This is a post about John and Kate Plus 8. I honestly have to say that I really have no idea who these people are, but I hear things around the office about this show from time to time...nalthough nothing that's impacted me to the point that I'd remember what was said. I honestly have no idea who they are, and I'm not going to google them to find out about them.
I'm writing this, however, because I've heard markedly more about them today than normal... something about how their show last night sounded scripted, rehearsed, heartless, fake, abnormal, cold, et cetera. (Here's the part where I come off as pompous) But I'm not going to look more into their lives, because I believe that, while many Americans think that we're becoming a nation of abortion-loving, pot-smoking welfare sponges, our thirst for "reality" television soaks into and exploits peoples lives in ways that, had these more conservative-type folk been personal friends of the subjects of these shows, they would never approve of (If you value individual privacy so much, then why are you so into John and Kate Plus 8?), and would think these shows are, in my opinion, not really of any value to any of us.
So apparently this couple is having marital issues. Real, manfactured, I don't know, and I really couldn't care less. It's not that I don't care at a personal level, because I can certainly relate: marriage is the source of the most wonderful, as well as most trying, times of my life. But I turn on the TV late at night, and on the very day that I start really hearing about this show, the first thing I see is Larry King with a marriage counsellor and 2 other "analysts" on his show talking about what's going to happen to the show, what this couple needs to do, blah blah blah. It's all over the blogs. It's one of the most-searched tags on Twitter. Facebook statii are alight with confessions of T+K+8 obsessions/concern. Suddenly, the nation is even more obsessed with this couple because omfg, they're having relationship issues, and finally it's interesting.
You might say "well, they put their lives out there on TV, so we're entitled to our opinions, because we know them so well!" I can see why you'd make that argument. But no, American knows what it sees on their TVs. They know what the studio/network allows them to see. They all thought Jessica and Nick were so effing perfect, then all of a sudden it fell apart (gasp!). America knows nothing–yes, nothing–about John and Kate. Nothing. Let it go. And when people's relationships start falling apart, please don't start making money off of it. And if you see people making money off of it, don't perpetuate it.
I guess it just astounds me that we've gotten to the point where we find these people with an interesting situation, start making a reality show about their perfect/interesting little lives, and when it starts to fall apart, we're all more than happy to keep the rollercoaster going and exploit the suffering of others. Suffering is a key point here: from the little I've heard, it sounds to me like this couple is in a state of suffering. Perhaps they're at an impass in their lives where they're realizing that it's not working. Their family is falling apart. And we're all sitting there watching it, and the advertisers are loving it, because they all know that we're eating it up.
The only way it's going to stop is that we stop watching. If you want to see families falling apart (which I actually think is a helpful thing to see, but not as a reality series), there are plenty of real-world examples that will drive home the lesson and have a more worthy and effective effect on you than any television series. Families can be fucked up, and that's where you should be learning these types of lessons from.
Let John and Kate work on their issues by themselves. It's hard enough when you don't have cameras jammed in your face... and if any of you actually cared about these people, you'd stop watching.
