In recent years, Alec Baldwin’s TV appearances were centered almost entirely on his Donald Trump impersonations for SNL, a gig he lost in November 2020, although he also hosted the now-canceled game show Match Game and starred in Peacock’s killer drama Dr. Death. Now, it sounds like audiences can probably expect to see the Emmy-winning actor hitting the small screen in a completely different way in the near future, as he and wife Hilaria Baldwin are apparently giving some serious thought to heading up their own reality TV series, and it’s hard to argue against their reasoning.
With his eighth child turning 1 in September, Baldwin is heading up quite the large family, having sired seven children in total with wife Hilaria (as well as daughter Ireland with ex-wife Kim Basinger). And with all seven of those kiddos at age 10 or younger, it’s become all the more difficult for the actor to agree to jobs that would take him far away from home for extended productions. As such, it perhaps shouldn’t have been surprising to hear his response after morning TV mainstay Kelly Ripa suggested on her podcast that the family be at the center of their own reality show. In his words:
We thought about that a lot. Yeah, a lot.
While guesting on Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Alec Baldwin talked about having to turn down a TV gig recently over location details, and opened up about how much his career now has to be viewed through the prism of family. Here’s how he put it:
Jobs I take, jobs I don't take. A famous TV producer, who I won't name, said to me, 'Come do a series with me in Vancouver.' And I was like, 'I'm not going to Vancouver for five months. That's not happening.’ So everything we did — and then shows we have considered and pitches we've heard, and even one or two pitches we've made about our family and that reality show — has all been so we could stay home and just work from home. I'm desperate to try to work from New York.
New York is home to enough TV and film productions that Baldwin could probably continue leaning heavily into scripted projects without needing to fly around the country, but it would no doubt require more stringent focus to find the perfect job. On the flip side, fronting a reality show centered on the whole Baldwin clan would allow the Will & Grace vet to stick around the homefront while also bringing in paychecks.
Not that there wouldn’t presumably be a variety of headaches and setbacks when it comes to having a full camera crew inside one’s house capturing footage on a daily basis. But in a situation where that’s the best case scenario, such headaches and setbacks definitely aren’t deal-breakers.
Another reason why opting into a reality show would be a good idea to Alec Baldwin: it’s become increasingly difficult to go on trips with such a large family, particularly when household staff is also included. He shared why flying has become something of a nightmare, saying:
Everything's about my family. I have really tried in the last several years, once we had five and then six, and then seven kids. I can't go anywhere for any length of time. In the old days, I'd jump on a plane and go to L.A... It was easy to pick up and go. [Now,] I need 12 plane tickets -- nannies, kids, my wife, I need like eleven — they don't even have 11 seats in the business class section of the plane.
For all that it would make logical sense for Reality TV to come knocking at the family’s door, it’s Alec Baldwin’s film career that has made tons of headlines in the past two years, by way of the yet-to-be-released western Rust. Back in October 2022, we reported on cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ accidental on-set death by gunshot, with film director Joel Souza also injured in the incident. Though attempts were made to convict Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter, the charges were dropped in April 2023, and the project restarted filming, eventually concluding in May 2023. Things took another turn in October 2023 when it was revealed the case would be heading to a Grand Jury the next month, so the actor may still potentially face some form of consequences.
The way that legal situation plays out will likely have a big impact on whether or not the Baldwin family lands their own reality TV series. In the meantime, fans can look forward to seeing him co-star with Nick Cannon and Mickey Rourke for the action comedy Hollywood Heist.
