Yo, everyone. Mark here. Until next Tuesday, I’ll be on vacation in Key West and Miami, where my activities will include attending a wedding that’s being taped for a reality show on the Style Channel. They tell me the nuptials will prominently feature a pop song I co-wrote called “Sugar Rush.” I’ll keep you posted.

Things are going to be quiet around here for a few days, but before I go, I’m thrilled to turn the reins back over to Holly Cara Price, who’s here with the latest installment of The Price Point. This week, Holly can’t stop thinking about Jon and Kate Plus 8, and she’s about to tell you why…

The Price Point ~ by Holly Cara Price, Agent Provocateur

Lots of news, lots of news, people! New Supreme Court Justice! Health Care Firefight on the Hill! Bret Michaels breaks his nose at the Tonys! Speidi leaves Costa Rica! But what continues to dominate the headlines? And the tabloids? And every media outlet that currently exists? Why, it’s the brouhaha surrounding Jon and Kate Gosselin and their pitiful reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8. Which celebrated its 100^th episode this Monday, June 8.  (“‘Plus 8′ on 6/8! Angels sing!” — Mark)

Until a couple of weeks ago, I had never seen the show, but when a story gets all up in my grill like this one has, I figure it’s time to see what the fuss is about. And if you surf to TLC, as I did, you’ll see that there is precious little on the channel besides Jon & Kate marathons these days. Because The Learning Channel (shame on them) wants to learn about about how a marriage can crumble when the cameras never stop filming..

To make a very long story short: Jon & Kate Gosselin were just your ordinary married couple in a very ordinary town in Eastern Pennsylvania. The Gosselins took fertility drugs and voila, they gave birth to a pair of fraternal twin girls. A few years later they took some more drugs and Kate delivered fraternal sextuplets – three boys, three girls. A TV special called Surviving Sextuplets and Twins was made about them, people dug it, and next thing you know, a reality TV phenomenon was born (bad choice of words, perhaps).

So now it’s four seasons later, and all kinds of wackiness is ensuing. Jon’s having an affair with a schoolteacher (“Really? I thought that was an ‘alleged’ affair.” — Mark). Kate’s sleeping with her bodyguard. The kids are acting out. Craziness.

Meanwhile, just imagine what it’s like to have eight small children in your house. No matter how much space you have, you’re going to feel cramped. And the worse things get for J&K’s marriage, the higher the ratings get for their show. It’s like we have a hunger to eat their ridiculous lives like a big ol’ McFlurry with M&M’s.

But why is that? Is it that we love to see people worse off than ourselves? With a national unemployment rate of 9.4 percent, do we need to bring on that televised misery?

As for the Gosselins, you’d think by the time they inked their TV deal with TLC, they’d have learned from Jessica and Nick (or Britney and Kevin, or Pat and Bill Loud) that marriages rarely survive the arrival of a mistress as tawdry as a television camera.