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Jon and Kate Plus 4.6 million viewers
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There is no doubt that when the overnight television ratings come out today, TLC's "Jon and Kate Plus 8" will have scored huge ratings on the premier of season five. It will most likely trump the finale of season 4, which raked in 4.6 million viewers.
This is great news for TLC and the advertisers, as well as the "cast", a.k.a., the Gosselin family.
But the question that begs to be asked is; what is the price of this business success?
I, like most of you watched last night. While there is a platoon of Kate supporters on one side, and an army of Jon advocates on the other side, as written by Paige Wiser of the Chicago Sun Times; it was "Awkward." As a product of divorce at a young age, I would take it a step further --- it was profoundly sad.
Aside from my own personal experiences coming from a broken home, I was reminded of the Loud family. For those who do not remember them, or were not born at the time of its airing, their show was called "An American Family" and it chronicled the lives of seven members (sound familiar?) of a family from Santa Barbara, California.That series was raw, tragic, and as all too often in life --- it did not have a happy ending.
Is Kate the villain? Is Jon the miscreant? In the words of Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind; "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."
As we approach "the morning after", what we know for certain is that a lot of people are making money off of this human tragedy. While capitalism is a good thing, even under the current regime in Washington, at some point in business you have to look at your business plan and evaluate the reward to risk quotient.
Every day, business owners make a conscious decision as to whether the personal risk is worth the business reward. I do not envy the Gosselin family in this regard as no matter what they do, a huge faction of people will criticize them. Perhaps Dr. Phil will drop in soon and fix everything.
I hope that all family businesses take a moment to study this debacle, and also takes the time to reflect on the work-life balance/sacrifice question that regularly nags all of us.
For more info: Scott Gingold has been helping businesses of all sizes grow and expand their businesses for over three decades in both good times and bad. He is the Founder/CEO of Powerfeedback, and the the Founder/COO of Confidential Counselor. To learn more about how Scott can help your business, including start-ups, drop him a line.
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