EarlGreyTea

If we're going by past seasons, it usually returns late next month or so. I saw on Instagram that they wrapped filming on the entire season already. I miss this show so much, mostly because the discussions here were so good. But yeah, I can't seem to find a concrete date.

This takes me BACK. God, I despised Elise, but hers was the first season I ever watched. So it's weirdly nostalgic seeing her on my screen. I was studying for the GRE at the time, so something about seeing other people getting yelled at was comforting. Poor Jennifer getting another shot but having it be alongside the Hellion Elise, who threw her under the bus to save herself in the original season. Even Robyn is better than Elise because she did appear to show some compassion to her fellow contestants in her season. There's a weird vulnerability to Robyn that I find kind of endearing. Kind of. God do I hate the hokiness of the show sometimes. Ramsay "calling" everyone with that forced smile is so awkward. You know in times like that he's just counting his money in his head. I loved Barbie! God, Dana was obnoxious then and she's obnoxious now. Team Barbie.

Yeah, I thought this was far and away the most realistic aspect of the episode. This show gets so much right about retail life. I loved my coworkers, but as soon as most of us moved on to other jobs, we lost touch and didn't have that common denominator - bitching about work - to fall back on. Many of us would never have even talked to one another in the first place if we didn't work together.

It's getting to be a bit much. The episodes have really fallen into a formulaic rut. Bev screws up, kids get mad, kids appreciate her anyway. The real Beverly is really lovely on Twitter, and I guess you can't argue with the results she got - all 3 kids are very successful. I just wish they'd try something new. I miss Lainey too, but Aly and AJ just released a new album so she's long gone as a regular unless the album tanks. I guess the tradeoff is Geoff and Jackie in place of Lainey, and I really love those two.

Happy to make a return trip to Cloud Nine. I was sure Garrett's reluctance to let Jonah move in was because Dina was already living there, just to make for a shocking reveal. Jeff's rug was hilarious! That actor's been bald since his My Boys days, which was a good 10 years ago. I'm kind of disappointed that we went straight to the re-opening. I had been looking forward to maybe seeing the group scattered working at other Cloud Nines. I hope they show us one of those Cloud Nine signature stores at some point. Sandra better watch her back, and poor Jerry! Glad he's recovering. Where the HELL is Brett? This shit ain't funny, bring him back already. He was my favorite background character and from the looks of the actor's IMDB page, this is his first and only gig. Keep him employed! The gag with the photo blown up of a fake aisle killed me. Side note: Do NOT google the titles of any upcoming episodes, the title for the next one is a spoiler. However, if you WANT to be spoiled, it's called: Actually now that I think about it, when the new episode thread for next week is posted here you'll all know soon anyway.

Jackie is the best love interest they've ever given Adam (with apologies to Dana, who was given virtually no personality). Rowan's previous acting experience definitely helps. Her hair looks really cute too. Erica's roommate having legit 80s hair really makes Erica Goldberg's hair stand out in a bad way. Why couldn't they try a little harder with her hair? Give her a wig if that's what the actress prefers. And did I hear correctly? They had her end up at a school in DC last minute? Pretty slick putting her fairly close by, a la Rory Gilmore at nearby Yale. I love college life set in the 1980s. I'm a bit tired of the themes every episode since at least season 2 has been getting. When that happens the show tries too hard to bend itself to that theme. This episode was a good balance, though.

Derick seems like such an angry man. I'd feel bad for him if he wasn't such a self-righteous, ignorant bigot. Why on earth would anyone want to convert to your religion when you're constantly spewing ignorance and intolerance? He's about as effective as the Hare Krishnas in the airports. Isn't the love of God supposed to fill you with peace? As I like to say, the punishment for being a miserable person is having to live inside your own head. I see no need to even reply to him on Twitter because of this (though I highly enjoy some of the zingers people come up with). I'd pray for him but he doesn't like us Catholics, so stick a rosary up your ass, Derick. Not that there isn't already a stick up there.

She would look so great with a wavy bob. Something like this would look great on her, cause social media to freak out, set her apart from the other Duggarbots, and get rid of all that scraggly hair maintenance. So of course it'll never happen. Jinger would look great with it too, and there's better odds on her actually doing it.

So I just discovered this show on Netflix and this post right here articulates EXACTLY the problem I have with this show. Have these writers never lost a loved one? The family members' reaction to seeing their dead loved ones is decidedly underwhelming. I guess histrionics and fainting might not have come across on screen very well, but frankly, that's how these people SHOULD be reacting. For example, Camille's parents. They even let her out of their sight once they realize they aren't hallucinating. What person on earth would chill out in the living room staring out into space while their dearly missed loved one is in her room? And after that, asking questions about where the hell she was, or even having her checked out by a doctor? And if I was Camille, one of my first questions would be what year it was. Followed by obsessive Googling to see what I'd missed in world events. Rowan's reaction was better. They're hitting all the right notes with her character. Having her think it was a hallucination for the first few episodes was interesting and realistic, even though Simon should have opened his goddamn mouth. That was annoying and clearly meant to draw out the tension for another episode.

Seems directed at the wrong people. The internet is always full of randos who never have anything nice to say. That's a given. Who the hell cares what any of us thinks, frankly, because it's not our life. I'm not impressed at her keyboard bravery to a bunch of people she doesn't know and can easily block. If she directed this forcefulness to her stupid ass parents or backwards lifestyle, that's when I'd give her kudos. They gave her absolutely no life skills to succeed at anything besides having a lot of kids. Hell, even the Bateses give their daughters a trade before they leave the nest (see: Josie's cosmetology schooling). If JB and Michelle succeeded at anything, it was at giving their kids an arrogant, us-versus-them martyr mentality that completely absolves them of blame and turns it on randos in the world who DIDN'T cut their kids off at the knees with their substandard education and patriarchal lifestyle.

Yeah, the top of the wedding dress sure does look a lot like Jessa's wedding dress. It's also a princess ballgown according to the People article. Awkward for Kendra, especially because Jessa is the "beauty" of the family. Oh, well. She could sure do worse - Jessa's dress was stunning. Too bad Kendra didn't get all that scraggly hair out of her face. Admittedly I know nothing about tailoring, but Joe's suit looks ill-fitted. Oh, all right, I'm a total hater. I will say the flowers and the ties look great

Robin was described as blond, I think, with "milkmaid coloring" and curvy. She was by all the characters' accounts, very beautiful. Grainger is stunning, of course.

The comments on the fundraising page are deliciously brutal. I didn't see any positive ones on the first page, meaning either there aren't any or Derick isn't allowed to delete comments. Protip, Derick: don't show your bigoted ass on Twitter and expect to earn any goodwill with the general public just a few weeks later. Another protip: Also don't cry poor mouth when people are going through a legitimate crisis here in Texas right now. This epic fail and the hate in the comments will just make Derick go to the hardware store to buy some more nails for his cross.

This is one of my all-time favorite books and I'm really salty that it's not aired here in the USA yet. I know the series couldn't possibly convey all the nuances of the book, but I'm really looking forward to seeing this. I will say that I pictured Strike much uglier (think Brendan Gleeson as Moody in the Potter films) and older, so the casting of Tom Burke is interesting to me. Interesting as in, it figures they wouldn't go for broke and cast someone unattractive with pube hair. Usually British TV is pretty good about casting people who look like regular Joes.

And to think, these people owe EVERYTHING to Anna (and to a lesser extent, Jill and Jessa who went on camera when their coward of a brother did not). Anna's staying meant Josh could give a real go of this apparent redemption arc and Counting On could start. Had she peaced out and taken the kids too, no one would have blamed her and the empire would have gone down in flames. And yet they're sticking her in some second-rate house of JB's? Naw son. They should have given her the McMansion that Jill is in. Anna deserves it, and they should all be thanking her on bended knee. She's got JB by the short and curlies, yet she doesn't know it.

I think she's turned into, or maybe always was, a bona fide preacher's wife in the making. Being fashionable isn't a requirement of a pastor's wife, of course, but being put together seems to be one of those unwritten rules and probably doesn't hurt. She alone seems to understand her role as the wife of a public figure (although she was always one herself). We know Jessa is uncomfortable with strangers and Jill is...well, Jill. I really liked how Jinger just rolled with everything in their honeymoon episode. Interacted with the locals, accepted people as they were, didn't wear her self-righteousness on her sleeve, even cracked a joke or two. Had there not been a camera crew in tow, no one would have ever known she's a part of this band of ignorant, classless rubes. I like Jinger so very much....but I have to remember that deep down, she is probably as ignorant and bigoted as Derick. The difference is that she seems able to open her mind to new ideas, and to realize that there are many, many ways to live life. She has real potential. Or maybe I'm just projecting and she just knows she needs to put a lid on it for the sake of the cameras. I sincerely hope not.

I always say that the punishment for being a horrible person is having to live inside your own head. Make no mistake, Josh must be miserable, jet or no jet. I think he really loved his DC job. People gave somewhat of a shit about what he had to say re: politics. You just know it burned him up inside not to be able to stand up on his soapbox during the most previous election, especially when every Tom, Dick, and Harry was giving their opinion on social media. He liked knowing that his words had weight, particularly in their small bubble. Now he'd be lucky to be hired doing Ben's old job of cleaning toilets at the Duggar compound. And politics, forget it. Politicians are a mostly corrupt bunch but even they realize he's total poison. Even the one who stuck his neck out for Josh, Huckabee, ended up abandoning him when Ashley Madison happened. Josh knew he had another skeleton in the closet, yet he allowed Huckabee and many others to defend him for months, only to have it blow up in their faces yet again. What a prince! I particularly remember how vocal he was during the 2012 election. How it must have killed him not to take the victory lap on Twitter when the Republican candidate won!

Is that for real?! God, with all the things these people have missed out on, music is probably one of the biggest ones. They have no idea about sweating it to the oldies, or disco, or rock, or dance music. They have no idea about feeling like a particular song was written just for you and your partner's love, or being carried through a hard workout by Beyonce songs. I know they know plenty of hymns. Hymns are great and many of them speak eloquently of salvation and God's grace. But damn, sometimes secular and personal issues are just as relevant and pressing. It's true most of today's popular music is centered on Nike issues, but there's so much good stuff out there. Jill has no idea what she's missing. I hope Derick introduces the kids to music, but what am I saying? That bigot probably has terrible taste in music.

I like her outfit a lot. If you can't dress in strange patterns when you're in your early 20s and have a nice figure, when can you? Now is the perfect time for her to experiment. I'm not all that much older than she is and I wouldn't look twice at the outfit. I think she looks great. Those particular pants might be difficult to work out in, though. Keep pulling that hair out of your face, Jinge! Nice nails too. Finally, a Duggar girl who accessorizes.

God dammit. I kind of figured. She made it to black jacket at least, but never have I wanted to smack someone through the TV as badly before. Dana was obnoxious as hell too.

Well I missed last season due to it being the same old same old, so this is exciting. I hope as hell that they don't bring back Elise, though.

I feel like I'm looking at a different photo, or maybe it's my bad taste or whatever, but Jill looks great to me. Nice dress, a bit baggy but clearly some effort was put into it. Nice earrings, and as I've said before, getting all that scraggly hair out of her face does wonders for her overall look. That's probably the biggest takeaway for me. No comment on Derick the bigot. Except would it have been so damn hard to put actual shoes on? I like flip flops as much as the next lazy person, but not at a somewhat formal event.

CDAN is notoriously unreliable, and when they're right it's usually because of correct speculation (i.e., a homophobic bigot lashing out because he himself is closeted is not uncommon), not actual dirt, and once in a blue moon they're spot on (I waste a lot of time reading blind items, lol). Having said all that, this would sure explain a lot, particularly Derick's insistence on returning to CA.

Great! I didn't realize Krusty's Klown Kollege was accepting applications again! Congrats! (Fine, I'll be nice and say that's good he's showing some initiative to support his family on his own)

Sounds like they are still going by The Office playbook and have cast their version of Karen. More stalling tactics, although Karen did finally force Pam to confront her feelings. I predict Amy will finally do something about her feelings for Jonah with Kelly as catalyst. I just hope they don't villainize Kelly. I usually dislike love triangles where the male is the one in the middle.