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

Humerous post

I found this post on 5 Minutes for parenting: We're all in this together. I love this one, I found myself snickering at several parts. (By the way, she isn't related to the media's "Octomom" she just has eight kids and calls herself that.)

Octamom Plus Eight
(When she's not avoiding laundry by blogging, Octamom can be found homeschooling her brood of eight. Having left a career in television and radio to become a professional lactator, Octamom has been married to the cutest guy in the world for almost 20 years. Through her writing and photography, she hopes to bring a laugh, share a thought and encourage other moms to enjoy the ride! She blogs at Octamom)

My very brave and patient and organized and pithy neighbor popped in for a couple of minutes the other day and we stood in my non-organized entry chatting (how I have managed to make a formal entry unorganized just goes to show the depth of my talent). The sounds of whining children floated down to us from the upstairs media room, me doing my best to ignore the clarion call of bickering children. Things quieted down for a bit and then I heard the loud squeal of one kid.
I keep an auditory memory file somewhere in the depths of my brain that categorizes and defines the squealing, crying, yelling, shrieking calls of my offspring, kind of like those marine biologists who claim they know all the whale songs by heart. This particular squeal that assaulted the hearing sensibilities of my neighbor and me pegged somewhere around the "Biting Victim" range.
"HEYYY!!!!" I gently called in my soft mommy scream. "HHEEEYYYYYY!!!" "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON UP THERE?!?!?!?""
"It's okay. It's just Aiden," called a kid voice.
Aiden?
Aiden? We don't have an Aiden. My neighbor doesn't have an Aiden. Who's Aiden?
"AIDEN? WHO'S AIDEN??!!??~~"
"From Jon and Kate Plus 8. We're watching it on tv…"
Oh…..
So I just want to make sure I have this straight. I'm now also having to deal with the bickering and biting and resultant squealing of Jon and Kate's brood along with my own. Okay.
And riddle me this, Gentle Readers. I have eight children. My children are living in a family of eight. We have the same messes, similar challenges, same general chaos. Why, oh why, would my children find viewing other children in the same situation soooooo fascinating? It concerns me. What kind of voyeurism is this?
Is it because Kate is so relaxed and calm compared to their mother?
Okay, that was snarky…but funny…..
This post was originally published on October 10, 2008 at Octamom.
If you would like to be considered to be featured in "A Dose of Humor", please email Rachel at doseofhumor@gmail.com.
Be sure to check out Rachel's blog, Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life

Watch tv online

Awesome-maybe now I can catch up on the 5 million episodes I haven't seen (because my husband rolls his eyes and quick changes the channel whenever he sees it on!).

J & K Online.

In case anyone else can go....

I had a chance to go see Kate, of Jon and Kate Plus Eight. A friend is going to meet her at Hackmans in Whitehall on Dec. 18th and offered to take me along. But I can't go because that's Winter Craft Night at school, which is a big deal. I intended to take the kids to the fall craft night but the school had sent home notes which listed 2 different locations and different times. So when we got there no one was there and the kids were all upset.
Even if we had made it to the fall one, the winter one is a bigger deal-they hold it at the church, people bring food, there are more crafts, last year Santa was there, and I'm hoping to get Tom to come again too.

But I would actually love to meet Kate, I think they are planning to move far away so I likely wouldn't have another chance to meet her if they do move. I admire her organizational skills and the way she makes all the holidays special, I LOVE their sense of family, and being in this thing together, I like that they present their marital relationship the way it is, flawed but still clearly loving, and unlike apparently most of their viewers, I like Mady (one of their older children, a twin) because Leanna is JUST LIKE HER! (likes to be in control, dramatic, has meltdowns, is either extremely on or off, rarely inbetween! Special and talented, high need for attention, a sweatheart whose attributes are sometimes hidden by the drama of her flaws).

Curious-what are your earliest memories?

Ok, so I followed various links to an Anti-Gosselin site(Jon and Kate Plus Eight). I take it all with a grain of salt, a large one, knowing people's capacity for stretching the truth and outright lying to justify their positions. Generally I ignore that stuff as I find it has ruined my own viewing of the show a bit-I see things through the eyes of the detractors as well. But I've come to the opinion that they are a family trying to do their best to deal with all that's come their way, not just the two sets of multiples, but all the negatives of having a tv show and fame as well. It's ruined some family relationships, but that happens when you aren't on tv as well. They aren't perfect people and neither am I. Kate, the Mom, is apparently hard to get along with, but she has a lot of good qualities as well. I admire her organizational skills and her dedication to finding enriching activites and trips for her children. I think she's great at establishing traditions. And I love their family's attitude that they are in this together-they are a team.
This site claims to be neutral, but it's almost entirely negative stuff. On the post I have linked however, regarding all the traveling the family does, they pose the question: How much/what do you remember from when you were 2 years old or 3 years old or 4 years old??? Are the Gosselins truly "making memories"? For whom?
There are a surprising number of positive comments on that one, and I have to agree. I remember stuff from when I was at least two, possibly younger. Mostly just little flashes of stuff, fuller memories emerge about when I was four. I think that it is our job as parents to try to provide our children with as many happy memories as we are able (not saying we need to kill ourselves or our budget to do this, just to do as much as we can). There's no way they will remember everything, you can't pick and choose what they will remember, but if you fill them with happy family events, they're more likely to remember some of them. I don't think it's a bad thing for the parents to do it so they have happy family memories either. You put a lot of work into this parenting job, I think parents deserve to take happiness from the job also! Young kids' memories will be enhanced in the case of the Gosselins by looking at photo and having it all captured on video. That could jog their memories or help form them more strongly. I also think that sometimes the good that comes from a family outing may not be the memory you take away from it-I think there is plenty of short-term good that can come from it as well. A change of pace, seeing new things, experiencing new things-all that is fun and can positively affect their growing personalities.

Anyone care to comment on early memories?
Some of my random snippets:
*I remember pretending to be asleep and my Dad knowing I was pretending so he tickled me "awake."
*I remember going to the doctor when I cut my head open. I remember various scenes from that experience, particularly that I got to pick two cookies from a room with white cabinets for being such a good girl. I was very proud.
*I remember sitting on my Mom's lap in a rocking chair in a dark third floor room of our apartment when I had hives. I felt miserable.
*I remember being locked out of our apartment when we went to the store on my birthday. They had to call the police and they came and stuck a huge knife in the door to break it open.
* I remember going to the playground with my Mom and Aunt and cousins, and lots of scenes of playing at her house. I remember taking baths with my cousins there. She had bubble bath and lots of toys.
*I remember being in the car for many trips to my Aunts' houses. I got to get an orange soda, my favorite at the time.
*I remember playing tweetle-bugs with a neighbor boy at my Aunt's house when I was about four. We took a bus to my aunt's house and got there at night. The restaurant was closed, but they opened the doors to let us wait for my aunt and uncle to pick us up. We sat in the back of the station wagon and me and my cousin Betsy pretended that each little bump sent us flying. "Ouch! I hurt my boompter!" we giggled hysterically. I played with a barbie with yellow shoes on the bus, and lost one shoe at my aunt's house later. The bathroom had wooden shutters.