Jon and Kate Plus 8 Official Thread - Part 5

[madge]

Yes, a lot of these things, getting coffee, grocery shopping, tanning, going to the party store..in our area they are the norm. So while it may not be the norm for you, it very well could be for others. I can't imagine having enough milk for two weeks for 10 in my fridge or room for veggies. I just meant to say, and said it in too long a post...it's no big deal that Kate goes out and does errands, just because you don't need to. A family of 10 (or nine, but I assume she feeds the helper) takes a lot of stuff.

one of the things we'll never know, but I'm curious to ask ... I wonder how much errand running Kate did before the paps came to town? are things now just as they were 3 months ago, a year ago? Or did she have people take care of those things and is now out and about simply for the attention. Obviously, she had to go out and tan, and I've seen reports of her going to Starbucks .. but other than that, the trips to target and the grocery. did she do all that, or someone else?

and add me to the multiple errands in a week group. notsomuch in the summer, but during the school year, when I'm in town twice a day bringing the kids to/from school ... it seems like I have an errand a day then. LOLOL

 

[barkley]

one of the things we'll never know, but I'm curious to ask ... I wonder how much errand running Kate did before the paps came to town? are things now just as they were 3 months ago, a year ago? Or did she have people take care of those things and is now out and about simply for the attention. Obviously, she had to go out and tan, and I've seen reports of her going to Starbucks .. but other than that, the trips to target and the grocery. did she do all that, or someone else?

and add me to the multiple errands in a week group. notsomuch in the summer, but during the school year, when I'm in town twice a day bringing the kids to/from school ... it seems like I have an errand a day then. LOLOL

i think re. 3 months or a year ago with the demands of the show, the writing associated work/travel, the speaking engagement travel, let alone 8 young children- if she was'nt utilizing someone to run routine errands or taking advantage of easily available (at no or very low fee) delivery and/or mail order services she was either (1) not as organized as she would like to lead the public to believe, (2) grossly unaware of what is available in this day and age, (3) a glutton for punishment (if she takes all the kids which it seems she has said in the past is a monumental difficulty that they try to avoid) or (4) utilized it as an opportunity to do something alone (which i know few moms no matter how many/few children they have would be able to deny having done on more occasions than they might be willing to admit).

i think partialy the reason we're seeing more of her run errands is there are more eyes watching her now-the bulk of information is coming from outside the show. the focus of the show shifted from "mundane" things like shopping and errands quite a while back which for me was far more interesting than the obviously highly staged daytrips, vacations and "special guests". i liked it when it was identifiable with "the common man"-grocery shopping, a trip to toys r us (albiet without the screeching across the store), organizing the garage, laundry (well, i could'nt identify with a friend coming over on a regular basis to fold for me) but you get the picture.

i'm sure she ran the odd errands and at least the ones she would'nt want to leave to someone else-but i can't imagine if you're filming 8 or 10 hours a day, traveling numerous weekends, maintaining a home, and juggling the emotional and physical needs of 8 children not at the bare minimum utilizing one of the chain grocers $10 delivery services and figuring out very quickly which dry cleaners in your area offer free pickup/delivery , and good lord if she does'nt she better pretty darn quick cuz i don't even want to think about having to deal with 8 kids having the kind of homework and projects they all seem to be saddled with these days (i don't even want to think about how many glue sticks that many kids will need to bring -mine had to bring a dozen each and were still out fairly early on).

 

[Geoff_M]

You added this after I responded to you, so I didn't address this.

Sorry, my initial posts are notoriously full of typos (the later in the evening, the worse) and I frequently have to edit them repeatedly until they read cleanly and I often think of new stuff as I edit.

Three more comments and then I'll move on...
- I didn't say that the publicity was "nothing" before the announcement, it clearly was the opposite. You're right in that it did help draw many of the 10 million viewer to the episode. My point what that the publicity kicked to even higher levels after the announcement. In theory, that should have helped retain more of the ratings. Instead, they nose dived. Previously, the downward trends we've seen in the show haven't been as abrupt.
- You're correct that many people had negative feelings about J&K before the announcement. However, for many of us those feelings went from "bad" to "worse" after their stunt.
- From comments from TLC, there was no episode that was preempted by the special. None had been prepared. You're right that it was an attempt to salvage some ad revenue as well as some ratings. They pretty much failed on the ratings quest, and they likely could have earned the same ad revenue if they had just put on a couple of re-runs and saved themselves the costs of slapping together a "special" that only drew a meager audience.

 

[redrosesix]

Doris, you're more than free to disagree with me, but that shouldn't bar me from pointing out what I perceive as holes in your position. You yourself noted that the publicity preceding a rumored "train wreck" resulted in drawing a crowd. No surprise there as it's well established that promotion and publicity draws people. That publicity was nothing compared to the publicity storm that resulted after they decided to announce their split on national TV. TLC then decides to try and capitalize on the buzz by putting out a special positioned as basically "You've heard the bombshell, now see how it all went wrong in 60 minutes" in the hopes of trying to retain some of the tsunami of viewers before the show went on official "hiatus".

Instead viewership dropped approximately 80% seven days later. Not only did TLC's hopes fail, the special drew about a million fewer eyeball sets that an average show last season and drew several million fewer viewers than the post-premier shows from this season. That's not likely due to people merely getting bored with the series, or thinking "OK the wrecks over" and switching their viewing habits to what they were before all of the controversy started. Given the large percentage of people saying "they're done" with the show in disgust after watching J&K pimp their divorce I think it's a major reason why the rating went over such a steep cliff. That's why I said said that I think we're seeing the first sings of a "backlash".

Corporate America is sensing it too with things like the de facto cancellation of future J&K books as well as the planned line of clothing. I was in our Best Buy tonight, walked down the TV Series DVD aisle and spotted a set of J&K DVDs. I laughed and thought "How long before those are in the dollar bin?" You're welcome to think that this is all just a return to when people were slowly loosing interest in the show, but it's undeniable that many people's perceptions about J&K have clearly changed in just the last few weeks.

The thing that did it for the people I have talked to around here was the media onslaught -- mostly Kate's. Within just a couple of days, we had all of the promos for the TLC show, the media scoops, the People article promos and the divorce filing (which a friend mentioned: A. did not have to be done that day B. did not have to be announced to the public and C. did not require such a statement to justify it -- I tend to agree) I was surprised that she did not also do the interview on the Today show -- the promos for the interview had said that SHE would be on -- about the People article, but maybe her PR people realized that she had already been out there too much. Which she had.

i think re. 3 months or a year ago with the demands of the show, the writing associated work/travel, the speaking engagement travel, let alone 8 young children- if she was'nt utilizing someone to run routine errands or taking advantage of easily available (at no or very low fee) delivery and/or mail order services she was either (1) not as organized as she would like to lead the public to believe, (2) grossly unaware of what is available in this day and age, (3) a glutton for punishment (if she takes all the kids which it seems she has said in the past is a monumental difficulty that they try to avoid) or (4) utilized it as an opportunity to do something alone (which i know few moms no matter how many/few children they have would be able to deny having done on more occasions than they might be willing to admit).

i think partialy the reason we're seeing more of her run errands is there are more eyes watching her now-the bulk of information is coming from outside the show. the focus of the show shifted from "mundane" things like shopping and errands quite a while back which for me was far more interesting than the obviously highly staged daytrips, vacations and "special guests". i liked it when it was identifiable with "the common man"-grocery shopping, a trip to toys r us (albiet without the screeching across the store), organizing the garage, laundry (well, i could'nt identify with a friend coming over on a regular basis to fold for me) but you get the picture.

i'm sure she ran the odd errands and at least the ones she would'nt want to leave to someone else-but i can't imagine if you're filming 8 or 10 hours a day, traveling numerous weekends, maintaining a home, and juggling the emotional and physical needs of 8 children not at the bare minimum utilizing one of the chain grocers $10 delivery services and figuring out very quickly which dry cleaners in your area offer free pickup/delivery , and good lord if she does'nt she better pretty darn quick cuz i don't even want to think about having to deal with 8 kids having the kind of homework and projects they all seem to be saddled with these days (i don't even want to think about how many glue sticks that many kids will need to bring -mine had to bring a dozen each and were still out fairly early on).

Excellent points. With Jon being the SAHD, she actually doesn't have to be out running errands. Apparently it's his job to drop off and pick up the kids at play school.

 

[DMRick]

My point what that the publicity kicked to even higher levels after the announcement.

I think after the divorce show, a lot of fans talked more on blogs, but I disagree that the publicity kicked to higher levels. They were alread on every rag mag cover, and other than the rag mags now announcing the divorce, the big announcement was over. I still believe many people said 'yeah, that's what I figured they were going to announce, big deal' and moved on. The publicity was pretty intense before the announcement, with Kevin and Jodi, and Jon's young friend. The divorce was more the ending IMO.

From comments from TLC, there was no episode that was preempted by the special. None had been prepared.

TLC could have easily put on one of the shows they had tape for..the beach trip for instance. But I bleive they felt they had to have a transitional show.

The great thing about a discussion board though, is we can all have our own opinions about why ratings are down.

 

[DMRick]

I agree..she most likely did some of these errands before, but the paparazzi wasn't following her, so we just didn't know it. Also, as you said, she was a lot busier while traveling, and now has more time at home. The kids are getting bigger, and it's easier to take them places with her.

i think partialy the reason we're seeing more of her run errands is there are more eyes watching her now-the bulk of information is coming from outside the show. the focus of the show shifted from "mundane" things like shopping and errands quite a while back which for me was far more interesting than the obviously highly staged daytrips, vacations and "special guests". i liked it when it was identifiable with "the common man"-grocery shopping, a trip to toys r us (albiet without the screeching across the store), organizing the garage, laundry (well, i could'nt identify with a friend coming over on a regular basis to fold for me) but you get the picture.

i'm sure she ran the odd errands and at least the ones she would'nt want to leave to someone else-but i can't imagine if you're filming 8 or 10 hours a day, traveling numerous weekends, maintaining a home, and juggling the emotional and physical needs of 8 children not at the bare minimum utilizing one of the chain grocers $10 delivery services and figuring out very quickly which dry cleaners in your area offer free pickup/delivery , and good lord if she does'nt she better pretty darn quick cuz i don't even want to think about having to deal with 8 kids having the kind of homework and projects they all seem to be saddled with these days (i don't even want to think about how many glue sticks that many kids will need to bring -mine had to bring a dozen each and were still out fairly early on).

 

[Geoff_M]

TLC could have easily put on one of the shows they had tape for..the beach trip for instance. But I bleive they felt they had to have a transitional show.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't someone from the TLC staff go on record as saying that they didn't have enough usable footage for another complete episode beyond the ones that have already aired when the "hiatus" was called?

 

[TanyaLovesPooh]

The ratings spike was curious people seeing what all the talk was about and moving on. Last week's show was hardly entertaining as it was old footage with some new voice over's.

While they may have lost some loyal viewers that are too sad to continue watching, come August...Jon and Kate plus 8 will still make TLC plenty of money.

 

[barkley]

I agree..she most likely did some of these errands before, but the paparazzi wasn't following her, so we just didn't know it. Also, as you said, she was a lot busier while traveling, and now has more time at home. The kids are getting bigger, and it's easier to take them places with her.

one part of my brain sez that while the logistics of trying to shop with 8 infant/toddlers would be pretty much impossible (i mean even those pallats that costco has would be eaten up by all those kiddie carriers-and if it was a place with only carts you'de need 4 carts minimum just for the kids-forget anything you purchased) i balance that against the idea of shopping with 8 at an age where it's the constant "i need to go to the bathroom", "oooh mom that looks good can we get it?", "ooooh mom i NEED to get____________or i'm gonna die", "mom can we get a free cookie sample from the bakery" "but MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM- he,he,he, she, she, she, she got to pick the cereal the LAST time"... and i just keep going back to the ideal either being delivery or kamakazi bulk never going shopping unless it's a matter of life or death

 

[DMRick]

Again, I thought they meant after the divorce announcement. They have the beach taping, (and they must have planned on using it, since they released it to the TV guide) so I'm sure they could have put that on, but that would have been a little hard to follow the divorce show. As I said (prob more times than anyone wants to read by now), IMO, a 'light' show would have been a hard follow, and unless they were really stupid, they must have realized that. A little hard to go on as 'business as usual'. I think they made a good choice with what they showed. I enjoyed looking back. IMO, It wouldn't have meant much to those who didn't watch the show, but just tuned in curious after all the advertising about the life changes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't someone from the TLC staff go on record as saying that they didn't have enough usable footage for another complete episode beyond the ones that have already aired when the "hiatus" was called?

 

[DMRick]

I only had three, and I didn't have the whining. Maybe she just enjoys being out with a couple of her kids and considers it a treat for all of them.

You usually see Kate out with a couple at a time so I assume it's not that hard.

one part of my brain sez that while the logistics of trying to shop with 8 infant/toddlers would be pretty much impossible (i mean even those pallats that costco has would be eaten up by all those kiddie carriers-and if it was a place with only carts you'de need 4 carts minimum just for the kids-forget anything you purchased) i balance that against the idea of shopping with 8 at an age where it's the constant "i need to go to the bathroom", "oooh mom that looks good can we get it?", "ooooh mom i NEED to get____________or i'm gonna die", "mom can we get a free cookie sample from the bakery" "but MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM- he,he,he, she, she, she, she got to pick the cereal the LAST time"... and i just keep going back to the ideal either being delivery or kamakazi bulk never going shopping unless it's a matter of life or death

 

[Geoff_M]

While they may have lost some loyal viewers that are too sad to continue watching, come August...Jon and Kate plus 8 will still make TLC plenty of money.

I think you're being very optimistic. I think the "J&K" franchise is effectively "dead". More shows may air, there may be some curious people tuning in, but there won't be anything there to hold an audience.

They have the beach taping, (and they must have planned on using it, since they released it to the TV guide) so I'm sure they could have put that on, but that would have been a little hard to follow the divorce show.

They may have footage from the beach, but that doesn't mean that it's enough for a complete episode. Also, with production planning, the topics of the shows are no doubt planned out well in advance of the actual shooting. It's likely that what TV Guide was given initially was the synopsis of the episode for their listing but the production was never completed. As for the wisdom of airing a light-hearted show after the "downer" split-up show, that didn't stop TLC from airing repeats of old episodes throughout the week as usual.

 

[DMRick]

No more beating a dead horse for me. As I said, you have your opinion and I have mine on why ratings were down. I posted already that I thought the show was already near it's end before all of this.

I think you're being very optimistic. I think the "J&K" franchise is effectively "dead". More shows may air, there may be some curious people tuning in, but there won't be anything there to hold an audience.

They may have footage from the beach, but that doesn't mean that it's enough for a complete episode. Also, with production planning, the topics of the shows are no doubt planned out well in advance of the actual shooting. It's likely that what TV Guide was given initially was the rough overview of the episode whose production was never completed. As are as the wisdom of airing a light-hearted show after the "downer" split-up show, that didn't stop TLC from airing repeats of old episodes throughout the week as usual.

 

[Geoff_M]

No more beating a dead horse for me. As I said, you have your opinion and I have mine on why ratings were down. I posted already that I thought the show was already near it's end before all of this.

Doris, I wasn't talking about that aspect. I merely mentioned that I'd read comments from TLC that there was no amount of un-aired footage left from which to splice together any completely new shows.

I also expressed my opinion that, regardless if the root cause is a bored or turned-off audience, J&K is likely finished as a ratings vehicle for TLC. I also will not be surprised if taping never resumes.

 

[longstangetrip]

Doris, I wasn't talking about that aspect. I merely mentioned that I'd read comments from TLC that there was no amount of un-aired footage left from which to splice together any completely new shows.

I also expressed my opinion that, regardless if the root cause is a bored or turned-off audience, J&K is likely finished as a ratings vehicle for TLC. I also will not be surprised if taping never resumes.

I hope you are right. I just heard teenage girls talking about the show yesterday and one said, "I can't believe you still watch that show; they are totally nuts." And I realized maybe it won't be trendy to watch anymore with all the negative publicity and the way they are handling their divorce publicly. I think that would be a good thing. Maybe Kate has gone from someone people "love to hate" to someone who people really just can't support. I guess only time will tell. I know their family could still sell yearly updates, maybe in May for the tups birthdays like the McCaugheys do or did with Ann Curry?

 

[Geoff_M]

I just heard teenage girls talking about the show yesterday and one said, "I can't believe you still watch that show; they are totally nuts." And I realized maybe it won't be trendy to watch anymore with all the negative publicity and the way they are handling their divorce publicly.

As an example of how perceptions of the show have changed in the last couple of weeks, try and look at the image below with a straight face or without cringing:

Also, while searching for the image, I came across a literary blog that I think perfectly captures the shift in public opinion (and this was before the "announcement"):

Jon & Kate +8 Confession
Ok ladies...so (since I don't have a job and try to be frugal) I checked out our current book from the local library. I was so excited and all set to read this book...and then...the new season started. And paired with all the bad press and rumors of a seperation/divorce for the couple, I decided I just couldn't read the book. I know it probably seems really lame, but I just didn't want to read this book about a loving couple and how they make life and their marriage work with 8 kids - knowing what is going on in the press. So, I dropped the book back off at the library without reading it...heh! And whether the allegations are true or false, it just seemed all too weird for me. No judging...it's my weirdness, and I'm owing it...ha!

 

[redrosesix]

As an example of how perceptions of the show have changed in the last couple of weeks, try and look at the image below with a straight face or without cringing:

Ok, I'll admit it, I cringed.

 

[DMRick]

I just thought, how sad, that they have become like over 50% of Americans, and what appears to be a happy family tuned into such sadness. I hope the kids will have true smiles like that again, in the future. I have no doubt that a lot of families have photo's just like that, before the end came. I wonder if they did the vow renewal with hope that it would make a difference.

 

[newtodis]

Hey y'all! I'm just stopping in to say hey! I'm about 20 pages behind thanks to a KILLER work week this week....hopefully I'll find some time to catch up soon with y'all and hear the latest news!

Have a safe and happy 4th if I don't make it back before then!

 

[talulabelle]

As an example of how perceptions of the show have changed in the last couple of weeks, try and look at the image below with a straight face or without cringing:

Also, while searching for the image, I came across a literary blog that I think perfectly captures the shift in public opinion (and this was before the "announcement"):

Has anyone else ever noticed how often they (TLC) cut and paste the kids pics into one like this? So that they actually get a good pic with all the kids looking happy... Any real uncut pic Kate and Jon have these pic plastered on smiles and all the kids look like they just finished the Death March of Bataan. They always look so unhappy and drawn (perhaps they're very thirsty - sorry couldn't resist)