'Today' Needs to End its Kate Gosselin Addiction

The other day, I wrote about how Fox might find they have diminishing returns with 'Glee' when it enters its third season. Well, the same can be said of the 'Today' show and what seems to be their favorite guest, Kate Gosselin.

It feels like every couple of months, Kate appears in Studio 1A, all coiffed, perma-tanned and ready to bear her feelings to Meredith Vieira or whoever happens to be there that day. She did it just this morning, coming on to promote her return to TLC in 'Kate Plus 8' and to yet again flog her book, 'I Just Want You To Know.'

Here's the problem: She did the same thing in April, promoting the book as well as her appearance on 'Dancing with The Stars.' In fact, in the year or so since Kate's marriage to the Ed Hardy-lovin' Jon Gosselin started to dissolve (yes, I know ... where does the time go?), Kate has been on 'Today' a whopping six times, including the excerpts from the TLC special she did with Natalie Morales. That's approximately once every other month. She's been on so often, I'm starting to think she should be in the promos with Matt, Meredith, Al and Ann.

The impact of each of these interviews, however, lessens every time Kate comes on the air. Last year, everyone wanted to hear from Kate as Jon was caught philandering around and spiking his hair. She was the wronged wife, and whether we liked her or not, we wanted to hear from her.

After the divorce we wanted to hear from her because we wanted to see if she was going to break down and sob all over the set. At the very least, we wanted to see if she decided to throw caution to the wind and ditch that oddball hairstyle that was her signature through the last few years of her marriage and the 'Jon and Kate Plus 8' series.

Now, we just don't care. Or at least less of us care. I certainly don't.

'Today' keeps going to this well for the obvious reason: ratings. But how many times can they keep doing this and expecting people to watch? As it was, this appearance wasn't hyped with the fanfare that they had used with previous appearances. This time around, Kate was essentially just another celebrity promoting a new project, on the same level as a Jaimie Foxx or Sarah Jessica Parker.

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I'm starting to wonder if Kate has crossed over into the "how can we miss you if you never leave?" stage of her career. On PopEater a couple of months ago, I said that Kate might as well cash in on her fame now, given the fact that raising eight kids costs a buttload of money. But there are ways to take advantage of the fame without going through emotionally-wrenching interviews every other month. She doesn't need to flog every single project she has. She can just do her series, go on her book tours and do her dancing contests. The more she does these "exclusive" interviews, the closer she'll get to the point where audiences are going to start to tune her out.

But 'Today' needs to stop being her enabler. If they know what's good for them, they need to wean themselves from their Kate addiction now. I'm sure there will be more than enough material to fill the space; Kirstie Alley can't be ticked at them forever.

Is the 'Today' show overdoing it with Kate?