[Unexpected in the Media: Expecting Exciting News]

According to this article, the cast members are reportedly only being paid $425 per episode.  Considering how badly most of them come off, and the fact that the cast changes so frequently, appearing seems like an even worse life decision than I would have originally thought.

https://starcasm.net/reanna-taron-reportedly-cut-tlc-unexpected-season-4/

 

Also, the article speculates that the couple who left did so on their own, and that the producers did not choose to fire them.  Not sure about that, but I guess if you only pay 425 per episode the risk you run is that someone will stop filming once they realize how badly they are coming off for nothing.  The MTV twits are very well compensated for being hated by most of America (plus even the most brain dead useless lumps like Jenelle have crazy fans who support them).

[S04.E06: C-Section in Jeopardy]

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By the way, who is watching the brother now, with Myrka gone?

I don't know how old the brother is now, but I'm guessing if he's at least 9, Mryka probably did the heavy lifting of watching him when he was little and the mom is going to let him be an unsupervised latchkey kid now.  I taught in the NYC public school system, and would sometimes have parents tell me they didn't have time to deal with their kid's problems.  It would be interesting to know if he's taking over chores of running the house, or if he just hangs out with his friends all the time (this would be a whole lot more interesting to watch than listening to people whine about baby daddies or try to tell the people who they dumped their kid on how they would like their child raised while they pursue their dreams of being a cheerleader and hanging out in Miami).

[S04.E06: C-Section in Jeopardy]

I had thought it was highly questionable to have fireworks and chair covers and dancers for a teenager's baby shower, but figured if Ethan's parents have that kind of money to burn, that's their choice.  But if Ethan's dad is now working two jobs to support his new grandchild, then it was completely insane to host that kind of event unless discovery was footing the bill (which I don't think happened since none of the other girls got that kind of over the top bridezilla-esque baby shower).    

 

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  Actually, Liliana doesn’t need to “pull her weight” with regard to someone else’s pregnancy.  

I agree that Liliana doesn't have to support the grandchild, but a lawyer would need to weigh in on whether she can legally refuse to support Myrka until her 18th birthday.   I'm just not sure if Liliana can turn custody of Myrka over to the state or to Ethan's parents and not be required to pay child support.  I'm just not certain if Myrka is considered an emancipated minor once she gives birth.

 

[S05.E05: A Long Road Home]

On 1/6/2021 at 11:24 PM, Madding crowd said:

Legal abortion does not cause infertility so Kate did not have to tell Toby if she didn’t want to. She would have been asked her pregnancy history during her first Ob appointment, but maybe Toby wasn’t there. My husband didn’t go with me to all my appointments due to his schedule. I don’t think most people would want to confront an abuser in person, but maybe it was important to her.

I don’t see any romantic feelings between Kevin and Madison and I don’t see how she could expect him to give up his dreams and not act. I think he also wanted a nanny so Madison could pursue her own interests whatever they might be.

I am kind of curious about Laurel, but I feel Randall’s story seems to be about pulling him away from the Pearson’s and it makes me sad. I would rather see him and his siblings together. I wonder if they are looking at a spin off with Randall without Kevin and Kate. I did enjoy the episode but it made me sad like many of them do.

Legal abortion is one of the safest medical procedures, and much safer than giving birth.  However, when I underwent IVF I was told that the saline sonogram to check for uterine scarring which is normally strongly recommended for everyone was especially recommended for me because I had a D&C  after a miscarriage that didn't pass on its own (this is the exact same medical procedure as an abortion).  I was told by my fertility doctor that a D&C carries a very slight risk of uterine scarring, which usually can be easily corrected, but should be treated prior to undergoing IVF.  A saline sonogram is  used to check the uterus for scarring, and mine, like the overwhelming majority of patients who undergo a D&C  was absolutely fine.  My SIL however had scarring from a D&C following a miscarriage that was not tested for and caused two later miscarriages.   Then her doctors did a saline sonogram, discovered scarring, easily treated it, and she was able to have children after that.  I don't say this to support the antiabortion movement - a termination in the first trimester is much less risky than giving birth, but while undergoing fertility treatment, Kate absolutely should have disclosed a prior D&C because there is a very small risk of uterine scarring that can be easily treated.  She didn't have to tell Toby - she could have told the dr privately but it should be disclosed to the doctors who did her IVF.

[S04.E02: Worst. Birthday. EVER.]

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What double standard? No one's applauded a teen dad's idea to move hours away from his kid to go to the satellite campus of a crappy college so that he can fulfill his dream of being on the ping-pong team. Tyra is way less stupid than her castmates, and I hope she graduates from college however it is achieved. But that doesn't mean this plan is wise when there are less expensive colleges close to home. Her family has no college alumni to advise her, and it shows.

My whole life in college revolved around my a cappella group, so I know something about passionate devotion to a hobby with no professional potential. It's not a good use of time for a young parent.

The best plan for a teen parent would be an online community college degree, followed by an online or close in person degree at a state school, unless one qualified for a full ride in grants at a private university.  Alternatively, there are some community college/public universities that offer vocational courses that lead to becoming a certified electrician, plumber or other skilled technicians.  Those jobs can support a family and it might be a much better path for some of these girls.

But looking at all of the girls who have appeared on the various iterations of this show and Teen Mom, I can't say that critical thinking skills appear to be their strength.  Aside from Farrah on Teen Mom who seemed like she had a strong work ethic (although a completely unpleasant and possibly mentally ill person), I'm not sure we've even seen a girl on these shows who had any particular goals beyond getting paid for d-list reality tv fame.    Cheer might be the only thing that gets that girl through college.  Of course, if she winds up going into debt and never graduates so she can pursue her hobby of cheering, that would be a disaster, but at least attending college is a plan beyond attempting to be a "domestic engineer." 

 

The reunion was much better than the Teen Mom ones, and I was really glad not to see a moronic host ask stupid questions during the reunion.  It would help me greatly if they did a brief compilation of who each of these girls are before updating their segment.  2020 felt like it was a hundred years long, so it took awhile into the segment until I remembered who each of the girls and their families and boyfriends were.  

[Labor Of Love - General Discussion]

I'm wondering what is going on with Marcus.  Did he actually invite his friends to meet Kristy and that got edited out to make him look extra creepy?  Was he going overboard trying to convince Kristy that he would be a good father because he is respectful to his mom/housemom?  Even if it was the producer's idea, why would he waste precious time while Kristy was there trying to fix his pants?

 

 

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Also, Stewart must be hiding something otherwise there’s no way someone that great isn’t already taken (unless he’s just a big old player). 

Gut feeling - Stewart is one of those guys who will eventually get married, but normally the woman he marries will be a 20 something model, fitness instructor or pr person.  The competitive aspect of this show might make him chose Kristy, but in real life I cannot imagine him marrying a woman her age (and I'm a woman her age so it's not even remotely a criticism of her).

[Labor Of Love - General Discussion]

On 6/8/2020 at 8:36 PM, call me ishmael said:

The thing that strikes me is that she is articulate in explaining her choices.  No wonder she didn’t succeed on the Bachelor.

I really liked how decisive she was in sending Alan home, saying that in her 20s she'd have chased after a guy who didn't really seem to be into her, but that she had learned a lot and was now sending that guy packing.  I hope things work out either here or in real life for her.

[Labor Of Love - General Discussion]

On 6/7/2020 at 3:30 AM, BluBarbi98 said:

I'm surprised everyone who went for the talk went home. I do appreciate that the show is not dragging this out by only sending one person at at a time. 

I can’t tell most of the men apart, so it might help me a lot.  Especially since I don’t have a favorite for her either.  

[S08.E24: In A Perfect World]

I laughed when Corey said, "we've got a lot going on but we got this," as I was hoping Cheyenne didn't have a wardrobe malfunction with the handkerchief she was wearing instead of a top.

[S02.E19: CPAPs, Hickeys and Biscuits]

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 Harris can’t cover anything?

I don't particularly like the character of Harris, but they did show her working hard at her Wallyworld (sorry I have no idea what they called the walmart clone she worked at) job and she had a good plan to attend a low cost college paid for by her job, despite the fact that her mother was pushing her to consider schools they absolutely couldn't afford.  It appears she lost her Wallyworld job through no fault of her own, and she's really young.  For a kid in her late teens/early 20s she's not doing so badly.   For most of her childhood, Darlene was her only parent, since David mostly disappeared.   Which means her role model is the kind of person who got herself thrown in jail for mouthing off to a cop.   She could be doing a lot worse.

Darlene and Becky are grown women in their 40s who seem to have no qualms about living with their dad and expecting him to support them.    Darlene is unemployed since she chose to blow off a job at Wallyworld since it was beneath her, and Becky believes that it is reasonable to have a baby she can't afford and then pursue an unlikely dream of working at the restaurant.  I'm glad she's working, but now is kind of not at all the time for pursuing a dream full time.  You can pursue a dream part time if you can, but not full time.  I am way more concerned about Darlene and Becky's choices.  It also strikes me that Dan got thrown in jail for beating up Fisher after he hit Jackie, and Darlene got thrown in jail just for her arrogance.

 

 

[S02.E19: CPAPs, Hickeys and Biscuits]

I was really disgusted that Darlene had the nerve to complain about how Ben supervised her children while she was in jail.    She didn't get arrested for trying to integrate a Woolworth's lunch counter - she got arrested for mouthing off to a cop, undoubtably resulting in significant fines and court costs that she can't afford.  While trying to conceive a child she can't afford and living in her dad's home that is about to go into foreclosure.  

And then she had the nerve to criticize a parenting decision Ben had to make while she was in jail.  I was surprised he didn't say to her, "if you'd want to make all of the decisions, then you need to stay out of jail."  

[S08.E18: Walk Into the Flame]

You know how they are filming the late shows from home?   I’d actually want to watch these idiots staying home now and taking care of their own children.  I’m guessing that isn’t happening but it would certainly be a big improvement over seeing catelyns millionth trip for her to work on her mental health.   I do hope that most of these people aren’t taking care of their kids now - amber, Jennelle and some others would be very dangerous if they had full responsibility for a small child.  

[S08.E16: To The Rescue]

On 4/9/2020 at 2:13 AM, lilmarysunshine said:

I agree. I do not respect ANY of them for selling out their kid’s privacy because they don’t want to work. Gary does not seem that busy to me with his real estate empire. @@

And I find it hard to imagine Gary having a lot of expenses.  He seems like he’d be pretty happy with a life without expensive luxuries.  I think he’s not seeing the downside of this show since he looks like a saint compared to most of the other people on this show but ambers lunacy being broadcast to the world is going to matter to his daughter.  

[S08.E16: To The Rescue]

I had to google Cate's psychiatrist.  She went to Duke and earned her MD from George Washington University.  https://www.drlmassoumi.com/providers.html  How much must MTV  have paid her to describe a woman who can't spend 5 minutes with her kid without announcing, "I'm depressed and need to go to therapy in Malibu" as stable?  Good god, how is she ever going to have any clients after this?  If she can't see through Catelyn's endless whining and bs, how can she ever help anyone?

[S21.E16: Eternal Relief From Pain]

4 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

 

Rollins is an idiot for letting her screw up dad stay with her, I knew that would end in a disaster. And her sister gets no sympathy from me, she keeps expecting everyone else to bail her out. I hope to never see either one of them again. 

 

The sister is even worse than expecting everyone to rescue her - after everything she did this episode she even helped to guilt trip Rollins into letting her dad stay with her!  Apparently it wasn't  enough that her sister bailed her out of jail, launched a police investigation into her doctor and took custody of her young son in addition to raising her own two children as a single parent.  Nope, the sister also had to push Rollins into letting her drug addict father stay in her home with her young daughters since he insisted he needed to be clean for their new stepmother/long lost sister. 

[S02.E13: Brothers, Babies and Breakdowns]

On 11/17/2019 at 8:11 PM, oakville said:

 

8 hours ago, ams1001 said:

How long have they actually been together, anyway? I feel like it hasn't been long enough to be contemplating having a kid.

They’ve been together for awhile, but it hasn’t been that long since Darlene cheated on him.  Not just once, but had an entire relationship with David.  This, combined with the fact that these two can’t even support themselves and the children they already have, makes this plot insane.  

[All Episodes Talk: Let’s Talk About Dr Phil the Show]

4 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

The woman is nuts and horrible. However, I think Phil was exaggerating by saying people were at the point of picking up the baby. From what Gabbie and the couple/woman on the show said, she talked to people only a few days before getting made them. Still horrible but not exactly how Phil portrayed it.

this is completely  true.  But honestly, most of these couples have been through years of infertility treatments (which are often not covered by insurance and studies have shown is as stressful as cancer), and then have to pay a lot of money for fees to adoption agencies, fees for background checks and spent a ton of time creating websites or books to try to sell themselves to potential adoptive parents.  So they're pretty traumatized before they met this scammer.  And the agency employee mentioned that some people were so devastated by this experience that they gave up on adoption.   It's pretty easy to understand someone who takes money for living/medical expenses from couples who want to adopt by lying and telling them they want to place the baby, but it's really hard and devastating to understand why anyone would do this and prey upon this incredibly vulnerable and hurt population just for attention.

 

I went through IVF to have my last child, and got a lot of sympathy for people that I had to do that but after reading the stories of women who went through multiple rounds of IVF without success, and the devastation it wrecked on their lives and their families, I considered myself extremely lucky to have just had two miscarriages and one round of IVF before completing my family.

[S09.E30: Bear]

I've said a lot of bad things about Kail over the years.  She's selfish, manipulative and puts her drama with her baby daddies ahead of her children's needs.  But I do need to give her credit for tonight's episode.  Kail's children have always seemed like really good kids, and I think tonight's episode shows why.  She took the time to calmly explain to the children what would happen to Bear in an age appropriate way, and gave them the choice to come with her when he would be put down, and ended the conversation by hugging her son.  

Leah, Jeremy didn't show up for a free trip to Hawaii and cancelled your date without rescheduling.  You didn't need to have an awkward conversation to break up.  But if you insist on having one so we can all pretend you ended the relationship, instead of him not caring about you, please hang up after he says, "I agree with you" when you tell him you shouldn't be dating.  I know you kept hoping he'd argue with you, but this only makes you look even more pathetic.

It's hard to imagine this is the season finale since it doesn't seem like anything happened this season, except for Leah's brain dead sister getting pregnant from a one night stand.

[S02.E08: Lanford, Toilet of Sin]

Harris is 17. I can actually believe for a kid that age the cops would discourage police intervention.  The cop did seem to indicate it was Darlene’s choice, and I think if Darlene had insisted she’d have dragged harris out of odessas apartment and dropped her off at home, where she’d promptly run away again.   A bigger question is how old is Odessa   If she’s under 18 they can put her in foster care if she has no legal guardian   

I really hope ben doesn’t take Darlene back again. I’d have loved to see him doing all these things for her if she hadn’t cheated on him a few weeks ago.  He deserves a lot better than this. 

[The Man In The High Castle - General Discussion]

48 minutes ago, oakville said:

It doesn't make any sense to me why these random people would cross over into Nazi USA.

Wait did I misunderstand the ending?  I thought that after john died, the second in command called off the attack on the west and threw down his nazi badge.  I thought he was trying to implement the plan he tried to do with John before he went to Berlin - to convince the American nazis to give up and fight for the  United States.  If that’s the case, the portal hoppers came into a newly free country, not a nazi state. 

[S02.E06: Tempest in a Stew Pot]

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With Jackie being SUCH a screw about money that is not even hers, Bev should just go on a world cruise and never look back.

Normally, I would agree with this 100%, but Jackie has also said that her mom was living with her because she was completely broke.  If I took in an allegedly broke relative, and then found out they still owned significant property that they had hidden from me I'd be pretty angry.  She's not entitled to the restaurant, but I can understand her being angry with her mom about money right now.  And living with Bev doesn't seem to be easy, as Dan would also like to put her out too.

[S02.E06: Tempest in a Stew Pot]

24 minutes ago, tribeca said:

Why does it feel like Darlene has good points but enjoys saying no to Becky. Imho Darlene feels superior to Becky but she is in the same place as Becky.   They are both living in their parents house with their children.  I feel Becky was in to something when she said she does not want Becky to succeed.  

I’d agree with the fact that Darlene doesn’t want Becky to be more successful than she is. This is complicated by the fact that reopening the lunchbox is not a good idea.  It would be more of a conflict if Darlene were sabatoging a good idea by Becky to make her life better.  But it is a realistic fight since Becky and Jackie won’t admit they were wrong unless they actually fail.  Otherwise they’ll just blame Darlene for the fact that they couldn’t make it financially. 

[S09.E28: Sugar-Coated Mood]

We are starting to see hints of the real Chelsea here, with her anxiety induced freak out over going to a party filled with her fans who want her to sign ugly flannel crap.  Aubrey was tiptoeing around her mom, asking for just a little snack.  There was something in her tone that made me suspect she’s used to taking care of Chelsea when her anxiety is overwhelming quite often.  

[S02.E06: Tempest in a Stew Pot]

The irony is that the original Lunch Box couldn't be opened without a cash infusion from Bev, and then never made enough money to be profitable. They opened the original  restaurant based upon copying an amazing sandwich from another restaurant with Bev's money.  Jackie and Becky don't even have someone else's sandwich to steal!  And they still need Bev's support to open, which means that (as noted above) they have no means of paying for the restaurant equipment or food.     I get they they are desperate, but don't they ever learn?  Dan gave up a good, steady job working for the city to open his motorcycle shop.  Becky was once a really good student - with dreams of doing to medical school.  Why can't she go back to school to become a teacher or a nurse or another steady job?  With the proliferation of online courses, I find it hard to believe she can't complete a college degree at a state university at  a reasonable fee.

[S03.E15: Tell All Part 2]

20 minutes ago, configdotsys said:

The Haileys and Matthew will never be anything other than trash. Hailey 1 looked all smug on the couch with her mother when mom was talking about the day Matthew came over to get some at six weeks. If these girls have nothing to do in life except give themselves to these lowlife, shiftless, on their way to nowhere young men, then they'll all have 10 kids by the time they're 30. 

I would totally have gotten her feeling vindicated if she'd flirted with him and then thrown him out of the house without having sex with him, thus proving that he would have cheated on H2 with her.  But her mom was the one who stopped them from having sex.  H1 is really not coming off too well here ether since she'd be willing to sleep with this disgusting piece of trash if her mom hadn't stopped her.  And yes, I know she should be focusing on her daughter and her education and not on getting revenge on her trash ex boyfriend, but I would have understand if she had gotten revenge on him.  But the story she and her mom are so proud of isn't really something they need to be retelling since she comes off almost as badly as her ex and H2.