'I'm a Gosselin, Get Me Out of Here': Morality, celebrity and reality TV

Opening Day: `Up' flies to $21.4 million, `Hell' digs for $6.4 million

"Up," the latest from Disney/Pixar, sailed to $21.4 million in box office on Friday. That's just under the $23.2 million that the last Pixar flick -- "Wall-E" -- took in on its opening day last year in route to a $63 million first weekend.

The strong Friday means up will definitely finish its first weekend looking more like "Wall-E" than Pixar's "Ratatouille," which opened at $47 million. There were projections that "Up" could hit as high as $65 million this weekend, but those might be a tad too optimistic. A safer bet would be between $57 million and $60 million. Hardly numbers to sneeze at.

The other major opening of the weekend, Sam Raimi's finance-themed horror film "Drag Me to Hell" posted $6.4 million on Friday, which puts it on pace for a respectable $17.5 million, but below industry estimates that had it taking in $20 million. Last year's "The Strangers" opened at $21 million.

-- Joe Flint

'I'm a Gosselin, Get Me Out of Here': Morality, celebrity and reality TV

I’m going to introduce the concept of morality to a discussion of reality television.

Go ahead and laugh. I can wait.

Few things are more irritating than a media commentator who yelps, “But think of the children!”

But when it comes to “Jon & Kate Plus 8” (8 p.m. Central Monday, TLC), well, think of the children.

The Gosselin parents, the infamous Jon and Kate, whose show drew a record 10 million viewers when it returned May 25, appear willing to film the full 40 episodes they’ve contracted for, despite the tattered (if not toxic) state of their relationship, which is well documented in the gossip magazines.

What say do their eight kidsâ€"a set of sextuplets and a set of twinsâ€"kids have in all this? Not much. The  fishermen on “Deadliest Catch” probably have more control over their working conditions (and now it's come to the point that Pennsylvania's Department of Labor has opened an investigation into "Jon & Kate").

And at least the "Deadliest Catch" guys get paid. These kids just get to wonder whyâ€"thanks to the TLC show and the paparazziâ€"cameras follow them everywhere.

No such qualms affect the Blagojevich clan’s latest dignity-shredding gambit. When it comes to “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” (7 p.m. Central Monday, NBC), which features former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich as a contestant, we’ll likely get another dose of the cheerful amorality we’ve come to expect from most reality television.

In this show,  which is set in the jungles of Costa Rica, D-listers such as Sanjaya Malakar, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt from “The Hills” and Blagojevich will try to extend their 15 minutes of fame. The setup is familiar: NBC will exploit the contestants’ willingness to do anything to be on TV. And viewers will get to sit in judgment of the silly proceedings, and, via various interactive arrangements, control certain aspects of the competition, which will air live four nights a week through June 24.

 â€œIt’s a lot more fun to deal with people in the entertainment world,” Patti told the Tribune on Thursday. Yes, and in the entertainment world we’re used to people who are willing to do anything for the tiniest scrap of public attention. But these people are all grown-ups, and they’re quite willing to be exploited.

When do we get an interview segment on “Jon & Kate Plus 8” in which the kids are asked what they want? That didn’t come up in the show’s season premiere, nor did the words “marriage counseling.” Who has time for counseling when there’s a TV show to be made?

There’s no doubt that aspects of “Jon & Kate’s” extra-long season premiere were riveting. The couple’s well-publicized marital troubles gave a grimly fascinating subtext to the planning of the sextuplets’ fifth birthday party. Here was Jon arriving in a midlife crisis sports car; there was Kate stomping around and yammering about how much she does for everyone else.

“I have a lot of anger,” she said. No kidding.

Part of the reason we are fascinated by shows such as “Mad Men” and “The Sopranos,” not to mention Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchises, is because they offer us a look at what money can’t buy. Are the couples depicted on these shows staying together because they are clinging to their luxurious lifestyles? Is it worth being unhappy if you get a McMansion with all the trimmings in return?

Surely there’s a little recessionary schadenfreude in watching Jon and Kate, who enjoy the money and perks fame has brought them, wrestle with a possible alteration in their circumstances. Would TLC want the show if they split up? Would anyone watch?

I suppose “Jon & Kate” is actually the perfect recession show: Both parties sound terrified of losing their jobs. In their well-compensated case, that career consists of presenting the picture of a happy family to television cameras.

In separate interviews in the season premiere, they both sounded like adolescentsâ€"totting up how much they were doing “for the children.” Left unanswered was this question:  Would it have been better “for the children” if the parents had turned off the cameras, canceled Kate’s book tours and focused on getting their house in order?

At the birthday party, one of the girls asked her father not to “leave again.” (Jon had spent the previous weekend away from the Gosselin house.)

It was gripping to watch such an intimate moment. It also felt wrong, because that child is 5 and hasn’t asked for this.

As much as Jon and Kate’s narcissism and self-pity fascinate me, I can’t bring myself to watch anymore. When I think of the children, it’s just too sad.

Photos: Sanjaya Malakar, Jon and Kate Gosselin.

Susan Boyle finishes second on 'Britain's Got Talent'
LONDON — She dreamed a dream — and it almost came true. Susan Boyle's reality show journey ended Saturday with a second-place finish to a dance troupe called "Diversity" on the final of the television show "Britain's Got Talent.
Dream Over: Boyle Places 2nd In U.K. Reality Show

The 48-year-old Internet sensation, Susan Boyle, finished second in the finals of "Britain's Got Talent." An exuberant dance troupe called "Diversity" took the $159,000 prize and will perform for Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show. Millions tuned in to the live program and voted by telephone afterward.