Interesting.

Her body guard Steve Neild spoke to the ever curious press, telling them that Kate was doing some “test” filming for a future project.

One can only guess this has something to do with the new show that Kate will be hosting this spring. My question is, what does food service have to do with it? The impression that everyone has had about the new show is that is will be following the talk show formula. Can’t say that I’ve seen many talk show hosts slumming it as a local waitress.

Kate logged about 3 hours as a server at Finch’s. However, pictures are limited – as soon as the photographers were noticed by Kate’s entourage, they had the restaurant close their blinds to end the picture taking.

We wait with bated breath to discover what this little experiment was all about. Meanwhile, on the Gosselin home front, the kiddies are beginning to stress over the conspicuous absence of the camera crew. Kate revealed that during one drive home from school, they kept tearfully asking ‘Where’s the camera crew?” and saying “We miss them”.

Actually, this is perfectly understandable. All Kate’s obvious attention-grabbing attempts aside, I can’t say that I’m surprised to hear that the children miss their crew. These children have had these people by their side and giving them attention virtually their entire lives. I’m sure that they view the crew as a form of extended family. I can imagine that it would be hard on the kids to suddenly have “family members” disappear.

However, I’m not going to call the crew back. Even though we all have our doubts as to how sincerely concerned Jon was about his children (versus just being spiteful), I can’t disagree with his decision to kick the cameras to the curb. Right now all the kids see are kind cameramen, and the episodes are akin to home movies. It’s only later in life that they will realize the atrocious breach of privacy they experienced during a crucial part of their lives. Their parents allowed a window into their childhood privacy through which the entire world could watch, and those very same men each held a pane.

As the eight grow older, those “home movies” will lose their shine. The kids will be able to watch and read between the lines a bit better. And in doing so, they will have perfect record of their parents’ marriage falling apart and the tension goaded on by TLC. I’m sure those happy memories will be sullied by this knowledge.

Of course, last night’s ratings didn’t come close to topping the 10+ million viewers that the great announcement episode brought.

From now on, the most you will be seeing of the Gosselin eight will be in daytime reruns, since Jon blocked the planned reincarnation of the show. I’m sure we’ll hear more from him in the coming months, and of course, Kate has her new show slated to launch next year.

I guess that works out for her. She hasn’t exactly been keen to let the spotlight go, saying that she was sad the show was “cut short” .

So what does TLC have in store for its viewers?

According to US Magazine, this last episode will treat us to two separate outings with the kids – one with Jon and one with Kate. Jon will be taking them to a  fire station, and Kate will cart the kids over to local dairy farm.

As if these kids haven’t had enough family outings. But hey, I guess they’re more interesting to watch than Kate emasculating Jon at the grocery store.

After this, we shouldn’t see any more of the Gosselin family for a while. The word is that TLC will be focusing on the production of Kate’s new show until it launches in early spring.

What will the end of the show mean for the Gosselin family? Will we continue to see them in the news, or will they finally be allowed to fade back into obscurity? Obviously we will be seeing more of Kate, since she does have another show slated with TLC. Hopefully she will be satisfied with that amount of media exposure, and from here on out, won’t see it necessary to involve her children with anymore show business.

But what about Jon? He whined that regular employment was no longer an option for him, due to the flock of paparazzi that shadow his every step. Will that still be a problem when the show ends? We all know exactly how skilled Jon is at attracting media attention. There was also the rumor that he and BFF Michael Lohan were putting together a new reality show tentatively called “Divorced Dads”. With the end of his TLC contractual obligation, will Jon once again pursue that  avenue of income?

So many questions, and no real answers. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what Jon and Kate decide to do. The ball is in their court.

Do you have any thoughts on how this saga will end? Go ahead and jot them down here in the comments.

The footage originated from various episodes already edited and aired. So essentially, this show was just the unwanted scraps, much like that 59 cent hot dog seen eternally spinning in the gas-station hopper.

To add insult to injury, these editorial hot dogs were edited to put Jon in a very unfavorable light. I guess TLC has completely jumped onto the Kate bandwagon, and  pitched Jon under the wheels. There is no mistaking who’s side they are on after last night.

Kate was pretty much allowed the run of the show and she took every opportunity to let Jon have it. If there was blame to throw, she threw it. Hard.

During the segment about the dogs, she all but flat-out said it was Jon’s fault that the family had to get rid of them. She blamed him by implying that it was his job to train them, and that he was just plain lazy and didn’t do it. She also let her catty side out by saying that Jon needed a collar instead of the dogs.

Classy.

Naturally Kate whined about Jon not spending enough time with the kids, and that Jon is putting his own selfish needs before them.  The viewers were treated to heartless footage of Jon ignoring requests for popsicles in order to talk on his cell phone or him chatting up the paparazzi over the family’s fence while the children beg to go swimming.

Of course, amid all this Jon bashing, we have to have some Kate glorifying. Cue in the book signing segment. What’s more entertaining than watching Kate being gushed over by adoring fans? Actually, a lot of things. How about paint drying?

Oh, and don’t forget the self-congratulatory segment of Kate (and not Jon she so graciously pointed out) serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald House. That was so PR fake it was sad.

Along along, the TLC crew can be heard kowtowing and laughing at every lame joke Kate fires their way.

Pretty much a summary of the whole episode could be boiled down to this: TLC and Kate wanted to throw Jon under the bus and attempt to soil his already tainted reputation, all the while buffing Kate’s image until it shined. It was so obvious it was painful. Given the fact that it seems like Jon has been trying to ruin his image (and being quite successful, I might add), this whole episode was a petty and unnecessary stunt to pull. Why not take the high road and not stoop to mudslinging?

As I said, Jon was doing a perfectly good job all by himself making him look bad.

But not anymore.

Kate Gosselin says she regrets berating and bossing around her estranged husband, Jon, on episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8, conceding she was “wrong to treat him that way.”

“I was very hard on him and I would never deny that,” Gosselin told Natalie Morales on Monday’s TLC special Kate: Her Story. “I felt very much like a lot of weight rested on my shoulders.”

The matriarch was often captured chewing out her husband on the early seasons of the show and says critics were right “to a degree” that she emasculated him. “Was it good, healthy and wonderful? No,” she said. “Am I proud of those moments that were captured? No.” (source)

While she did step down from that pedestal of hers and apologized for her rude attitude, Kate still didn’t show any sympathy towards Jon and his “lost youth” whining – an attitude that resulted in his recent relationship blunders.

Can’t say as I blame her.

For more on last night’s show “Kate: Her Story”, click here for a recap.

There is still some denial as to whether or not this is actually going to happen, but the rumor is that both octoparents were offered a million dollars to do the show. That’s a lot of money. And it sure isn’t looking like Jon will be getting a regular paycheck anytime soon. Oh, that and it looks like he’s trying everything possible to dodge going back to a regular job.

An “insider” source says that Jon has given the idea the green light, but Mike Heller, Jon’s manager,  claims that Jon has turned the million down. Hmm…doesn’t seem very characteristic of Jon. So I guess give it a week and we’ll know if this televised monstrosity will be airing.

Click on over to NY Daily News to read the story.

Really. What else is there to tell? And in the end, will it really matter? Jon will just come out with his own conflicting statement via impromptu paparazzi interviews, thus muddying the water even further. Or, more likely, Kate will just continue to dodge questions and gloss over the ones she can’t. I highly doubt we will be hearing anything revealing next Monday.

Someone please just put this fiasco to sleep. It’s just painful watching TLC drag this on and on. After this interview, we’ll be treated to a “top moments” episode, then a couple episodes that will surely just be more scrap footage cobbled together with minimal coherency. November, here we come.

With Jon AWOL, and the kids legally locked up (for TLC anyways), Kate is pretty much the last “character” from the show that TLC can trot out for the viewers. I guess they’ve got to fill that time slot somehow. But will the special be as revealing as the network is touting it will be? Or will it just be more smoke blown in order to make Kate and TLC look better?

But who wants to watch a household activity so mundane we all avoid doing it ourselves (just look at my “dumping grounds”), when we can just tune in to any interview-based show and get the real action? The money he-said-she-said debate has no end in sight as of this moment. The Gosselins have a rumored 11 bank accounts squirreled away, so there seems to be a little confusion as to which one Jon has been pilfering. Now Jon is claiming to have irrefutable proof that the supposed $230,000 withdrawal never happened. He’s waving around more bank statements than there are signs at a health reform protest rally. All are going to prove he only took the pocket change sum of $22,000.

Given the Gosselins’ love for the camera, I’m sure we’ll continue hearing about this little drama as it unfolds. Kate, it’s your move.