myerstownherald.com

By SASHA PASULKA
Jon and Kate have an uphill battle ahead of them. It will be interesting to see how the show’s ratings work moving forward.
TLC just ordered 40 episodes for the upcoming season – probably because they know there won’t be another one.
The Season 5 premiere brought in more than 9 million viewers – that’s an unheard-of number for cable programming.
The next several episodes will see equally high ratings, but after that I expect they’ll drop off.
With eight adorable, innocent children involved, Americans will tire of rubber-necking as this family falls apart. It’s like staring at a terrible car wreck: at first it’s exciting, and then you start to feel kind of dirty and move on. Jon and Kate didn’t start off as a show about a train wreck.
It built its core audience on the appeal of those children and on two parents raising so many young kids in what was, at the time, a typical suburban home.
Today, they live in a mansion on a sprawling piece of land with multiple nannies, assistants and a film crew.
Regardless of what’s happening in Jon and Kate’s marriage, the story has become considerably less relatable for the average American.
Audiences tuned in en masse last week to watch the train wreck, but they’ll move on and lose interest in the Gosselins shortly.
The show is on its last legs. This presents a challenge for a family who has come to rely entirely on income from being famous. Kate has found success as an author and public speaker, and my guess is she’ll continue along that road.
She’s a fascinating on-screen personality – audiences may hate her and judge her, but they love to do so. If she plays her cards right, she can continue to work in television and as an author without actually putting her kids on TV.
If I were her, that’s what I’d do at this point: Refuse to film another season of the show with the kids, and instead focus on promoting herself as a super-mom personality for appearances and interviews.
As for Jon, he clearly has public opinion on his side, but he’s a less intriguing personality in the absence of Kate. Jon’s come to the same terrifying realization that a lot of young starlets have to deal with: Once you’re that famous, you’re famous forever.
It never ends and there’s no way out. The world doesn’t stop watching just because you need some alone time to put your life back together, to make some human mistakes in the process.
It’s almost a paralyzing concept – as scary to a 30-something Jon as it was to a 25-year-old Britney Spears. What Jon wants to do is back away from the spotlight and focus on his children and his personal life, and I expect that’s exactly what he’ll do as soon as this season ends.
Regarding all the speculation involving how this will affect the children: The biggest struggle they are going to face is, ultimately, having divorced parents.
Kids are resilient – the cameras were a part of their childhood, but they may not be a part moving forward, and that will be fine. Right now, paparazzi are stalking their every move because they’re a huge story, but, realistically, these people live in Wernersville , not the Hollywood Hills.
Eventually – and sooner rather than later – it won’t make sense for the photo agencies to pay photogs to wander around Wernersville waiting for a shot.
That attention will die down quickly, and the kids will get back to a normal life.
What it comes down to is this: These children are fed and clothed and housed and educated and supervised and, above all, very clearly loved.
I’ve watched every episode of that show, and I haven’t seen anything that even borders on abuse of the children.
If we, as a society, want to focus on the safety of young children, there are far more pressing cases off-screen that could desperately use the resources we’ve devoted to worrying about the Gosselin kids.
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Sasha Pasulka is the founder and head writer for Evil Beet Gossip.