Why ‘Monsters In-Laws’ gave me ‘agita’

A&E’s new reality show “Monster In-Laws,” about nightmare in-laws would have been a lot more palatable if it didn’t begin with an out-of-control Italian-American family.

And, yes, the first line of the whole show involves meatballs.

Once again, Italians are presented as untrained house pets whose behavior is worse than inbred pit bulls. When are TV execs going to realize what bigots they have become in the name of “fun”?

Given that premise, each week, Mel Robbins, a former trial lawyer-turned-relationship expert (which makes as much sense as a bulldozer operator-turned-makeup artist), and a “development expert” (whatever that is) named Dr. Tom go into volatile relationships between married couples and their monstrous in-laws.

How desperate for fame do you have to be to allow yourself to be tagged as the beast on a reality show called “Monster In-Laws”? The gene for shame has become as useless an appendage as the appendix.

Anyway, tonight, the Ciccione family, which jointly owns a restaurant, is featured. The wife’s parents have zero respect for their daughter’s husband. In fact, they have so little regard for him that they go to their daughter’s house almost every night and stay until 10 p.m. Not only do they have zero boundaries, but they ignore the young couple when it comes to disciplining their grandchild, around whom their world revolves.

Think “Kitchen Nightmares” for dysfunctional relatives with the relationship experts coming in and making things work better in two minutes. All and all, “Monster In-Laws” will make you feel better about your own in-laws. Or not.

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