My Kiddo, the Contestant

I have an unusual Twitter handle, “theotherhepler.” I originally came up with it as a cute little self-deprecating nod to my wife, who’s more famous than I am in the games industry. Now I am going to be “the other Hepler” once again, because my 11-year-old kid is going to be more famous than me.

For the record, I’m cool with it.

Just about the time my wife and I finally made some ground in television and film (2002), the reality TV boom hit and something like 1800 television jobs got reduced to 800 that season. Nobody wanted a pair of kids with one lousy show under their belt: writers with much more experience were taking pay cuts to work even the low-end jobs. Well, we showed them. We moved to Canada, then came back to California with our own reality star.

No, not a Kardashian. Not a survivor. Not a Jersey Shore-dweller. A baker on the nicest, most wholesome show I’ve ever seen. For the last year or so, I’ve been pumped full of eclairs and burnt almond cakes and enough cupcakes to give a brachiosaurus diabetes. And January 1st, it all pays off.

Beverly Hepler will be appearing on Kids’ Baking Championship on the Food Network, Monday nights at 9:00 pm, starting (as I said), January 1st. The commercial for the new season is here. Beverly is the goofy, enthusiastic, blonde one saying “Kids rock!”

They do.