Let's not beat around the bush: I have had my differences with TLC. They mainly started when TLC tried to act like everything was fine with Jon and Kate Gosslin as tabloids and bloggers stripped away the lie of the marriage that TLC was selling.
But I have to admit I was knocked for a loop by the report last week, on which the TLC spin patrol has declined comment, that the Gosselins and members of Sarah Palin's family are going to be appearing in a TLC production together -- a "special" episode of "Kate Plus 8."
My first thought: "What is Palin thinking? Is she so hard up to see how many millions of dollars she can make that she will do anything with anybody?
The idea, according to various reports, is that Kate and her kids, aka the cast of TLC's "Kate Plus 8," which by the way, lost more one-third of its audience from its first to second episodes, go camping in Alaska and get a nature lesson from two members of Palin's family. I guess all you have to do is put some of the Palin family to work, and Sarah gives you a bonus appearance.
Like Gosselin, Palin is also under contract with TLC; she is supposed to be making a show celebrating the joys and wonders of Alaska. "Sarah Palin's Alaska." Don't you love the sheer postmodern insanity of reality TV? You have to admit there is synergy here -- in the very worst sense of the word.
But I wonder what Fox News, which is also paying Palin north of a million bucks and has built a studio for her up in Alaska, thinks of her reality TV antics on TLC. The Sarah Palin brand that Fox ponied up the big bucks for is getting cheapened by the minute. You know, it won't be long before she starts popping up in the kinds of commercials that play on cable news channels at 3 in the morning -- the ones that keep screaming headache until you have one.
OK, you can tell the ossibility of this pairing blows my mind. The only thing crazier would be if Discovery, which owns TLC, could get Oprah, who is headed for the Silver-Spring-based cable channel, to join this screwy made-for-TV camping party.
But what do you think of the possible Palin-Gosselin production? Really, why would Palin do this unless TLC is forcing her to under the reality TV contract she signed? And does this kind of thing so cheapen her that she can forget being a viable political force? After all, Gosselin is not exactly the queen of credibility, and Palin can't exactly afford to squander any credibility she has left -- if she wants to have any future in politics.
I am hoping to hear from the most ardent Palin defenders and fans on this one. I can't wait to hear their response.
And by the way, what do you think of Palin's performance on Fox News? How's that working out after all the money Fox has spent on her?
