Saturday, September 24, 2011

Kate Gosselin Running & Feeling Better, Do Children Belong On Reality TV?

Kate Gosselin Gets Back to Running: Celebs.gather.com

Kate Gosselin is feeling much better after starting to come down with a cold earlier this week. The mom of eight got back to running today, completing 8.5 miles in the rain! Quite proud of her accomplishments, she took to Twitter to share the news.

"I'm baaacckk...8.5 mi in POURING rain through flood water and all! Not my best time but I did it," she tweeted on Friday morning.

As you may know, Kate Gosselin is training for a half-marathon, so running has become something more than just exercise for her. Sure, it's a great way for her to stay in shape and to burn off steam, but she is driven to push herself, and that's a good thing. You have to give her credit for doing something for herself that has nothing to do with media attention.

It seems as though Kate is staying busy since her TLC show was canceled. Aside from running and taking care of her little ones, she's also keeping up with her website, which is popular amongst her fans. She has proven that she is going to be just fine.

 Do Children Belong On Reality TV? MSN.com  (Edited For Content, Click Title for Full Article)

Few topics can get heated faster than discussing how parents raise their children. Want to start a full-out conflagration? Try discussing how parents raise their children on reality TV. Recently, viewers have seen tots dressed up like a prostitute and primped like Dolly Parton on "Toddlers & Tiaras," which ends its season on Sept. 21. Ever-present cameras captured spotlight-loving mom Kate Gosselin and her eight children’s last hurrah on "Kate Plus 8," which had its series finale on Sept. 12. The public even had to consider how a 5-year-old girl's appearance on reality TV might impact her after her father, the husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Taylor Armstrong, committed suicide.


Candi Wingate, owner of Nannies4Hire.com, helped Kate Gosselin find a part-time caretaker in 2007, and said she saw nothing worrying on set of “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” (The show’s title changed to “Kate Plus 8” after the Gosselins separated.) "The kids were so natural with the camera crew. They didn't act any different; it wasn't a set-up thing. I think it's a great way for the kids to look back on their childhood." It seems the decision to give young children a role on a reality TV show is a reasoned choice based on good parenting skills and a complete comprehension of what being filmed regularly does to young minds and emotions. But while the first part may be true, the second is harder to believe. Those on the outside may feel that watching reality TV series starring children can be like being witness to a slow-moving train wreck. In scripted television, that spotlight withdrawal hasn't always gone so well.

"Kids who grew up on television supposedly had a guild keeping them safe. And even on sets of TV shows with rules to protect those kids, many of those child stars still wound up going to jail, getting stuck on drugs or alcohol or having destroyed relationships," said Galinsky. Ultimately, no one is sure whether the Gosselin kids will miss the cameras beyond a surface level, whether the beauty pageant toddlers are changed by their experiences, or if what is cute, hammy 4-year-old behavior now will turn into a vortex of destructive attention-seeking later on. Said Galinsky. "No one could have predicted that it would last this long, with no end in sight. Guidelines have to be drawn up at some point to protect these kids, because there's nothing now."

Should children ever be filmed for reality TV?

Sunday, September 18, 2011

What Do You Think About Kate's New Site? Going Back, Watching Sextuplets & Twins

GATHER.COM: Kate Gosselin may be sad that her reality TV show Kate Plus Eight has ended, but she is probably happy that the final show received the season's best ratings. In fact, it received better ratings than the show had gotten in an entire year. According to the Hollywood Reporter, 2.1 million people tuned in for the final episode of Kate Plus Eight. That's the best it's done since June of 2010. And the final episode even scored its best rating among 18 to 34-year-olds since July 2011.
Even though these numbers are certainly something to be proud of, they are a bittersweet reminder to Kate Gosselin that it's a case of too little, too late. Kate Plus Eight never had the kind of ratings that Jon and Kate Plus 8 had. It seems that the audience really enjoyed the interaction between Kate and her now ex-husband Jon Gosselin--even when things weren't going smoothly for the couple.
It seems that all good things must eventually come to an end, and such is the case with Kate Gosselin's TV show. She doesn't quite see it this way, however, as she is now faced with trying to figure out how to support her eight children as a single mom, and keep the whole family living the way they have become accustomed. That won't be easy, but Kate is determined that she will somehow find a way to stay on TV.
For now Kate is keeping fans abreast of the chaos in the Gosselin household with a new website. KatePlusMy8.com is live, but many of its pages are still under construction. At least Kate Gosselin can revel in the fact that Kate Plus Eight went out with a bang. Will it be a big enough bang to get networks to give her a second glance? Who knows? Kate can be very persistent!

What do we honestly think about Kate's new Website? What would we change if we could? Please share your thoughts!

RELIVE THE MEMORIES: Surviving Sextuplets And Twins