REALITY TV revives the family dinner

There’s something magical about sitting down around a big table, sharing a meal, sharing stories, maybe having an argument or two, but experiencing a rare solidarity that’s hard to achieve in other settings.

For many families where members are scattered at dinnertime, or for families separated by circumstances, the family dinner may not happen every night, but only on Sunday or a holiday or other special occasion.

And for some folks, friends make up the fellowship of the dinner table.

For all these realities, there’s reality TV there to reflect them.

Returning on Tuesday, July 17, for its second season, TLC’s “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” features child beauty pageant participant Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her family in rural Georgia. In between pageants, Honey Boo Boo and her family – parents June (“Mama”) and Mike (“Sugar Bear”), and her three older sisters – sit down to family dinners on a weekly family food budget of $80.

So along with the help of coupons and other strategies, June’s thrifty meals often feature “roadkill” – free venison from deer killed by cars. Or if there isn’t any roadkill, Mama may make “sketti,” the family word for spaghetti, served with meat and an unusual sauce made

In Focus

“Romantic Encounters,” www.mydamnchannel.com/romantic_encounters/romantic_ encounters/romanticencountersteaser1_10615.aspx

The comedy series stars stand-up comedian Melinda Hill and is based on her many botched attempts to find a soul mate. Also starring are Dana Gould, Steve Little, Carlos Alazraqui, Drew Droege and Bryan Callen. Hill produces with Adam Scott Franklin and Jason Cilo.

“The Fall,” movies.netflix. com/WiMovie/70272726

Streaming in the U.S. exclusively on Netflix, this psychological thriller examines the lives of two hunters: serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan), who stalks random victims in Belfast, Northern Ireland; and the high-powered London detective superintendent, Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson), brought in to catch him.