Entertainment PR Blog by AMP3

While I am probably one of the few humans in America who didn’t find her eyes glued to the TV set when “Jon and Kate plus 8″ was on, I’ll admit I was quite interested in the drama off the set when it was announced that Jon and Kate Gosselin were divorcing, halting the production of the show and putting the last season on a hiatus. Sounds like a PR nightmare for TLC, right?

Not exactly. Jon and Kate were splashed across tabloids for months, lashing out at each other – Jon saying Kate is a super-control freak, Kate ripping on Jon’s playboy behavior. Kate came on talk shows like The View and Jon came on morning shows to discuss the divorce. Anything and everything about them was covered, and the public loved being fed it. So in retrospect, not exactly bad in terms of PR, even though it wasn’t necessarily considered “positive.”

Now, TLC is ready to bring the show back, but not without some major restructuring on the show’s premise and the dismissal of one of the major stars, thus changing the title of the show. The new show title? Simply, “Kate Plus 8.”

Yes, TLC kicked Jon to the curb (rightfully so) – I’m guessing because he hasn’t exactly projected “dad material” with his partying and womanizing ways. TLC says that the name is to reflect on the divorce of Jon and Kate, as well as to highlight Kate as a single mother raising her 8 young children. Props to you Kate for not ripping your hair out (yet). 

But fear not Team Jon fans (what, like all 5 of you?) – Jon will be guest starring on the show throughout the season when he comes to spend time with the kids. 

Will people still watch it? It could go either way. The whole debacle could reel in curious viewers about how the show is going to pan out. Now, they could either stick with it or they could just tune in for a few episodes and slowly forget about it. Ratings and time will only tell. 

The thing about entertainment PR is that you have to be able to fix something that’s broken – and in some cases, that involves rebranding and restructuring to produce an improved product. Here, we had a painful divorce that unraveled in front of millions and completely shattered the ultimate premise of the show. TLC was smart not to bring down the axe right away, but instead took sometime to sit down and re-evaluate how they were going they were going to make their highest-rated show still stay on the air and make it work. 

- Sabina for AMP3 Public Relations

Twitter has become the latest addiction in social media. Three- year old tweep CNN Breaking News (@CNNbrk) held the “Most Followers” title until a popularity contest began between CNN Breaking News and actor Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) to reach the 1 million follower mark first. Projections were made and the battle began.

Kutcher and CNN Breaking News were posting obsessively and Kutcher pledged to donate 10,000 mosquito bed news ($100,000) to the Malaria No More Fund if he wins and 1,000 nets if he loses which CNN would then match with the same results. CNN blasted off on live television and Kutcher responded via tweets and live ustream.tv videos. Retweets and supporting posts for both sides began flying around Twitterworld and the two tweeps were neck in neck. Kutcher’s fans, P Diddy (@iamdiddy) and supportive wife Demi Moore (@mrskutcher) helped Kutcher win the race to 1 million on Thursday. Ashton tweeted “Victory is ours!!!!!!!!” after winning and danced with his wife Demi Moore to Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration”. Checkout the nail-biting video of Asher reaching the 1 million mark!

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In other Twitter news, Oprah who is calling Kutcher “The King of Twitter” has joined twitter! Follow her at @Oprah. Kutcher will appear Oprah today and will talk about his race to 1 million followers and his charity pledge.

Oprah pledged 20,000 nets to the same malaria fund as Kutcher. Actor Hugh Jackman pledged to donate $100,000 saying, “I will donate 100K to one individual’s favorite non profit organization. Of course, you must convince me why by using 140 characters or less.” Twitter continues to gain more power in the new media revolution as influential people like celebrities and politicians promote worldwide charities and positive social change.