Hey, TLC: Get "Real" and Air the Gosselin Divorce!
Hey, TLC: Get "Real" and Air the Gosselin Divorce!
TLC announced today that production has been halted on Jon & Kate Plus 8 following the Gosselins' Monday revelation that they're splitting up. As a founding partner of Firstwivesworld.com, I want TLC to continue the ''reality" of what really happens when two people with kids decide to call it quits.
According to the LA Times, the network made the decision to halt production, not the family. Hmmm, the network signed on for a reality show about a couple raising 8 small kids, knowing full well that reality shows often cause divorce, and now they're surprised?
Only six episodes of the 40-episode season have aired. Through tears on Monday's show, Kate declared "the show must go on!"
So what's the hold up? Is TLC afraid the "reality "of divorce won't be pretty to watch or sponsor?
So what that the Gosselins are no longer an everyday family trying to raise eight kids? OK then, portray the reality of a couple splitting up and trying to raise 8 kids. That's double the commotion and emotion. Half the country can relate. Maybe seeing it prime time might actually save some marriages from divorce.
Jon & Kate Plus 8 has become TLC's highest-rated show. Its May premiere drew 9.8-million viewers, a record for the network. Do you know how many divorced people are out there? Well, here's one statistic. There are 30 million women in the US right now who are either contemplating, navigating, or moving on from divorce. If they just rolled the cameras, TLC would pick up even more viewers watching to see how the Gosselins handle it all.
Maybe for TLC, the divorce reality is too much?
Would it be too absurd to watch the kids tears when they're told Daddy is moving out? Would it be too insane to go on a date and watch Jon tell some 20-something gal he already has 8 kids? Too beyond imagination to follow Kate to a hotel tryst on the night Jon has the kids?
Yeah, the Gosselins are a load richer and more famous then when they started this quest — happens to many couples who start out together without much and then end up with more and have to divvy things up.
"Reality"? Then show the lawyers angling and the process dragging on. Law firms galore can advertise.
The REALITY of divorce is that it's a very common lIfe stage event here in the U.S. and abroad; TLC would be the first TV network to acknowledge it and provide a potentially healthy platform for how best to navigate the new challenges and emotions that a divorcing family will likely face. Maybe they could show the kind of serious attention and support kids of divorcing parents need to get through it themselves.
A "reality' divorce show would provide a timely lifestage marketing opportunity for companies who can lend value and support to people having to make a new life after divorce for themselves and their kids and thus make new purchasing decisions.
Granted, the divorce "reality" would likely can Kate's church-sponsored speaking tours, but maybe Century 21 could step in and help Jon find his new apartment. MetLife could help with future financial concerns. And eventually, some smart and sensitive hotel chain would realize they could make a mint offering short stays for divorced parents. That's reality.
The Gosselins make up to $75,000 an episode, not counting their freebies, so I'm sure cash is not a problem. But 8 kids grow up fast, and it takes a ton of cash to get kids through these days. So I'm certain the Gosselins will go on, if the sponsor money is there.
Will it be there?
TLC says next Monday's episode will feature a clip package with some new footage, but the next all-new episode won't air until August 3, the Los Angeles Times reports. So we will see.
I say to TLC, get real — air the divorce!
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