Potential prison time looms over new season of Missouri farmers’ reality TV show
Dad’s not coming back for season 2.
But Steve McBee’s impending prison sentence and the family’s potential financial ruin still hover ominously above the McBee farm like that helicopter Steven Jr. flew above the waving grain in last season’s opening sequence of The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys.
Based on the first episode that dropped Monday and promos of episodes to come, the family patriarch and his dream of an agricultural empire seem to no longer be the focus of the reality TV series based in northwest Missouri that is streaming on Bravo and Peacock.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R24ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R44ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeWhen last we saw him at the end of the first season, McBee was in his pickup, sobbing as he drove into the sunset, leaving his four sons to clean up his messes.
“Dad’s leaving,” the oldest McBee son tells two of his three brothers at the end of that final episode. “All he said is he has no idea when he’s going to be back.”
But the older McBee isn’t totally gone. His presence and criminal circumstances will continue to loom over Season 2 in flashbacks and remarks about his plight from family members and others.
As The Star and others have previously reported, McBee could be heading for prison in real life after pleading guilty to defrauding the federal government out of more than $3 million.
Sentencing delayed
How long will he be in the hoosegow without his Stetson and cowboy boots?
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2bekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4bekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeWe were set to find that out a week ago — four days before the show’s new season began. But by coincidence, fate or the shrewd (and very unlikely) influence of the series’ showrunners, McBee’s sentencing has been pushed back a couple of months and won’t happen until Season 2 has run its course.
Originally set for June 26 at the U.S. courthouse in downtown Kansas City, the hearing is now scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 9 before District Judge Stephen R. Bough.
Fans of the series will remember that the first season was all about how McBee had borrowed big money to build a sprawling farm and ranching operation in Missouri’s Green Hills region. To balance their risks, the McBees diversified their revenues by launching a chain of car washes that served coffee in the Kansas City suburbs.
Would Steve McBee land the big line of credit he needed to keep everything afloat? That was the dramatic throughline throughout and – spoiler alert! – let’s just say things did not go according to plan.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2hekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4hekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeCut to McBee making his tragic exit. But what the show never acknowledged was that debt wasn’t his only cause for anxiety. The feds were after him all during the filming of that first season.
Last November, McBee, 53, admitted in court that he falsified records to get crop insurance payments he wasn’t entitled to. He lied about production losses of corn and soybeans grown on the thousands of acres that provided the scenery for the televised family drama.
“The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys,” debuts on Peacock March 11. The docu-series follows owner Steve McBee and his sons Steven McBee Jr., Cole McBee, Jesse McBee, Brayden McBee as them and their employees race against time to secure a $100 million deal with a venture capital firm.Could get up to 30 years
McBee waived a grand jury indictment and a trial by pleading guilty to one count of federal crop insurance fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Because he has no criminal record, it’s highly doubtful he will get anywhere near that much time. His attorneys are now building their case to get him a lighter sentence, which was the prime, stated reason for the delay, they argued in court documents.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2oekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4oekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“Counsel, in part due to the demands of other matters and in part due to the complexities of this matter, requires additional time to properly prepare financial and sentencing materials for the Probation Office and the Court,” defense attorney Jeffrey D. Morris said in his April 29 motion for a continuance.
“The June sentencing date does not permit the timely and accurate completion of the work required to properly present the information to the
United States Probation Office and the Court. A September setting would adjust the schedule for the presentence report and substantive briefing on sentencing matters.”
KC scenes and Russian rivals
By the time McBee stands before a judge to get his sentence, Season 2 will have ended, and the ratings will help determine whether the series will continue, if the family wants that.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2uekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4uekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeAnd also by that time, viewers will have gotten the answers to some questions facing the McBee boys.
Will their business-smart mom from the Kansas City suburbs save her sons’ business from ruin? Will her ex-husband’s two Russian girlfriends come to blows? Or will the line be drawn at accusations of vandalism and murdered chickens?
And just how many Kansas City locations will flash across the screen? The Power & Light District took a brief turn this week .
McBee Dynasty viewers will have to wait from one week to the next, because Bravo is doling them out one by one and hasn’t spilled many spoilers.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R33ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R53ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeBut one thing seems sure.
The federal investigation that led to Steve McBee pleading guilty to a major felony last fall won’t be ignored in the coming episodes, unless the trailer was just a big tease.
“We’ve been under FBI investigation and there may be prison time involved,” Steven Jr. tells the bros as the show cuts to a commercial.
Yeah, well, we knew that. What else will the show tell us about what happened behind the scenes?
New episodes are released on Mondays.
