TLC's sad Kate Gosselin workaround

What's TLC's solution to its "Jon & Kate" implosion?

It's called "Twist of Kate." Unable to producer more content of Gosselin parenting her own kids as originally planned, the network is announcing a new series at its upfront presentation in New York today where Gosselin travels the country to watch ... other people parenting. And working too!

From the network: "In each episode, she'll walk a mile in someone else's shoes -- meeting real families in the middle of their own extraordinary challenges.  She'll try out their jobs...see how their home life runs... see what they're up against... and find out what they do to let off steam. Each family will have some unique circumstance that is a story in itself. As Kate gets to know them she'll roll up her sleeves and see what she can do to help."

Because that's what a mother to eight kids should do -- travel the country, rolling up her sleeves to help parent other people's kids. Hopefully she isn't giving birth control advice.

TLC also announced TWO more large family series -- "Quintuplet Surprise" and "Carpio Family Project." The former with a six-year-old daughter and five newborn babies, the latter with an eight-year-old son and 18-month-old sextuplets. All three shows are planned for the third quarter.

At least TLC is seeing its tabloid programming strategy pay off in the ratings. Discovery Channel has been stagnant the past few years, while competitors History and NatGeo have grown. 

The network has elected to load up on nature specials rather than new series, only announcing two -- the previously reported "Worst Case Scenario," and construction company docusoap "Construction Intervention."

Oh, and Animal Planet has something called "Skunk Whisperer."