The tone shift in The Baldwins trailer is whiplash-inducing

If there’s something thing that TLC is known for, it’s reality shows about big ol’ families. If there is something that TLC is not known for, it’s any sense of tact or delicacy around trauma or tragedy. That’s how we end up with The Baldwins trailer, which features a severe tone shift the likes of which have rarely been seen on unscripted television. But then, unscripted television has never had stars like Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria.

Yes, the long-promised Baldwins television show now has a trailer, featuring the “seven children, six animals, and two parents” at the center of the series. We’re introduced to the “wild” Baldwinitos and their chaotic lives, including Oscar-nominated actor Alec Baldwin warning his kid not to pee in a pool. But less than 20 seconds in, The Baldwins trailer cuts abruptly from dad and daughter making funny faces for the camera to a somber overhead shot of the Rust set. “A son lost his mom in the most unthinkable tragedy,” Hilaria can be heard saying. “This is never something to forget … and we’re trying to parent through it.”

Trying to parent through it… and trying to launch a reality show, of course! The fourth wall gets cracked as we see Alec through a camera monitor tearing up; Hilaria, his patient wife, waits for him to recover. “Honestly, from the bottom of my soul, I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have you and these kids,” he says elsewhere. It’s all very touching and emotional, but he’s also an award-winning actor, so you have to wonder how many layers of performance are going on here, particularly when you recall that Alec is still tangled up in legal proceedings over the Rust shooting.

It’s the kind of built-in drama television executives might dream of, but it also makes The Baldwins impossible to pin down tonally—at least in the trailer. The fallout from the death of Halyna Hutchins slots uneasily between goofy “can you believe how many kids we have?” scenes and Hilaria teasing her husband over a picture of his hair in 1989. And if you listen carefully, there’s just a hint of a Spanish accent when she narrates that “We’re solid, and we’re here together,” lest we forget that’s a whole part of her deal. Frankly, the Baldwins have more baggage than The Baldwins trailer could possibly juggle. But we’ll see how the series handles it all when the show premieres on February 23.