Jeeves

Thanks for posting the link. I was interested to see that actual leghumping fans have dissed the latest episodes as consisting of too much recycled/repeated footage from old shows. About the wannabe-Z-list-celeb Amy, I have no sh*ts to give.

Sadly, it's no mystery to me. Anna's been thoroughly indoctrinated - for most if not all of her life - with those Christian Patriarchy fundamentalist teachings. She really is all about being a wife and popping out babies, although she appears to be more interested in actually being a mother to her loinfruit than Michelle is. Anna landed one of the fundie royalty when she got JoshUa, and it came with a level of income and creature comforts that is rare for young families following the Quiverfull/Gothardite/etc. Christian patriarchial/fundie belief system. It would surprise me if she ever did leave Josh.

I'd bet that TLC would love love love to have some tension, to breathe some air into this DOA Bible Belt snoozefest! So if the Seewalds aren't on, I'd bet it's because JB (who I assume is calling the shots on behalf of all his kids and their spouses) won't agree, or the Seewalds have flat out refused, or TLC wouldn't cough up the appearance fees. Probably it's option 1 or 2. Because of the need for some people besides the dimwit Duggars and possible interesting tensions, I'd be surprised if TLC wouldn't pay their usual fees for at least a few Seewalds to pop in now and then.

^^Yes, I also suspected shenanigans about how the dog got that overheated, in the absence of any disease/infection. She got very incoherent very fast when it came to how that happened despite her many declarations of intensive love for the dog.

So, I read that excellent comment, and this went through my head:

Can you cite a source for this? I can't find anything online that confirms it. The current season is generally known as "Season 2," both in this forum and online TV Guide. l found articles speculating about the chance of renewal and one that reports the status as "yet to renew." But nothing confirming that TLC has green-lighted another season. Thanks. Edited to add link to TV Guide.

So, it's April Fool's Day. Dear Abby, in honor, published "a few of the most colorful [prank] letters that have turned up in [her] mailbox lately." And - drumroll please - it includes a Mowing The Lawn While Scantily Clad™ story! My thoughts immediately flew to Michelle Ruark, Teenaged Heartbreaking Hussy, who despite her Missing Back Muscle™ donned a bikini, or shorts and a bikini top, I forget which, mowed the lawn thusly attired, and thereby created lust and havoc in the marriages of neighbors. But, in the Dear Abby column, and a few of the comments, the scantily clad lawn mower was male. I've never given much credence to the whole Michelle lawn-mowing (sub)urban legend, and Dear Abby's column today reminded me why. I don't doubt Michelle as a teen wore a bikini. However, I find it hard to believe that she ever lifted a hand to any useful work, and I totally call BS on the claim that the mere sight of her would affect a man so strongly it would damage or destroy his marriage.

Boob is still in the car business. He buys vehicles at auction. I learned this from a post last year on a Duggar or fan page somewhere. Can't recall the details. Whatever Jinger is doing I am sure it is all part of JB's business.

I doubt Jessa knows much about health, including the immune system. I think her brain is full of being on TV, fixing her makeup, doing her hair, playing with her baby, handing off said baby when she's had enough, being on TV, being a Duggar, Ben, taking another selfie, finding a marked-up Bible verse to post on social media, worrying about her figure, Ben . . . In other words, I think that what we see is about what she is. She might have been more, and probably still could be. But her parents brought her up Duggar.

On the subject of SSI, yep, being poor isn't enough to qualify. A couple of pages back, Rancide wrote a helpful post about what "disabled" means for purposes of SSI eligibility. Based on that, I'd bet that even if Sean lost significant weight and became something like normally mobile, he might remain eligible unless/until he became employable. Given his many issues, he could be a lifer on SSI.

About the divorce talk, there's a lot of uninformed clickbait garbage that's put on the innernets, and the Duggars will be featured in some of it as long as they have any name recognition. I doubt they would divorce, and I don't care what their sleeping arrangements are. I can't be bothered to watch their latest show, and I would have wandered away from the discussions here, except that you're all so intelligent and witty that I just can't quit. But. I do harbor a hope that as the new episodes are created, TLC will - perhaps in spite of itself - reveal more of the not-so-pretty reality of the Duggars' lives. The messy houses are a nice start. I'd actually watch an episode in which TLC cuts old footage of Boob and Mechelle pontificating on their "values" such as "modest dress" and "no dancing, no music with a backbeat" with Bin doing Christian rap and some of the daughters' much less frumpy (tighter, etc.) attire. I would love it if TLC has some old footage of Michelle yakking about how even tiny girls must be all covered up so they don't defraud men. And someone at TLC has the cojones to run it now. I remember a scene at someone's wedding where a tiny Josie (aged 4?) was wearing a sleeveless or sun dress with a jacket over it, and as she ran around playing the jacket slipped off her shoulders. Michelle was *very* determined to pull that jacket up and hide those little shoulders! After the revelations about Josh's molestation of little girls about that age, that's a disturbing scene to me.

I agree. Thank goodness for the FF key on my DVR. I had this on live while I was mostly working in another room where I could hear the TV. Usually I ignore any TV sounds if I want to, but the constant whining, crying, and hollering on this episode was so annoying, I went into the other room and turned off the TV. Did a quick flip through the recorded episode to see if I'd missed anything. I fear that Lupe, with her damaged heart, isn't long for this world, and I wish her well. But, gosh, what a mess her life is. She was given a rare and golden opportunity to work with Dr. Now and his people to rescue her physical health but she just didn't seem emotionally/mentally able to handle it. I agree with whoever upthread, pointed out that her failure to get up on her feet was related to the state of her marriage. She walks, and then he walks (out). So sad.

That happened to me too. This is a new episode, and I think the last one of this season. There's a discussion topic for it here, but it's locked. I suppose the mod put it up there and forgot to unlock it after the episode aired. I just watched a few minutes of it, but set the DVR to record it, so I can see it later with the FF key in hand.

Maybe TLC isn't willing to throw as much money into this show as they did before. Although I assume they flew all of them down to "Dangerous! Central America" for the filming.

I vote for that second option.

In that clip JB repeatedly said "Terry" and then fumbled the last name. He was trying to call out the opponent by name and failed, and wasn't fast enough on his feet to switch to plan B and say "the opponent."

I can totally see that happening. Assuming that Josh can hold it together and walk through™ the "I was a sinner, and now I'm redeemed, and I'm here to testify as to the power of Jesus in my heart" thing. IMO fundie Christians eat that sh*t up with a spoon. So does the general public, hence the audience for shows like Intervention. Although the general public tends to expect to see actual, you know, different behavior from an addict, like not drinking/using anymore, vs. just listen to the addict preaching. The faithful don't bring so much skepticism to the pews, when you're peddling a "Jesus saved me from Satan" story. Plus, Josh has served the six months in Jesus Jail, which lends credibility to any redemption story he wants to spin for a receptive audience. Sending him there was a stroke of genius on JimBob's part. He knows his audience - the fundies for sure, and maybe TLC. Now, whether Josh is capable of, or willing to, do the "I was a sinner, but Jesus saved me" thing, who knows? He could have emerged from Jesus Jail in worse shape emotionally than when he went in.

And, bless you for this! I'm lucky to be part of an extended family in which it's the norm for girls and boys to be taught useful household skills as they grow up, and expected to use them before leaving the nest. It makes me sad to encounter young people who don't have a clue, often because nobody ever taught them stuff when they were youngsters.

OMG. Sherry's episode was on this afternoon on DLife. What a beast she was. Hosebeast. Creature from Hell. Waste of space. Yeah, I'm not a fan. Those poor kids! Her daughter has to take care of Sherry's fat lazy ass, and Sherry blames the KIDS for the condition of the house. I'd love to know what has happened to those kids since the episode aired. I hope to hell someone rescued them from that house of horrors. And charged BOTH the damned parents with child abuse.

I don't think Robin Roberts interviewed the Duggars. She did make some comments after the interview, which have been discussed somewhere around here.

Omigosh, people. I went to the doctor today, mostly routine maintenance and to have a few things checked out. It's a big HMO clinic, with several departments, a radiiology facility, lab, pharmacy, etc. Because I *am* more than a few pounds overweight, one subject on the agenda was weight loss. So, anyway, after the nurse took me into an exam room and did the intake, vitals, etc., she pulled a hospital gown out of a cabinet and laid it on the counter and said, "After the doctor sees you, she may want an EKG, so here's a gown for you in case." Sure enough, the doctor did want me to have an EKG. Then she picked up the folded gown and kind of frowned. She said, "this is one of the really really large ones; let's get you a regular one," and as she put that one away and pulled out a smaller one, she said something like, "These big ones are like tents." And I laughed and mentioned watching this show. Yep, they're now stocking supersized gowns at the HMO clinic. Then, I went downstairs to the lab for the blood draw the doc had ordered. There's a waiting area full of chairs, all with arms. And I realized as I sat down, that the chairs included at least one extra-extra-wide chair. Same style and finishes, but about twice the width of the regular chairs. I'm glad they are accommodating their bigger sized patients, but it's a sad commentary on how obese we're getting in this country all the same. As for me, I can still sit in the regular chairs, and by God I'm going to lose these superfluous life-sucking pounds. I swear. I've already made some changes to my diet - for the better - and there are more to come. This show has been helpful to me, in a horrible kind of way.

My understanding that as to SSI, if you're under age 65, you must be blind or disabled to receive it. While I doubt that Sean is going to be able to hold a job anytime soon, he can't keep getting SSI just because he's "still poor" if he ever does become able to hold a job. There may be some other kind of assistance they can collect if they "stay poor," but I don't think it's SSI.

Wow. I watched the opening scenes of this episode, and had it on in the background while doing other things. I finally turned it off, I think after Sean had gained a staggering amount of weight between his first and second visits to Dr. Now. I heard him say, in that time between visits, about his eating habits to lose weight, "I'm down to just one fast food meal a day now." Color me unsurprised that he gained another adult person's worth of weight between those doctor visits. Holy french fries!! I assume that his "one fast food meal a day" was more like two meals, neither of which was a salad with a bottle of water. My take on Sean's back story is that he didn't get love and support from his dad, may have not fit in well with his peers, and learned when very young to soothe his feelings with food. Then his parents got divorced, and maybe that's when his mom went to work, and Sean came home from school to an empty house where he could soothe and soothe himself with food. Maybe when he got hurt and laid up, it was Mom's excuse to quit her job. And however it came about, she got to stay home and "care" for Sean, with both of them getting enough benefits (SSI, whatever) to get by. When (ok, if) Sean loses weight and gets enough of his physical issues dealt with, that he's no longer eligible for disability benefits? Mom, unless she develops her own disabilities, also loses benefits. And - has to get a job. She's been out of the work force for at least 8 years by now, and may not have liked working anyway. Just my opinion based on the bits we learned at the start of the episode of Sean's history. I'm afraid he'll never get well, though, so Mom may be OK with that caregiver gig. Unless the poor guy dies - which could be damned soon if he farts around and doesn't lose more weight.

Thanks to all of you who took one for the team by watching that mess. I figured I'd already lost one hour this week because of Daylight Savings Time, and didn't want to lose another one watching that show. I appreciate all the reports and commentary that have been posted here!

But, they have the TLC paychecks, and the boys have Daddy's businesses work at, and the girls will have Daddy find them a wonderful upstanding Christian man who will care for them. Oh, wait. About that marriage thing. The Duggars have five adult (18 or older) daughters now - and three are still waiting for Daddy to come up with a fine spouse for them. Like, you know, Bin and Derick.