I think there are two options here that will allow ourselves to continue our lives without collapsing into total despair. The first is that a secret cell of revolutionary communists has successfully infiltrated the commissioning corridors of the Discovery channel and created its new reality show The Baldwins as a weapon to bring down western capitalism. It stars Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, their seven children and eight pets as they negotiate their chaotic family life split between their Manhattan apartment and East Hampton summer home, with two nannies and a lot of talk about love and “choosing to grow” through problems. Within 20 minutes or so I expect most of us will be prepared to man the barricades.
The second is that The Baldwins is actually a covert addition to the Tina Fey universe. Perhaps The Baldwins (“I have one overriding concern and that is letting seven children know that I love them”) is beyond parody because it is a parody. Maybe, still not over Alec’s consummate performance as the arrogantly oblivious TV exec Jack Donaghy in her masterwork 30 Rock, Tina Fey has made him a gift of this. Otherwise we are left with a third option; The Baldwins is just a reality show designed and timed to ease the actor’s way back into public life and affection in the wake of his trial (ultimately dismissed on procedural grounds after three days) for the involuntary manslaughter of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed in 2021 when a prop gun went off while Baldwin was rehearsing a scene. And that really would be a rare thing – a new low for television.
