Run’s House

Awhile ago I watched a few episodes of Run’s House and actually enjoyed it.  Today I was lounging around and saw that there were 3 episodes on in a row, so I started to watch it again and got hooked.  Its on DVR now.   If you haven’t heard of this show, its a reality tv show about Rev. Run (Joseph Simmons) from Run-DMC and his family.  I just love to watch this family’s interactions… the way they communicate, talk to each other, how close they are etc.  They all have such great senses of humor, and while the kids are a bit spoiled, they aren’t obnoxious at all.  They seem like such a great family.  Anyhow, its on MTV… check it out, really.  Its great.

Anyhow, what my post is about is this….

Today one of the episodes I was watching had a social worker coming to their house b/c they were planning on adopting a 6th child (they have 5 kids from the ages 9-21ish).  I remembered in the episode prior that she was pregnant (she went to a doctor’s appt), so I thought it was weird that in one she was pregnant and one they were adopting.  Also, in the social worker episode, the mom got emotional when the son was talking about her going to the hospital to have the baby. 

So, google, here I come.  Turns out, they did have a little girl, Victoria, who tragically passed away 2 hours after birth. (read the article I just linked) This was in the beginning of season 3.  The baby was born with a birth defect where her organs were on the outside of her body.  Run and his wife, Justine, knew about this from an ultrasound but did not tell MTV or anyone but their bishop.  They prayed and hoped that she would be born fine.  When the baby was born, it obviously was a surprise to MTV taping crew.  Anyhow, at this point they assumed Run would stop the taping of the show, but they wanted to move forward and share this tragic time in their life with everyone. 

As quoted:
The family and MTV faced a difficult situation, and a big question: when does reality become too much for reality TV?

For
the devoutly religious Simmons, the answer was surprisingly easy.
Simmons says that moment the baby was born, MTV asked if the family
wanted the cameras turned off. Their answer: no. “How could I let the
TV cameras in when me and my family were out bowling and laughing and
not let them in when we suffering and grieving? Life does not work like
that,’’ Simmons told NEWSWEEK. “And when we decided to do this show we
knew it was going to capture the good and bad, the happy and the sad,
and we were all OK with that.’’

"…This is what life is about. I may be famous, I may be rich, I may have
bling, but tragedy comes to my door just as it does anybody else’s, and
that’s a message that cannot be pressed hard enough in today’s society
where celebrities are so much on a pedestal.’’’

What do you think about that question… "When does reality become too much for reality tv?  Do you agree with their thinking and decision to go forward with filming the show?" 

What are your thoughts on this.