Parents' Guide to Royal Rules of Ohio

The fun unscripted series highlights what it's like for three adult sisters to negotiate their role as descendants of Ghanaian royalty with their desire to live an unrestricted lifestyle in the U.S. Viewers get to watch their parents and extended family mentor (and reprimand) them with the expectation that they'll behave in ways that respect the royal and ethnic values of the country from which they come. Meanwhile, the sisters reveal how far they're willing to go to challenge those boundaries, including engaging in social behaviors that align with U.S. mainstream drinking and dating culture.

The series also offers some interesting insights into different Ghanaian norms and traditions, most of which center around family. As privileged and rebellious as the sisters appear to be, it's evident that they're intelligent and educated career-oriented women who love their family and their community, even if there are certain expectations that they prefer not to meet. Like most TV reality fare, there's lots of manufactured drama, but at its core, Royal Rules of Ohio reflects some common tensions within families that emigrate from their countries to the U.S. Older generations struggle to maintain the cultural values from where they originally come from, and younger generations try to live their lives according to the norms of the place they now call home.