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Sister Wives
Sister Wives title card
Starring	Kody Brown & family
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	7
Production
Executive producers	Timothy Gibbons Bill Hayes Christopher Poole Kirk Streb
Producer	Deanie Wilcher
Production locations	Lehi, Utah, United States
Editor	Karyn Finley Thompson
Running time	44 minutes
Production companies	Advanced Medical Productions Figure 8 Films
Original release
Network	TLC
Release	September 26, 2010 (2010-09-26) – present

Sister Wives is a American reality television series broadcast on TLC in 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family living in Lehi, Utah, which includes patriarch Kody Brown, his three wives and their 13 children. It will also document Brown's courting and marriage to a fourth wife, who herself has three children. Sister Wives first broadcast on September 26, 2010, and is set to run for seven episodes.

Brown and his wives have claimed they participated with the show to make the public more aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices. Brown has claimed his polygamist arrangement is legal because he is only legally married to one woman, and the other marriages are spiritual unions. Nevertheless, legal experts have claimed the series could leave the Brown family vulnerable to criminal prosecution.

One day after the series debuted, Lehi police announced they were conducting a bigamy investigation into the family. The Utah's Attorney General's office has not ruled out seeking criminal charges against the Browns, but stated they do not have the resources to go after polygamists unless they are suspected of serious crimes such as child abuse or children trafficking.

Conception

Sister Wives is an unscripted reality television series that follows Lehi, Utah, advertising salesman Kody Brown and his family, which includes his three wives Meri, Janelle and Christine, and their thirteen children among them. It will also document Brown's courting and eventual marriage to a fourth wife, Robyn Sullivan, who herself has three children. Sullivan is the first new wife to enter the family in 16 years. The only legal marriage is between Kody and his first wife, Meri, while the others marriages are considered spiritual unions. As of the September 2010 debut, Kody has been married to Meri for 20 years, Janelle for 17 years and Christine for 16 years. Kody and Meri have a 14-year-old daughter named Mariah. Kody and Janelle have six children named Logan, 15; Madison 14; Hunter, 13; Garrison, 11; Gabriel, 8 and Savanah, 5. Kody and Christine have five children Aspyn, 14; Mykelti, 13; Paedon, 11; Gwenelyn, 8; Ysabel, 6. As of the debut of the series, Christine was pregnant with another daughter, who they planned to name Truely.Two of the wives, Meri and Christine, had been raised in polygamist families, while Janelle, though a Mormon, had not.

The Browns are a fundamentalist Mormon family whose faith does not align with the mainstream Mormon Church. Since the practice of polygamy has been officially banned within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1890, the Browns have no affiliation with that branch of the Mormon church. The title of the series, "Sister Wives", refers to a concept prevalent in Mormon fundamentalism that the wives in a plural marriage not only marry the husband, but are eternally united to each other. For years prior to the series, the family kept their polygamist lifestyle what they called a "quasi-secret". Both Kody Brown and his wives have claimed part of the reason they are participating in Sister Wives is to make the public more aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices often associated with polygamy.

Development

In the Autumn of 2009, independent producers Tim Gibbons and Christopher Poole approached the North Carolina-based company Figure 8 Films with the concept of a reality series about the Brown family. Bill Hayes, president of Figure 8 Films, said the company agreed to the idea after meeting with the Browns and decided their lives would make for a great story. Camera crews shot footage of the family in late 2010 to be used in the first season, and continued to film them afterward in case the series is picked up for a second season. Sister Wives was publicly introduced on August 6, 2010 at the Television Critics Association summer media tour in Beverly Hills, California. The series was premiered on TLC on September 26, 2010 with a special one-hour episode, and the first season will continue with six half-hour episodes.

Sister Wives was first broadcast during a time when polygamy was a prevalent topic in American pop culture. Big Love, a HBO series about a Utah polygamist family with three sister wives, had already been on the air for several years. Earlier in September 2010 the drama series Lone Star, about a con man on the verge of entering a polygamist lifestyle, had premiered on Fox. And when Sister Wives first aired, actress Katherine Heigl was in the process of developing a film about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who fled from a polygamist sect.

Episodes

Reception

Sister Wives drew generally mixed reviews from critics. Washington Post staff writer Hank Stuever called it "refreshingly frank", and found most interesting the small details of the family's everyday life, such as the food supply, division of labor and minor arguments. Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara said she was intrigued by the matriarchal nature of the polygamist family, a unit which is traditionally considered patriarchal. McNamara said the wives form the center of the family, and that "their bonds appear far stronger and more vital than the casual fondness with which they all treat Kody". Shelley Fralic of The Vancouver Sun called it fascinating and surprising, and was impressed with the sensible and articulate way in which the family defended their lifestyle. Elizabeth Tenety, of The Washington Post, called the series "one part domestic drudgery, another part sensationalism", and claimed it relied on a "familiar reality TV recipe" shared by other TLC series such as 19 Kids and Counting and Kate Plus 8.

Mark A. Perigard of the Boston Herald criticized Kody Brown for opening himself and his family up to potential criminal prosecution by appearing in the series, describing him as "a lawbreaker who is risking himself and the family he claims is so precious just to star in his own TV show". Religion Dispatches writer Joanna Brooks was strongly critical of Sister Wives which she found uninteresting and argued raised nothing about fundamentalist polygamy that wasn't already publicly known. Raised in a conservative Mormon home, Brooks also took exception to Brown's comparison of the differences between fundamentalist and mainstream Mormonism to that of Catholicism and Protestantism, which she said is "untrue and screens out a whole world of social history and nuance".

Legal issues

As polygamy is illegal in the United States, attorneys and legal experts have claimed that the Browns could potentially have opened themselves up to criminal prosecution through their involvement in the series. Video footage of a marriage ceremony between Kody Brown and Robyn Sullivan could be used as evidence against them if subpoenaed by state attorney general of Utah. Kody Brown has claimed the family is breaking no laws because only the first marriage is a legal marriage, while the others are simply commitments. However, experts claim the fact that the family has been a unit for 16 years and includes children from all three wives could lead prosecutors to characterize the non-marriage unions as common-law marriages. Sullivan said the family was worried about legal repercussions and had discussed the matter thoroughly, but decided the positive effects their show could have toward the public perception of polygamy was worth the risks.

In anticipation of legal scrutiny, TLC contacted the Utah Attorney General's office months before the series was broadcast. The office has not ruled out pursuing a case against the Brown family, but also stated they do not have the resources to go after polygamists unless they suspected serious crime such as child abuse or children trafficking. On September 27, 2010, the day after Sister Wives debuted, police in Lehi, Utah, announced they are investigating Kody Brown and his wives for possible charges of bigamy, a third-degree felony. Once the investigation concludes, the police plan to turn their evidence over to the state attorney general's office for review. Despite the fact that Brown is only legally married to one woman, Lehi police have noted that state code identifies bigamy through cohabitation, not just legal marriage contracts. In response to the investigation, the Browns released a statement: "We are disappointed in the announcement of an investigation, but when we decided to do this show, we knew there would be risks. But for the sake of our family, and most importantly, our kids, we felt it was a risk worth taking."

References

1. ^ Seidman, Robert (August 6, 2010). "Love is All in The Family on TLC's New Series 'Sister Wives' Premiering Sunday, September 26". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
2. ^ Horiuchi, Vince (August 6, 2010). "Utah polygamists star in reality TV show". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
3. ^ Alberty, Erin (September 27, 2010). "Lehi police investigate 'Sister Wives' stars for bigamy". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
4. ^ Tenety, Elizabeth (September 26, 2010). "'Sister Wives': polygamy 'comes out' on TLC". Washington Post. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
5. ^ Katz, Neil (September 27, 2010). "Sister Wives (PICTURE): Could You Survive a Polygamous Marriage?". CBS News. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
6. ^ Houk, Kimberly (September 27, 2010). ""Sister Wives" program could lead to legal trouble". KTVX. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
7. ^ Fralic, Shelley (September 26, 2010). "Sister Wives and the puzzle of polygamy". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
8. ^ Stuever, Hank (September 25, 2010). "TLC's 'Sister Wives': Frank, entertaining TV about polygamist Browns in Utah". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
9. ^ Perigard, Mark A. (September 26, 2010). "It's all four one, one four all in TLC's 'Sister Wives'". Boston Herald. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
10. ^ Allin, Olivia (August 15, 2010). "'Sister Wives' Brings A Real-Life 'Big Love' Family to TLC". ABC News. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
11. ^ Freydkin, Donna (September 26, 2010). "Unfamiliar world of polygamy is opening up in TV shows, films". USA Today. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
12. Oh, Eunice (September 24, 2010). "Polygamist Stars of Sister Wives Hope to Raise 'Moral and Ethical' Children". People. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
13. ^ Brooks, Joanna (September 27, 2010). "TLC Premieres Polygamy Reality Show Sister Wives". Religion Dispatches. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
14. McNamara, Mary (September 25, 2010). "Television review: 'Sister Wives': TLC show examines a real-life polygamous family". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
15. Romboy, Dennis (September 27, 2010). "'Sister Wives' family under investigation following TV debut". KSL-TV. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
16. Ram, Archana (September 28, 2010). "Police investigate polygamist family on TLC reality show". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
17. Dobner, Jennifer (September 27, 2010). "Utah police investigate plural family for bigamy". Associated Press. Retrieved September 28, 2010.

External links

• Official website
• Sister Wives at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com

• 2010 television series debuts
• 2010s American television series
• American reality television series
• Polygamy
• TLC (TV channel) programs