Jon & Kate Plus Hate

I'm afraid that's what one of my wife's favorite shows is becoming. Last night's Season 5 opener was a real downer for fans of the show Jon & Kate Plus 8. Yes, the kids are still cute and were fun to watch as they celebrated their 5th birthday, but the interaction, or lack thereof, between the show's principal players was downright depressing:

But on Monday's premiere (along with scenes from the party), Kate and Jon addressed the media firestorm that has engulfed them from beyond the carefully-tended boundaries of their own reality show.

"Did I ever think I'd see myself on the front of the tabloids?" said Kate indignantly. "Or see those words that are there? No. It kills me!"

And Jon, who insisted he was "being innocent and hanging out" despite reports of an affair with a 23-year-old schoolteacher, said, "I never read a tabloid magazine until I was in one. And the first one I bought was the last one I bought."

"I never cheated on Kate, and that's the way it is," he said bluntly. " ... I take full blame. I just didn't think it would escalate into what it's become."

"They had very little interaction between them" on the show Monday night, Dr. Lillian Glass, a psychologist and body language expert, told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen Tuesday. "It was very sad to see. So sad. When you looked at Jon, he was very depressed looking, and he was leaning toward -- away from where the camera was. He was just so sad. And Kate was a bit defensive. When he was around her, she didn't acknowledge him. It was just so sad to see this couple."

Glass says Jon strikes her as a "broken man." "He's so sad," she observes.

Yet, she adds, she hopes Jon and Kate go for therapy, because Glass believes their marraige can be saved.

The Gosselins, Glass says, "were a loving couple initially. They had a lot of fun. They laughed a lot. But then, with the pressure, a lot happened. And as a result, it was just so sad to see it last night, because you really see a different Jon and Kate than you've ever seen before."

I'm no relationship expert, but I've seen this coming for awhile. Kate clearly loves the role of star and book author and all the perks that come with it (other than the paparazzi). Jon clearly hates being a reality show star and has described the experience himself as "being in prison".

I've also noticed the way Kate talks to her husband and have wondered how long until he snapped. To me, she's often been disrespectful and demeaning, and I'm not sure how he's put up with it. Granted, we're only seeing a sliver of their lives and perhaps in reality Kate is not as grating as she is on the show. Perhaps.

However, recent events suggest that the pressures of the show and celebrity, eight kids, and a relationship that may have been somewhat dysfunctional from the start are finally taking their toll. Too bad. I'd really like to see them get their act back together. They could do a lot of good for other couples struggling with life's pressures.

However, at this point I wouldn't bet on a happy ending.