MLB 17-time All-Star Pete Rose has spent a lot of time in spotlight. From his time on the diamond earning the all-time MLB hitting record to his infamous banning from baseball – the sport that made him a star – for betting on games as the Reds’ manager. Now he’s going to step into the spotlight in an entirely different way.
TLC is looking to bring Pete Rose to the small screen in a reality series about his marriage to a Playboy model who is more than half his age (like that never happens in the sports world) and the blending of their families. Rose and his fiancée Kiana Kim will let the cameras follow them in their daily lives as Rose attend baseball-related events and autograph signings and Kiana attempts to raise her kids from another relationship. They’ll look at Rose’s attempts to get reinstated in the baseball world and to qualify for the Hall of Fame, as well as Kiana’s breast reduction surgery. I can’t tell you how interested I am in that particular episode (not at all).
The reality series is already in production according to EW with a working title of Pete Rose and Kiana Kim Family Project. Rose seems to have something to prove with this series – to destroy his image as someone who thinks he is above the fans. He says:
“People will get a chance to see what kind of personality I have — and she has,” he says. ” I think the majority of people who don’t know me look at me as a very aggressive person. I see that in the autograph world all the time. People come in and they’re scared to say hi. I’m not going to do anything unless you try to strike me out or make a double play. When I took the cleats off, I was a down-to-earth nice guy. I don’t talk down to nobody or up to anybody. I talk to them.”
Can the show draw in more than just baseball fans and those curious about how a May-December romance really works (or doesn’t, as is so often the case), or will this be a potential grand slam for TLC?
