Sister Wives (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that started in 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes patriarch Kody Brown, his four wives and their 17 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, but has since moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. The seven-episode first season ran from September 26 to October 17, 2010, and drew strong ratings according to Nielsen Media Research. Season two of Sister Wives began on September 25, 2011. Season three began on May 13, 2012. Season four returned on Sunday, November 18, 2012.

Brown and his wives have said they participated with the show to make the public more aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices. Brown believes his polygamist arrangement is legal because he is legally married only to one woman, and the other marriages are spiritual unions. Nevertheless, the series led the Brown family to become investigated for possible prosecution.

Concept

The show follows the lives of advertising salesman Kody Brown (45), his wives Meri (41), Janelle (40), Christine (37) and Robyn (31) and their seventeen total children. In the first season the show televised Brown's courting and eventual marriage his fourth wife, Robyn Sullivan, 31, who herself had three children produced during a prior marriage. 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, and 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, who is a homemaker, for 16 years. Kody and Meri have a 17-year-old daughter named Mariah, their only child (Meri's unexplained secondary infertility is discussed several times on the show). Kody and Janelle have six children: daughters Madison (16) and Savanah (7) and sons Logan (18), Hunter (15), Garrison (13), and Gabriel (10). Kody and Christine have six children: daughters Aspyn (17), Mykelti (15), Gwendlyn (10), Ysabel (8), and Truely (2) and son Paedon (13). Robyn had three children from her first marriage, which was monogamous: Dayton (12), Aurora (10), and Breanna (8). Kody and Robyn recently had one baby boy named Solomon, welcomed on October 27, 2011 at 2:02 am weighing in at 9 pounds 10.5 ounces and 22 inches long.

Meri, Robyn, and Christine were all raised in polygamist families, but Janelle was not. Months before the marriage of Janelle and Kody, however, Janelle's mother entered into a polygamist marriage with Kody's father. The Brown family belongs to the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), a polygamous fundamentalist branch of a fundamentalist Mormon movement. For years before the series, the family kept their polygamist lifestyle what they called a "quasi-secret".

Family

Parents

	Name	Relationship	Children
1	Kody Brown	married to four wives	father to 14 children; step-father to 3
2	Meri Brown	first wife	has one daughter
3	Janelle Brown	second wife	has six children; two daughters, four sons
4	Christine Brown	third wife	has six children; five daughters, one son
5	Robyn Brown	fourth wife	has four children; two daughters, two sons Three of the four are from her first marriage

Children (color-coded by parents)

	Name	Age	Parents
1		18	son of Kody and Janelle
2		17	daughter of Kody and Christine
3		17	daughter of Kody and Meri
4		16	daughter of Kody and Janelle
5		16	daughter of Kody and Christine
6		15	son of Kody and Janelle
7		13	son of Kody and Christine
8		13	son of Kody and Janelle
9		12	son of Robyn and David Preston Jessop
10		10	son of Kody and Janelle
11		10	daughter of Kody and Christine
12		10	daughter of Robyn and David Preston Jessop
13		8	daughter of Robyn and David Preston Jessop
14		8	daughter of Kody and Christine
15		7	daughter of Kody and Janelle
16		2 (born April 13, 2010)	daughter of Kody and Christine
17		1 (Born October 27, 2011)	son of Kody and Robyn

Development

In the autumn of 2009, independent producers Timothy Gibbons and Christopher Poole approached Figure 8 Films, a North Carolinian company, with the concept of a reality series about the Brown family. Bill Hayes, the president of Figure 8 Films, said the company agreed to the idea after meeting with the Browns and deciding their lives would make a great story. Camera crews shot footage of the family in mid-2010 to be used in the first season, ending in May with the marriage of Kody Brown and Robyn Sullivan. The crews continued to film them afterward in case the series was 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's first episode, an hour long, was broadcast on TLC on September 26, 2010, and the first season continued with six half-hour chapters until October 17, 2010.

The broadcast of Sister Wives came at a time that polygamy and multiple marriages were a prevalent topic in American pop culture. Big Love, the hit HBO series about Utah polygamist Bill Henrickson, his three sister wives, and their struggle to gain acceptance in society, had already been on the air for several years. In early September 2010, the drama series Lone Star, about a con man on the verge of entering into multiple marriages, premiered on Fox but was quickly canceled after two episodes, and when Sister Wives first debuted, actress Katherine Heigl was in the process of developing a film about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who fled from a polygamist sect.

In October 2010, TLC announced it had commissioned a second season of ten episodes, which began in March 2011. A TLC interview with the Brown family was broadcast on October 31, 2010, and a one-hour program featuring the honeymoon of Kody Brown and Robyn Sullivan aired on November 22, 2010.

Episodes

Season 1

The seven-episode first season ran from September 26 to October 17, 2010. The season premiere introduced viewers to Kody Brown and his three wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine, and their twelve children, all of whom live in a ranch-style home with three interconnected apartments. It also chronicled Kody's dating and engagement to Robyn Sullivan, who herself has three children, marking the first time in 16 years Kody had courted another wife. The new relationship creates insecurity and jealousy among the other three wives, but they ultimately accept her and welcome her into the family. During the fourth episode of the season, Christine gives birth to her sixth child, , which brings the family to 16 children including Robyn's three kids.

Later, Kody and Meri go to Mexico to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary, where Meri discussed her sadness about her infertility problems and the jealousy that has arisen from Kody's engagement to Robyn. Kody proposes in vitro fertilisation, but she turns down the idea as she is only interested in a naturally occurring conception. As Robyn's wedding approaches, the three sister wives help Robyn prepare, and they begin to bond. However, Kody upsets his wives when he reveals he secretly chose Robyn's wedding dress himself, which makes Christine feel so betrayed that she angrily walks away in mid-interview. Kody eventually apologizes, and the five reconcile. The first season ends with the wedding of Kody and Robyn, where Meri, Janelle, and Christine present her with a Claddagh ring to welcome her into the family.

Season 2

Season 2 ran 23 episodes from March 13, 2011 to November 27, 2011 though many sources refer to the episodes airing from September 25, 2011 to November 27, 2011 as Season 3. This is due to a short hiatus from June 5, 2011 to September 25, 2011. It is unclear if the episodes following the hiatus are officially considered Season 3 or not.

Season 2 begins with the Browns heading to New York to appear on national television for the first time as open polygamists, while back home the kids head off to their first day of public school. Throughout the season, the Browns visit various friends and family members and reflect on how their relationships have changed with these people since they became open polygamists. This friends and family members include Kody's parents (also polygamists), Kody's high school friends, and various monogamous couples that Kody and the sister wives know. Part 1 of Season 2 also follows the Browns through Kody and Janelle's anniversary camping trip, preparing and participating in Halloween, and Christmas, which the Browns celebrate in a snowy mountain cabin. During Season 2 we also learn more about Meri's personal struggle with her risk of cancer and the loss of her sister. In episode 5, Kody, Christine, and their children take a trip to Las Vegas, which we later learn is the beginning of the Browns' subsequent move to Las Vegas. The final episodes of Season 2 follow the Browns with their real estate agent Mona Riekki through their struggle to find a home in Las Vegas suitable for polygamists, telling the kids that they are moving, and the subsequent move to Las Vegas. Realtor, Mona Riekki finds rental homes for each of the wives and Kody. Once the Browns settle into their new homes they discuss the possibility of finding a home for all of them to live together or four homes in one cul-de-sac. In the last episode before the hiatus, Robyn announces that she is expecting her and Kody's first child.

The second part of Season 2 brings the announcement of the sex of Robyn and Kody's baby and the Browns' struggle to adjust to life in Las Vegas. The episodes following the Season 2 hiatus focus largely on Robyn's pregnancy and the kids' adjustment to their new lives. The abrupt move to Las Vegas brings about behavioral problems in some of the older kids, which is also discussed largely in the second half of Season 2. During these episodes the Browns also explore possible businesses that the five of them (Kody and the sister wives) can run together. Several episodes after the hiatus discuss specific topics such as jealousy among the sister wives, especially regarding courting a new wife, how the parents combat the influence of Las Vegas on their children, and how the Browns are preparing the older children for college. Mona Riekki is back in this season and is working with the family on finding a permanent home in Vegas. In the finale, Robyn gives birth to baby Solomon on October 27, 2011 and the possibility of Meri having more children once again resurfaces.

Although the ongoing investigation of the Browns is brought up during Season 2, it is not extensively discussed, and the progress of the investigation is unknown.

Season 3

On March 4, 2012, sister wife Robyn Sullivan Brown tweeted, "The new season of #sisterwives will be airing sometime this spring. Not sure of dates yet. Be watching @tlc for exact details". This was the first confirmation regarding Season 3 of Sister Wives. TLC posted an advertisement photo on their Facebook page for the family that they would return on May 13, 2012.

Reception

Critics

Sister Wives drew national media attention after its first season and garnered 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 that 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". Salon.com writer Schuyler Velasco praised Sister Wives for introducing viewers to unfamiliar subject matter and called it "refreshingly modest" considering its controversial subject matter. Velasco said it has "a natural, honest presence in a genre fabled for the camera-hogging antics of Jersey Shore". 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. When the Brown family made an October 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, talk show host Oprah Winfrey said she found particularly fascinating the relationship between the sister wives.

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". 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. Religion Dispatches writer Joanna Brooks shared Tenety's perspective, criticizing the show for presenting polygamy in a manner that "is about as interesting to me as Kate Gosselin's latest makeover." In this vein Brooks criticized the show for not engaging the theology of plural marriage and for letting Kody Brown's superficial comments about the dissimilarity of Fundamentalist and mainstream Mormonism pass onto the viewers without any critical scrutiny or added nuance. Shari Puterman, television columnist with the Asbury Park Press, felt the sister wives had issues with jealousy and self-worth, and she compared Kody to a cult leader. Puterman added, "I can't speak for everyone, but I believe in the sanctity of marriage. It's sad to see that TLC's capitalizing on people who don't." Former prosecutor and television personality Nancy Grace criticized the show and said she believed Kody Brown should go to jail, but she expressed doubt he would based on Utah's history of overlooking polygamy. Christine Seifert, an associate professor of communications at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, said the show could give viewers who are unfamiliar with the LDS church the incorrect assumption that polygamy is accepted by the mainstream church. Several commentators have taken notice of the fact that the family's religious convictions are downplayed in Sister Wives.

Ratings

According to Nielsen Media Research, the September 26, 2010, one-hour premiere episode of Sister Wives drew 2.26 million viewers, a strong rating for the network. It marked the biggest series debut for TLC since Cake Boss launched in 2009 and was a stronger rating than any of the season premieres for HBO's Big Love. The remaining episodes of the first season were each a half-hour long, with two broadcast together each Thursday. In the second week, the first episode drew 1.88 million viewers, while the second drew 2.13 million. The third week drew similar results, with 1.89 million viewers watching the first episode and 2.05 million watching the second. Sister Wives drew its strongest ratings during the fourth and final week of the first season, with 2.67 million viewers for the first episode and 2.74 million for the season finale. As a result of the 2.7 million average viewership for the two episodes, TLC ranked first among all ad-support cable channels in the 18-49 and 25-54 age groups. The series drew double- and triple-digit ratings gains in all key demographics and ranked second in ad-supported cable network shows during its time period.

Litigation

Before the Browns starred in the series, attorneys and legal experts claimed that, because polygamy is illegal in the United States, 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 the 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, the producers of the show 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 are suspected of serious crime such as child abuse or child trafficking. Prior to the Sister Wives premiere, it had been nine years since anyone in Utah had been prosecuted for practicing polygamy.

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, which carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison for Kody and up to five years in prison for each wife. Once the investigation concluded, the police turned their evidence over to the Utah County Attorney'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." The Brown family hired constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley, a vocal critic of anti-polygamy laws, to prepare a legal defense in the event that charges are filed. As a result of the series and legal scrutiny that came with it, Meri lost her job in the mental health industry shortly after Sister Wives debuted, even though her employer knew about the polygamist marriage before the show aired. Additionally, Kody said the show negatively affected some of his advertising sales, with some clients opting to take their business elsewhere due to publicity from the show.

On July 13, 2011, the Browns filed a complaint in United States District Court to challenge to Utah's criminal polygamy law and released the following statement:

"There are tens of thousands of plural families in Utah and other states. We are one of those families. We only wish to live our private lives according to our beliefs. While we understand that this may be a long struggle in court, it has already been a long struggle for my family and other plural families to end the stereotypes and unfair treatment given consensual polygamy. We are indebted to Professor Turley and his team for their work and dedication. Together we hope to secure equal treatment with other families in the United States."

On 1 June 2012, the criminal case against the Browns was dropped. However the suit filed by the Browns remains active after a federal judge refused to dismiss it, saying "strategic attempt to use the mootness doctrine to evade review in this case draws into question the sincerity of [the Utah County Attorney's] contention that prosecution of plaintiffs for violating this statute is unlikely to recur". A hearing was set for January 2013.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sister Wives". Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions this article may contain.