Keep watching..J & K started out just like these shows. It's all about what TLC wants the shows to be. We used to think K & J was real too.
Yep--it should be noted that Table for 12 certainly has had staged opportunities...especially on their first episode with all the Ragu Jars they used to make the spaghetti for an embedded commercial (that was turned into a sponsorship spot to be played during commercials).
I had heard they did a vacation already (not sure where) and they did a "mini-episode" where they all got to go see Astro-Boy (I think that was the film) in a theater...JUST THEM.
So they are already doing J&K-esque things. Perhaps they just have nicer personalities, but the show was already doing those things from the very first episode.
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Then let's talk about the supposedly debt-free Roloffs. I have no inkling of their finances, but I recall a time or two it being said that Matt TRIES to use cash to do what he does on the farm including the home remodel.
Then we've got sponsorship drops galore (anytime they have work done or make a purchase, it is a big deal and done and aired nearly in the fashion it was when my parents did This Old House--where when you can see the name CLEARLY and it is dropped several times, that vendor is a sponsor of the show).
Then there is all their trips---which is so funny how antsy Matt was with the Riverboat trip and being away from the farm. But the family had done several trips prior to that. Seemed weird to me.
Anyway, the cruises, the private boat rentals in the islands, the camping trip. I know they do the Little People Conventions Anyway and had done so for years, but I would bet my bottom dollar that those other fancy trips were not typical Roloff trips of the past.
Then there was teh home renovation. They had gotten to a point--and the house stayed at that point for a couple of years and then they spent a season finishing Matt's dream--with lots of sponsorship drops.
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Okay--I am not saying that to berate either family on those two shows. But let us not pretend that we are seeing REAL TV and that they are inherently any different than the Gosselins.
The G's got more b/c their show was a ratings bonanza and that provides the network more income to do more things.
But comparitively--Table for 12 and LPBW are seeing many benefits that they would not have received as an ordinary family off of the cameras.
This is not a BAD thing. But let's not kid ourselves that they are nothing like J&K+8. They are being groomed the same way. It just so happens that the parents on the show seem to be a bit more grounded in terms of being human and not consumed with super started as *Cough* Jon and Kate.