Jon and Kate, plus 8 and two more?

[lvpets2002]

Yup & by the time we get thru hearing all about this it will be called Jon & Kate Plus 8 & the State pluss Hate..

Now it's being called "Jon & Kate Plus 8 - and the State." I just heard on the news that the state of PA is now investigating to see if there has been a violation of the child labor laws.

And the saga continues. Ho-hum

[Grace]

From the Detroit Free Press -

'Jon & Kate Plus 8' = a waste of time

BY MITCH ALBOM
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

"Are you keeping up with this Jon and Kate thing?" my colleague asked.

No, I said.

"Everyone's talking about it. It's huge!"

Huge is not the same as important.

"But it's a reality show!"

Particularly true with reality shows.

"You gotta watch! It's unbelievable!"

No. Sadly. It's very believable. Reality TV has now done what we once feared robots would do. It has created its own world, with its own rules, and now is infecting the very society that created it.

Take Jon and Kate Gosselin, a Pennsylvania couple who tried fertility treatments, had twins, tried again, and had sextuplets. They soon become the center of a TV reality show that followed their harried lives. The show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8," is now in its fifth season and is bigger than ever.

"Huge!" as my colleague says.

However, it is huge because the couple is fighting, the husband is suspected of having an affair, the wife is suspected of wanting to have one, and -- gasp! -- who knows? Maybe they'll split up! There's so much tension! Not surprisingly, they are all over the gossip magazine covers.

"This is certainly not what I envisioned I was signing up for," Kate recently lamented during a public appearance in Muskegon. "It amazes me there is an industry that follows you around and writes stories about you."

Exploiting the children

Now, forget for a moment, the sheer audacity of a woman whose family gets paid, reportedly, $75,000 an episode to let cameras follow them around all day, to act surprised that gossip magazines follow her around as well.

What did she think? They were making home movies? The fact that she, her husband and pretty much anyone else on a reality show quickly morphs from "normal" looking people to better-coiffed, better-dressed, better-made-up people tells you they are all for being followed around. It is, in fact, their job to be followed around.

They could always quit, you know.

But they don't. And so I can't really engage in conversation over whether Kate or Jon is the wronged party. Or which is a worse parent. Or whether I feel sorry for all those kids, who sometimes use the words "p-people" to describe paparazzi. (Personally, I would have those children removed from the home; five years in front of TV cameras is, to me, reckless endangerment.)

But I can't give the subject real time, because it's not a real subject. These are not real problems. Signing up for a TV show, then complaining that the cameras are ruining your life is not a real issue. It's like dressing up as Cinderella and then complaining that everyone wants you to try on slippers.

The world of faux reality

Take the case of Susan Boyle, the dowdy volunteer church worker who wowed the judges during auditions of "Britain's Got Talent." She has grown so famous that recent reports had her cursing at photographers who wouldn't leave her alone.

Or Adam Lambert, the eye-shadowed "American Idol" favorite who was upset in the final round and now has his sexuality questioned as the reason he lost.

I may empathize with these people, but I don't feel sorry for them. No one put a gun to their heads. Once you turn your life over to the cameras, you move into a Bizzaro World of attention. You are -- whether you realize it or not -- getting what you wanted.

The same can't be said of laid-off autoworkers, young widowed mothers, abandoned children or unable-to-find-a-job graduates. They live in the real world. And you'll excuse me if that reality renders the reality TV world pathetic.

So color me clueless. But count me out. A penny for your thoughts has turned to dollars for your privacy, but you couldn't give me a million bucks to make my daily life a conversation about publicity vampires like Jon and Kate. They may draw attention like a train wreck. But unlike the train, they brought it upon themselves.



Contact MITCH ALBOM: 313-223-4581 or [email protected]. Catch "The Mitch Albom Show" 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).

[IRescue452]

I've watched it a few times. Personally, I don't support big family reality shows. If you couldn't afford them before a multi-million dollar tv series, you shouldn't have them. I think the children should be seperated into foster homes and the parents neutered. That's just me though.

[happylabs]

I've watched it a few times. Personally, I don't support big family reality shows. If you couldn't afford them before a multi-million dollar tv series, you shouldn't have them. I think the children should be seperated into foster homes and the parents neutered. That's just me though.

That wouldn't really solve anything by separating the children and placing them into foster homes. That would just traumatize the kids which they really do not deserve. They didn't ask to be put on television before millions of people. I think they should just go back to the simple life. They must have some money socked away in the bank to live on. If not, they have been very foolish.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

Jon & Kate also have a little-known rich relative who helps them out. They won't starve any time soon.

[lvpets2002]

I could have swore that just this morning on the news they said Kate is already going out with another man.. You know I wonder how the Doctors feel now that did all of that loose flabb surgery on Kate's tummy now.. Yup about a year ago a man & wife doctor team did Kate's flabby tummy (from having 6 babies) surgury for FREE..

[RICHARD]

Yup about a year ago a man & wife doctor team did Kate's flabby tummy (from having 6 babies) surgury for FREE..

Most of the stuff, vacations, clothes and ? they get is free.

The trip they took to DizzyWorld - was more than likely comped by DL themselves.

They did drive but, they had accomdations for 12, a giant suite, admission to the park and the hats, shirts.....

Dizzy is a GIANT media machine.

If you saw that episode you will see that they went the extra step to shop the brand to the viewers. Any other huge family would have been told, down to the penny, how much they would have to pay for the same 'tour' of the park.

My brother went to DL here in Cah lee fuh nee Ah and admission is 69 dollars per person for adults. He ate at a buffet style BBQ eatery and the tab was 217 dollars for 7 people!

http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/dis...distickets.htm

There is no way to see the whole park in one day, let alone the CA Adventure addition, and even then they sock you for admission to that area.

For the 8 kids and four adults the cost would be 742 dollars just to get in.

I remember going on discount nights for about 25 bucks a ticket.


-------------------------------

The kids are the ones to suffer because you know that when the cameras go away, so will the perks-and those poor kids won't know why.

[smokey the elder]

TLC used to be a good channel. These "reality" series gag me.