alexa

I was very happy for Ashley and glad she was the one that pulled through for the medal. I get a little annoyed at how when Gracie finally does well, all of the sudden some of the media and commentators forget about her inconsistencies and tout her as USA's best skater--and Ashley becomes an afterthought. Ashley has her inconsistencies too, but I think she has more passion for skating and is a bit more of a fighter. So her winning silver was amazing, and like a gold medal in the sense that in most other world competitions that would have been enough for gold.

I had thought of that as well, but either way I feel the viewer is missing something by not seeing some of it. Plus with the episode where she literally just left the instructions for the time out on her way out the door and then gave the mom a hard time for asking about it on the phone does kind of say in some cases Jo is not giving real time instruction. Though there are probably times that she is doing more than we see (but if we don't see it, it seems to be missing the point of the show). As for timeouts, I agree with you, but also feel these are people asking for support, and they most likely need someone to help them through it once or twice to get the feel of it. If general instruction was enough for them, they probably would not ask for Jo's help. In the recent episode the parents seem to really love her real time feedback and they picked up on a lot of things they could do differently.

I feel like in many of the episodes Jo is lacking hands on time with the family. From what they show us, she goes in, spends part of a day with them diagnosing their issues, she tells them what to do, and leaves. She then checks in a few days later, and some have magically made progress while others understandably have not due to the lack of understanding of what they need to do. When she goes back she does help them some, but I think she should do that from the beginning. The last episode I do think she helped them understand they just needed to nip the behavior in the bud, by not circling around it all of the time--but at the same time I don't know that they were left with much instruction as to what to actually do. I think when she returned and provided real time feedback they were starting to understand it all. She was much more involved in Supernanny, I feel.

I was concerned about watching this episode knowing a bit about what would happen with Valencia/Paula. In the end I think it was fine though, as I don't really care what the Chan family and Valencia think about Rebecca. It was nice when they were all getting along, but in the end Paula and Rebecca helped Valencia out--and that made that scene with Josh kind of cool. She could say--shut up, your girl is in good with your family, all is well, go away. I love Greg, so I was happy to see him have a lot of screen time. I hope at least a friendship works out with those two, and they don't ruin their relationship altogether.

I agree with much of what has been said. My only comment beyond that is why do the pros choreograph these silly and awful dances for the older contestants? They make them look worse, and like they are being made fun of. They do it with so many of the older contestants, and I hate it. Geraldo's was just like many we have seen in previous seasons. I get they can't dance well, and they are trying to hide it, but I just get horrified by these routines. I would prefer they do a really simple dance and try to learn a little technique. Make it a little classier?

On last night's episode I could see in a way why the woman was upset with Jo. She was only asking about the timeout process on the phone, and was excited about her start of progress, and Jo had not really told her in person how to do it--she just explained it and then left. Then Jo was going on about how she has to commit, etc, as if she wasn't willing when all she was doing was asking how to do it. Not everyone can be left instructions and then know exactly what to do when the time comes. Normally Jo is more helpful, so I am not sure what was missing there.

I don't think in this case she wasn't letting him see his son. She was being practical as they were all out for the pictures that Javi chose not to attend, and they were going to eat afterwards...there was no reason Lincoln had to be driven out of the way to go home that moment. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I know this is a fairly common one here. But I just can't have any issue with something minor like that given all of the issues that some of the other moms have. I feel that there is something somewhat annoying about a lot of us, we just aren't on camera for everyone to see. Chelsea talks how she talks, and it isn't something she is going to change for the cameras. I have far more of an issue with the way that Janelle yells at everyone for saying hardly anything at all... now that is something I can get annoyed with :-)

I find the random comments about Chelsea being boring quite humorous. I love that she has a "boring" storyline. It gives me a chance to relax after watching the rest of the loonies on the show. And I am glad that there is someone from this franchise that is doing things right, and not all about the drama. I especially love the contrast (as others have noted) between Leah getting the girls ready for school versus Chelsea. Priceless.

I applaud everything that has already been said. I just want to add that every time I see Leah's girls just swigging full bottles of soda it makes me sad. And the babies (of many of the teen moms--not all) thrown in a crib with a huge bottle full of juice. Sugary drinks are just awful for kids, and it would be one thing if they were just now starting to have some soda, but Leah's girls grow up with it. And I agree with the whole sentiment about how sad it was watching the girls beg for a lunch, and then say they were cold and wanted breakfast. She is so awful. As someone that gets up in the 5 oclock hour every day for work and to get my child ready to go to school, I hate that she acts like she is doing the impossible. But yet she acts like she deserves full custody of them.

I agree that this was strange. I didn't really get it. Chris and others singing random songs that weren't created for this show--if they were going to do this they could have at least had original music. The back and forth infomercial style just doesn't fit with Jesus story in my mind. His story is enough to tell that story. I felt like they just had singers randomly placed to sing and they didn't seem to actually be playing the role they were given.

I just did a rewatch over late fall/early winter, otherwise I would have done it. But that was probably enough for the recent timeframe :-) I might remember a few episodes as you discuss them, however. I did initiate some discussions as I did my rewatch in whatever threads it fit in.

I just love this show.... so good at combining the heartwarming with the funny stuff..... The tape club story was fitting, and I liked how they wove it in with Bev's apology to Erica.

I don't understand all of the pets either. Farrah says she travels a lot and doesn't like messes--so why does she have dogs exactly? And multiples of them--far more than most dog owners have? Amber's house is just gross with her animal habitat (not the animals, but how she is unable to keep up with it all). Farrah looks so odd trying to be "normal" on these shows. When she says something like she wants a boy and a girl because Sophia wants a brother and sister, you sit there and wonder who she is having these children with? And how would she handle having 2 more kids?

I tried to watch it but found it very boring. The back and forth between the pre Grinder days and the current, and just his odd behavior overall has just become very non-interesting to me. I will admit it wasn't quite as aggravating, but I think for me it is too late to save the show for me.

I wanted it to be Lauren in the end, but I couldn't really be happy for anyone because I didn't really like how things went down with Jojo. I just really think that he is smart enough to know that he couldn't verbally take it so far with both of them and then have a happy outcome. So when he spent all of that time basically making both of them believe they were the one, and then the last night together he acts all weird with both of them, I was just frustrated with him in general. At that point you have to dump someone the next day, and he really set up a bad situation for either person to get rejected. Of course they would be confused....I mean, the Bachelor said, I love you, and a lot of other convincing things. Then to hear, I love you, but I love the other person more.... well, that just took away any meaning love actually had. Way to go Ben. I get the premise of the show, but I agree with the recap on this episode...there has to be something lacking in the Bachelor to be able to pull of this premise and feel okay with it.

Because Tori has her life so together as we all know, she is starting a Dear Tori column on her website. You can submit questions about issues and problems you are having and she will answer them! Don't we all want Tori to help us sort out our lives?

"I am Farrah! I do not want any negativity around me! I don't know why all of this negativity follows me around! The world is full of negativity and negative people! OMG!" :-)

Did anyone notice that when Catelynn was describing her depression, she said something like " I have always had depression (to explain away not knowing she had postpartum depression). It started when I was 22 just out of the blue--I had never had it before " I might have heard wrong, but I swear that is what I thought she said. How much past 22 can she be, and how did she have it for a long time or always if it started at 22? These people annoy me. I agree with much of what has been said.... how the people that need to be talked to get away with their crap, and then Dr Drew picks on those that don't need help as much. I didn't get the number of kids thing for Matt either. I know that Amber thought he only had 2, found out it might be 7, and now is okay with 5? And isn't the true answer actually still 7 from various documents? I am confused, but I am sure that is what they are trying to do. I also found the last segment with all of the girls confusing--they act like we know all of the ins and outs of all of their relationships and awkwardly parade them out to talk about it. Why pick on Catelynn for realistically not liking Farrah? A lot of people don't like Farrah. Ugh.

I feel like what Jubilee is saying when she says she is complex is that she comes from a completely different background than most, and knows she comes across differently--and that she struggles with her own personality at times (wanting to be more mainstream, but knows she isn't). Let's face it, not many of the women on the show were orphans in Haiti, and not many of them have been in the armed forces. Both of those things are influential -- even for those that are able to move forward from experiences like that, they still have an impact. I guess I just don't feel she is making excuses...I think she is being realistic about what she knows about herself. I felt that Olivia didn't really own up to her comments about the other women. Even if her behavior in the house could be explained away, they have all seen the episodes now to know what she said when they weren't around. I think she isn't taking ownership for her personality flaws at all.

I just think a lot of Sef's pieces are awkward. They are not a beautiful type of "edgy" for me, but just odd. They seem to be lacking the quality one would look for in pieces that are a little different than the norm. The bed and lamp were awful...honestly that light over the bed reminded me of some operating room. I really liked Vivian's pieces, and I am so glad she pulled out the win.

I agree with you about the tangible results of the issues with those that follow up with bedtime practices...it is very rewarding for those that do it. I really liked last night's episode with the woman that was home alone with her 3 kids on a regular basis. You could tell that she was already spending a good amount of time with them, as she didn't have to transition too much to being more engaged with them. She just needed some tips on balancing her life, which in the end positively impacted her children. I think Jo did a great job of getting to the source of the issue for the whole family, and also nice that she understood that it wasn't easy for the husband either.

Another great episode. I am glad Erica got to have her moment...that was fun. And yes Barry's Footloose dance was great as well. Too funny...

What I remember about TM3 is that none of the girls were interesting in general. They didn't really have it any more together than the current set of teen moms. They were just really boring.

I agree with the consensus that Ben screwed this up by saying he loves 2 women. There was no benefit to that as he led them both to believe he is essentially choosing them by saying that. When they see they were both told the same thing, that just will lead to a whole new set of issues. But in the meantime, I just don't know what he was thinking....he knows he is going to have to choose one in the end, so how does saying I love you to the future rejected one help in any way?

You summed up what I was thinking. I always leave her segments so confused as if they are talking about something I should understand, but never have a clue of what they are referring to.