The stars of TLC’s new reality show ‘Sister Wives‘ are the subject of an investigation by police in Lehi, Utah.
The series features salesman Kody Brown, his four wives and their 13 children and stepchildren.
Police told PEOPLE Monday they were looking into the family’s situation before the show’s Sunday premiere, and confirmed that publicity surrounding the series prompted the legal curiosity.
“At the conclusion of the investigation, the evidence will be forwarded to the Utah County Attorney’s Office for review and possible prosecution,” Lt. Darren Paul said.
Bigamy is classified as a third-degree felony in Utah but isn’t often investigated.
The family is content with their lifestyle, nontraditional — and legally punishable — as it may be. “If we raise productive, contributing members of society who are moral and ethical, that’s our final goal, whatever their path is,” says Janelle Brown, 40, who has six children with Kody.
Hope they got their money from TLC, upfront — they’re going to need it.
With a title as hungry for attention as “Strange Sex,” the temptation is to go for the cheap joke, such as “Oh, you mean sex with your spouse? (Rim-shot!)”
But like HBO’s “Real Sex,” this TLC series — which originated as a special on Discovery Health, is a fairly straightforward, non-sniggering look at unorthodox tastes, conditions and couplings, rather clinically told in half-hour installments. The strange part, in fact, is that the network of Kate Gosselin exercised this much restraint.
The only slightly crass part, actually, involves the episode titles, like “Unusual Orgasms” and “Cougars and Cubs.” The latter looks at May (or maybe March)-December romance, following 73-year-old Hottie — who has experience with many much-younger lovers — as she prepares for a date with 33-year-old Ron.
Additional stories center on a man with “sexual anorexia” and a woman who claims she can achieve orgasm without any physical contact — having transformed herself into a sex educator who teaches people to achieve it “without genital touch or stimulation,” or “think off.”
Interviewing the subjects as well as medical experts, the segments are handled in a journalistic, mostly nonjudgmental way (“atypical,” they’re called), even if the participants are clearly viewed as objects of curiosity.
As with “Real Sex,” there’s less glamor or titillation in these initial episodes than a desire to present the out-of-the-ordinary, in the way a “National Geographic” special might look at tree frogs. TLC has nevertheless scheduled the show at 10 p.m. with a conspicuous viewer-advisory disclaimer at the outset, which will probably leave those reeled in by the title more disappointed than anything else.
Granted, people with various fetishes and preferences might not relish being compared to tree frogs, but hey, if you don’t like it, think off.
Old fatties humping each other with various objects — sounds like “tune in” TV to me.
The fight between reality TV’s most famous dad, Jon Gosselin, and TLC is finally over.
“TLC has reached a settlement with Jon Gosselin and will be undertaking procedural steps to conclude the litigation,” the network said in a statement Wednesday. “All terms of the settlement are confidential. The whole Gosselin family remain under contract with TLC. “
A source close to the situation says that the network “hopes they will soon be able to film the family again,” but rules out a return of the hit show, Jon & Kate Plus 8, that made the family household names.
The ugly back-and-forth between the network and Gosselin included a lawsuit filed by TLC against Gosselin for alleged breach of contract. It claimed that by making paid and unpaid TV appearances without the cable network’s permission he was in violation of his agreement with the channel.
Later, Gosselin filed a $5-million counterclaim, saying that the network had damaged his career by preventing him from working with other media outlets. Gosselin had also forbidden the network from filming his eight children with Kate Gosselin.
This dude is about to become desperate, I can feel it, even if his celebrity divorced dad’s show with Michael Lohan materializes.
source: Jon Gosselin and TLC Reach a Settlement [people]
A source close to the situation says that the network “hopes they will soon be able to film the family again,” but rules out a return of the hit show, Jon & Kate Plus 8, that made the family household names.
