danny Barclay and his wife, Katherine Barclay, an attorney.

--Convicted bank robber Charlie Mattera, who is married to a prominent psychologist (name withheld).

--Tempestt Bledsoe of ‘The Cosby Show’ and her partner, Darryl M. Bell of ‘A Different World.’

--Former Marine Corps sniper Grant Reynolds and his wife, Jillian Reynolds of Fox 11’s ‘Good Day L.A.’ and ‘American Idol Extra.’

What did we learn about marriage and raising kids in partnerships in which the women are the breadwinners and the men stay home? Not a lot. But here are some quotes from the session.

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‘Most of reality TV is a train wreck,’ Billy Ashley said. ‘People like to see the bad side of what’s going on. For our show and the reality we’ve portrayed, it’s natural. Our storyline is basically what we do in life. For most of us here, it’s not a train wreck.’

‘That’s a real disservice and would hate to see it perpetuated,’ Bledsoe said. ‘It’s not just about cleaning. This show lets you see these men for what they really are. For a man to stay at home and take care of his child -- that’s the most diff job there is.’ [Bledsoe and Bell have no children.]

‘Doing the show made me proud of how our marriage is structured,’ Katherine Barclay said.

Speaking about the 8 1/2 years he spent in prison, Charlie Mattera said: ‘This is a great country. You could destroy yourself in the worst possible way but you could also come back form hell. I figured after a criminal background, the only place to go is Hollywood.’

Addressing a question about a recent L.A. Times column that was critical of Reynolds for her ‘too much information’ performance about their sex life on the Howard Stern show recently, her husband, Grant, replied: ‘It’s just critics. You’re gonna have good and you’re gonna have bad. It’s the second page of the Monday Times which is that skinny right now. So that’s that.’

Reynolds had more to say later: ‘I know that my husband, Grant, didn’t want to do the show. He’s a more private person, though I don’t know why he married me. And, by the way, for the person who asked the James Rainey sex question, our sex life is great because I’m pregnant again. But it was easier for me because I’ve been doing reality TV for 22 years, live TV. Once we did it, it was smooth sailing. You forget the cameras are there after a while.’

‘Our relationship is like cockroaches ... it’s lasted,’ Bell said in a clip.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

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