Yesterday was a eventful day in the world of the television shows that are important to me. First, it was announced that the final season of LOST will begin on February 2, 2010. As you know, this is Groundhog’s Day. The creator’s of this show are keenly aware of nearly detail of this show’s production. They have developed and broadcast commercials for fictional companies (that are a part of the show’s canon) that actually air during the broadcast on ABC. I imagine that the 2-2 date has more to do with the Bill Murray movie from 1993 than whether or not we will be having more or less winter weather. Nonetheless, I am manically excited for this date to come.
On a much more somber note, Jon and Kate plus 8 aired it’s final episode. Part of me is relieved that some sort of conclusion has been reached in this saga. There will always be some sort of celebrity status attached to this family, but unless they begin a new show or other endeavor into the entertainment world, the “new” normal that is coming may look more like the “old” normal that the Gosselins enjoyed before the show.
The biggest difference that I noticed in this episode was the behavior and attitudes of the older twin girls, Maddie and Kara. The show starts with a daddy day. The kids are all together with Jon, at the house, and they decide to put together a lemonade stand to raise money for the local fire department. Tensions between the girls are high, which happens with siblings a lot in normal situations where tools (markers in this case) need to be shared.
In a moment of frustration, Maddie says “I like stuff we do with Mommy.” Of course this doesn’t sit well with Jon, and he immediately banishes her from the project, with a pledge to throw her poster in the trash after she asks him not to finish it for her. Just for good measure, Jon halts Kara’s progress on her poster and sends her inside as well. The girls are left in tears, while Jon is able to bask in the glory of not being the easy-going, push-over dad of the past umpteen similar incidents with his children. It seems that he is trying to “be” Kate in the increasingly frequent situations where she is not present. Sadly, the girls are at school for the mommy day outing in the second half of the episode and are not seen or heard from again.
Its the moment that every divorced parent fears and tries to be prepared for: when the kids start playing the parents against each other, realizing that they are no longer on the same team. Kate later laments her situation as a single parent by stating that Jon is no longer her teammate. Its was a tough scene to watch, and even tougher to have as the last taste in my mouth of Maddie and Kara. I’m hopeful that things have progressed with their relationships together, but there is no longer the promise of a future episode to experience this progression as a viewer.
Unlike with LOST (I hope), the ending of Jon and Kate Plus 8 does not tie up all of the loose ends. Most likely, this is still very much the beginning of their journey as a family, albeit a fractured one. Jon’s admission of fault for most of the downfall of his marriage is refreshing, but probably stings of “too little, too late”. Kate seemed disappointingly focused on how depressing losing the show was for the kids, and much less on how their relationship with their father has changed. Maybe this is too negative of a way to look at it all. With plenty of knots to untie, there will be plenty of growth to be had for both of these parents. I’m probably just jealous that I can no longer experience some of this growth vicariously.
I can’t say I know what it is like to be the parent of multiples. I met with a new friend this week who has four 2-year-old children. He shared with me the negative looks and disparaging remarks that his family has received since the Jon and Kate backlash began earlier this past summer. I had a separate conversation today with a different friend about a view his counselor shared with him about the “selfishness” of having children. The counselor is not a parent himself. Both of these friends shared the same sentiment:
“You just don’t know until you’ve walked in my shoes.”
It’s probably the drum that I will bang over and over again as I hear criticism and judgement with little compassion or understanding offered. Discipline, punishment, castigation, judgement, and the like are only useful as tools on a path of change, growth, and redemption. Jon and Kate have received a lot of it over the past year. Will it help to propel them to such change, growth, and redemption? Listening to Jon’s final session on the couch…. maybe so.




Sometimes something newsworthy happens, and I completely miss it. It’s usually something that I care very little about, or something I am just completely ignorant about how it may pertain to my life or the people in my life. This past week it happened. Because apparently, 
In fact, his 

In the last week, we have talked about
It does appear that the kids love the show and are devastated by the threat of it’s stoppage. Again, we can only attempt to judge what we can perceive. What have you noticed about the kids interaction with the camera and crew of the “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ show?
It’s tough to see these two parents, who used to share a bed together, having to communicate to each other through media outlets and press releases.

