Jon and Kate plus 8.
Before Monday the only parts of this show I ever saw were 10 to 20 second clips that were played on “The Soup” I’m not a huge fan of TLC, so that is probably why I never watched the show. The clips on “The Soup” were always hilarious, because I felt like I was watching caricatures. Kate was the nagging, shrill, drill sergeant wife, and Jon the beat down comatose husband, who acquiesced to her every whim. Ha Ha real funny. Recently however, because this show and the apparent demise of their marriage is getting so much media attention, I watched a little bit of the premiere this week, to understand what all the fuss is about.
Something struck me immediately; I am not comfortable with watching children on reality TV. Before you judge me as being self righteous, I am no means a TV snob; I can proclaim here today to the world that I watch the WORST reality TV shows ever. VH1. Do I need to say more? Okay I will, I have watched full and partial seasons, of Flavor of Love 1 and 2, Rock of Love, Charm School, and Tool Academy. Should I go on? Basically, these shows reach down to the dregs of the reality TV bin through cattle calls for wantabe stars. People, who probably came to LA with dreams of acting, but strip, do porn, wait tables or anything to make some money when the acting gigs are sparse. I watch these shows and feel no sympathy for these people, because these are adults who have chosen to have their lives recorded and manipulated in post production editing to create a caricature of who they really are. They are looking for fame in anyway they can find it. Since they are adults more power to them.
This brings me back to Jon and Kate; everyone seems to have an opinion. They hate Kate, or they hate Jon. I don’t know these people well enough to form an opinion about their relationship. What I do know is that these 2 adults made the decision to exploit their own family situation and children to hop on the TLC gravy train. Raising children is serious business and should be treated with the deference it deserves. What are Jon and Kate committed to now? Is it each other, their kids, or is it fame? I noticed tweets and Facebook status updates, and it seems as if the mood has shifted to sadness for this couple. Now this show has more attention surrounding it then ever. It’s so deliciously voyeuristic to watch the demise of a character. It’s easy make trite comments about how sad you are for them, and how you hope the marriage the media is trying to ruin is saved. The problem is we are watching real children who are not yet equipped to deal with the media firestorm that surrounds them. I will never tune into this show again.
Honestly I hope this show goes off the air soon, but guess what? It won’t. As sad as we “feel” we still would want to see the separation, the divorce. The show could be called, “Kate plus 8 & Jon every other visitation weekend”. I hope this couple can make the difficult decision to take themselves out of the spotlight, so their children do not have lasting emotional damage from this 5 year flirtation with fame. In the end it will not be worth it.
1 comments:
Hilarious! Love the title. A friend who was recently in Greece wanted to yell this while photo-oping with some gladiators. Also, Dr. Laura is starting some crusade to make it illegal to put children on reality tv shows. I guess other people are also against this sort of thing, which is confusing because I thought 'merica was all about exploiting children.
Post a Comment