Monday night's season premiere of the TLC hit "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" should have been retitled “Jon & Kate Plus Eight Divided by a Cheating Scandal Multiplied by Paparazzi = A Depressing Clusterf---.” And, sadly, I couldn't stop watching it. It was like the second-half of "Boogie Nights," when the perverse pleasure of watching a bunch of porn stars turned into a harrowing claustrophobic nightmare, with characters desperately trying to escape their life situation, yet completely stuck in the path they've chosen for themselves (but, you know, with less cocaine and giant ... well, you know ...).

For those of you who have somehow avoided the newsstands or the gossip blogs (or have never been hung over and caught a marathon of the show), Jon and Kate Gosselin are the parents of eight children — a pair of twins and a set of sextuplets. Their lives have been documented since the sextuplets' birth in various TV specials, and eventually, a popular TV series on the cable network that gets off on airing shows that feature unorthodox families, rare medical conditions and makeovers where cat ladies learn how to hide their cankles. Audiences loved watching how Jon and Kate handled the stress of raising eight children, and the warts-and-all depiction of their relationship was endearing. (If you had a nickel for every time Jon rolled his eyes at his demanding wife, you'd be as richer than hollandaise.) In the past several months, however, once stories started to bubble up that Jon might be less-than-faithful to his partner, Jon and Kate's rocky relationship wasn't charming or funny anymore. It was eye-opening and sad. Read more...