"Sometimes I'm very tough on Jordan, but at the end of the day she knows that it's all about love," Kimberly Mosely-Stephens says after seeing her daughter cry her way through ballet lessons.

While Debbie Tye insists, "Most of it's just for her," she also admits — perhaps without realizing it — that she expects her 4-year-old daughter to make up for what she perceives as her own childhood failings. "I don't want her to be like I was as a child. I want her to be outgoing and friendly and to have a personality."

And if you need evidence of just how obsessed this woman is, she says, "We can easily spend $20,000 a year between the hair and makeup, the hotels, the entry fees, getting the clothes."

Twenty grand a year? What if she saved that money for the child's education?

It's not just the parents who act badly in "Showbiz Moms & Dads," however. Jordan Barron's behavior is abominable — she insults and swears at her mother, showing her no respect whatsoever.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't in it for the money," Jordan Barron says later. "Because the money is great, let me tell you. I can't wait to be famous, and I can't wait to make millions of dollars for shooting one film."

Tiffany Barron didn't ask for advice, but she needs to get that girl out of California and away from the entertainment industry as quickly as possible. If for no other reason than her daughter seems completely unprepared for the realities of Hollywood — like when she gets rejected after an audition.

"The feedback that I got wasn't based on my talent, it was based on my look. And I think for somebody to judge somebody by the way that they look at that point in time, is wrong," Jordan Barron says.

Well, guess what? That's what show business is all about — you can be the most talented actor on Earth, but if you don't have the look they're after, you're not going to get the job.

It's tough, but it's the truth. And it's hard enough for adults to deal with that truth, let alone children.

Granted, the editing in "Showbiz Moms & Dads" doesn't do much to make these people look good. Like when the narrative cuts from an interview clip of Debbie Tye saying, "We let her run around and play and just be a little girl," to a clip of her telling little Emily not to bounce around because she'll mess up her hair. Or when she counters criticism by saying, "My answer to that is always, 'Look at her. Does she look like a happy child?' " and the producers splice in a scene of the girl crying because she doesn't want to go on.

But it doesn't change the fact that, what these parents say and what they're seen doing are often very different things.

You might wonder why anyone would agree to take part in this series, given the possibility — even probability — that it will make its subjects look bad. But it's obvious that none of these people believe that anything they're doing is in any way questionable.

But it's also obvious that most of these people are so desperate for their 15 minutes of fame that they were willing to take whatever risks they had to just to be on TV.

Scary.

---

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com