The Gosselins Go Corporate

You should probably take your children to see "The Tale of Despereaux," as this Monday's episode of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" glaringly pointed out. As the fourth season meanders on, I notice every week how more and more products seem to find their way into the lives of this reality family. From remote-control cars to V-Tech and Wii games, it seems as if the show has become a commercial rather than a narrative. This past week, Kate read a chapter of the book "The Tale of Despereaux" to her children on her bed in the Peabody Hotel, as each child clutched a stuffed animal of the movie's star. Although product placement has existed in radio, film, and television since practically their inception, the idea of a real family, rather than a reel family, pitching products to the highest bidder not only irked me, it made me dislike the show.

Remember the good old days when the sextuplets were three, and Mady was annoying – but it wasn’t to the point where you could tell this television show was doing irreparable damage to her psyche. Those were the days. Now Kate’s neuroses are no longer at the center of the drama, instead it’s the hectic schedule of their book tour or the absolutely necessary re-do of their vows nine years after their marriage. I’m not exactly when the show turned from an easy way to save up for the college funds of eight kids and into a mockery of American intelligence and living, but I feel sad for the lost innocence of its original message, and I find myself empathizing with Mady for having the right idea each week.

The show was always a little too perfect. Kate with her tidy house, organic food obsession and subtly present Christian values, the fact that their family is interracial, and all of their kids (despite the odds) are perfectly healthy. The show was always less “real” than “Little People Big World” or even “17 Kids and Counting” because I found it hard to believe someone could actually be so OCD about germs after 8 kids. But now, after all this time the man behind the curtain is revealed to be a family that, in the spirit of the Macoff Ponzi scheme, got a little too greedy and lost the integrity of their message.