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 claim 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 .