FARMINGTON — Could Farmington be the site for a reality television show? 

Can some colorful, local characters and a local radio Phone-Mart segment join other small-town television phenomenons like Georgia’s Honey Boo Boo or Louisiana’s Duck Dynasty family?

Those questions are being explored by a New York City firm, Crybaby Media, whose business is to create, cast and sell reality shows and other media programs, according to its website.

A creative developer, Bryan Severance, and a film crew with Crybaby Media spent two days (Dec. 16 and 17) in Farmington, interviewing and filming some local people, including Dot Gordon at Ron’s Market and staff at the local radio station, WKTJ. 

They also spent some time filming in Strong and checked out Uncle Henry’s, Gordon said. They listened to stories about Jon Bubier’s trailer park and talked with Joel Bridges of West Farmington.

They look for the unusual but regular people doing regular things. They film short pieces and then try to develop and sell the idea, she said.

Whether anything develops or not, “it was fun to be asked,” Gordon said about the potential for “something like this coming to Farmington.”

“It’s cool to even be considered,” she added. “It’s fun for this little town.”

A few months ago, Amanda Beane, the daughter of Ron’s Market owners, Jon and Lois Bubier, contacted Crybaby Media to suggest a segment about Farmington and her husband’s Pickle Lickers, a locally developed pickle the couple sells around Maine and New Hampshire, Gordon said.

The Crybaby crew interviewed several people over Skype before coming to Farmington to film, Jon Bubier said. After a couple more Skype interviews, including one with Gordon, they returned to Farmington for more filming, he said. It’s video they may or may not use, he added. They may or may not come back.

They were looking for “foolish things that might happen in Farmington,” he said. “What’s cool, what’s funny.”

While Bubier gave them a tour of Farmington during the first visit, WKTJ’s “Phone-Mart,” a radio program devoted to letting listeners buy and sell their own items, came on, he said. That created interest, he said.

“Phone-Mart” hosts the sale of a variety of items, sometimes in an entertaining way, a potential for reality interactions with local people, he said.

Gordon, an outgoing and friendly store clerk at Ron’s Market, lives her philosophy to “treat everyone the same” as she interacts with every customer.

“My work shift is my eight-hour social hour,” she said.

She has become an “adopted mom” to many college-student customers who bring their parents into the store at graduation to meet her.

Gordon also claims to be Maine’s No. 1 Michael Jackson fan, and she has experience buying and selling items on “Phone-Mart.”

The crew filmed her working behind the counter, listening to Michael Jackson music and sporting an Jackson-style outfit, as she normally would, she said.

They posed her to call “Phone-Mart,” seeking a sled for her granddaughter and tickets to the Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil.

The “Phone-Mart” call had to be repeated because, by accident, the first one wasn’t taped, she said.

Gordon didn’t need the tickets; she had already seen the production four years ago in Las Vegas, when she attended a large Michael Jackson Fan Fest, she said. Her tattoo tribute to Jackson, Gone Too Soon, and photos of her dressed similarly to the former celebrity made the Las Vegas papers and website, she said.

She named a variety of Jackson replica outfits and items in her collection, many seen on her Facebook page. The same age, 55, that Jackson would be had he lived, Gordon relates the good she sees in him — the humanitarian, the mentor and developer of other stars, like Usher, and the father.

Attempts to reach Crybaby Media and the WKTJ manager were unsuccessful.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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