Willow Palin

"Sarah Palin's Alaska," an eight-week series sort-of chronicling the life of former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family, premiered Sunday night (Nov. 14) on TLC. What did you think?
First off, we don't think the show is a actually a real depiction of the Palins' life in any given summer in Alaska. Do they really jet around fishing for salmon and hiking Mt. McKinley like the rest of us might go to the pool or see a movie? Maybe they do -- but we are skeptical.
Compare this to the other latest TLC hit "Sister Wives" -- we believe that the five-week showcase on that program really did show a typical few months in the lives of Kody Brown and his brood. "Alaska," by contrast, seemed a little forced.
Secondly, we could've done without the few random pointed political comments, like using the Palins' erection of a high fence in their backyard (to keep out a neighbor who moved next door to write a book about them) to make a comment about our nation's borders. Again -- that was awkward and forced.
Third, the constant "come to beeeeyoootilful Alaskahhhhh" schtick was annoying. We get that Alaska is an amazing state, but the Palin family could've gone on all their nature adventures and just let the state speak for itself. The show did not need to seem like one long commercial for the state's tourism.
All that other stuff aside, we do think it's interesting to see the moments that are just Sarah and her family being themselves. Imagine for a second that Palin had never risen to any political prominance and was just this pretty Alaska lady going on nature adventures with her hsuband and kids? It's kind of delightful. She seems like a nice lady, she loves her family and the scenery is beautiful.
And we will give Palin credit -- she doesn't seem to take herself too seriously. She actually says that entering the political stage as she did has opened her up to mockery and that's just the way it is. It's nice to see her just accept that and roll with it.
Perhaps that's the entire hidden agenda -- make Sarah Palin even more appealing than she already was so that she can run for something in 2012. We don't know. But we will be here every week with you as we all experience "Sarah Palin's Alaska."
Thoughts & Tidbits
The accent is cracking us up. It's a little annoying, but mostly it's just hilarious.
Where has Willow Palin been hiding? Forget Bristol -- Willow Palin is a cutie. Mom should have her everywhere in 2012 if she's running for office.
The Palins have a TV studio-esque set up in a building near their house so Sarah can do satellite TV appearances. We can't decide if that's just too weird or kind of awesome.
Who wants to hang out with Sarah's mom and dad Sally and Chuck? We do. More Sally and Chuck, please. Maybe they could have a spin-off -- "Chuck and Sally's Bucket List" coming to TLC in 2011.