Kim Jones of foreverJONES on Family’s Reality TV Show

Last year, Bounce TV aired A Forever Jones Holiday, a Christmas special featuring the GRAMMY®-nominated family gospel group foreverJONES.  Bounce is now set to debut Forever Jones, its first original non-scripted series, Wednesday, June 5, at 9:00 P.M. (ET). 

Presented by Walmart, the series is set in the family’s hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana.  Original episodes will run Wednesday nights at 9:00 p.m. over a six-week period.

TBGB caught up via telephone with Kim Jones, family matriarch, while the Joneses were in Hawaii.

KJ:  It was an idea that our manager at the time, Jeoffrey Benward, had.  But everywhere we’d go, people would say, “You need to do a reality show,” because of all of the drama that presents itself with a family of five kids, a son-in-law, grandbabies, and traveling-in a van!  They knew that our story had to be more entertaining than what they were experiencing!

KJ: Number one, it was new.  Number two, it was scary.  Number three, it was fun because of the crew that the directors brought in.  They were some of the best people to work with.  They made it a lot easier for me, as a mom always protective of her kids, than I thought it would be.  The scary part was: “Make sure your mike’s not on!”  “Don’t say that!” 

KJ: I don’t think they surprised me, because we talked a lot prior to the cameras arriving.  We do that as a family anyhow-talk and see what’s going on-but one thing that did take me aback was how free the kids were in talking about their lives.  I thought, “Oh, my gosh, did he really say that?  Did she really do that?”

KJ:  The show couldn’t have come at a better time because I have four adults and one tween.  I have an adult daughter who is married.  Dominique just finished college.  Dewitt is trying to find his way.  Judah is on his way to college, and Mya, she’s thirteen and everything that comes with thirteen, she’s going through it!   So each person has a different personality, and each person is making new steps in his or her personal journey. 

KJ: I hope so.  I hope viewers take away hope, a sense of joy, and a sense of lifelong commitment to a relationship, with all the challenges that people face.  Because the show is faith-based, we also want people to go back to the Creator, the one who created relationships, and find out how He wants each of us to respond to situations so we can get beyond them and keep moving.

 KJ:  At home, we have basic basic cable – the channels you get with your TV! This works well for us, and we’re just happy to be involved in the latest cable tv data statistics 2020, as not only are we a TV household, we also have cable TV. The channels that we do have access to open a new world of viewing pleasure.  We do have Bounce, and when we travel, we get to see some of the other programs.  My personal favorite is The Sheards, because they are very close to the gospel family, to us, even though there are fewer people in their family. 

KJ: Yes.  I like the fact that they are working things out as a family.  I remember Kierra saying that she saw parts of her brother that she hadn’t seen before, and I know that I will see parts of my children that I hadn’t seen before.

KJ: No, but after they edited a few pieces, I went to the director and said I wasn’t comfortable with how I processed something.  I said something and didn’t like how it came across.

KJ: There are three that love the camera!  My oldest son, Dewitt, that’s what he wants to do.  He’s always talked about doing movies.  And D’Jeniele, when she was about twelve, she said, “Mom, I want to do movies, I want to do TV.”  I raised my kids in the church and I didn’t think that was ever anything they would want to do, but when she said that, I said, “Baby, you should pursue it.”  And Mya is toying with the idea of Disney; the manager has been asking her about it.

Something many people do not know is that those same three children are part of a low-budget movie called At Mama’s Feet.  They slept very little because they were finishing up the reality show and doing the movie at the same time.  The movie will probably be released in late 2013 or 2014. 

KJ: It’s possible, but I believe that we are close enough as a family that if the show seems like it will change the perception of who we are, we will remain the Jones Family, without the “forever.”  It is a possibility, but I hope that we are strong enough that, after the TV is turned off, we can sit down and say, “Okay, guys, this is how it went out!” 

 

You can put sound bites together and make it sound like anything, but I feel really good about the directors and I know that they will represent us well.

For more information about Forever Jones, visit www.bouncetv.com, Forever Jones on Facebook, and Twitter at @officialfjm.