"Jon & Kate Plus 8" also taking a break

Jon and Kate during filming of Jon & Kate Plus 8. (Clark McCarthy-Miller/TLC)

Well, it was bound to happen...no big revelation here, though the entertainment media will likely call it "shocking news" and "bombshell" more times that I'll be able to count tonight. (Note to self: Add "bombshell" to your list of pet peeve words.)

As the shit continues hit the fan at the speed of light in Jon and Kate Gosselin's lives, production of the reality show that made them famous, Jon & Kate Plus 8, has been suspended following their announcement Monday that they're splitting up.

Uh-oh

Last night's episode attracted a TLC-record 10.6 million viewers, but despite the huge ratings, the network and the family are "taking some time off to regroup," TLC said in a statement.

The network said that next Monday's episode will feature a clip package of the couple's highs and lows during their 10-year marriage and some new footage, but that the next all-new episode won't air until Aug 3. "Then a modified schedule will be in place to support the family's transition," TLC said.

J&K+8 addicts must be reaching for their oxygen tanks and lots of chocolate...

The decision came from TLC and not the family, the Los Angeles Times reported. Because of the couple's faltering marriage, production on each episode thus far has been down to the minute, and word is they simply don't have enough footage now to create fresh installments, according to the report.

Only six episodes of the 40-episode season have aired.

Near the end of last night's episode (the first 45 minutes spent on an excruciatingly long product placement for a playhouse company in Maine), Kate said that she had sobbed and hyperventilated for half a day when she realized that her marriage was over. And Jon, displaying all the emotion of a bottle of Drano, described his failings in terms of passivity and ineptitude as a communicator, The New York Times reported. (I thought this was too funny to pass!)

"Over the course of this weekend, Jon's activities have left me no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect myself and our children," Kate said in a statement Monday.

The couple reportedly plans to live in different cities. Right now the family, which includes a set of twins and sextuplets, home base is a $1.1 million Pennsylvania house. People magazine recently reported Jon was apartment hunting in New York and might move to Donald Trump's Trump Place (not Plaza, which is way more expensive than what any of them will be able to afford without the show and its perks).

Now, this thing about to become a tale of two cities caught my interest because if you think about it, why the hell is he moving to New York (or wherever)--so far away from his beloved eight kids? Usually, caring parents do whatever they can to remain nearby so they can see their children as often as possible and be a part of their lives. Occasionally, this is not doable because of work or family issues. Fine. What's the issue here?

Hmmm...

During last night's episode, a teary-eyed Kate that in spite of it all "the show must go on."

Well...not really.

Sources: US magazine, E! Online, Los Angeles Times, My Twisted Mind
Copyright © 2009

The beginning of the end for Jon & Kate Plus 8

Jon and Kate Gosselin celebrate their 100th episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 on TLC.

All I'm going to say about the Gosselins is that it's over. The show it's over.

That's what happens when you try to have your cake and eat it too.

Their hit TV show, Jon and Kate Plus 8, has brought them fame and fortune, but it has also changed their lives.The once-normal, everyday couple from next door coping with the extraordinary circumstances stemming from raising a set of twins and sextuplets is now as far from "everyday" as it gets, more than 100 episodes farther.

But that alone wouldn't have been enough to derail the gravy train. They got themselves a scandal.

That's what's happening in the U.S.--you're nobody or next-to-nobody unless you're on television, and once there, you're not a true star until something nasty about you can be reported and milked for all it's worth by the media and the insatiable-for-trash public.

All you need is one thing--one word, one act, one photo--that the self-righteous majority finds reprehensible to end up on the cover of every pop culture magazine, in every entertainment news show, and the subject of daily water-cooler discussions, and you've made it. If genitals are involved, even better.

So finally, after all these years, you've made it to the pinnacle of your TV career. But now everyone...well, not everyone...but a bunch of people who once "loved" you and those who knew nothing about you until the shit hit the fan now hate you.

They'll watch a few episodes of your show, maybe even the whole season, to get a glimpse of the train wreck that is now your life. And rather than feeling envious of you and your vacations, they will cherish their new found power as moral judges. And, soon enough, they will drop you.

I don't mean to be negative. It's just the way it usually goes.

The good ratings-turned-to-awesome-ratings-post-scandal will go down the drain, the show will be canceled, and other than a yearly picture to see how much the kids have grown, no one will buy a magazine or tune into any show to see you.

And that's all I'm gonna say.

Sources: My Twisted Mind, TLC photo
Copyright © 2009