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Reality television producers had been circling Alec and Hilaria Baldwin for years. His Hollywood fame and history of public combustibility, her social media following and their many children and pets were all classic ingredients for a slice-of-life series.<\/p>\n
Last year, the couple decided to let the cameras in.<\/p>\n
They did so at perhaps the most precarious time of Alec Baldwin\u2019s life: the month before he was scheduled to stand trial in New Mexico on an involuntary manslaughter charge, in connection with the fatal shooting<\/a> of a cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, on the set of the movie \u201cRust\u201d in 2021. The result is a fly-on-the-wall series called \u201cThe Baldwins,\u201d which premieres Sunday on TLC, a network whose marquee titles include \u201c90 Day Fianc\u00e9\u201d and \u201cSister Wives.\u201d<\/p>\n The first episode of the show has landed a bit uneasily with critics, who view the show as something of a crisis communications project. Here are six takeaways from the episode.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The filming started in June last year, just before Baldwin was scheduled to stand trial in New Mexico. In the first episode, the couple drives their seven children (and six of their eight dogs and cats) from their home in New York City to their home in the Hamptons, where they often spend the summer.<\/p>\n The decision to start filming was a risk. In the event that he had been convicted, Baldwin, who was handling a revolver on set when it discharged a live bullet, would have faced a potential maximum prison sentence of 18 months.<\/p>\n Instead, the trial ended early with an unquestionable victory for him and his legal team. A judge dismissed the case after finding that the state\u2019s actions with regard to certain evidence amounted to prosecutorial misconduct. Baldwin, 66, who has long denied responsibility for the shooting, is now suing the prosecutors<\/a> who handled his case, as he still faces several lawsuits.<\/p>\n But when the cameras started rolling, the outcome was in doubt. \u201cI have one overriding thought, I have one overriding concern \u2014 and that is letting seven children know that I love them,\u201d Alec Baldwin says in the episode before acknowledging, \u201cI\u2019m worried.\u201d<\/p>\n For the producers of the reality show, there was the delicate task of making a show that balanced two imperatives. First, it had to align with the kind of light, unscripted fare about family and marriage that usually airs on TLC; at the same time, it had to address a tragedy that is still being litigated in the civil court system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t there to talk about what was happening legally,\u201d said David Metzler, an executive producer of the show who has been involved with reality series like \u201cQueer Eye\u201d and \u201cCatfish: The TV Show.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were there to see how Alec and Hilaria were parenting through a very difficult time in their life, and to see how their relationship was affected and to see how they were working as a family to get through it,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe dealt with the emotional side \u2014 we didn\u2019t deal with the legal side.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawyers for Baldwin have said in legal filings that the actor has dealt with the loss of acting roles and income as a result of the prosecutors\u2019 decision to investigate him and bring a criminal case, although it is unclear how much that factored into Baldwin\u2019s decision to agree to the show. In an interview with People magazine<\/a> ahead of the premiere, he said that the reality show was a chance for him to work while also focusing on his family.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, work-related things really aren\u2019t that critical anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought, \u2018I get to spend time with my family.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Before fully addressing how the shooting affected the Baldwins, Hilaria Baldwin makes something of a disclaimer. \u201cIn no way is it meant to compare with Halyna\u2019s loss, with her son, who has no mom,\u201d she says. \u201cIt breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She and her husband also delve into the emotional effects on them and their family, noting that their youngest three children don\u2019t know a life before the tragedy that upended Alec Baldwin\u2019s life and career.<\/p>\n Hilaria Baldwin says her husband has post-traumatic stress disorder from the ordeal, and Alec Baldwin says there are times when he feels as if he can\u2019t get out of bed. \u201cThat\u2019s not like me \u2014 I\u2019m not like that at all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Years after the online uproar over the fact that Hilaria Baldwin sometimes speaks with a Spanish accent<\/a> despite a Boston upbringing, she delivers a carefully worded response. \u201cI love English; I also love Spanish,\u201d she says in the show. \u201cAnd when I mix the two, it doesn\u2019t make me inauthentic \u2014 when I mix the two, that makes me normal.\u201d<\/p>\n Hilaria Baldwin explains that she is raising her children to be bilingual, noting that her family lives in Spain. As for the criticism: \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said it didn\u2019t make me sad and it didn\u2019t hurt and it didn\u2019t put me in dark places,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n In an interview, the show\u2019s producers said that the trial occupies only the first part of the season; the filming resumed after the case was dismissed and he returned home. Even in the first episode, the subject of the shooting fades in for brief moments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The rest is geared toward capturing the joyful mess of a nine-person household. The children ice a birthday cake; Alec Baldwin cleans up toys; the boys get summer haircuts; and the parents, who are both executive producers of the show, banter over their 26-year age gap. (Hilaria notes that she was around 5 years old when \u201cThe Hunt for Red October\u201d came out.)<\/p>\n The show\u2019s first episode was met with skepticism among critics. In Time magazine<\/a>, the television critic Judy Berman writes that the show is \u201cso obsessive in its quest to make the Baldwins seem like normal human beings, it forgets to be even a little bit interesting.\u201d In Vulture<\/a>, the critic Kathryn VanArendonk writes that \u201ccontextualizing a woman\u2019s death by embedding it into a show about how happy but also stressed the Baldwins are as a result of her death is \u2026 grim.\u201d<\/p>\nThe premiere begins just ahead of Alec Baldwin\u2019s manslaughter trial.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The reality show\u2019s producers faced a delicate task.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Baldwins discuss the emotional toll of the fatal shooting.<\/h2>\n
Hilaria Baldwin quickly addresses an internet preoccupation with her accent.<\/h2>\n
The bulk of the show is not about the \u2018Rust\u2019 tragedy.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Television critics are wary of the show\u2019s public relations angle.<\/h2>\n