Kate + 8: Everything is NOT normal.

I guess I’ll come forward and say it; I enjoy reality TV a little more than the average person. I am aware of the opinion of the general public regarding reality TV, but I can’t help but watch the apparent train wreck that is unfolding in front of me. The specific train wreck I’m talking about now is the show formerly called Jon and Kate + 8 and now called Kate + 8.

We saw the destruction of the marriage of Jon and Kate during the couch interviews of the last season of Jon and Kate + 8 as well as a preview in the tabloids a few months before the show. The height of the drama during the separation and divorce proceedings, you might remember, was when Jon barred the TLC film crew from filming the show on the families Pennsylvania property as well as filming the children themselves. Jon claimed that Kate was an unfit mother for her short (but very entertaining) stint on Dancing with the Stars while he's in New York (an entirely different state than his kids) with multiple girlfriends and keeping close company with another horrible father.

As the season 6 premier begins, we see the reunion of the kids and the film crew. All of the kids are excited to see the film crew they befriended and Aaden is even heard saying "Everything's back to normal." If normal for a child is a camera crew of 7 trailing his every move, something might be a little off. This particular episode just had to be a big blast to get over the negative press surrounding the show, so it was surrounding the sextuplets’ 6^th birthday. This year Kate decided to take the 8 kids (all under 10 years of age) to Florida. Yes, on an airplane. Seasoned vets of the family would start to have war-like flash backs to a few years ago when the family took a trip to Utah. The plane ride to Utah was horrendous and long story short, all 8 kids ended up crying and Kate was sobbing because the plane was delayed. This trip to Florida, on the other hand, is much more laid back and Kate is even heard saying "I'm so chilled out about this" referring to the plane being delayed. Kate is the only parent there and she only brought around one friend to help her. BUT lets get real and not pretend that the film crew doesn't entertain or help with the kids while Kate is reading an email or Jon is banging some 25 year old skank.

I find myself watching the episode with a smile on my face because I don’t really have to keep my focus on the show to follow the story. The family is carrying on like nothing has changed, like Jon hasn’t moved out and a year hasn’t gone by. The one BIG difference was in the show’s namesake. No, not the +8, rather Kate. She was surprisingly nice, but I’m assuming a change like that would occur after the cheating-loser husband was out of the picture. There was no meltdown from Kate when nothing was packed the night before the trip. There was no meltdown from Kate when the plane was late. There was no meltdown from Kate when the twins (mostly Mady) were upset at the little kids’ party. Everything else was pretty… normal. Someone got sick, someone didn’t like the plan for the day, someone didn’t want to wear what they needed to wear, and of course Kate squealed when some foreign object got near her. On a whole, I can be reminded of my childhood vacations with my family during this episode, granted my family is about a third of what the Gosslin clan is AND, to my recollection, I was never filmed for a TV show that pulls in 3.4 million viewers.