Two examples of possible extortion and/or abuse the Kreiders are citing are the infamous staged Christmas episode and the potty training episode. For those of you not in the know, evidently Jon and Kate are heartless enough to tell their children that it was Christmas morning – even when it is not. They wanted to get a genuine reaction from the kids, on camera of course.

The Kreiders are saying that filming the children’s journey through potty training has, not surprisingly, violated their right to privacy. Of course, ahem, one of those was filming at the Kreider home. Whoops!

These are their poster child examples of why the Gosselin children have been tragically and mentally damaged.

Anyone who has read one other post on this blog knows that I side 100% with the kids. You all know that I have spoken against publicizing every embarrassing moment of their childhood. This is why, technically, I agree with the Kreiders.

But I don’t side with them.

I’d be Team Kreider if I thought that one iota of all this legal bluster was sincere. But it isn’t. Anyone with a memory and a pair of eyes saw that the Kreiders had no problem with their relatives parading around their children – that is, until they stopped getting a piece of the money pie. “Coincidence” had it that soon after Jon and Kate cut them off, they hit the tabloids.

At this point, it’s just another way to get their name and face back on TV.

And don’t even get me started on Jon’s escapades or his recent lawsuit against Kate for the custody of the children. Who’s he kidding? I wouldn’t trust him with my dog, much less kids. I’ve just gotta chalk this one up to yet another publicity stunt. He has been on the back burner lately – I guess he thought it was time to make waves again.

But I digress.

Of course, I’m really here to talk about Kate’s new show, “Twist of Kate”. As I understand it, Kate has managed to land, not one, but two shows on TLC. First, Kate Plus Eight will relaunch (sans Jon of course). This gives the eight yet another chance to have all of America watch as they work their way through all the embarrassing moments of childhood (and beyond in to puberty, perhaps?).

Second, we will all be treated to more Kate Gosselin in Twist of Kate (which sounds like she’s going to be served “on the rocks”). The new show will have Kate hosting as she highlights strong woman figures and their journeys through adversity. My understanding of the show makes it sound like one big Kate worship fest.

Yahoo! News:

“Twist of Kate” will follow the reality star and supermom as she visits the homes and workplaces of her subjects, where she will exchange insights for living.

Her subjects?? I know we’ve all called her a “queen” bee, but seriously, she’s no royalty.

I don’t even want to bother with her “insights”. Go with the $5,000 hairdo, or splurge on the $7,000? Hmmmm….

First we have Kate landing a spot on Dancing with the Stars. Lots of people have been making a big deal over this.  Personally I can’t say that I’m that interested. I can only assume that she’ll make it through part of the show, dancing decently but with no real distinction. Certainly Aldrin will last longer, despite her being half his age. It’s no contest – living legend versus fame mongering housewife.

But I digress.

Because what could be better than Kate having an opportunity to be put in her place amongst real celebrities? It would have to be Jon getting solicited by Playgirl – and for a fraction the price. It’s like they were short one page on the magazine and ran to the bargain bin for filler. While 20 gees is not a sum to laugh at, Playgirl’s offers are usually much, much higher. Try $80,000 dollars higher, as Levi Johnson was reportedly payed for his shirtless shoot.

“We discussed it and we’d offer him only $20,000,” Playgirl rep Daniel Nardicio told Life & Style magazine. “His star is extinguishing, and he’s not very [well endowed].” (source)

Ouch – that’s gotta sting.

After hearing that Jon’s New York pad had been trashed right after Christmas, all fingers flew to point accusingly at Hailey Glassman. Their abrupt and distinctly unpleasant breakup during the holidays certainly made her a likely candidate as the trespasser, especially with rumors of yet another potential flame flaring up in Jon’s love life.

But Hailey vehemently denied any involvement in the vandalism, despite a signed note with her name on it discovered in the apartment. She and her lawyers are claiming that she was framed.

Originally Jon’s legal camp didn’t express any intent to press charges against Hailey, but now it seems like they’ve had a change of heart.   The scuttlebutt on the metaphorical street says that Jon intends to file a criminal complaint against his former flame.

This should get interesting.

Of course, freedom is relative. They both with have to continue (or start) to play nice when interacting around the children. So far, it sounds like most of the wrinkles have been ironed out when it comes to the details, but with them finishing up in such a rushed fashion, it won’t come as a surprise if we hear about more legal proceedings in the coming new year.

Over the summer, as the divorce date loomed, things got a little messy between the octoparents. October came and went with no finalization in sight. The Gosselins have been in and out of court all fall, but not much has been decided when it comes to untying the knot.

Now it’s looking like they will have to wait until early 2010 to have their divorce finalized.

Or was he?

It hit the internet airwaves that instead of getting in on some quality grandma-style turkey, Jon was spotted hitting the slopes in Utah for a little snowboarding. Yep, turns out people do actually travel to Utah.

I haven’t caught any word of who he might have been traveling with, or if he was definitely alone. But we do know who he definitely wasn’t with – Hailey.

The holiday weekend seemed to go fairly smooth for Kate. She had her eight children cozily tucked in to their 1.1 million dollar home. Reportedly both her bodyguard Steve Neilds and his wife and children joined the family. However, her brother and his family were not spotted.

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” .

The show’s ending could also give much  needed closure to the Gosselin’s divorce.It seems the rowing couple has been able to put aside their differences and finally sit down to rationally discuss the future.

According to CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom, Jon Gosselin brought a dozen red roses to the weekend meeting with his estranged wife, Kate. But the gathering was all business. It was an arbitration hearing that moves them closer to divorce.

A source close to Kate tells People magazine “Kate is just relieved that a very painful chapter of her life is nearly over.” (CBS News)

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.