Who is Kate, and Why Should We Care?

Apparently, tonight is the season premiere for Jon and Kate Plus 8, yet another reality series I've managed to avoid. If you've been under a rock lately, you haven't seen Jon and Kate Gosselin's mugs (and her ridiculous attacked-by-a-string-trimmer-from-behind hairdo) splashed across every possible tabloid/celebrity mag at the checkout. From what I gather, they were a semi-normal family until the fertility drugs took with a vengeance and they had sextuplets. Then the camera crew arrived, and all hell is continuing to break loose.

I don't know about you, but I'm baffled by this type of reality show. I have enough to deal with raising my own two children. I don't need to watch a dysfunctional Midwestern family try to raise their brood of eight, or a dysfunctional California family try to manage their rich and clueless offspring (Keeping Up With the Kardashians), or graspy overprivileged women who don't have real jobs and yet complain about how tough their lives are (Real Housewives of Orange County/Atlanta/New York/New Jersey), or Q-list celebrities who can't seem to tell their heads from a hole in the ground (Hogans, Gottis, etc.). What exactly are we supposed to be learning here? I have money, therefore, I'm a gold-plated asshat?

Seriously, when did the intellectual common denominator in this country fall so low? Why are intelligent, thoughtful dramas like The Unit and Eleventh Hour canceled while shows featuring vapid women who live for nothing more than their next tanning appointment or plastic surgery seem to continue indefinitely? And spark followings, no less, of regular women who know every petty detail of these people's lives? Is making a connection in our own real communities so unworthy of our time and energy that we send our kids out of the room so we can watch the latest money-fueled trainwreck play out in all its ghastly glory?

Find something constructive to do with your time. Step one is turn the dial. Better yet, turn the thing off. Got a few minutes? Page through Chris Van Allsburg's marvelous children's book The Wretched Stone. Think about what happens to those poor sailors. Then turn off the tube and read a book. I'm sure Jon, Kate, the Kardashians, and those damned housewives will get along without you just fine.