Jon & Kate + 8 [related: TLC]
A once frantically popular reality television series
1
that aired on both Discovery Health and The Learning
Channel.
JK8, as it is commonly known, gave birth to a tidal wave of lightly scripted, mundane reality content
2
intended to
function as three dimensional wallpaper. The show's premise centered on "oops sextuplets" born to parents of painfully
dull twins. The parents Kate and Jon Gosselin filed for divorce midway through the fifth season, resulting in an ugly
and aggressively litigious custody battle. Having fallen out of syndication following the embarrassing drunken public
frolicks of Jon, the show's lasting legacy remains the brutalist haircut popularized by Kate beginning in season three
of the series.
1 The season five premiere of the show was seen by over 10 million viewers, far outpacing even network primetime shows.
2 Stephen Bochco's fictional but realistically mundance byrds-of-paradise is a notable precursor.