“The Two Coreys”: Must-See Summer TV

Sunday night, I made my fiancé watch “The Lost Boys.”

For me, it’s a true 80s classic. But I have to admit that some of it was a little hard to watch this time.

And if you’ve been watching “The Two Coreys” on A&E, you know what I mean…

Last season, “The Two Coreys” was one of the most scripted unscripted shows I’ve ever seen—a fact that Corey Feldman admitted in an interview with the blog, “Reality Shack.” Feldman said that even the situation was fake, as Haim never actually lived with Feldman and Susie. They would all get together the night before and plan what they were going to do the next day. Even the dramatic fight at the end of the season was planned.

But what wasn’t planned was the fighting that happened off-screen, which led the duo to realize this season would have to be completely different.

It would have to be real.

Quite frankly, it’s almost too real…

Now, I’m not so naïve that I completely believe all of it is real. It’s a TV show so some things have to be set up. But the emotions we’re seeing have to be real. It’s just too raw (Feldman confirms this in his personal blog, saying that “everything you see on this show really happened.”).

If you haven’t been watching, Haim has returned to LA after six months of not talking to Feldman to restart his career. He’s made a deal to appear in “Lost Boys 2,” which will require him to work with Feldman. So, Feldman’s manager, Scott, and his wife, Susie, team up to get the duo talking again.

What starts out as a clearly somewhat contrived scene (the shot of the two seeing each other for the first time appeared to be shot three different ways) turns into an explosive confrontation where both Coreys admit they had been molested as teenagers. The exchange leads them to seek “couples counseling” to repair their friendship (Feldman says in his blog that the therapist is the only part of the show that was set up since they had to find a real therapist that was willing to be on TV.).

So how did Haim calling Susie a derogatory term turn into this? The answer is that it didn’t. There is clearly much more going on here than what we’re seeing. As Feldman himself says in his blog, a 22-minute episode can’t possibly capture everything. But it has definitely captured enough to make me want to cry while watching one of my all-time favorite movies.

As Feldman wrote in his first blog post about the new season, “I must warn you this season will be very hard for some of you to watch.”

He wasn’t kidding. Sadly, though, I don’t think we’ve seen the worst yet…

Now, I know what you guys are saying. I need to settle down. That it’s just a stupid reality show. But for some reason, “The Two Coreys” has become must-see summer TV for me.

Here are two guys who have been friends for over 20 years, but are now drifting apart because they’re leading different lives. Not unusual, right? But what about this deep resentment that Haim has been keeping inside for all these years and never said anything about?

I can’t help but wonder if I have friends out there who have been holding in resentment about me for years and not said anything. And if there are, has that resentment caused them to do anything they shouldn’t have?

Okay, now I may be taking it a little too far…

You can delve into the psyche of “The Two Coreys” yourself when A&E reruns the first four episodes Sunday, July 6th, beginning at 10 p.m. The show will return with a new episode Sunday, July 13th…

Photo courtesy of A&E Network