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I see in your future: shitty ratings!

Taking a cue from the way TLC presents Toddlers & Tiaras, as though the offensive content was not even their doing, American Gypsies features random fistfights, vandalism, hairy people in suits yelling at each other and the baseless, soulless mantra that somehow, for some reason, family is the most important thing in the world. Because that's apparently what ethnic stereotypes believe when there are 20 of them crammed around the dinner table eating a meal grandma woke up two days ago to prepare, and that makes them not monstrous or awful because hey, they love their momma. So did Norman Bates.

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Most of the trailers feature a scene with one of the characters bashing in the windows of an SUV in stark contrast to the myth that Gypsies may be hotheaded. In fairness, it is superior to cursing someone with lycanthropy, but it's still a dick move, Gypsies. In another, an old Gypsy caricature of a woman is seen stroking someone's palm and proclaiming that all Gypsy women are psychic. All of them. But you'd know that if you were a Gypsy, wouldn't you? You would have seen it in your tea leaves.

If it's hard to see any of those old, terrible stereotypes the show seeks to overcome here, it's because they're hidden behind too many crystal balls and hairy, brutish forearms. The only surprising thing about the show is that, after watching it, you probably still retain legal rights to your firstborn and there won't be a shantytown set up in your yard. You learn nothing about Gypsy culture beyond the fact that they seem to be angry, violent frauds, which may not be the best "look what you didn't know about us!" message to give people.