Bella

Exactly. I'm not reading "include" as meaning "endorse."

And I think we've beaten the cockroach topic to death in record time. If you feel anyone has crossed the line, please use the report button. The topic here is Duggars in the Media and TLC. Please stay on topic. Thanks!

They've made a lot of money over the years, and despite the seemingly profligate spending, they probably still have a lot. (As stupid as I think JimBoob is, I can't believe he's not saved some of it.) They will be fine. People survive on a lot less money than they have. I worry more about the evident disengagement of the parents, the wildly substandard education, the intense indoctrination, the stifling of the kids' individuality and curiosity, and the lack of perspective about the real world. This was going to happen with or without the show. Losing the show will wake up those kids capable of understanding what happened, if not now, then eventually. Maybe more of them will break away. I am of two minds about what TLC might do, so I'm going to wait and see because, quite frankly, I don't know. But keeping the show was tantamount to an endorsement of the Duggars' lifestyle, beliefs, bigotry, and cover-up of misdeeds. I'm glad it's over, and I hope "over" means "never again, not even specials."

Right. We'll be here as long as any of you are here.

They'll try to resurface on YouTube or something. The money won't be good, but they're also addicted to the attention.

^Sounds plausible.

"...and alcohol had been consumed in mass quantities." I made that up, but I suspect it's true and the source of much of the weirdness.

Here's a counter argument stating that the cancellation rumors are just rumors. We'll see. I sort of expect it to air, but a cancellation would not shock me.

Face Off did this last season. There was a lot of fan trepidation at first, but it worked pretty well. OTOH, on Project Runway's misbegotten Threads spin-off, the same concept was ghastly. I do agree that they need new mentors, regardless of who those people are. And more Bob and Susie.

Yes, that's it! I was recently in a professional situation in which a job had gone unfilled for a long time due to no one having the precise qualifications sought. Another person asked "and where do you propose to find this unicorn?" FN has gone on a unicorn hunt, but they keep finding rhinos and horses instead.

So as hard as the Duggars make it for their kids to leave, I believe we should expect some to do so. I've always felt that. How many stories do we have here from posters who said, in effect, "my family was super-duper-extreme-fundie, and I left even though it was hard"? A number. Losing the TV show may make this easier. But the religions that endorse shunning of family members who leave - that's got to be the worst unless the family members are all jerks. And even then, it's your family.

I wonder if the sister-mom teams have just collapsed with Jill and Jessa leaving. In Jana's thread, there was discussion about her fragility. In the Other Duggars thread, there have been comments about how some of the younger children appear neglected. Did the Josh scandal throw the family into much more disarray than many of us imagined? Is Jinger in charge of more than she can manage? Is she depressed at the loss of a close sister? Does she need some mothering herself (which, of course, MEchelle would not do)? Call me crazy, but I think even teenagers need involved parents caring for them. [insert sarcasm tags here]

Please give photo credits. Thanks!

Not Mindy, but when I was 7, I figured out that there was no Santa because there were starving children in the news and no one would deliver toys to American children if other children were hungry. I then announced that if Santa was impossible, God was even more impossible. My parents had fun with that one!

Can someone please remind me what Ben H does for a living? At least he's not as greasy-looking as the rest of the cast this season. This has been a disturbing group to watch.

I rather enjoyed her on CutThroat Kitchen, but that show is about right for her - it's a big goof with a little bit of cooking tossed in. It's like Chopped on acid, or as envisioned by a class of evil kindergarteners. Loreal fit right into that scenario. Big personality? Check! Willing to look like an idiot? Check! Willing to see who else is acting like an idiot and be an even bigger one? Check! An at least average amount of cooking skill? Check!

This is the Josh and Anna thread. It is not a thread about toes, or even Jessa's toes (which would go in the Benessa thread). Please stay on topic. Thanks!

Agree to disagree and move on. People are allowed their beliefs, whatever they may be. But we don't allow bickering that becomes personal. Failure to comply will have consequences.

Last year, DH and I went to one of the national parks and stayed at a lodge that was having hot water problems. After a day of hiking, I was sticky with sweat, but I cried in that cold shower. Literally cried, because it was so awful. So either they're talking about lukewarm showers or there's a "suffer for God" thing going on here, which is a religious concept I never bought into. Ben just doesn't impress me. I hope he's at least good to Jessa.

The only similarities I see between Jay and Lenny are that they're both large men, and they both have a rather punchy delivery style, like they'd literally push their words at you if words had mass. But the personalities strike me as quite different, and I like Jay a lot. I'm still in Eddie's camp, though.

I thought it was the 18th, but that can't be right because it's a Saturday.

I remember! That's where I first heard of umeboshi. To the poster questioning the authenticity of Dom's discomfort in front of the camera - you're not alone. It doesn't make sense given his poised and personable talking heads.

I wanted Emilia, Alex, and Dom to all go home. They're all painful to watch. How does Dom do such good TH's and such crappy presentations? How does Alex keep making the same mistakes every time he opens his mouth and how does he not learn from the consistent constructive criticism? How does Emilia have a different bad persona every week? And how did any of them get cast in the first place? Also, we're now down to 5 men and 1 woman. Let me make a wild prediction that the winner will be a man.

I sort of think Zakarian and Trump deserve each other. But if death were not an option, I'd hold my nose and choose Zakarian, wage theft and all.

Bastet, I'm glad Maddie pulled through. My Priss lived to be almost 20 and had kidney disease for about 7 years. Low phosphorus/high protein is definitely the way to go.