Friday, April 30, 2010

KATE of "JON & KATE PLUS 8"

In case you weren't a fan, the reality show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8,* was about an ordinary couple with eight kids. Watching it you could think your own thoughts, while Kate and Jon managed their home and life.

Since April 2007, the lives of Jon and Kate Gosselin, their 7-year-old twins and 3-year-old sextuplets were filmed 3 to 4 days per week, and aired -- first on the Discovery Channel, and then moved to TLC, a family, home, and cooking channel.

Their show was an un-glamorous reality soap opera. Kate is not a pretty-perfect woman -- not fat, but rather thick around the middle -- an articulate, knowledgeable Mom, who's a trained nurse. (Her typical looks are a big asset -- an average woman could easily identify with Kate as she set the scenes for each episode). Jon, a not handsome or very articulate guy, between Kate's motherly/wifely endeavors, interjected what a good dad/husband should say.

I saw the show a few times. The show involved me (a not typical watcher), for maybe three minutes. I watched an episode where Kate showed a photo of her naked belly before she gave birth to the sextuplets (a shocking, repulsive view), and talked with a plastic surgeon about a tummy tuck. The film clip of the surgeon examining her stretched skin -- thirty seconds was a long enough look!

Audiences loved the show.

Despite their busy schedule,. Kate and Jon wrote and published three books --" Multiple Blessings," and "Eight Little Faces," and "I Just Want You to Know." A fourth one, "Love is in the Mix," will be published later this year. .Reviewers say the books are professional, dull, definitely not bestsellers, probably written with ghost-writers, but fans will enjoy them.

On June 22nd, during an episode, Kate, 35 and Jon, 33, announced that they were separating and added cheerfully, "The show must go on."

Bang! went the guillotine. The very next day TLC placed the show on a hiatus, announcing that the show was no longer focused on the family, and there were production problems because the couple was no longer living together.

The media's been having a heyday -- exposing Jon with various girl friends -- Kate, smiling through her tears, mentioning plans for a new show -- Jon denying rumors that he was engaged -- Kate's tears, and tantrums while rehearsing for her appearance on "Dancing With the Stars."

Sandra Bullock and Tiger Woods who are semi "hot"news -- items about Jennifer Lopez, Demi Moore, or Lindsay Lohan, who are not very interesting -- are MORE interesting than Kate, who's already a bit of has-been.

I'm not surprised that she's trying to hold onto what she achieved, but for more than month we've been hearing about Kate's rehearsal travails, as she rushed out of her limo, into her house muttering "I've got to provide for my children!" (Is she out of money? With a limo, and 2 nannies caring for the kids and her home? An insider told me the Gosselins were paid $22,500 per episode, and there were 110 episodes.)

Anyhow, there she was on TV for several weeks, dancing with a professional dancer! I liked her outfits. Her "hold it" poses between the careful, typical choreography were stiffish but nice.

Alas, Kate is not a dancer, and doesn't have "Star" in her.

(Yes, she was the star of a successful reality show, but the reality itself was the very ordinary life, of a very ordinary couple with eight ordinary kids.)

Truth: Kate Gosselin has no twinkle. Nothing about her demands attention. It wasn't a surprise, that she was finally voted off the show

That new show she keeps mentioning is happening, and maybe it will be a hit. And Jon, well ... probably, he'll get a real job in real life, and continue for a while, to get an occasional mention on some of the dirt/gossip/rumor Websites.

Certainly, both of them will have great stories to tell old and new friends, and other spouses if they don't get back together.

That might be something they'll try ... though a comeback for their television show isn't likely, WOW For the eight Gosselin kids. THAT would be super great!

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