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Airdate: Jon & Kate Plus 8

TEN has wised up to the fact that we're not really interested in seeing repeats of Rules of Engagement.

jkTEN has wised up to the fact that we’re not really interested in seeing repeats of Rules of Engagement, which it had planned to continue on Thursday nights after the finale airs this week. Bow bow. Dumb idea, and not really much help to Rush either.

So those plans are now shelved as it brings in specials in its place.

At 7:30pm on Thursday August 13th it has Jon & Kate Plus 8: Surviving Sextuplets & Twins. These two Pennsylvanian parents are getting a lot of press in the US after Kate fell pregnant with sextuplets (she already had  3-year old twin girls). This one-hour special follows the family through their daily lives, focusing on the challenges of raising multiple children.

While this is a special, it was filmed a year beforeJon & Kate Plus 8 became a reality cable series in the US. How well this translates here remains to be seen.

A week later TEN has The 45 Stone Virgin, a one-hour special in which 31-year-old David Smith recounts his journey from’ chunk to hunk,’ after losing a massive 29 stone and having more than 30lbs of excess skin removed. Might not want to be eating your dinner over this one.

While it uses specials as fillers, TEN still needs to give Rush a firm lead-in.

20 Responses

  1. I’ve been watching Jon & Kate whilst in the US….It’s a great show for the family. The little kids are adorable (Aaden is my favorite). OK the Mum can be a bit much, but the show really will make you laugh and cry…Give it a try!!

  2. I’ve thought for a while that Jon & Kate would make a good Friday night show for the networks – DH&H plays the thing round the clock and they have this whole sub-genre of shows about abnormally large families! That 17 Kids and Counting is absolutely mind boggling.

  3. Just because Jon & Kate have separated doesn’t make this special any less appealing to watch. Everyone would have known the outcome of the plane landing on the Hudson, and they would have watched it on the news and all the other specials about it, but people still tuned in to see it again. Jon & Kate’s story is extraordinary…they had twins and then decided they wanted one more, and got sextuplets! Coping with 8 children under the age of 4 is an amazing thing to watch, and most people wouldn’t realize how difficult just the simplest thing is. I’ve only seen a few episodes of this show, but have really enjoyed them.
    One-off specials do rate well, as the Miracle on the Hudson special proved last night…so hopefully it will do better than Rules of Engagement repeats would have.
    Remember the special Ten played years ago about the world’s strongest boy? From memory, that show beat the Friends finale in some cities. Viewers seem to have this macabre curiosity about freakish things.

  4. won’t glee have to go to 9:30, it’s M. or will ten just chop out the naughty bits?

    it could go well with a rush lead in because of all the young women watching rush.

  5. Looks like the cupboard is a bit bare at Ten. I predict they’ll be giving the demo wins to The Amazing Race and the oldies will still be glued to Getaway, leaving no space for this filler. Although it does work for Seven with that plane crash special yesterday going gang-busters.

  6. *fingers crossed* they don’t air the series after the special.

    I’ve never seen any of this, occasionally seen the mother interviewed but she seems awful as does the show.

    Can’t wait for September for Glee.

  7. How to compete against the Amazing Race and Getaway with these fillers I wouldn’t know.
    Your Biggest Challenge lies with those who work late night shopping Thursdays and how to get the ratings as most of us don’t get home till 10pm or later.

  8. It appears they have filed for divorce.

    “On June 22, 2009, legal proceedings were initiated in Pennsylvania to dissolve the ten-year marriage of Jon and Kate Gosselin. The episode announcing their separation became the most watched episode of the series, with 10.6 million viewers” – Wikipedia

  9. Your Right T-Mac, they split recently.. making this call by Ch10 even mor stupider!
    And the 30-Stone Virgin, Clearly Ch10 has no idea what to do now Masterchef is gone!

  10. I’m sorry but this isn’t cool – I don’t think this is even going to get the figures RoE gets. I’m not sure if sticking with RoE is an ok idea trying to build it an audience or if they should aim this for summer, but these specials aren’t great, maybe if they went on with Jon & Kate plus 8 until Glee is available (though I’d be giving Celebrity Masterchef the Thursday 7.30 slot to boost Rush. With Glee going to Wednesday nights.

    Especially that chunk to hunk doco what trash, just when Ten were redeeming their network with no trash programming, oops thought too soon, I’d prefer to see Jon and Kate plus 8 the series follow the doco.

  11. after 7s huge win with monday nights plane special, ten seem to think they can replicate those numbers with this old boring ‘special’. will prob just get the same numbers as RoE

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