TLC’s ‘The Baldwins’ Is Distasteful
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The Baldwins is a new reality show that captures the life of movie star Alec Baldwin, his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and their seven children. Like any other reality series, the main goal of this show is to showcase how dysfunctional, yet entertaining, this family is. However, due to the unfortunate event that occurred, the timing and overall idea of giving Alec Baldwin and his family their own show is questionable.
In 2021, while filming on set for the movie Rust, Alec was rehearsing a scene while holding a prop gun. When he fired that gun, it shot and killed cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. Although Alec was charged with involuntary manslaughter, a judge dismissed his case. Giving Alec and his family an entire show, given all that has happened, seems distasteful and in poor timing.
‘The Baldwins’ Paints Alec As the Victim
This tragedy has been talked about on the show. In the very first episode, Hilaria mentions how heartbreaking it is to think about the death of Halyna Hutchins, which left her son without his mother for the rest of his life. The thought of a son becoming motherless due to such an accidental tragedy is no doubt horrific and gut-wrenching, but how Hilaria went about describing how her husband feels was definitely in poor taste. She mentioned that Alec’s mental health was deteriorating, which is certainly fair. However, Hilaria describing Alec’s mindset as being, “Why did it happen to her and not me?” does not help any party involved. Hilaria shared, “Everyone who is close to Alec has seen his mental health decline. He was diagnosed with PTSD, and he says in his darkest moments, ‘If an accident had to have happened on this day, why am I still here? Why couldn’t it be me?” Sharing this information on their new reality show that is supposed to be focused on the crazy lives of the Baldwins is disingenuous. It does not help or change the outcome whatsoever, it just further hurts the Hutchins family and is a constant reminder of what happened. The ‘Why her and not me?” mentality is almost like a slap in the face. It just makes the Baldwin family look even worse and paints Alec as the victim instead of Halyna and her family.
‘The Baldwins’ Is a Re-Brand
The Baldwins is questionable because they try to make it seem as though they want the tone of this show to be silly, goofy, and lighthearted entertainment for viewers, but there is constantly this dark cloud hanging over their heads. It feels distasteful because this show is trying to be something that it is not. There can not be a reality series starring Alec Baldwin without every viewer thinking about the tragedy. When the name ‘Alec Baldwin’ is mentioned for the rest of his life, it is obvious what will come to people’s minds. This show almost feels like they are taking it to their advantage and using it as a scapegoat to try and re-brand themselves when, really, it is doing the opposite. Viewers will sympathize with the deceased more than the man on his new reality show. If this family is trying to gain sympathizers, this show is not the way to do it. The focus on Alec’s depression and anxiety makes it seem as though they purposely used this as a way to show the world how sorry they feel — almost like it was calculated. Alec almost seemed to be more stressed out over the charges he was facing rather than the life that he took, which is exactly why this show is a wreck. Alec’s career is obviously forever tarnished, and hopping on a show stressing over the manslaughter charges and crying over the shooting is just going to tarnish it more.
Although the main goal of The Baldwins was to show the world the chaos that is the Baldwin family, it seems to have backfired. Not only does the show paint Alec as the victim, which is distasteful in itself, but they try to act sympathetic when it actually comes off as a re-brand of the Baldwin name.
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