"American Gypsies" on National Geographic Channel A hypothesis awaiting a dissertation: The earlier in a reality show that someone uses a phrase like "family is everything to us," the more shouting matches, bullying, manipulative behavior and other discord there will be in that family. Shadow Stick Productions/National Geographic Channel American Gypsies Robert Johns Sr., a Romany father, in this show on the National Geographic Channel, Tuesday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time. Bobby, one of five adult sons in the Johns family, drops that cliché in the first few minutes of Tuesday night's premiere of "American Gypsies," the second deplorable show about this subculture to come along in three months. The first was "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding," which turned up in April on TLC, a channel not known for thoughtful, nuanced programming. "American Gypsies" has a somewhat higher-class address, the National Geographic Channel, but like that earlier show, it is doing Gypsies no favors. The Romany family here owns "psychic healing shops" in New York, we're told, but its members seem as if they could use a little psychic healing of their own. Everybody's a control freak, everybody yells at everybody else and they all behave contemptibly while expressing contempt for people and culture not Romany. The opening episode sets up what appears to be the core rivalry in the series: Bobby versus his brother Nicky, with Bobby as the relatively broad-minded family member and Nicky as the screamer who tries to intimidate him into following traditional ways. Presumably, this and everything else in the series has been trumped up for the cameras, but it is done without wit, insight or anything else that might distinguish "American Gypsies" from shows with "Housewives" or "Jersey" in the title. Yelling for yelling's sake, by Gypsies or anyone else, became tedious years ago. As in the TLC show, much is made of the Gypsy emphasis on teenage marriage and on not mingling with the outside world. In the premiere's most ridiculous moment, one of Bobby's daughters tells him she wants to become an actress. "It's not our tradition to do things like that," he tells her. Then he explains to the camera, "The elders are worried that the children will choose to be exploited." No, he's not saying it ironically. American Gypsies National Geographic Channel, Tuesday nights at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time. Produced by Stick Figure Productions for the National Geographic Channel. Steven Cantor, Daniel Laikind, Terry Clark, Toby Faulkner and Ralph Macchio, executive producers; Andrew Kriss and Peter Lipera, producers. For the National Geographic Channel: Allan Butler, executive producer; Kim Woodard, vice president of programming and development; Michael Cascio, executive vice president of programming.