Jon & Kate Plus 8 Divorce is Sad, Royal Pains is #1 Watched Show Knocking Closer to #2

I don't watch Jon & Kate Plus 8. I tend to spend more time on the network shows and less time further down the dial, with exception of TNT and as of late USA and of course the HBO and Showtime series. I can't really comment or blog about them individually or as a couple, as I never observed them on their TV Show. But, apparently , the American public didn't really see a problem until photos of them separately outside of their reality TV show indicated there were issues.

I did capture a clip of the announcement of their separation and it made me sad. It made me sad for them and sad for their children. They started out so full of hope with dreams of this wonderful family. I so wish that while the cameras were capturing the "family bliss" that they captured the TRUE reality that obviously lurked in the background along with everything else. I know that wasn't the premise of the show, but it would have been an honest real look at the American family. Can you really call yourself a "reality" show when you actually HIDE your reality and give us a "faked" image of your family and your marriage? If I had been a watcher of the show and a fan, I would be upset that what you were putting out there was not really real or honest.

I did think it interesting that rather than having the kids move back and forth in and out of the home, that the parents will actually rotate , each spending time in the house when it is their time with the kids. I wonder if that is the first time anything like that has ever been done.

What I think would make an even BETTER reality series is if Jon & Kate really sought therapy for their marriage. Rather than file divorce, they live separate and work on trying to hammer through their issues with a neutral third party. I believe that every marriage is worth trying to salvage before coming to the ultimate decision of ending it. They wanted to be "real" for the camera, and show a REAL American family. Divorce is so much (and unfortunately so) part of the real American family these days that documenting it on TV is perhaps what the public would need to see. Even more so, we'd need to see how a marriage can or can't be saved through working on whatever issues they have with each other. Jon & Kate need to reconnect and find each other again to remember what they fell in love with in each other or at least try to. THAT to me would be interesting to watch along with the family dynamic.

Perhaps that would be to close to the cuff for them and way too personal, but it would be more real. If they still ended up divorced, then they divorce. If not, it could teach us all how to find each other again. I wonder how the show will work now and what the new title should be , should they continue the show as they say they will.

FYI a new episode is not scheduled till August 8th. It is also interesting to note that the show that aired last night had the highest ratings for the series ever at 10.5M viewers. But, prior to this weeks show it had lost 1.3M viewers knocking it off the top 20 List.

In other cable TV News, the Closer shrunk by half a million viewers from it's opening the week before and down to the #2 spot on the Cable's most watched series list. Royal Pains is now #1 having grown by 1M viewers over the last week. USA is having a hot summer I'd say.

I did watch Hawthorne again with my husband. While I initially liked it, I think it's okay. It needs to grow more on me and hopefully it will. It's not GREAT it's okay, as it is not full of as much depth as say shows like Saving Grace is or even the Closer. I will keep watching and hopefully the second episode will improve upon the first.