Quick Look: 'Kate Plus 8' is lacking more than ratings
The original octomom is still around -- but why?
"Kate Plus 8"
Credit: TLC
Did you know "Kate Plus 8" was still on the air? Yeah, me neither, but it is (Mon, 10 p.m. EST on TLC). And if you’re not watching, rest assured you’re not the only one. The crown jewel of TLC is looking a lot like a stinky old lump of coal these days, ratings-wise.
Of course, the show used to be a mega hit by basic cable standards. Almost ten million people watched the fifth season premiere episode (granted, this was back when Kate and Jon Gosselin were in full marital meltdown). But since the show (and Kate herself) dumped the Jon in the title, “Kate Plus 8” has fizzled. Though the Kate-only version debuted to decent ratings (3.4 million viewers), it quickly slid to 2.2 million the following week and 1.6 million by August of last year.
You’d think that would be reason enough to cut Kate and her enormous brood loose, but maybe TLC is simply too afraid of the Wrath of Kate (and really, who isn’t?) to pull the plug, as a second season is limping along. Last week, Kate and kids brought in 1.4 million viewers (in comparison, ‘Pawn Stars’ pulled in 7.3 million in the same time slot on the History Channel).
Still, I had to see what all the fuss (or non fuss) was about. After all, Kate Gosselin and her Ed Hardy-devoted douchebag ex are household names, and I refuse to believe that human jellyfish of a husband was much of a draw. So what’s changed?
Well, I can’t say I ever watched a lot of “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” but I could see the car wreck appeal of the old show. Despite Kate’s dogged attempts to run the household the way Mussolini ran the trains, the kids were small and adorable chaos monsters, Jon put the passive in passive aggressive, and it was easy to vacillate between finding the woman completely intolerable and understanding how eight kids and a weenie husband could make you that way. On the interview couch, Kate and Jon seemed like any other beleaguered, exhausted parents, except they had, well, eight kids and a TV show.
While Jon had zero appeal as a personality, his absence is, shockingly enough, felt in the current incarnation. Yes, he was Kate’s punching bag, but it turns out that Kate without a punching bag is boring. She’s not exactly a mom who overflows with warm maternal feeling, so the only quality we have to admire in the woman is her ability to deal with the kind of challenges that would make the rest of us quake in our boots, like getting eight tiny children to eat breakfast while her oafish husband looks for a pile of sand to stick his head into. But now, not only is Jon gone, the kids are growing up. And while that may be good for Kate, it’s bad for TV.
The cute little chaos monsters are still passably cute, but not in that squeee, look at the baaaabeeeee kind of way. They’re just garden variety kids. Herding them may be annoying enough to make Kate want another round of Botox for her frown lines, but it’s nothing compared to what it was like getting the kids dressed and out the door when they were, say, three. And now that those no-longer-babbling babies are providing their own couch interviews, they’re saying cheerful things like “Mommy can be scary” (a truth spoken by one of her twins), which is more depressing than funny.
But the real problem may be Kate herself. Spray-tanned to an unappealing shade of chestnut, wearing heels to any and all occasions (even when that means she isn’t able to play with her kids, whom she tends to treat as small irritants), she looks and acts more like a C-list starlet than a struggling mom, and it’s pretty clear TLC has taken any struggle out of her day-to-day existence. While she’s now a single mom, she’s one who gets book deals and TV contracts and has a bodyguard. We could just as easily be watching a family of meerkats for as much as we can relate to Kate’s high class problems.
On a recent episode, Kate and the kids worked at a food bank, Kate did radio interviews and drove a NASCAR pace car and the family posed cutely for pictures and signed things for a good cause. At the end of the show, Kate bought a cart full of groceries for the poor and whipped out her checkbook to sponsor food “backpacks” for eight kids. It was all heartwarming and positive and utterly dull. Worse, other than the volunteer work, the episode lacked almost anything the average person could relate to. But this is the monster TLC has created in Kate Gosselin – a reality star whose reality isn’t interesting anymore.
Liane Bonin Starr is an author, screenwriter and former writer for EW.com. Her byline has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Variety and a lot of other places. Her last book was called "a scandalously catty, guilty pleasure" by Jane magazine. Expect the same from Starr Raving.
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June 29, 2011 at 12:36PM EST Reply to CommentNice review. I laughed at the summary line and frequently in the second-to-last paragraph. Amen to those points!
Sammy I'd like to see how well run OR NOT your house is. Perfect? Yeah, right! You try raising 8 kids, and they are extremely well behaved and always have been, especially for being 8 of them the same age. Once again, Could you do any better job? Hell no. You know you couldn't. You are extremely judgemental and act as though you've walked in her shoes, literally, yet you haven't. If you don't like her or anyone else for that matter, why not wish them the best in life, instead of damning them to hell with your corrupt words, and that goes for half of these ignorant moron replies below. Didn't your mama teach you ANYTHING???? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!!!!! Have a great day!
July 6, 2011 at 2:20PM ESTEveL @ Sammy: Mady, is that you? or is Kate up late tonight worrying about a new contract..? Newsweek ran the wrong photo.. shoulda been Kate.. Queen of Rage..
August 11, 2011 at 2:57AM ESTtr ready Sammy you and Kate should get together you seem to be alot alike idiots.
August 17, 2011 at 12:40PM ESTPat Sammy, Just an FYI to you, I COULD raise eight children much better, than Kate's nannies do.
August 24, 2011 at 11:40AM ESTsandra keaton
June 29, 2011 at 2:40PM EST Reply to Commentbet kate stopped payment on the check after filming stopped.
Mari
June 29, 2011 at 5:47PM EST Reply to CommentYour article is right on. But having been a long time viewer of the show, what concerns me is the way she has turned from a somewhat caring mother to a downright emotionally abusive mother to her children. The children show fear in their eyes when she speaks to them. After seven years on TV, Kate Gosselin needs to own up to her role as a mother and take care of her children instead of abusing them. It is time to go Kate!
Len
June 29, 2011 at 5:51PM EST Reply to CommentKate Gosselin has turned into a lying monster. She is not credible and cannot be believed. She is a chameleon (sp). Kate lies and cannot keep her stories straight.
Sienna
June 29, 2011 at 8:41PM EST Reply to CommentNo mom out there can relate to a overtanned 5 inch heel wearing loud mouth that has no love for her children, gets jetted across the planet for a noone can afford type trips and opportunities only Oprah can afford.
Lizzn
June 30, 2011 at 10:15AM EST Reply to CommentI never missed an episode until recently, I thought the kids were cute and charming. But TLC sending them down-under to go to more zoos was ridiculous in this economy. Now I see Kate as one big fibber about everything; struggling-single-mom my foot. How stressful is it to manage your children with a stable of nannies and hired help? And I suddenly have had enough of the emotional abuse of her kids on TV that she is so darned proud and smug about. I am not going to watch anymore, I think she needs mental help. Those kids must be getting more and more humiliated every day by this 'show' and her antics.
Eugene
July 6, 2011 at 8:03AM EST Reply to CommentI stand by what I said about this train wreck of a program two years ago:
1. Where is the Children's Aid Society (or whatever the local equivalent is) in Pennsylvania (or Hollyweird, or wherever they live now)?
2. Will TLC be willing to foot the therapy bills for these unfortunate children when they get a little older?
so n so
July 11, 2011 at 6:49AM EST Reply to CommentI think the fact shes not like anyone else is fine. is CSI like anyone else? I also dont think wives in new jersey are like all wives either. far from it. she continued the show because tlc has a contract with her. read the new york times announcement. they has 25 of 42 episodes under contract and tlc general manager thought of the project herself saying 'it represented viewers'. that's tv business. not their fault. and for the writer - you're an idiot. I see why you covered 'shoes' all your life. it's the only fact you do get right - and seeing as how little you use real facts fin your articles, I don't see how you'd cover fashion. you aren't up to date on anything but being a talking head yourself. at least kate's paid well more than you for her job - a 'talking head with kids' I suppose. I guess you have to do something since you're talentless and actually proclaim you're a journalist. (EW writer? give me a break)
Lobo
July 31, 2011 at 4:41PM EST Reply to CommentJust ran across this article. You are so right. We used to be big fans, until she go so nasty to Jon. Couldn't take it. And in front of the kids, BAD. The new show, which we did watch once, was so boring it was ridiculous. The kids couch interviews are contrived. Poor overworked Kate. Wish ever single mother had a nanny, they too could be 'overworked'. The one we saw was her childish over the top meltdown from the Sky Tower jump. LOL Never have I seen such a ridiculous display of stupidity. Then she claimed she conquered the tower? LOLOL Really? Such dumb stuff TLC is putting out with show. Time to cancel it. Bring out something new and something people can relate to.Good article.
JO NUNLEY
August 12, 2011 at 6:24AM EST Reply to CommentThe Kate Plus 8 show is no longer about cute babies or cute kids. It's about watching a mom who is old enough to know better melt down and pitch fits that she should have outgrown in her toddler years. When they first came out with the show, I never missed it. Now I see about the first 5 minutes and if I'm not interested (which is becoming almost everyone of the shows), I delete the show. Also in her interviews, if I hear her say one more time, "I'm all about...". I don't care what she is all about. I was interested in the kids, not this grown woman's ability to pitch a fit at the drop of a hat. Cancel her already!
August 15, 2011 at 7:52PM EST Reply to CommentShe should do a new show call it kate plus 8 inches now that would be worth watching. Maybe kate takes 8 with 8
August 15, 2011 at 7:57PM EST Reply to CommentMaybe nadia suleslob can co star kate and the slob share 8
August 15, 2011 at 7:59PM EST Reply to CommentOr..kate and the slob share a knob
ML Ready
August 17, 2011 at 12:35PM EST Reply to CommentGlad this wantabe movie star is no longer on TLC. What a witch!!!
Jk
September 6, 2011 at 1:30AM EST Reply to CommentI thought i would watch Kate's show tonight. I am sad for her kids and blown away by her attitude. I agree that it would be difficult to manage that many kids however the way she acts isn't any excuse for her degree of ridiculousness. I felt more and more shameful watching the remainder of the show. She sounds like a spoiled brat and constantly contradicts herself. I'm embarrassed for her kids. She just has gone downhill in her maturity level. Instead of aging gracefully and being at least somewhat positive of what she has, she's now a bad example to her kids by her attitude to say the least. Don't mean to be negative and some would label me judgmental but if you are allowing the world to view you and your life, there will be comments both good and bad. I am hoping that the kids are set in life and will get into great careers with education instead of Kate buying more designer heels, lipo and plastic body parts. I will never watch this show again. I am tired of hearing about herself all the time bragging and being an embarrassing show off. I found too that she acts on the show completely different than her interviews she does at the end of the show. She calmly sits , gloats and bathes to all of her puppy dog fans that they send her that are in awe of her but when it comes to her actions, it's a completely different story. Some may not agree with my opinion however I just HAD to write something after watching that one show. I used to watch her all the time but slowly she is turning sour. Watch, her next show will come right after Bridzillas, Momzilla- poor kids