Wimp & Shrew's Big announcement - Do you care?

[Lookingglassman]

I guess Jon and Kate are going to make some big announcement tonight about their wreck of a marriage.

I highly doubt it will be, "Gee we are going out to get real jobs to support our kids instead of exploiting them on tv for money."

The Best of Both World episodes from STTNG will be airing on SciFi during their show so I guess I wont find out what their "big announcement" is until I watch the news.

 

[Kelthaz]

I don't know who or what you're talking about, so I guess the answer's no.

 

[auntiehill]

Can't say I really care. I've watched the show a few times over the years, but I can't say I care about these people. I don't fault them for doing the show; I think if I had 8 kids, I'd do whatever it took to support them. But, I do think that they've gone overboard---too many shows, too many episodes, too many book tours, too many photo shoots, etc. I think it's time to end the show before it screws up these kids any more than it already has.

Plus, really, it doesn't portray the parents in a very good light, either. The husband comes off like a wimpy, passive-aggressive brat and the woman is just the most unloving, nagging, wife I ever seen.

Better people than these have cracked under the strain of so many kids, not to mention having a camera in your face 24/7.

They get divorced---oh well. No surprise there. If they don't, I hope they end the show and spend more time with their kids. Surely they have enough money now to make ends meet.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

If it were a 1980's sitcom, the possibilities for this "Very Special Episode" would be...

• Kate is struggling with drug addiction or bulimia
• Jon is arrested for shoplifting
• Jon or Kate loses his/her job
• Jon and Kate lose their virginity
• Someone close to the family commits suicide/dies in a car accident

Sadly, it's not going to be any of these.

 

[Maestro]

We're watching. I hope he dumps her ass.

 

[Australis]

Tell us more, for non-US residents. Or not. I'm not sure.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Tell us more, for non-US residents. Or not. I'm not sure.

It's the gruesome spectacle of what could have been, at one time, a reasonably normal couple, being driven insane by a) having 8 kids, all around the same age (twins and sextuplets) and b) having decided to seek financial help by selling their lives to reality TV. I feel sorry for them; how the hell is anyone supposed to deal with their situation?

They should have gone for selective abortion. Why should people trying to just have a third kid be stuck with an ongoing nightmare of a life, and worse yet, forced to pretend they think having a houseful of screaming brats is a "godsend" or whatever.

The most recent drama is that the guy went and cheated on his wife. Pretty obviously this is a cry for help. It's his way of fleeing his hellish existence of a slow descent into madness, while living in a fishbowl, without having to admit that he can no longer cope. The wife is mad mainly because she didn't think of it first.

 

[shivkala]

It's one of those things were a month ago, I had no clue who they were and now I can't stop hearing about them.

My wife told me about the split and my reaction was, "Who?" Since then they've been in People magazine, on the radio, etc.

Like with the Octomom, I really feel for the kids and hope they come through this as unscathed as possible.

 

[Maestro]

Tell us more, for non-US residents. Or not. I'm not sure.

It's the gruesome spectacle of what could have been, at one time, a reasonably normal couple, being driven insane by a) having 8 kids, all around the same age (twins and sextuplets) and b) having decided to seek financial help by selling their lives to reality TV. I feel sorry for them; how the hell is anyone supposed to deal with their situation?

They should have gone for selective abortion. Why should people trying to just have a third kid be stuck with an ongoing nightmare of a life, and worse yet, forced to pretend they think having a houseful of screaming brats is a "godsend" or whatever.

The most recent drama is that the guy went and cheated on his wife. Pretty obviously this is a cry for help. It's his way of fleeing his hellish existence of a slow descent into madness, while living in a fishbowl, without having to admit that he can no longer cope. The wife is mad mainly because she didn't think of it first.

I don't think a better explanation will ever be given.

 

[T'Bonz]

When my kid was home, she watched them so I figured out who they were (at that point, I had seen a mention of Jon's infidelity but since I didn't know who they were, I didn't read it.)

I've seen perhaps three eps (not tonight's, as something better was on.) My thoughts:

- She is bossy. And he could never do anything right.
- He's a passive-aggressive pussy.

- Infidelity? Her? I don't think so. Him? I would say he did. There are quite a few pictures of him with the first woman (both of whom are like 10 years younger than he is,) including one where both, who live in Pennsylvania, just happen to be standing next to each other in Utah, where he vacationed away from Kate and the kids. Pictures of him with the other woman are online too.
- Seems to me that Jon wanted the divorce. He's tired of the show, tired of Kate, tired of being tied down. He's ready to play with the young girls again. Not sure what they see in him, but to each their own.
- Kate was broadsided by all of this, but should have seen how destructive she could be. This train wreck was obvious. You can't constantly emasculate a man. Granted, he wasn't much of one, but she took what was left of it.

- I don't blame them for the show. How else can you have such a decent life with eight kids? However, the product placements and crossover with other shows has turned it from being something interesting about coping with a large family to a large commercial. Plus - they had lots of "helpers" so they really WEREN'T "coping" with raising a large family themselves. They were managers.
Perhaps once the kids hit post-diaper age, the "helpers" should have been retired. Then it would have been a family truly raising their children.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last season of the show. Viewership hasn't been strong lately, minus the "drama" and with tonight's announcement, that will die off. Then what will happen? They will truly be alone (although not living together) and fully responsible for their eight kids, with no helpers and financial support to enable them to live a very, very upper-middle class life, one they could not live on their joint income without this help.

 

[LutherSloan]

My girlfriend watches this show a lot.

If I were married to that woman myself (really unlikely in the first place), I would have left. She's just too overbearing.

But yes, he's also a huge pussy.

I laugh because it's just awful exploitation of the kids, especially when they do really blatant crossovers with other TLC shows like some baking show and the one with the bike designers. Ugh.

 

[GeorgeKirk]

Who styled that woman's hair, Dr. Seuss? She looks like a refugee from Whoville, with the same unnatural tan as House Minority Leader John Boehner. Maybe they're members of the same alien species.

Seriously, though, those kids have a seriously frakked-up childhood. They've been followed around by a camera crew for as long as they can remember, and for the past few months their parents have been all over the tabloids. I just hope they can have some semblance of a normal life now, but I doubt it's possible.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I never heard of them until 3 weeks ago.

They should've been content with twins anyway.

The dad will star in a spin-off about him raising a pet chimp.

"Jon Minus Kate Plus Ape".

 

[Australis]

Ah, now I know what kind of show this is.

The kind I NEVER watch. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Warp Coil]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last season of the show. Viewership hasn't been strong lately, minus the "drama" and with tonight's announcement, that will die off. Then what will happen? They will truly be alone (although not living together) and fully responsible for their eight kids, with no helpers and financial support to enable them to live a very, very upper-middle class life, one they could not live on their joint income without this help.

J&K has actually been one of TLC's highest-rated shows, before all of the drama started. Once the tabloid fodder started, the ratings jumped through the roof (hitting over 9 million for the season premiere), but then slowly returned back to "typical" ratings. TLC was hoping to get another surge of ratings with the big announcement. Apparently, there's one more new episode left (to air next week) and then the series will take a short hiatus until sometime in August (according to my TLC contact at work).

The network ordered 40 episodes for this season, and they've only aired like 5 (?) so far, so it seems like the trainwreck will continue for a while to go. I suspect this will be the last season - Jon's ready to move on.

 

[Spot's Meow]

A lot of people hadn't heard of them until just over a month ago, so they've only seen the past few episodes. I have had the unfortunate pleasure of watching much of the first and second seasons of the show. And maybe the third, I can't remember. I used to watch the marathons on the weekend because there was nothing better on and because it was kind of interesting in the beginning. Watching Jon and Kate's interviews back then, it was completely obvious that this was where things were headed. Kate was completely insulting towards him and he would just roll his eyes and move on. He should have stood up to her more but things actually weren't horribly bad until he had to stop working. I believe he worked for some sort of computer graphics company or something similar. You could tell that he enjoyed his job and being able to leave the house to go to work every day. And after that ended he turned into a much more bitter person who was unwilling to "go with the flow" when it came to Kate's demands.

Sad situation for the kids.

 

[bigdaddy]

They will annouce they will get back together when ratings dip again.

 

[Maestro]

You know, T'Bonz, I commented that Temis's explanation was the best, but I have to take it back. I think you're both right on the money.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I didn't know anything about these two until earlier today. Before that, I heard the names and absolutely nothing else.

I get the appeal. They're idiots.

Still don't care.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Wimp and who?