Jon & Kate Plus 8: The Train Wreck

I sat down with my daughter to watch the Season 5 premiere of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” last night.By the end of the show I felt like I was watching an episode of “Celebrity Rehab,” and my daughter was fighting back tears.

What was once a cute, funny, and somewhat endearing show about a couple raising two sets of multiples has turned into a train wreck. I feel especially bad for those fans of the show (like my daughter) who watched the first four seasons because they had fallen in love with the eight kids. (My daughter’s favorite was little Hannah.)

I had enjoyed watching with my family, because I got a kick out of the interaction between Jon and Kate. Some of you may remember that I actually once praised their relationship in a column, writing:

“Jon and Kate have morphed into a couple that is totally honest and open with one another. They have developed a relationship built on trust, so much so that they can say almost anything to each other without producing the type of lingering feelings that fester and destroy so many relationships.”

Apparently I was wrong.

But what bothered me most about last night’s episode (which probably garnered the highest rating in their history, as the public squabbling between Jon and Kate has been tabloid fodder for the past six months) is the total hypocrisy that the show represented on so many levels.

Kate’s anger at the media and the paparazzi for intruding on their privacy is almost laughable.How do you invite the cameras into your home for five years and then constantly complain that you are getting too much media attention?

Then there is Kate herself, the mother of eight kids, who now is focused upon her career, which I guess entails traveling around the country making speeches, pushing her books (full of Bible quotes by the way), and selling a variety of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” products. Apparently she is not home much these days.

Of course there is Jon’s hypocrisy admitting that he needs an escape from the spotlight, and that he has “made some mistakes,” while photos of dear old dad canoodling with young women in nightclubs have appeared on the covers of tabloids for months.

If ever a show demonstrates the adage that “money is the root of all evil,” it is this one. In early seasons, with the family packed into a small house and wearing jeans, the show exuded a feeling of love and warmth.

Now in Season 5, there was Jon driving up in his white sports car, Kate wearing designer clothes and expensive jewelry, and the family living on a $1.1 million dollar estate. (Jon supposedly is living in an apartment over the garage.)

Overall, the premier episode was full of tears and sadness. Even though Kate had planned an especially gaudy (even by her standards) 5th birthday party for the sextuplets, the whole show oozed emptiness. And what was especially empty were the classic interview scenes on a couch, as Jon and Kate each were interviewed sitting by themselves.

So why did they agree to a fifth season, with their world crumbling around their family? How does $75,000 an episode sound? After all, the upkeep on that estate must cost quite a bundle. Moreover, they better save up for all the therapy sessions those kids will need in a few years.

When the show ended last night, my daughter said she probably won’t watch it anymore. But I am hooked. After all, I never missed an episode of “Celebrity Rehab!”
Labels: Jon and Kate, paparazzi, relationships