We hope all our readers are enjoying their weekend. If you celebrate Easter, we hope the day is a joyful one for you and yours.
We thought we would do something a bit different with this post and take the opportunity to turn the clock back a year – to April 2010. Do you remember what we were talking about on Gosselin Chatter? Here are some of the most popular posts:
–Dancing with the Stars. Duh! We spent most of the month discussing Kate’s dancing (not good) and her fan support (very good). Many of us spent Monday night voting multiple times for Kate and her family expressed appreciation for our efforts.
-Jon Gosselin returned to Pennsylvania on a more permanent basis (good) and sued Kate for custody of the children (not good). His rationale was that Kate was spending too much time in Los Angeles working on Dancing with the Stars. Others like the Admin at the 15 Minutes blog agreed and kept a calendar of all of Kate’s movements to track how many days she was away from her children WORKING. Jon’s lawsuit went nowhere and last time I checked Admin’s calendar was replaced by a counter tracking the minutes until Mady and Cara turn 18.
-TLC announced a new series starring Kate – “Twist of Kate.” So far, no news on this show. Kate indicates that they are still working hard on the show and it’s coming. We will have to stay tuned.
-The Thomas Murt Gloria Allred/Aunt Jodi child labor law hearing took place. Word is the new legislation, bill 2515, will come up for a vote in the next several weeks. The delay is understandable when you consider that PA (like just about every other state) is faced with some pretty weighty budget issues that are likely taking priority. If and when additional protections are passed to safeguard children participating in reality TV, I don’t think any IW moderators or readers will have any objections.
Fast forward to April 2011. Kate is on Twitter! Didn’t see that one coming. She seems to be enjoying herself and has been gracious with fans. Kate Plus 8 returned with three episodes chronicling the family’s trip to Australia and New Zealand. Many seemed to enjoy the first two episodes. Opinion was a bit more mixed on the last one. And the ratings have not been, um, great. This is not particularly surprising. Reality TV shows that last beyond 4-5 years typically have a revolving cast of characters (ala Survivor). It may be the show is on its way out. If that is the case, so be it. The Child Advocates (blech!) have had zero impact. I won’t count Kate out just yet though…
According to Kate’s Twitter, the Gosselin kids are spending the weekend with their dad, but Kate is making them Easter baskets for when they return on Sunday. I continue to believe the Gosselin kids are loved and treasured very much by both parents. Here’s hoping a very happy Easter for all of them.
Happy Easter to the ladies at IW! Also the posters here as well 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
In terms of the ratings, it should be taken into account that it appeared to be a low ratings week in general. Kate + 8 did slightly better than Quints by Surprise, a relatively new series that preceded it. It’s hard to know all of what went into it but it was up against a Barbara Walters special on the royal wedding and occurred during Passover. The series may be running its course or New Zealand may not be as big a draw as Australia.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter with their loved ones. The flooding in our area is getting very serious, we have had rain now for days and days. We were up all night for two nights this week with tornado sirens going off all during the night. They are also calling for more severe weather over the next three days. People are being evacuated and we are expected to get several more inches of rain over the next couple of days, we have not had this much flooding since 1997.
Sorry Carol, know that I am thinking of you and your family. Seems like Mother Nature takes the spirit out of us if we let it. Hang in there and let us know how you are doing. 🙂
carol,
Stay safe. Hope that the rain doesn’t reach what is predicted. The tornado situation this spring has been just devastating for many areas. Hoping everyone can stay safe –
I am thankful that no lives were lost in the St. Louis area (from what I heard last).
Pam,
The video was breath taking. Beautiful!!!
Yes, thanks to Holly for pointing that out on the Easter thread.
Anya, time flies! Just how easy to get one’s mind off of our own REAL worlds & yammer about that ‘crazy life’ of Gosselin.
Whoever introduced Kate to Twitter made a great suggestion! Like her or not, she tweets w. that quick wit & rare focus on individual tweets. I particularly enjoy the time & tlc she gives her youngest of fans. On a sour note…how sad Twitter hasn’t figured out a way to BLOCK ‘verified’ accounts from nasty, inappropriate & graphic spam. I’m sure Kate is hoping some adult is monitoring their tween & young teens. ;0( I don’t have the faintest idea how Twitter works, but if Kate were to send out mass Tweets, as it seems most ‘celebs’ do, she’d lose her unique appeal.
Thinking of you Carol. Please give us an update when you can.
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HB, I agree that Kate’s Twitter feed is fun. She has a unique voice and seems to try to respond to as many fans as she can.
Thank you all for your concern, Snickers I know you are still trying to get over the wrath of mother nature. We have had some rain today but the worst of the storms and heavy rains are supposed to hit tonight and tommorrow and even go into Wed. The river is predicted to crest at 33 feet or more above flood levels. My family is not in the flooded areas but we do have friends and co-workers that are being affected.The severe weather is also scary with warnings and watches going on every day. Again, thanks to everyone for your concern and well wishes.
Ladies, stay safe and dry. I’d complain about our lousy spring weather, but you midwesterners (and many in the south) have put up with a whole new level of lousy.
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Time does fly! Is it only a year or so since we connected with kate’s family and were trying to outdo eachother voting! DWTS voting got my daughter and her friends through some very long evening driving classes.
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I think Kate has had fun and created fun on Twitter. I know I check more often and have tweeted with her myself- fun!
Yes, the show will eventually end as all shows do. The nn, the bl, Irene S,or any of the other Kate stalkers will have had zero influence on it. They are already congratulationg themselves that the ratings were down last Mon. Irene must spend most of her day scouring the internet for any mention of Kate’s name and than gleefully reporting back to the NN any hint of negativity.She was super excited yesterday because she said Diane Lane ‘sorta’ dissed Kate and she wondered if anyone had tweeted Kate to tell her. The highlight of her day seems to be reading something negative about Kate. That is a sad and pathetic existence IMO.
Irene should post her Vasoline comment that she said about the G’s on the NN blog. I wonder how the readers there would feel about the nasty mind she really has.
Hope things are going better for you Carol, have been watching the news and the weather is terrible in the Southern States tonight. 🙁
Where was it that Diane Lane “sorta” dissed Kate?
Pam, went back and looked and according to Irene it was in USA Today and SHE said Diane dissed Kate’in a way’.
Irene is as delusional as ever. Diane Lane didn’t sorta dis Kate. She never even mentionned Kate. She was interviewed for starring in HBO’s “Cinema Verite”, in which she portrayed Pat Loud of “An American Family”, the FIRST reality show which originally aired in 1973. Diane Lane said she didn’t like reality TV … Here is a link to that interview: http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/22/diane-lane-no-reality-tv-for-me-thank-you/ . The same interview appeared in many other papers. Irene needs to adjust her antenna or her reading glasses.
Wow, Irene really reaches in her imagination. I remember her FB page and it was more of the same. So much crazy negativity.
Ok, thanks Judy and carol. I have that recorded but I haven’t watched it yet. I couldn’t find an interview with her in USA Today but I found this interview where she said this:
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“I really enjoyed the lack of guile that there appeared to be. There’s no real innocents putting themselves in front of the camera today. People are savvy about what to expect. They know they’re coming up against an angry mob basically who can’t wait to watch them suffer so I think that there’s something to be said for [that],” Lane said. “What I found very endearing was, it was a different time and people didn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves yet. They weren’t quite aware that they should be afraid of being boring. You could see everything just under the surface. Their discomfort with the camera there, their wish for better communication, their sense of disappointment at a moment not going the way they wished it had. These are human traits that you don’t even need to speak the language to have them be conveyed because it’s in the timbre of the voice or in the body language or you can see it in the tiny muscles of the face. It’s incredible because it was a much more subtle range of expression, but people were dialed in to this subtlety.”
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http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/diane_lane_talks_cinema_verite/#
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Seems like just a general statement to me about all Reality TV
She stated there are no “real innocents putting themselves in front of the camera today.” I would have to agree with that statement in regards to people entering or appearing on Reality TV in 2011 however I do think that when Jon and Kate started with their first show, they were pretty innocent.
I think that everyone starring on a reality show is innocent to a certain degree. There is just no way to anticipate the full effect that cameras and editing will have on your life nor how/what others will respond to.
BTW, I watched Cinema Verite the other night. It was well done and quite eye opening.
Hi Donna and welcome! I agree with you. I am sure there is no way that you can completely understand how your life might be impacted.
One interesting thing I took from “Cinema Verite” was that each of the Loud children, each in their own way, grew up to be successful in their careers and endeavers. When they appeared on TV in ’73, I remember how shocking their then behavior was portrayed! I’m sure many people thought being on “An American Family” could have been damaging to them, but it obviously wasn’t… Something the so-called “child advocates” should think about!
Well, thanks Irene. I love Diane Lane and based on Donna’s endorsement, I think I’ll try and catch Cinema Verite.
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I think a lot depends on what type of reality show you are cast on. Yes, if you have been cast on “Bad Girls Club” you should know what is expected of you and how you will be shown. Other shows – I think it depends. I’m sure producers do a good job of selling how their show is different. It’s funny, but many of the Real Housewives often cite editing when they are shown in a poor light. I think some people are willfully naive. Somehow they think they will be the exception to the rule. The rule is reality TV producers like conflict. I give Kate credit. I don’t know that I have ever heard her complain about editing? I could be wrong, but she seems (at least at this point in her career) to have a realistic view of the process.
Anya, I agree, I don’t remember Kate complaining, but didn’t ‘the old Jon’ admit that he felt Kate had been given a bad rap w. the way the shows were edited to make him good cop vs. Kate – bad cop? I think it was during their answering e-mail shows…???
I never did get the sense Kate has the temperment to ‘act’ for the cameras. If she tried to ‘play mom to 8 children’… they would stop dead in their tracks if she did! ;0) ( Tho’ I did chortle when she refused to put the hairnet on under her riding helmet b/c of the paps in NZ.) ;0)
This was in Part One of the interview that we did with Jon.
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IW- Do you think that to an extent, TLC created characters?
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JG- Absolutely. Totally. Kate was the mean one, I was the nice one- passive. I mean for the last four years they created fodder, they created arguments, they asked questions like you know, they’d just dig up dirt. They knew stuff that I did and Kate did and that would annoy us. They’d ask us questions about it and we didn’t know each other did it so then we’d be arguing. Or we’d be arguing that day and be forced to interview that night just for fodder. Of course. No one’s going to watch a show with two happy people. It doesn’t work.
https://imperfectwomen.com/interview-with-jon-gosselin-part-one/
THANK YOU PAM! I’d never heard of IW way back then! Hmmm, reading thru’ Part I, & everything else Jon had to say….much of which has been disproved…now I DO wonder where the REAL truth begins & ends!
In December 2009 Jon Gosselin said: “A lot of people think we were millionaires but even if we did make millions we had to divide it up by ten.”
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They were dividing it by 10 since the beginning so the haters have been complaining all these years for nothing.
Another night of severe storms and heavy rains. We were under a tornado warning for over an hour tonight and several houses on the country road that my brother lives on were destroyed. We were unable to get in touch with him for a short period of time and were beginning to panic. Thankfully they were o.k. We are supposed to get another round of severe storms tonight and tommorrow is supposed to be the worst of all. The flooding is also growing with many rivers and creeks spilling out of their banks, many roads are closed and some people can only reach their houses by boat.This is one of worst weather episodes I can ever remember and people are really starting to grow weary, The only good news is that after tommorrow we should be in the clear. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Carol,
So sorry to hear of your damage and flooding. Know that you are in everyones prayers. The weather patterns have been scary this year. Since the tornado hit us, we have only had 4 days of sun, and the clean up has been much slower because of the cold temps and rain here also. Please keep us posted when you can. Be safe!!
carol…I hear you, & I can NOT imagine the day after day of what must be pure fear. I’m a sleeper by radio…sometime in the wee hours this a.m. an APB went off…it was a tornado alert for Kentucky! (I’m in the DC area?) Heard last night that Atlanta is in the path of what may be the most destructive weather pattern in eons. (Where is Al Gore to explain what’s happening? ;0(…global warming?)
Carol,
Hope everything is ok this am. I have not looked at the news yet (west coast time here) so I am not sure what kind of a night the country has had.
Some interesting tweets from Kate
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Kateplusmy8 Kate Gosselin
RT @emilykateplus8 @Kateplusmy8 Kate!! Is K+8 really cancelled? No. Neither is cancelled. Big fun things on the way! I’m excited!
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Kateplusmy8 Kate Gosselin
BTW, I suggested ur ideas recently 4 upcoming k+8… will c if any come to b! 🙂 I pressed 4 1 in particular. Not sayin’…Can’t! Just wait!
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Kateplusmy8 Kate Gosselin
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@sarahjoyce1992 I’ve been home.. got home this evening. Had a meeting with production. Went well. I’m excited! More K+8 on the way! Yay!
And in response to someone tweeting her the URL to this article http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/entertainment/kate-gosselin-show-faces-cancellation-042611
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Kateplusmy8 Kate Gosselin
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@dedajone Not true….
9 hours ago
I love this one….must be driving some people nuts.
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Kateplusmy8 Kate Gosselin
CONT: deelaney AND mr san Diego If I didn’t mention you, doesn’t mean I don’t love you.. Pls don’t b upset! Tweet you all soon! Take care!
8 hours ago
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Kate Gosselin
Kateplusmy8 Kate Gosselin
Final GN… Tweet ya when I can. pls hold down the fort PPie,patty cakes,whodunit,livin,Paige,iwana,ctxmom,maddy,they,mojitos,Leigh,CONT…
Her ratings only dipped for one week when it was Passover/Easter. TLC wouldn’t immediately cancel because of that. So much hoopla. Love Kate’s last tweet, cute how she listed the names.
Thanks,again to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, it really helps to know people are thinking of you. Some good news this morning, our risk for severe weather has been downgraded to a slight risk although the heavy rains are still coming. I knew when Kate tweeted she was having a meeting that the haters would immeadiately assume she was being cancelled,that is just silly, as Lily pointed out they will not cancel after one week of low ratings. Have a good day!
Carol, good news! That is wonderful to hear. I hope it pans out and the severe weather is over soon. <3
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I love Kate's tweets too. I was kind of surprised she remembered so many names.
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Yesterday, I kept reading May 3rd as the Gosselin children's "liberation day." Blech. First of all, I thought I had read somewhere that Kate has a contract through next year? Does anyone remember that? I thought there was speculation that Jon is even receiving money from the contract too? I'm sure the ratings are a concern. My guess is TLC is not expecting the 3+ million viewers anymore, but they would like solid 1+ million. It remains to be seen if the ratings will continue to be an issue, but I know one thing, I don't count Kate out – ever! 🙂
Has anyone asked her whether Collin and Alexis are back at school? Just wondering.
I have not seen that questioned asked on Twitter, Teresa, but I am not on it much. I did however see the pictures of the kids the day Kate picked them up from the bus and they were all there and all had uniforms on.
Anya, it’s a puzzlement re. Jon & his continued restrictions via TLC. He must have agreed for the filming thru’ Jan. 2012 after losing to them in court? Last fall, guess he thought he might just be able to prove to the family court that filming had already proved too much for 2 of the 8. (Didn’t MomofKT indicate that she believed Jon’s disruption thru’ DWTS was all about getting the upper hand in renegotiationg his $$$-take from TLC?) Can’t for the life of me think of what May 3rd is other than Sylvia LaFair vs. Kate Gosselin for $10+k? I believe Kate already answered if she owed that money on Twitter, & she responded – nope. (Sounds like another end-run from Jon & his life coach to make a fast buck.)
Has anyone noticed that now Jon is fully engaged w. Tweeting & promised he’d be back later tonight to answer more questions? I’d not trust his dwindling followers – not to repeat his answers. I can just read the headlines…The Dueling Gosselins take their battle to Twitter! ;0(
This time last year, I was totally innocent and naive concerning the world of the Gosselins, especially the unreasonable hatred extended toward Kate…last fall, my sister happened to like the Facebook TLC KP8 page, so out of curiosity I went over there to check it out. I really didn’t participate in any FB pages other than my own wall and Farmville at that time, and I’d been online long enough to know to lurk a bit before posting. What I read was pretty ugly, all kinds of attacks on Kate for being the WORST…MOTHER…EVER…I was really dumbfounded and tried to figure out what was being referred to on the wall there. I’d watched Jon & Kate periodically since the beginning specials and had felt a lot in common with Kate back then (my three living children are the results of IVF procedures), plus having a husband similar to Jon in some ways (thank God, not major ways! ) 90% of the time I could relate to Kate’s frustration with trying to have things “perfect” and her aggravation at Jon when they weren’t on the same page about this or that…BUT I also noticed that Jon wasn’t as henpecked as he seemed at first glance, he was pretty passive-aggressive most of the time on-screen with the reality portion of the episode, whereas Kate came across as “mean” to him during the interview sections, though again, Jon was passively-aggressively rolling his eyes at something she’d say that made perfect sense to me as a mom…and yes, there were times we’d watch when Kate would say something and my husband and I would both wince, but generally, more often than not, I agreed with her, just not how she’d say it, LOL. Still I grew to care for this couple and their absolutely beautiful little blessings from God, and to admire Kate for being the glue that held the whole thing together through organization, determination and her indominatable spirit. 🙂 I remember crying when we learned that the Gosselins were separating, and my daughter Maya and I saying bedtime prayers that night praying for Jon and Kate to work things out, only to find out the next day they’d decided to divorce. :*( I don’t read the gossip rags, or watch the tabloid shows (at that time I was dealing with newborn twins and some major health issues, so it’s mostly a blur back then) but I had a general idea that Jon was misbehaving and apparently all Kate did was cry during interviews (going back and rewatching those interviews I didn’t really pay much attention to back then, and I can see a woman who was in terrible emotional pain and indecision about what was going to happen to her and her children.) Wasn’t there for the whole Jon’s big buck apt being mysteriously vandalized, or his Ed Hardy-partying-drinking-drugging stage, and how he shut down production and banned the film crew from the Gosselin estate, or Kate’s stint on DWTS, and it’s aftermath, the finalizing of the divorce-having infant twins keeps you pretty busy when you have little help! But still, some Gosselin stuff I caught on the
periphery. Was gone almost all summer 2009 to India, so I missed out on Kate Plus 8 premiering…and then came the day I decided to post on the FB page, something along the lines of “I don’t care if Kate wears high heels. I don’t care if Kate uses a tanning salon. I don’t care if she wears mini-skirts and smacks gum. I don’t care about her boobs. All I care about is that she takes good care of all those kids and raises them to be good people!” And suddenly I was on the hate list of the “AKOs” who hated not only Kate, but anyone who was a fan or supported her! I was really shocked at some of the appalling things that have happened to me and others on that page, and I’m not proud of myself when I admit that I dropped down to their levels of nastiness a few times to protect myself and others over there…then I realized as a Christian I was going about things all wrong and I let God lead me where I should respond to the khatred/fanhatred as ot occurred. Lots of drama over there, but I’ve made some good friends there, and through them, here on IW. 🙂 I’ve stayed on over at the FB page when so many others have been chased off because I feel it is my calling to do so, to fight for what is right. Not because I worship Kate in any way ::rolls eyes:: but because the way they treat her behind the anonymity of false personas is beyond disgusting and needed to be faced head on. So while I could have thrown in the towel over the whole thing as not being worth fighting for, I didn’t. And I’m glad I didn’t! 🙂 Now we’ve entered the Twitter chapter of the story, and I have become a part of it, not through seeking it out for my own fame or glory or anything, but just because, to me, even though Kate has more money than my family does, and she gets to play dressup on tv, the bottom line is: she’s a mom, and after dealing with infertility for so many years (and several losses), that is one of the most important roles a woman can ever have, to have children (adopted or bio, it doesn’t matter)and be entrusted with their upbringing! How much better can life be than that simple purpose God gave women here on earth? :*) And now I get to chat with that mom on Twitter, along with other moms, about simple mom things, and I’m having a blast there at night after my kids are asleep, not just getting tickled when Kate participates, but just meeting new people there who “get it”, that this woman should not be crucified verbally as she is online, and in the media. and so here I am about 75% mom, 25% fan, and 100% devoted to having Kate’s back, if and when I can, to fight for the principles that not only I, but other women here, hold near and dear to our hearts…supporting a fellow mom/”sister”, regardless of outside trappings, simply because it’s the right thing to do. Otherwise, we’re no better than animals who attack each other for no reason at all.
Correction: My family spent almost all of summer 2010, not 2009, in India.
Thank you CJWoudunit for sharing this. I think many of us can share feeling the same way as you have in the past.
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Wow, you lived in India for a summer. How cool. Was it a good experience for you?
You’re welcome, Pam! Unfortunately, I would have to say overall, no–it was 5 and a half weeks of Murphy’s Law, BUT that being said, there were many moments here and there that still make me smile when I remember them…can only remember them because toward the end of the trip my camera was accidentally left on a transfer bus (I realized it almost as soon as I stepped off the bus, but in Indian airports there’s guards with rifles and you can’t just go running after buses yelling, unfortunately. :*( Lost ALL 4 and a half weeks worth of pics and videos, including the twins 2nd birthday party (big shindig by their grandparents) and their actual birthday when they got to ride on elephants in Jaipur. *sigh* I’ll live, but there were so many good memories recorded on those lost disks! :*( Still, Maya and I can remember the stories and share them with the twins when they are older. Fortunately, there were several other families in our group and they took a lot of pictures and they are sharing some back with us over time…not perfect, but better than nothing!