On the two parody “Queen of Jordan” episodes of “30 Rock” — in which the sitcom’s cast members were thrust into the middle of a reality show — no character seemed quite so out of place as Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy. A self-possessed, haughtily upright fellow, Jack correctly sees the cameras as an insult to his dignity, but cannot get away from them, or stop himself from embarrassing himself in front of them. There’s an inversely proportional element at work, on “30 Rock” as in life: The more shameless one is, the less one has to lose. But for Jack, whose image is everything, “Queen of Jordan” represents a humiliation.

Those episodes came to mind while watching “The Baldwins,” TLC’s new reality series about Baldwin, his wife Hilaria, and the seven children they share. The Baldwins divide their time between New York City — in a five-bedroom apartment that,...