So FOX has ordered up a Nadya Suleman special to be titled “Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage.” Or as I like to think of it, “When Fertility Treatments Attack.”
As the Hollywood Reporter’s Live Feed reports, the two-hour documentary, set to air Wednesday, August 19, will allow the audience to “witness the emotional struggles, physical complications and financial burdens of this single mother of 14 … including the private moments and reactions of Suleman’s family, as well as Suleman’s own feelings, doubts and fears.”
I’m all for guilty-pleasure viewing, but even if I wasn’t already sick of this woman and her cephalopod-like grip on pop culture, I wouldn’t watch. It’s not the shadow of a California Labor Commission investigation into the footage originally shot by Radar Online (which FOX says is now resolved), but rather the lack of innocence.

Yes, the reality genre is fully-contrived, but at least the Duggars with their “18 Kids and Counting” did it the old fashioned way. And even Jon and Kate seemed like responsible people and parents when the whole “Plus 8” juggernaut ensued.
Suleman has only ever come across as a woman slightly off-kilter, seemingly suffering from depression/narcissistic personality disorder/what have you. Are we really supposed empathize with her “emotional struggles” and care about the “physical complications and financial burdens of this single mother of 14” which she has brought upon herself? Suleman, is, for better or worse, an extremely unsympathetic character.
The producers expect the special to be “polarizing.” FOX president of alternative entertainment Mike Darnell pinpoints just what makes most reality shows fun, but makes this special about a woman and her 14 small children an unfortunate spectacle: “It’s a little bit of a train wreck, and it’s really entertaining to watch.”
The good news: FOX and the producers have set up a six digit account for the kids.
Will you be watching the “Octomom” special?

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