TLC
Yesterday saw another exciting World Series game, so that meant, naturally, that I was watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight, followed by 17 Kids and Counting, on TLC. Jon and Kate, for those of you unfamiliar, is about the Gosselins, a family that was blessed/cursed with a set of twins, followed by sextuplets; 17 Kids is about the Duggars, parents to, duh, 17 kids.
There’s something old-fashioned about the idea of a “Wow, they have so many kids!” show—think The Brady Bunch or Eight Is Enough.But today the idea of a brood this big seems not just daunting but countercultural (think Big Love). It’s a kind of reality TV that’s relatable in a way that, say, competing to date Tila Tequila isn’t, but for a pair of working parents, all this cheerful fecundity is also alien. How do they do it? Easy, it turns out: You go on TV, and then people give you a crapload of free stuff.
Of course, now that the bar’s been raised to 17 children and counting, I’m not sure I’d advise taking TV stardom into account in your family planning.