Have you ever noticed that a majority of reality shows hinge on the pure novelty of big families? The idea that watching grown adults surrounded by an overflowing daycare of offspring is like a car crash, anticipating the chaos makes us unable to turn away. Of course, by now everyone knows about 'Jon and Kate Plus 8', the show that brought the philandering dad, Jon, and angry mom, Kate to the forefront of the media stage. Originally they were just a sweet family with twin girls till they decided to go for just one more...we all know what happens next. Sadly with the popularity of their show came the dissolution of their marriage. Is it the fame that pushes these large families off the deep end or were they already there and just holding on tight? Could the chaos we enjoy giggling at be the very thing that in the light of publicity is unbearable?
I'd like to hope that if anyone can make it work its the Duggars. The Duggars are a Christian family from deep in Arkansas who live by the 'quiver full' movement of always having a bun in the oven. However, despite their conservative beliefs (visiting the museum of creationism, oh I bet you didn't know there was one!) dated hair-do's (those 80's perms) and the sexist roles they place their children in (19 year old Jana isn't obviously going to college, 21 yr old Josh is already married with a baby) they might actually survive the flurry of publicity surrounding the premature birth of their 19th (!!!) child simply because they do live in such a fringe subculture. Due to their religious discourse they do not watch TV and only read religious works, a night on the town consists of a bowling party for one of their son's birthdays. Its simply because of this separation from the mainstream media that I believe the Duggars may actually have a chance to do what they had said they originally went into this for; to spread their message about God. Part of the attraction to the Duggars is that they're not pushy with that message either, never condemning other children when they visit a public school, and never a sad face because they're still getting a used bunk bed from a thrift store even though Mom and Dad were on the cover of People magazine. I think that their restrictive religious discourse actually protects them from all the ugliness that publicity tends to bring upon average folks.
The newest family I've enjoyed adding to my 'big family' viewing habits is the Novogratzes of '9 by Design'. The Novogratzes are a Manhattan hipster couple who renovate and design tri-state homes, buying high priced properties themselves and gut renovating them along the way. Oh, and did I mention they have 6 kids which includes 2 sets of twins, but doesn't include the baby born in the middle of episode 3! Their family seems to have been raised on the belief if it looks cool then it is cool. The children are all acceptably mischivious and adorably coiffed, they eat in the coolest restaurants together, have playdates in their gorgeous west side highway house, and play basketball in their basement court. The uber-stylish mom rides a Vespa scooter 9 months pregnant behind her husband who always seems to wear some sort of dashing chapeau and only sneaks a smoke when the camera is on his back. Contrary to the Duggars, this family seems destined for fame, in fact, their life seems like a dress rehearsal for it. As of this writing the entire family (including the new baby) got a modeling contract. They will probably survive the media crush associated with being reality stars simply because they seem to already be stars of their own lives. The publicity is probably nothing out of the ordinary for this family who have folk singer Suzanne Vega sing at their baby's christening and renovate a 'private' client's Hamptons house in episode 4. Their attitude seems to be that this is nothing they didn't already expect, so bring it on! Their family discourse is in line with the discourse of the producers of their show, and the publicity machine so they will probably come out the other side of this happily fully intact.
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