Jenn Orr
Journal Staff
In case you she hasn’t absolutely annoyed you enough yet, don’t worry — Sarah Palin now has a new reality show! Even better? Palin and company were picked up by TLC, the same network that brings us marvelously enlightening shows such as, “The Little Couple,” “Obese and Pregnant,” “John & Kate Plus 8,” and “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant.”
With “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” viewers need not worry about another show concerning little people and dysfunctional families. In fact, the show tries so desperately to illustrate Palin’s family as the All-American crew of angels that they certainly must be. Maybe that’s why Bristol was not featured in the pilot episode.
The show follows the Palin family, which includes Todd, Sarah, Track, Trig, Treck, Truck, Tramp, and Tom-Tom. Okay, to be truthful, the Palin kids’ names are actually Track, Bristol,Willow, Trig, and Piper – – which are not much better if you ask me, but hey, she’s earthy.
And earthiness is what she aims for, at least in this particular aspect of Palin’s life/sideshow. She takes the kids on family outings, showing them and the rest of the world “how real Alaskans do it.” Funny, because every activity included in the pilot episode looked like what tourists do when they go to Alaska. In one segment, Palin takes her daughter Piper and her niece on a low flying plane, claiming that all Alaskans get around that way. This is yet another falsity, an image builder if you will, although I’m unsure whether she’s trying to build her own image or Alaska’s in an effort to boost tourism.
A particular segment of the show, in which Sarah and Todd go on an intense rock climb (seriously, it looks excruciating), illustrates the reality that is Sarah Palin perfectly. As Palin struggles tremendously to reach her rock climbing guide, she grows frustrated, huffs, puffs, and asks herself, annoyed, “Why am I so cocky?” This scene alone is a metaphor for Palin’s political career: setting her sights much too high and believing she’ll actually make it, struggling when challenge comes her way, and then ultimately regretting her foolishness. She most likely would not see it that way, however. In fact, she would probably refute (not to be confused with “refudiate,” the word Palin accidently made up and then compared herself to Shakespeare about on Twitter) with something like, “Well dontcha know I made it to the top of that there mountain, so I take that there comparison as a good ole compliment!” I’m not kidding; she really talks like that — even more so when she’s not playing Politician Barbie.
What’s more confusing and frightening than Palin’s on-camera antics are her motives for doing this show. Suspicions over Palin possibly running for office in 2012 have already risen, and some believe this reality show is just another part of her presidential campaign. I highly doubt that starring in a reality show would help anyone running for the oval office, but then again, politics are weird and often make little sense. Don’t forget, it was only two years ago that this woman crawled out of the woodwork, literally, and almost became our vice president. And now she’s on TLC. I love America.
