Reality Boy

In the second episode of Network Nanny, the Network Nanny has the children prepare chicken parmesan for dinner for their parents’ anniversary. Their parents pretend to be surprised. After dinner, Nanny sends Tasha to her room to sleep while she plays board games with Lisi and Gerald. She calls Lisi and Gerald “little dotes” (155), indicating that they never caused trouble. Suddenly, Tasha shouts from the next room. The cameramen follow and discover a turd in her bathroom. Tasha claims that Gerald defecated there, but Nanny insists that she was with Gerald the whole time, so it was impossible. Gerald’s mother still believes that Gerald is responsible. In the end, the final episode airs without any footage from this day.

Gerald returns to the boxing gym, thinking about how much he wants to hurt himself. He receives advice from Bob, a trainer who says that if he’s allowed in the ring, he could “go all the way” (159). It saddens him to know that had it not been for his past, he could achieve excellence at this sport. When he sees Jacko, he signals to him that they should fight in the boxing ring. Gerald fights Jacko until he is bloody, and Bob intervenes. He realizes that he has really injured Jacko.

When Gerald returns home, he ices his hands and ribs from the fight. He lies to his mother about the severity of his injuries. Then he gets a phone call from Hannah who tells him that he should ask her out on a date. She tells him that she has liked him for a while but was nervous to approach him because he is famous. He is pleasantly surprised. When they hang up, he tells his mother that Hannah is a friend from school calling for homework help.

During a break between filming the second episode of Network Nanny, Tasha brings a boy home to her bed while their parents aren’t home. Tasha was supposed to babysit Lisi and Gerald but has sex with the boy instead. Later that week, Gerald sees Tasha pinning their mother against the wall, choking her and yelling at her. He thinks about intervening but doesn’t “because [he] didn’t fully understand it” (174). Their mother never mentions the incident to anyone.

Gerald and Hannah decide to date but have several rules. The first rule is that they are never to use the word “retarded” in a derogatory fashion. The second is that they will never watch a musical. Gerald proposes that the third rule be that there is no discussion of reality television. The fourth rule is that they cannot tell their families that they are dating since they will surely disapprove. Gerald proposes that the fifth rule is that they do not share physical contact for two months. He does not want to ruin their relationship by escalating things too quickly. Hannah asks if what’s depicted on reality television is truly real. She wants to know if he really did punch the nanny on television. He admits that he really did punch Nanny, which makes her laugh. Her reaction infuriates him. She tells him to “Have a sense of humor” (178), which only further fuels his anger.