Maybe Sarah Palin Will Reconsider Doing a Second Season of 'Alaska'
Rumored departure not official, so maybe she'll reconsider after current events put her in a bad light
On Thursday night, after Discovery's marathon series of panels (culminating in the now infamous Oprah Filibuster) and a day otherwise filled with non-stop cable presentations, there was a party thrown by OWN. With everybody spent and now exhaling, I asked a good source at TLC if there was going to be a second season of Sarah Palin's Alaska. Answer: Very doubtful. Not because of the ratings - which were strong at the start but, like most shows, faded down the stretch (yet were still strong enough for an easy decision on a second season).
The reason? The Palin camp wanted to leave open at least the impression that she was interested in seeking office, and if there was a second season commitment, everybody would know that she'd be too busy filming in Alaska and wouldn't be seen as a serious or viable candidate. (Save your jokes for a political blog.)
Long before Sarah Palin's Alaska started, the series was already something of a hot potato (blown up in the microwave) given that it was presented as a travel docu-series about the beautiful nature of that state but was, to 99 percent of people, really a show about Palin. It was impossible not to see it as a really great opportunity for her to polish her image, not for partisan Democrats, who weren't going to watch beyond mocking the first episode, but for those in the Republican party who had their doubts about her. No reporters, just a camera crew following Sarah and Todd and the family. It was a smart move on her part to manage the content.
Now, with the rumors already buzzing that she won't be back, there's a potentially complicating factor in that Palin is taking quite a hit from people over her high-voltage rhetoric (and gun sights) in the wake of the shootings in Arizona and the targeting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Whether any of that is relevant is up to you and your politics (which I'm not interested in at all), but it certainly opens the door for a possible rethinking of Palin's unofficial decision. Since this topic is not likely to go away and will, rightly or wrongly, dog her on any campaign trail she chooses to follow (hers or someone else's), why not go back for a second season? Maybe she'll put the rifle down and fish more?
Stay tuned for announcements (or not) from TLC and Palin's people.
