Jon & Kate Plus Eight

[Lei Liko]

Is anyone here addicted to this TLC show like I am?


Jon & Kate; Twins: Cara & Mady; Sextuplets: Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah, & Joel

For those who have never heard of the Gosselins, they're a family from Central Pennsylvania who gained notoriety for their set of twins (2 girls, born in 2000) and sextuplets (3 girls, 3 boys, born in 2004). As you can see, the kids are hapa -- Jon is half Korean. Kate had a condition that prevented her from getting pregnant on their own, so they turned to fertility treatment, and naturally they expected multiples.

Discovery Health did a one-hour special a few years ago called "Surviving Twins and Sextuplets" when the babies were 16 months old and the twins, 5. The special was a huge success and resulted in their weekly series, now in its 3rd season.

It's pretty neat watching these kids grow up, and I'll admit...they're absolutely gorgeous. I know Kate gets a lot of criticism for being annoying and the way she treats her husband, but who cares? I know a lot of couples who communicate that way! They were on Oprah last week, and I think they're a hit with America because they're real -- the babies fight and beat the crap out of each other and Kate makes no secret that the kids drive her to lose her mind. You won't see that with the Duggars!

Jon & Kate Plus Eight airs on the TLC Channel Monday nights at 9PM.

[lavagal]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

My girls and I love this show, and they are 8 and 6. Honestly, I love how real it is. I love the scrappy kids, their different personalities. My girls love it because there's nothing fake about it. I loved mom's breakfast in bed and trip to the spa. I swear those moments are so short lived. You really can just look down at your toes and fleetingly admire them before popping in another load of laundry, wiping the floor, and putting out another kiddie squabble. I give them credit.

By the way, can you tell me what kind of van that is they drive? A Mercedes right?

[alohabear]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I'm want to see this family when the kids become teens. That's when the fun begins.

[tutusue]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I've watched several episodes but tend to forget when it's on. Thanx for the schedule, Lei. I, too, love it and cringed during one episode when Kate mentioned 4 of the "babies" (they were 2 at the time) were sick at once! Good thing mom is a nurse!

[Lei Liko]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

My girls and I love this show, and they are 8 and 6. Honestly, I love how real it is. I love the scrappy kids, their different personalities. My girls love it because there's nothing fake about it. I loved mom's breakfast in bed and trip to the spa. I swear those moments are so short lived. You really can just look down at your toes and fleetingly admire them before popping in another load of laundry, wiping the floor, and putting out another kiddie squabble. I give them credit.

By the way, can you tell me what kind of van that is they drive? A Mercedes right?

Because I'm bored at work today:

We drive a 2004 Dodge Sprinter 2500 passenger van. After extensive research we purchased our van in 2005. For specs and descriptions click on the following link: http://www.dodge.com/en/2007/sprinter/

From: http://sixgosselins.com/FAQ.html

They also have a smaller, white minivan that Jon uses to go to work.

When they went to Disney World last summer, they had to get a U-Haul trailer to haul all their belongings. I recall Kate saying that she's afraid that one day they'll have to eventually buy one of those to use every day.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I'm want to see this family when the kids become teens. That's when the fun begins.

It's already starting for the twins. They're only 7 years old and already they've got classmates calling the house. When Kate expressed her disgust at that, Jon's like, "at least it wasn't a boy."

I've watched several episodes but tend to forget when it's on. Thanx for the schedule, Lei. I, too, love it and cringed during one episode when Kate mentioned 4 of the "babies" (they were 2 at the time) were sick at once! Good thing mom is a nurse!

Every few weeks or so they'll have a mini-marathon of recent episodes, usually Sunday night. I know that the previous week's episodes are at 7 and 7:30 (I think) on Monday nights. Yay for DVR!

[leashlaws]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I love this show! My mom got me addicted to it during my visits to her house in Illinois. I love how they snip and snap at each other all the time (John & Kate) nothing is altered to make it look like The Waltons.
My fascination is with how they survive daily living.
I really enjoyed the episode where she shows how she clips coupons and grocery shops. I'm glad this thread was started! The Disneyworld episode was amazing.

Isn't strange (and they haven't explained why) neither sets of parents participate with them as a family only John's Korean grandmother does. What an amazing family!

[Lei Liko]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I love this show! My mom got me addicted to it during my visits to her house in Illinois. I love how they snip and snap at each other all the time (John & Kate) nothing is altered to make it look like The Waltons.
My fascination is with how they survive daily living.
I really enjoyed the episode where she shows how she clips coupons and grocery shops. I'm glad this thread was started! The Disneyworld episode was amazing.

Isn't strange (and they haven't explained why) neither sets of parents participate with them as a family only John's Korean grandmother does. What an amazing family!

I'm glad I started it too! I thought I was the only one who watched it because no one's ever mentioned it. Glad to know there are HTers who watch it too!

Regarding their parents, I too thought it was weird that their parents (excluding Jon's deceased father, of course) "weren't a part of their daily lives," as Kate said.

http://blog.imperfectparent.com/?p=526&cp=all -- the good stuff is in the [long] comment section. Be forewarned that a lot of the comments are people bickering because they have different opinions on the show. Buried in all of that are comments from people who ARE a part of the Gosselins' life (Beth, mainly) and they give their accounts on how it's really like.

Then there are those who have no lives because they have so much free time to research on the family. This just goes to show that no matter what, you won't be able to please everybody!

[NoCal Boy]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I stumbled on the original special a couple years back during an all-nighter when our daughter was an infant. Now it's on a Tivo Season Pass! I like the kids (but I fear for the day when my two year-old starts being sassy like the twins) and I like Jon (I think we're pretty similar in personality) but I'm increasingly getting tired of Kate's henpecking. As much as I respect her for the unfathomable task she has of raising eight young kids, can we say Drama Queen??? I only hope (for Jon's sake, mostly!) that some of it is playing for the cameras.

We always wonder how they'd do financially with just one salary and without the show subsidizing their income. Hope they're investing their TV money wisely!

Isn't strange (and they haven't explained why) neither sets of parents participate with them as a family only John's Korean grandmother does. What an amazing family!

One show actually mentioned that Jon's dad had passed away fairly recently, but we've also thought the lack of other grandparents was kind of conspicuous.

[Lei Liko]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

We always wonder how they'd do financially with just one salary and without the show subsidizing their income. Hope they're investing their TV money wisely!

I'm thinking the TV money pays well because Jon was able to quit his Government IT job and work for Bob Carson (Beth's husband). The guy's mansion is on who knows how many acres of land so it's likely he's loaded! Good for him and the family now that he can come home early and even work from home if he wants.

One show actually mentioned that Jon's dad had passed away fairly recenty, but we've also thought the lack of other grandparents was kind of conspicuous.

I think their current home is 30 minutes away from Wyomissing (their old home), and maybe that's why? I know distance is no excuse, but to be honest, I only get to see my North Shore relatives maybe once or twice a month.

Or the grandparents just don't want to be filmed...who knows?

[NoCal Boy]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

Anybody catch last night's episode? The whole show revolved around Jon cooking a Korean dinner for the whole family. He grilled bulgogi from his grandmother's recipe, and also made I think what he referred to as a "Hawaiian Fried Rice". Kate didn't know the mochi he'd bought for dessert had ice cream in it and she left it in the fridge to melt. In her typical fashion she then made a big deal about it, as well as nagging at him about how long he was taking in "her" kitchen as he cooked, and making some pretty dumb "ancient Chinese secret" remarks.

Jon also talked about his ethnicity, and the fact that his mother's parents immigrated from Korea. The kids are well aware of the fact that they're asian (except, they insist, for Alexis!) Interestingly, he noted a Hawaiian influence in his upbringing, due to his mother's being born and raised there. My wife said afterward she was going to write him a letter commending him for not saying he was part Hawaiian!

We're predicting a future episode entitled "Gosselin's go to Hawaii!"

[lavagal]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

Anybody catch last night's episode? The whole show revolved around Jon cooking a Korean dinner for the whole family. He grilled bulgogi from his grandmother's recipe, and also made I think what he referred to as a "Hawaiian Fried Rice". Kate didn't know the mochi he'd bought for dessert had ice cream in it and she left it in the fridge to melt. In her typical fashion she then made a big deal about it, as well as nagging at him about how long he was taking in "her" kitchen as he cooked, and making some pretty dumb "ancient Chinese secret" remarks.

Jon also talked about his ethnicity, and the fact that his mother's parents immigrated from Korea. The kids are well aware of the fact that they're asian (except, they insist, for Alexis!) Interestingly, he noted a Hawaiian influence in his upbringing, due to his mother's being born and raised there. My wife said afterward she was going to write him a letter commending him for not saying he was part Hawaiian!


We're predicting a future episode entitled "Gosselin's go to Hawaii!"

Gosh. I paid more attention to the fact it was a rerun of the carpet installation episode than to the food they were cooking!

[NoCal Boy]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

Gosh. I paid more attention to the fact it was a rerun of the carpet installation episode than to the food they were cooking!

I think that was one of the other episodes they ran last night. You know how they bury one new show in the middle of a bunch of reruns? This one was actually called "Korean Dinner." Don't fear, you know it'll be shown again at least a dozen times in the next month!

(In fact, I just checked online and it looks like this new episode kicks off an eight-hour (!) marathon tomorrow beginning at 7pm (but check your local listings.) Now that's a lot of temper tantrums!)

[Lei Liko]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

I only caught the last 10 minutes of the Korean dinner last night, and I hope to watch the rest on DVR tonight. I was surprised the kids (and Kate) took to the kim chee. I thought for sure they wouldn't like it. Heck, even I have a hard time with it!

I recall reading an article somewhere where Jon mentions his ties to Hawai'i. If I can find it, I'll post the link. I do recall in an early episode him saying "benjo!" when the kids needed a potty break.

Anyone else notice that Aunt Jodi/Beth/other people who know and love them are nowhere to be found in the most recent episodes?

[leashlaws]

Re: Jon & Kate Plus Eight

Anybody catch last night's episode? The whole show revolved around Jon cooking a Korean dinner for the whole family. He grilled bulgogi from his grandmother's recipe, and also made I think what he referred to as a "Hawaiian Fried Rice". Kate didn't know the mochi he'd bought for dessert had ice cream in it and she left it in the fridge to melt. In her typical fashion she then made a big deal about it, as well as nagging at him about how long he was taking in "her" kitchen as he cooked, and making some pretty dumb "ancient Chinese secret" remarks.

Jon also talked about his ethnicity, and the fact that his mother's parents immigrated from Korea. The kids are well aware of the fact that they're asian (except, they insist, for Alexis!) Interestingly, he noted a Hawaiian influence in his upbringing, due to his mother's being born and raised there. My wife said afterward she was going to write him a letter commending him for not saying he was part Hawaiian!

We're predicting a future episode entitled "Gosselin's go to Hawaii!"

Can you imagine being on the plane with them all the way here?
It was a good show and I too caught his reference to Hawaii. The meal looked good! I really like all of their routines and adaptations for such a large family. They frequently have marathons of this on.