Jon and Kate who?

My husband stands at the grocery store checkout line surrounded by photographs of the latest, hottest celebrities and he has no clue -- none, nada -- about who they are. It is one more reminder that a vast world exists beyond our boundaries of interest, a world that has been built on voyeurism and cameras. And what worries him is this: Should he care about this couple's marital problems or is this simply another Brangelina moment of notoriety?

In other words, how real is this reality? Will it affect gas prices? School funding? The war in Afghanistan?

I know all about Jon and Kate. I've watched a couple of episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8, a reality TV show that follows the Pennsylvania couple and their eight kids. This is not your run-of-the-mill dysfunctional sitcom family, though. There's a twist: The Gosselins used fertility treatment and had twins. They tried again and delivered sextuplets. (If this sounds vaguely like California's Octo-mom, you're on the right track, but we'll get to Nadya Suleman later.)

Clever, I thought, back when I was introduced to the Gosselins, but not something that would rivet me to the tube. Raising my own five children in the real world is enough drama for me. I certainly don't need any more soap opera moments. Besides, there was an uncomfortable gnawing in my stomach as cameras followed those little ones.

Apparently this disquiet put me in the minority. Jon & Kate was a popular show among ''the younger set'' -- twenty- and thirtysomethings -- even before the couple's marriage hit the rocks. Gossip jacked up the ratings further. The May 25 season premiere attracted a whopping 9.8 million viewers, the highest in the history of the TLC network and more than the season finale of Lost on ABC.

Interest was tempered somewhat in the two episodes that followed. While those scored only 5.5 million and 6 million viewers, respectively, that's still a lot of people practicing that very human art of neck-craning. We sure love to ogle train wrecks, don't we?

Which leads me to Nadya Suleman, the California woman who is mother to the world's longest-surviving octuplets. She had six kids through IVF before having the latest eight -- all without a job or father in the house. Now the wannabe whose surgically altered face should illustrate the dictionary entry for ''irresponsible'' has inked a deal with a British company to star in a reality television show focusing on the milestones in her kids' lives. I imagine intense psychotherapy will be the main plot line.

Sadly, I also suspect she will attract million of viewers. Dysfunction sells. Just stroll the aisles of your neighborhood bookstore or check the ratings of TV talk shows if you doubt me.

The fact that we are a celebrity-obsessed society is hardly a point of contention anymore. Stories about Britney, Jessica and Brad fill the airwaves, sometimes leading the morning news shows. These are people, however, who traffic in fame because of their careers.

The Gosselins and Suleman, on the other hand, signed up for a TV show without an iota of show-biz experience. Ostensibly they did it for their children -- it takes big bucks to raise so many. (I know, I know!) But maybe it would've been a lot healthier for the kids if their parents had stuck to home movies.

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