Fame and fortune

Lately I’ve noticed something about the willing subjects of TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus Eight and Little People Big World. They are clearly getting paid.

The first couple of seasons of both these series show the families as struggling financially, or at least not well off and crammed in to homes that are too small or ill-fitting.

Then later on in the series in more recent seasons and episodes, we see the families going on countless free trips, moving or remodeling (seemingly tripling the size of the Rolof house!), and doing all sorts of bigger things now that their full time job is being filmed for their respective series. No more talk about jobs and tight finances or trying to get certain business dealings off the ground.

Now I support their being compensated, but I think once that money comes in to play, or favors and gifts are granted due to their fame, the quality of the show suffers because they aren’t regular people anymore (as much as they ever seemed to be regular people). There aren’t many problems to solve anymore, no hurdles to cross, and we just see the families on cruise control – auto pilot – and sometimes even overplaying situations to make them seem more dramatic and appearing scripted.

They are still interesting shows to watch, but I think they were at their most authentific during the first couple of seasons, before fame and fortune blessed and changed their situations. Maybe it’s just the way they’re produced.

Update – and as Carl points out in the comments attached to this post, I have heard as well that the trips the Gosslins go on are usually paid for by the resorts and that’s really great that they can do that and go on some awesome vacations. But I think it still detracts from the show. I’m torn because it’s great that both families can do all this stuff but I think the show starts to change from the struggles of an extra-ordinary life to the perks of fame.

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