"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

Agency probes Jon & Kate kids for exploitation

Kate with some of her eight children (Photo courtesy of TLC)

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor is looking into whether the hit reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8 is complying with child labor laws, AP reported Friday.

Uh, oh...

Labor Department spokesman Justin Fleming told AP that the department is looking into "a complaint" against the show. Based on media reports, that complaint probably was filed by Kate's brother and sister-in-law. Nice.

The TLC series follows Jon and Kate Gosselin as they raise their eight young children, including 8-year-old twins and sextuplets who just turned 5. The show drew nearly 10 million viewers for its fifth-season premiere Monday following reports of trouble in the Gosselins' marriage, AP reported.

Not surprisingly, TLC says it "fully complies" with state laws and regulations.

Word is Jon has been cheating with some teacher while Kate is out on a book tour and bonding with her body guard.

What else is new? It's the same old story: the rags-to-riches syndrome. It's all fun and games until they get the new mansion, the book deal, the killer haircut and highlights.

Here's what irks me the most about all this: it's yet another example of the cultural hypocrisy prevalent in this country. For five years the same people now complaining milked as much entertainment and mindless TV therapy from the show. But now, now that someone might be having an affair (*gasps* OMG!), now that the marriage is not a fairytale, the couple is scum and "we" must stop the "child exploitation" or "child abuse" that is shamelessly being perpetrated on the poor children.

Before the marriage went south, the show was not child exploitation and now it is. Why do you think that is? I'll tell you why: because of the self-righteousness that infects this society. Whenever cheating or affairs come into play, the self-righteous rise like zombies from their graves to point fingers. Meanwhile, these self-righteous vigilantes here to protect us from ourselves (thank you so very much) are having their own affairs, coveting and lusting after fortune and fame, committing their own sins.

They tune in while cursing the show.

Me? I can't keep my eyes off her hair.

Sources: The Associated Press
Copyright © 2009