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Jon and Kate Gosselin reality 'stars' of the TLC series 'Jon and Kate Plus Eight' are all in the news these days as they aire their beefs while going through divorce proceedings. It's been boiling over for the past few months as the 'ideal' couple has been showing its cracks with both being accused of having extramarital affairs and in particular Jon. They're not happy or smiling and they were dogging each other even before these latest outbursts of disaffection. And now because of the seeming growing enmity between the two, TLC has basically 'fired' Jon and now the show is to be called 'Kate Plus Eight.' Well not to be undone Jon 'fired' back by reneging his agreement to allow his kids to be shown and banning TLC from his family compound. Everyone cites his reasons as 'selfish' being since he's not going to be on the show anymore he wants to squash the deal completely. Well whatever his motivations are I'm glad somebody finally did the right thing in this matter for those kids are innocent victims in this sordid tale being played out in the media and TLC has been remiss in its moral responsibility to do what needed to be done putting their ratings above the interests of these children.

Now I'm not a big fan of reality shows because for one most of them are NOT 'reality', they are scripted like any other show and it's a cheap way for producers to make money at the expense of actors, writers, and others who are trained for this job. Then too the cast of many 'reality' shows are aspiring and wannabe actors and actresses who are playing a role and not really flexing their chops for they don't get a chance to 'truly' practice their craft. Even still though they have been training for life in the spotlight and so when something breaks bad for them it's just part of the game of showbizness. But in the case of Jon and Kate this is different for you're not dealing with people who are trained actors and actresses and where bad press is part of the game. Jon and Kate's claim to fame is that they had eight children together and from what I heard the show on TLC was just a means whereby they could defer the costs of caring for this large brood while giving TLC a possible hit show. Surprisingly the show became a HUGE hit and a banzai ratings bonanza for TLC who started out with the right intentions I do believe. Then tragedy struck.

I'm certain nobody especially TLC didn't take into consideration the idea that the show may become detrimental to the married couples relationship. Of course that's just my opinion, but I believe that when both parties started seeing all that money and how their profiles had risen to star-like status, they couldn't help but change. Kate felt no need to compromise with Jon because she was making a nice sized paycheck too and didn't need him because she had TLC to foot the bills and Jon started getting noticed by other pretty young women, a hard temptation for ANY man to resist. Next thing you know they're doing things they otherwise might not do and arguing over things that would have been quickly squashed or settled for their priority would have been those eight kids rather than TLC. Now TLC was not necessarily culpable during this whole process for they were simply doing what they do, creating the type of programming their network and audience demands. I do hold TLC responsible though for seeing the cracks starting to permeate in this couples marriage and rather than pulling the plug on the program before any further damage could be done they let it play out in front of all of America. Now it's really getting nasty as they take their very private beefs public for everyone's entertainment and not only will they suffer but their children also! These two are not in showbizness in any form and once their show ends what else will they do? That's another thing I don't like about 'reality' shows, they don't really create opportunities for those legitimately interested in the business. TLC really should be held liable for this mess because they could have put the kibosh on it at any time now a family is possibly irreparably fractured thanks to them.

In conclusion, I hope Jon keeps good to his word to take his kids off that show and I do hope that he and his wife come together and reconcile for the sake of their children. I also hope TLC learned a valuable lesson in dealing with situations like this (I'm sure they will after Jon sues them) for at the top of their list of priorities should have been the welfare of those kids and what's best for them. For I'm certain everyone would agree though the money from TLC was great, those kids need their mom and dad more than they need TLC.