Remembering HBO's "Family Bonds"

In the early 2000s, when George W Bush was president and America was fighting two wars, America entertained itself with two things: The Sopranos and reality shows. 

So it was the backdrop of this milieu that HBO, for some inexplicable reason in 2004, produced perhaps its oddest reality shows ever -- Family Bonds.

It was about the professional and personal lives of the Evangelista family from Queens that was in the bail bonds business. The episodes would cut back-and-forth between the domestic lives of the Evangelistas (lead by the patriarch of the family and business Tom, along with his wife who was getting breast implants, his daughter who was getting married and having a baby, and Tom's brother/employee who was a perpetual incompetent) to scenes of them arresting people for breaking their bail.

Much like its fictional HBO sibling of the time about the mafia, Family Bonds was a look at a blue-collar tough guy business (in this case, a real-life legitimate one from NYC) where ordinary family life was contrasted to the rough business that supported it. 

I remember seeing a few episodes of it at the time and wondering why this family and its business was getting a reality show on a prestige network. Some people found it offensive (like this screed) but to me it just looked dull. And after one season it was cancelled -- and completely and totally forgotten (until just now, by me).

I can't find clips of the show on YouTube and it doesn't seem to be streaming anywhere. To a certain extent, it's almost like this show never existed. But if you ever see, you'll get a peak into a certain NYC slice-of-life that had very brief moment in the sun.