Does Us Weekly Get The Money Back?

Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder up in Palinland, it's now been announced that Levi Johnston is indeed getting his own reality show, to be called "Loving Levi," in which he will, wait for it, run for mayor of Wasilla. If you're scratching your head and wondering, who is this guy and how did he get to this point?, a quick reminder: Sarah Palin and the McCain campaign plucked him out of obscurity, brought him down off an Alaskan hunting field, cleaned him up and dressed him up, then paraded him across the stage at the 2008 RNC as the beloved fiancé of daughter Bristol, trying to turn an "oops" teen-age pregnancy into the abstinence-only version of Ozzie and Harriet. That didn't work out so well, and as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm thinking about the Law of Unintended Consequences where Levi is concerned. This can't be what Sarah had in mind back at the convention, when she stood in front of Levi tenderly stroking his face, and right now I'd bet that her reaction is some mixture of relief that he's not going to be her son-in-law, annoyance that he's still in the public eye, and a fervent wish that he would just go away once and for all.

And speaking of unintended consequences, should a potential presidential candidate really share her reality TV stage with Kate plus 8? "Sarah Palin's Alaska" was supposed to be an anodyne travelogue about the scenic beauty of Sarah's home state, but if she had done her homework, she would know that on television "non-controversial and low key" translates into "boring and low ratings". You need controversy, conflict and scandal to make really good television and I'm sure that's what the producers are hoping for by bringing Kate Gosselin into the picture. But is this what Sarah wanted? Did she have any input into this decision?

I can't help wondering if Sarah is feeling any regret about selling her soul for the chance to go swanning around Alaska with a TV crew in tow. It's her name in the title, but once everything is filmed the outcome is in the producers' and editors' hands and no matter what they've said to her, they couldn't care less about making her look good. They just want exciting television. Kate and the kids will spice things up, that's for sure, but the end result may not be entirely positive for Sarah Palin. Gotta watch out for those unintended consequences...