Hpmec

The coaches have their work cut out for them. Most of the contestants can't sing much better than me, and that is definitely not a compliment. Hope John Martin sticks around. If The Voice doesn't work out, he has a future as a model.

Missy Vixon, I assume you mean by "something worse" her hideous mother of the bride dress - or rather Kelly Bates' dress altered beyond all reason for extreme "modesty." Someone needs to sit J'Chelle down and give her the sad news that after all those pregnancies, there is nothing about any of her body parts that would defraud anybody.

Agree with Barb23 that the time to get to know somebody is before the I Do's, not after. The courtship rules make no sense and treat young adults like children. I am so looking forward to the first Duggar to say, "Screw this" and walk away from the circus. I have no fear whatever of what might happen to the first wayward Duggar. You know TLC would salivate at the ratings bonanza potential of a show called Breaking Duggar. I'd sure be tuned in.

I'm with Fliptopbox on the dress shopping. When I bought a dress back in 1973, I went by myself and bought a dress right off the rack. I didn't need or want an entourage. I have a daughter who is in college. If and when she's ready to marry, I expect that she'll take me along on the dress hunt simply because she's incredibly indecisive and always seeking out a second opinion. But it's a safe bet she'll leave her friends home because their taste is not her taste and she's smart enough to know it.

If a remake of Deliverance is ever in the cards, John David is a shoe-in. Derick just seemed amused by the outdoor dog and pony show. Bin looked like he was eager to stay in Boob's good graces and would have walked across hot coals had JB demanded it. Memo to Boob: Your sons-in-law will never be Duggars any more than you will ever be a Ruark, so cut the crap. As for the dress shop, good God, Michelle, your daughter is getting the princess treatment at a bridal salon. You can't do better than an ugly ass shirt and shapeless denim skirt? You are an embarrassment. I have to admit Marcus is really cute. Good thing they left Josie home. She'd have been all over the dresses with sticky hands and dirty feet. Yuck.

As horrific as the vow renewal monstrosity of a dress was, at least it saved the viewers from the awful spector of watching J'Chelle repeat her "I Do's" wearing her puffy green shirt and shapeless denim skirt. She is the very definition of hot mess.

I think JimBoob's comment about Derick and Bin "becoming Duggars" is downright scary. He chose these guys carefully, apparently because he thought they'd bend to his will. So far he's right. I hope other young fundie men considering contacting JB about courting a Duggar daughter take a good, hard, unvarnished look at what they'd be getting into because JB is the potential controlling father-in-law from hell.

I get the impression that ALERT is a means of keeping wayward or potentially wayward Duggar boys in line. I hope Josiah wakes up, realizes he's close to the almost married Bin's age, and starts asserting himself. Despite what will be an enormous effort, JB will not be able to keep an iron grip on 19 offspring forever.

Isn't Josiah 18? They can only send him to ALERT so many times before he says "Screw this." I've often wondered if any of the tv crew would be willing to help a Duggar escape. Josiah seems like a likely candidate. Would be great to see a Duggar other than Amy living a more "normal" life.

Shugardrawers, it's obvious that JimBoob is not about to let his married daughters go. He gave Jill and Derick a house to live in, and he moved Bin onto the compound and put him to work. Chances are excellent Bin and Jessa will be living in the old Smuggar/Anna digs. Remember that JimBoob decides who his daughters can court and marry. He's a total control freak. In the real word, people marry and establish their own families. In Duggar world, daughters marry but remain tethered to their father. JimBoob takes the old adage about not losing a daughter, rather gaining a son literally.

Florida Mom, I think the power of the easy money that the Duggars represent to the Seewalds is the motivation for selling out their son. By hooking up with a Duggar daughter, Ben is becoming a tv personality and will be, if not already, collecting a sizble TLC paycheck. Where else but on the show could a not very bright Arkansas teenager with limited options make some potentially serious cash. The fact that he had to sell his soul to JimBoob in order to do it probably isn't much of a concern to Ben or his parents, who are probably being paid for their appearances too.

I got the impression Ben was somewhat unhappily forced into the living arrangement. It was all JimBoob's doing, and now the poor kid is officially owned by the future in-laws and has no choice but to do their bidding. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Not a good development. At all.

Ben takes famewhoring to new levels by moving into the compound even before an engagement is announced, becoming JimBoob's male servant and professional "yes" man, and appearing alongside Jessa in an endless stream of self-promoting selfies. He'd better enjoy his 15 minutes, because I fear that the crash and burn, when it comes, will be brutal.

Ben is an immature teenager who is incapable of supporting a family., He has no business getting married, and JimBoob is an idiot for sanctioning it. If Jessa was being married off to someone suitable for her, she'd be making plans to get the hell out of Dodge after the ceremony. Looking at her selfies, she doesn't seem too much invested in the whole Gothard thing. As it is, she'll be stuck on the compound, married to an obnoxious kid who's owned by her father, and, more than likely, miserable.

JimBoob and J'chelle don't push the kids to do anything that isn't fundie/Gothard or show related. The show is the cash cow and the kids apparently can't opt out. I remember when the Osbournes had their reality show and one daughter didn't want to appear and was simply never shown. JimBoob would never allow a child that kind of autonomy. Those kids are his possessions and he's forcing them to grow up in a fundamentalist fishbowl. And now Bin has formally signed on/ sold out (same thing). I wish I had a crystal ball that could take a peek at the Duggars 20 years from now. I so hope at least one of them breaks free, moves away, goes to college, gets a job, meets and dates several non-fundies, and lives his or her life free from parental interference and control. One can dream!

Ma and Pa Duggar no doubt love the idea of Ben and Jessa living in a guest house on the property. It's a great solution to the problem of housing a young newlywed couple with no ability to provide adequately for themselves. And Jana, Jinger, and Joy Anna will soon have a bunch of little Duggar/Seewalds to raise since Jessa doesn't have a maternal bone in her body. All that changes after the Benessa nuptials is that Ben and Jessa can hit the sack and produce their very own future howlers and slaves.

JimBoob is the ultimate control freak. It isn't enough that he controls who his daughters marry. He also has to control them and their husbands after the wedding. No self-respecting adult male would put up with all the Duggar crap. However, Ben is just a kid who's no doubt grateful to join the franchise and not have to work too hard, and Derick is showing no inclination to break free of Duggardom either. JimBoob would never hand a daughter over to someone he couldn't successfully apply the thumbscrews to.

The total control over the daughters that JimBoob exerts. He alone decides who they can "court" and eventually marry, and he has veto power over all potential suitors. Judging by how Derick went along with the bizarre courtship rules, his willingness to live in a Duggar owned home, and the speed at which Jill became pregnant, it's likely that he had to promise to go along with all of the Duggar beliefs. Otherwise Boob would never have "transferred authority" to him.

Wanderwoman, how right you are. There was also a recent episode in which Michelle smelled Josie's rear end, made a face, and announced that she was stinky and needed a change. In another epiode, one of Josh and Anna's offsping got sick in a New York motel room and was hustled off to the toilet. Entirely TMI.

Registries and dates aside, I just find it so incredibly sad that these kids (and at 19 Ben is a kid) are taking on the adult responsibilities of marriage in order to simply be able to spend time alone together. There's so much screwed up about It, it's tough to know where to start. When Jessa wakes up the morning after the hot sex wedding night, she may well look at Ben and have huge buyer's remorse. Unfortunately, she'll be stuck with the reality that, in her case, all sales are final. I see an unhappy future for those two.

There's nothing the Duggars won't film for tv, whether it be Anna's labor and births, Michelle's miscarriage, or Josie in the ICU. There's no way that Jill's baby's birth won't be shown on the show. She and Derick are fundie stars and the Duggarbots will be waiting for that baby with great anticipation. Ratings gold. As far as the content of the homeschooling as regards science, keep in mind that the Duggars believe that people and dinosaurs shared the planet a few thousand years ago. They take the Biblical story of the creation as fact. So what science education they receive is, like everything else, informed by their religion.

I don't think JimBoob would have sanctioned the Jill-Derick union if he believed there was a chance Derick woud pull her away from the cult. There must have been some sort of promise from Derick that he would adhere to the Duggar party line, otherwise JimBoob would never have handed her over. I had high hopes for Derick at first. However, the courtship, living arrangement, and almost instant pregnancy all signal that Dill are a wholly owned subidiary of Duggar Inc.

I know Derick was following in his dad's footsteps as Pistol Pete, but it's still the kind of thing that draws a lot of attention. It was his choice to appear on the show, participate in filming, and establish a public social media presence. He's basically gone along with the Duggars on everything -from the courting rules to the People pregnancy cover. Not exactly a guy who values his privacy.

Derick dressed up to be his school's mascot. He liked the spotlight then, and he's enjoying it tremendously now. I think that by ingratiating himself with JimBoob he knew exactly what he was doing. He's proving himself to be as much a fame you-know-what as any of them.

There is a registry up at Bed Bath and Beyond showing an October 1st event date. The items on the registry -tons of pots and pans- seem strange, however, so perhaps it's a fake. 10/1 does seem a little soon, even by Gothard standards.