Why do people care about them anyway?

Very interesting particularly the part where it's explained about their reversed roles. I've wondered if that doesn't have something to do with people's intense dislike of Kate. I'm not gonna get into it, all I'll say is that it's a sad situation all around.
"'Jon & Kate Plus 8' madness: Why do viewers care about the Gosselins, anyway?" - http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/05/28/2009-05-28_jon__kate_plus_8_madness_why_do_viewers_care_about_the_gosselins_anyway.html#ixzz0H0agOnmT&A

They don’t sing. They don’t dance. They’re not dropped off on some distant, deserted land to compete with one another for survival. So why do we love “Jon & Kate Plus 8” so much?
The show was a huge success even before the Gosselins’ marriage started to erode in the public eye, and Monday night’s season five premiere drew an audience of 9.8 million viewers -- the highest in the history of the TLC network.
“When people watch ‘Jon & Kate’ they feel better about their own lives,” says Dr. Debbie Magids, author of “All the Good Ones Are Taken” (St. Martin’s Press). “A lot of TV shows make people feel worse about their own lives since people on TV are happier and sexier and better able to work through their relationships. But with Jon and Kate, it’s what’s going on in everyone’s home. It’s not always perfect and smooth, and up to now, it was about a marriage that was making it.”
The couple’s highly publicized spats aren’t dimming our devotion to Gosselin family, Magids says, at least so far.
“With the new scandal, now there’s a wrench and it’s not working,” she says. “But affairs also happen in many homes. A lot of people are trying to get past an affair, whether it is physical or emotional cheating, because they want to work it out to keep the family together. They look at Jon and Kate and say, this is what it’s like for them and in many other households where people are struggling, too.”
Viewers can relate to the fact that the couple’s personality styles go against classical gender roles, says Dr. Paul Dobransky, director of www.womenshappiness.com.
“Kate is left brain, aggressive, outgoing and take-charge, while Jon is soft, kind and right brain,” he says. “Theoretically this should be a good match because they are opposites in nature, but the gender roles that they are fitting into don’t work for their personalities.”
Jon’s unusual role as the nurturer and Kate’s as a very powerful woman appeal to viewers, Dobransky says, and fans of the show can sympathize with the couple.
“When Kate makes fun of Jon’s hairline, it’s like making fun of a woman’s weight,” Dobransky says. “The guy has no job, no sources of feeling masculine. Cheating can help a man unconsciously try to recover a self-sense of being masculine. And Kate, meanwhile, wants to feel that she is treated like a lady and that she is very feminine. Jon is not able to do this as he is not working, and not very confident.”
K.P. Anderson, executive producer and head writer for E!'s “The Soup," says that many people follow “Jon & Kate” because they love to see how the kids are developing. “As the kids are getting older, they are taking on personalities of their own,” he says. “There are a lot of people out there who like cute kids.”
At this point, though, the couple’s potential failure of a marriage is what’s drawing in large numbers of viewers, Anderson adds.
“At first people watched it from the angle of a news story because it’s interesting to see a show where people are taking care of eight children, and all the chaos,” Anderson says. “But now, as the ball of twine has unraveled, they are watching to see if they can watch a marriage fail.”Read more: "'Jon & Kate Plus 8' madness: Why do viewers care about the Gosselins, anyway?" - http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/05/28/2009-05-28_jon__kate_plus_8_madness_why_do_viewers_care_about_the_gosselins_anyway.html#ixzz0H0ZpJysB&A