Bella

I sort of get the Dom appeal as a person - he seems like he'd be an engaging person to sit next to on an airplane and chat with before takeoff - but no, no, a thousand times no! for a TV show. Do the people voting for him think he's going to be their prom date? Their niece's new boyfriend coming to a backyard barbecue? Guy #4 sharing the football season tickets? He's not any of those.

I completely agree with the quoted post. On the Cooking Channel, there was a show about students at a culinary arts school for two seasons entitled The Freshman Year or something like that. One of the people followed was a young woman who'd had a baby as a single mom. She was a stripper in order to provide a decent living for the child, but her goal was to switch professions before the kid was old enough to ask about work and she decided that she wanted to be a chef. She was rather quiet and shy, and while I don't think she was exactly insecure, she did have trouble speaking up about her needs. If Jessica was involved in this kind of thing, then that's another flaw of MAFS Season 2. Aside from the fact that the matching was all wrong and the "experts" denied all responsibility for it, the editing didn't show us key things about these people. What if they'd matched them up and shown us why it didn't work? That would still be messing with people's lives, but it might have been more ... honest is not the word I want, but I can't come up with another one.

If you want to show pictures of property, please provide the link, not the embedded photo. Also, this is the Jessa and Ben thread. Just because they went swimming somewhere doesn't mean we get into an extended conversation about the swimming pool. Thanks!

Bumpersticker version: Crazypants. Highlights, in completely random order: M4 was born, the show was cancelled, the spin-off has allegedly been iced because JimBoob thinks the show is about him and didn't want anyone else having TV time unless he controlled it (or something like that), Marsiah broke up, the Dillards are in Central America somewhere and seem to be happier (IMO), the forum has had mod turnover, InTouch seems to have run out of shoes to drop or is saving them for impact after everyone's back from summer vacation, the Lost Girls are still lost, the Howlers are still howling, and Jinger isn't yet free. Others can feel free to jump in and give their versions, but that's my recent-developments-in-Duggarville elevator speech. And welcome back, JenCarroll.

He's suing Jose Andres for the same amount. Andres backed out a few days before Zakarian did.

IOW, only homosexuals can control their urges. Right. Got it.

Ever try to do full face paint on a squirming 4-y.o. who doesn't want to cooperate but whose parents are big donors at the event and insist that it be done? ("It's okay, Benjamin, the nice lady is going to make you look like a tiger in just another minute or two, but you need to hold still.") By that standard, I'm better than Cheryl Ann.

If they can't do this show right, they shouldn't do it. Other programming is out there. And I don't think they're doing this show right. Cheryl Ann shouldn't even be a contestant, she's so pathetic. If that's the kind of person they need in order to populate the contestant pool, they don't have a viable concept IMO.

Not sure about the ratings, and I doubt they approach those of 19 Kids, but the show gets renewed so it must be doing well enough. Our forum has a few people weigh in after each episode.

Is it calling out or observing a change from previous Duggar norms? To me, not having a registry (or keeping it within the family/friends circle) is a positive step.

TLC should consider a return to its roots. I'm not 100% serious, but they could use a few new shows on short runs to test new angles. If they approached some of these human interest/reality shows with new directors less enamored of the tawdry and goofy, they might find a network direction that's less reliant on these situations that blow up.

Thanks for that perspective, SometimesBites. And I'm glad you got out.

Last week there was an article in the New Yorker about a family that had 22 kids, 20 of whom were adopted. Three died due to illnesses they had coming into the family, two went to prison, and several of the girls got pregnant while in college. Although this family's kids are all adults now, I'm sure someone at TLC is sniffing around for a similar group even as I type.

I didn't get him, either, though I sort of understood why others might. I want the next Bachelor to be Nick, probably because I have a sick sense of humor.

He is awfully skinny. OTOH, he's still at the age when his metabolism could just burn through whatever he eats and he never gains an ounce. As for standing up to JimBoob and MEchelle, that's got to be hard for a kid, which is how I think of him. JimBoob has a very strong personality, and I suspect he isn't that nice behind closed doors. MEchelle has the flip side of that, the relentless whine, perfected. Many of us spent years figuring out how to deal with in-laws who weren't a fraction as difficult. So since Derrick had talked about mission work and had actually done the Nepal thing, I'm sure this stood out as a great means of getting away from the Black Hole of Duggardom. It combined his interest in missionary work with distance from the Black Hole. He knew he could do it and he had the opportunity. If, as some speculate, WM fired him, this also filled the job niche. And if he's doing admin work that relates to accounting, he's applying and gaining experience with a skill that will make him more employable when he returns. I think this was probably the best move he could make under the circumstances. YMMV, though.

I'm hiding a bunch of off-topic posts that discuss politics. This includes the hybrid posts that have a single on-topic sentence along with a much larger discussion of politics. This is the Jessa and Ben thread. Please discuss Jessa and Ben here, not politics. As I said elsewhere on the forum this morning, off-topic posts are a problem because people who follow these threads see that there's new content and then have to plow through a lot of other stuff they don't want to read. And that's not fair to them. A little thread drift is okay - it happens - but it really goes on and on and on in some of these threads, and we're starting to tighten up on that. We appreciate your cooperation. Thanks!

Once again, we are way off-topic. This is the Michelle and JimBob thread, not the reading and linguistics thread. People who follow this forum see new posts in a thread and expect to read about the topic of the thread. And instead, these off-topic posts make them wade through umpteen posts on something else entirely different. That is really unfair to them. Also, posted at the top of this forum are instructions on how to ignore posters who bug. Just a teeny tiny bit more effort on everyone's part will make this place better for all of us. So please comply. Thanks!

But it would be a brief pop-up Jim Bob. MEchelle says that sex doesn't take that long. Or is over with quickly. Or something. She really doesn't have a clue, does she?

If MEchelle were to write a pop-up book , as I speculated in her thread, she could have each kid pop up on a separate page as if she's giving birth all over again. I can't believe I came up with an idea that tacky and tasteless, but even worse, I think she'd think it was a great idea.

I am a voracious reader averaging 4 to 6 books per month, plus the daily newspaper and a few magazines. That last 10 days of May, when I normally would have read 2 books, I read almost nothing ... except this forum.I wonder if MEchelle will write a pop-up book. That's about her speed IMO. I should take my further thoughts to the goofy thread. Seriously, though, has she revealed plans for a book or is this just speculation?

Agreed. Memories might not be long, but the Internet makes it easy for those who do remember these things to dredge them up years later. Opposition research is pretty simple these days, and it's harder and harder to keep secrets. I'm not convinced Josh could be so conveniently hidden. But the Duggars do keep finding ways of sticking around, kind of like gum on the sole of your shoe.

Discussions of how one's family does or doesn't celebrate Christmas, the etiology of the word, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., can go in the Small Talk thread. This is the Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends thread. It is not the "I had a thought while in this thread so I'll mention it here even through it's off-topic" thread. Thanks!

I can't believe I'm treading into these dangerous waters, but ... Many people change careers, and in many of those career changes we draw on skills we used previously in order to create a niche or make ourselves stand out. Using myself as an example, I began as a computer programmer, moved to marketing research and analysis, and now work as a writer in the science and economic fields. The common thread that I've built on is a facility with data analysis. Similarly, Valerie Bertinelli has shifted her career. She was an actress, then she was a SAHM who developed an interest in cooking, then she wrote a cookbook, and now she's on FN in various capacities. She brings to FN a level of comfort in front of the camera and an interest in food, both of which are essential for FNS. I don't mind her being a judge on FN, and I wouldn't object if she were to come onto FNS as a judge. Yes, a regular series judge. I prefer her to LBH, in fact. I am prepared to be scorched for that opinion. Anthony Anderson, OTOH, does not appear to have written a cookbook. But if he were involved in owning a restaurant beyond just being an investor, I might defend him, too.

This is an interesting perspective, and I appreciate your sharing it with us. I am friends with someone who knows Meredith, and she describes Meredith as wanting a "simple life." That really meshes with what you said, though my friend hasn't said anything about Meredith's level of curiosity or intellect. It sounds like they had the heat that jumpstarts the beginning of a strong relationship but lacked the foundation for the kind of friendship that carries a lasting commitment.

I found Matt to be impossibly boring, but I like some fire in my relationships. I do agree that Chad and Ian were treated differently for the same behavior, and I'm not sure the family money that Ian had should have made a difference - he seemed to lack direction, and I think that's why the relationship ultimately failed. Still, I loved watching Meredith and Ian, as well as Andy and Tessa, because of the intense attraction.