Your *primitive* description is accurate. Early man took wives to have more children for labor - it was still a benefit in the agricultural era. Marriage began as a religious and subsequently a legal state - because it was civilizing and esteemed.
I doubt there will be many men criticizing Kody’s situation - it has to be every man’s fantasy - some just dream while others sneak around committing adultery. Plus, there are too many willing women who think nothing of breaking up families, just to have a baby daddy.
Look at other shows on TLC - LA Ink! What a freak! Tattoos all over her body! In the old days she could have been the Freak Show attraction. There are other shows like Gossip Girls and Rehab ... it's incredibly vile. It's exalting an uncivilized society. Social mores are disintegrating. Kids and unstable adults that watch this are becoming desensitized to what is right, wrong and timeless truisms.
No society can flourish or last with this as entertainment.
In the U.S. they had lots of children to help in farming but polygamy was NEVER accepted here and this was NOT the norm. It would violate our Judeo Christian heritage.
And it is every woman's fantasy to have three men at the same time - one cooking in the kitchen, one cleaning the bathroom, and one mowing the lawn while she reads her book.