taragel

i wonder why this is the season where they're finally going to fast forward and catch up to reality (Janelle has said as much in interviews, that you'll see the whole Taeda Farms saga on this season's run and I believe I read Garrison's passing will be addressed). I assumed it was because it was maybe too difficult to not explain/reference what happened to Garrison for another two years (or whatever the lag would normally be) but if they aren't mentioning him anyway and cutting him out of shots that he could or would've been in since they're all supposedly from back in 2022...? I don't know. Do you think this could be the end of Sister Wives? Supposedly the main Puddle Monkey producer has also left the show. I imagine the ratings are actually quite good and am not sure why they'd wrap it up now...even if the premise/central conceit is no longer valid.

I thought it was telling that even Robyn's pleas ostensibly on the behalf of the "kids who just need Kody so much" (spoiler: they don't) were really about her and her own feelings about her father, so just as self-oriented in a way as Kody's reasons always are (and without a thought to if her own kids want/get to have their birth father in their lives?). They are two peas in a pod. At the end of that segment when she was talking about not understanding why he won't try harder/do more, I literally said out loud to my TV "BECAUSE HE IS A NARCISSIST, ROBYN!". But then... I supect she is as well. I wanted to know which kid told Kody he had brainwashed them for years--that's probably Leon, I assume? Although maybe it could be any of them if interpreted as Kody pretending to be a loving husband to their mom? So the only kids he has a good relationship with still/now are Mykelti, maybe Truly (doubtful) and Robyn's 5? Logan, Leon, Maddie, Aspen, Hunter, Paedon, Garrison (RIP), Gabe, Savannah, Gwen, Ysabel, all fell out/got cut off by him at some point. Jesus. And he can't understand why the idea that him saying he never loved their mothers could be hurtful to the kids in some way or that saying he regretted ever marrying the women also in effect wishes his kids out of existence? What a douchebag. (Not new territory of course, but I just marvel at it again every once in a while.)

I'm kind of coming around on Nathalia. I think she clearly understands way more English than these bozos do Spanish and it was kind of fun to hear her whole "no condom= baby and you're shocked?" Though I'm also surprised that Dannielle and Garrick have/were still having sex for the entire 14 year gap right up till he went to Brazil apparently. They deserve each other. But I kinda want Nathalia to come back and be the villain for the next season!

Religion just seems like a very convenient excuse for these folks. They treat God like their imaginary friend who visits them in their garage occasionally, like Snuffleupagus visits BIg Bird. I thought it was very telling that when Garrick was talking about what was important about marriage, he said it wasn't about the ceremony or the vows but how they feel about each other. Uh, isn't the spoken vow (and all the pomp and circumstance that may or may not accompany it) the most important thing to you if you're uber-religious and getting married? If not, why marry these women at all? Just live/date/fornicate with them. Don't confuse your kids with this endless "search" for additional wives. Not a lick of sense amongst any of them sadly. Actually...Natalia seemed smarter than I expected. When she wasn't talking about loving/marrying Garrick, she seemed pretty savvy and on the ball. Did it also say she was studying to be a lawyer or some such? If she's in it for the money, she better work on "designing" better jewelry for the sisterwives. (The ring and necklace were both My Sisterwives' Closet worthy.)

Agreed. Although I was surprised by the pratfalling roll he did on to the wedding stage. That reminded me of something Kody might do/had done when he was younger. He did used to have a lot more goofy moments. They all talk so much about how he's changed/is a different man and I think we've always seen the frustrating/unfair sides of his personality so it's easy to be like "Bah, he hasn't changed much." But talking about this and watching the Look Back episodes, he was a much happier man (it seemed) when he was younger. More open to love, seemed to give his affection much more freely (didn't seem like he was pretending/playacting). I guess all his good humor went out the window as the strains of being a polygamist when it would've been so much easier to be monogamous with Robyn (in his eyes) who catered to him as she would her "best customer" took over.

Oh, thank you! Correcting above!

It was nice to see the adult kids again (though I wonder how the contract works/if they get paid to sit down for confessionals now--brief though they were). There was also a brief shot of the side of Leon's head on the boat, as they were in the row in front of Janelle, I think, right before or after she gave her speech. I was really struck by Maddie being overcome by tears for how happy she was for Christine because David loves her so much/is awesome. That and the brief convo about living with a man in the house all the time with Truely both were such sadly revelatory bits alluding to Kody's continually awful treatment of their moms. And even Caleb seemed sort of angry about it in that confessional. Hope Kody saw it and wailed for an hour about a knife in the spleen from his mancrush.

I definitely saw signs of physical attraction/chemistry/flirting between Janelle and Kody on the show even as late as the Vegas move. I wonder if she had left (for good) first if he would've reacted the way he did to Christine's leaving. Probably not because he wouldn't have taken it seriously since she's left and come back before. Maybe that's why he's in denial that this is "it" and is talking about potentially reconciling with Janelle even now--that's their pattern and he's waiting for her to want/need him in whatever way she does again. I expect he always mistook Janelle's general complacency with him for submission but she was actually doing whatever suited her and maybe he's aware of that now. But I think witnessing Christine's newfound freedom and joy and his unwillingness to reconcile with the boys or pay attention to Savannah has opened her eyes and she's fully done with him now. Hopefully anyway.

Whoof. So much re-trod ground. A few interesting bits: - The unedited scene of Kody and Janelle's big fight was actually uglier than we saw. It's hard to believe they never fought like that previously if she left him on 2 or 3 other occasions. -Kody actually used the term triangulation, which was brought up frequently during last week's show on Twitter. I don't think he used it correctly (surprise) but someone's been peeping the socials. -Meri's dead-eye, dead-voice recitation of "My voice will be heard" actually kind of made me laugh. It was so awkward and weird. Girl...too little, too late. -Why on earth does Kody want to fix it/have a romantic relationship with Janelle if he's finally admitting he's ONLY in love with Robyn? What for? Especially if she's not into it and he's saying he's annoyed that he's only seen as a piece of meat? WHY? WHAT? MAKE THE KODY BRAIN MATH MAKE SENSE. I know he's always angling but....surely he realizes he doesn't get any brownie points for hanging on to one more wife. He obviously doesn't care about his eternal heaven kingdom or whatever it is. I just don't get it. -I am ready to hear how Kody keeps sabotaging his relationship with Robyn by picking fights with her. Give me every schaedenfreudish detail. -I want a real question about personal debt and finances and Coyote Pass but I won't hold any breath for that to come. -i hope David is truly a delightful person who matches Christine's energy and love investment.

Probably not, but didn't Maddie have a nose peircing or eyebrow or something as a teen? Maybe I'm misremembering as Google isn't showing me anything on that. But when Kody first said that Christine has two piercings -- I thought he meant ears and somewhere else non visible/scandalous -- not two in her ears. Lol. Although now she has a tattoo on her chest and a lot of the kids have tattoos also. I also thought it was funny/intentional that as they were talking about Kody forbidding earrings so the wives wouldn't/never wore them...they kept showing old photos of the wives all wearing earrings. And then Kody said he had an ear pierced in high school and they kept showing his class photo, but I didn't see an earring or stud or anything in those? Maybe my vision was failing me but I thought they were trying to slyly point out that these fools even lie about trivial shit like that.

Me too. There was a scene much later, when they were moving their mattress in at the Vegas house where they were super flirty/affectionate/making with the innuendos and it surprised me.

NVM - late to the party seeing the trailer but glad the show is back!

A new clip of Janelle (and some Kody) from part three! GO JANELLE, GO! Sister Wives’ Janelle Is 'So Tired of Counselor Robyn' Meddling in Kody Drama (msn.com) https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/recaps/sister-wives-janelle-is-so-tired-of-counselor-robyn-meddling-in-kody-drama/ar-AA15YiEw?cvid=29d89fea48bb4d669c0c7187440f0741&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover A little disappointed this isn't the segue into getting into Gabe and Garrison more but maybe there is more to come in the show itself.

Is it me or am I not seeing anything in these articles about Meri "confirming split" other than them playing her Kody's clip saying she can just go elsewhere and her saying "I guess he made a decision"? I mean they're already divorced and have been for years...so the only thing that would really confirm the split is her maybe leaving Flagstaff for good? But it wouldn't honestly surprise me if this signifies nothing/no changes. She'll just keep living like a single woman in Flagstaff presumably. Maybe she'll talk to Robyn... a little less?

Three parts!

Right, but... as the head of Deadline, Nikki (RIP, as she died earlier this year I believe) and/or her staff would have pretty good sources and good familiarity (as would many other Hollywood folks) as to what reality tv show budgets look like at TLC. So that top number about the budget is likely correct: 250-400K an episode. It sounds about right to me (my knowledge is limited but I'm a literary agent and when my authors books get adapted they get 2% of the budget for the film/TV episodes or a flat fee in the same ballpark) that the cast wouldn't get any more than 10% of the episode budget. So I think those numbers are probably pretty accurate. What happened regarding taking a pay cut in 2012 or subsequent raises afterwards or how the Kodouche clan allocates the money? All that we're very unlikely to ever know unless one of them actually talks about it (and even then... 🤷‍♀️). Completely agreed that the money they take in from the show seems like it could not possibly fully fund their lifestyles, maybe not even just their mortgages alone. Some percentage of all the graft (Kody's actual career as a gun salesman, Meri's inn, Lularoe, Plexus, Cameo income, whatever Robyn does, real estates sales) clearly goes into the family income, but even then.... In addition to the crazy housing and daily living expenses, Kody has a taste for fancy watches, a wardrobe x4, and previously at least, expensive cars. I agree that he likely funds his lifestyle by being "creative" with money just as he said last episode. He grifts the system, relying on backruptcy, tax evasion, and who knows what other under-the-table type dealings and no doubt carries an enormous amount of debt.

Me too! October 11 Libras, unite! That Kody would call him on his birthday, when their relationship had already been pretty estranged and he gave Gabe so much flack about not obeying his "protoculls" only to say "Oh shit, Robyn and the kids (and maybe me) got it anyway. What should I do now? I'm so confused!" is so perfectly egregious that it's right on brand for Kody. Of all the needy selfish things you could call and ask him about (and there are so many, when it comes to Kody)... how to protect Robyn/you from Covid is like literally the very worst possible thing. The fact that there was no follow up confessional with Kody about it also seems very telling -- though a little surprised they didn't have one where they clearly ask Kody about it and he complains that he was out of his mind with Covid AND ROBYN MIGHT DIE, how could Gabe dare expect him to remember something as insignificant as his birthday. I wish Janelle had been more pissed and challenged him more at that restaurant. She's great in the talking heads, not so much in the room/on her feet. Define loyalty, Kody, without mentioning Robyn (or Christine). Can you even do it? I have a hard time blaming her or any of the OG wives for sticking it out so long though. Even though the Browns aren't religious or following the polygamist/Mormon traditions much, they all clearly have some indoctrination issues they can't shake. Anyone who can say "I won't give up on this marriage even though I'm not sure I love him" has a whole magazine rack to work through probably. I'm loving how terrible this all is for Kody, but this does feel like an incredibly long season, eh? (I'm also amused that even after leaving him and being in Utah, Christine still has more screen time than Meri.) I thought for sure this was the finale and next week would be a tell-all. If they even do one. I would love for them to get Leah Remini to host it. Haha.

The pay cut was actually many seasons back. Now that the ratings are up again, maybe pay has increased. Here's the most recent piece I could find (dated 10/25/22) about payment from Nikki Swift's news site (she was the former head/founder of Deadline). There are links to the InTouch and SoapDirt articles at the link too : https://www.nickiswift.com/1069511/how-much-money-do-the-stars-of-sister-wives-really-make-from-the-show/ Unlike other reality stars that have individual salaries, the Brown family in "Sister Wives" get paid as a collective. In Touch Weekly notes that the famous clan rakes in roughly 10% of the show's budget per episode, which is in the neighborhood of $250,000 to $400,000. If you do some quick math, the Browns only get $25,000 to $40,000. That may seem like a high amount, but there five adults (plus their kids) in the family splitting this salary. However, there were also reports that the Browns took home more than that. Per Soap Dirt, the adult members of the family each took home $180,000, totaling nearly a million dollars per season. But when TLC suggested that they cancel "Sister Wives," the patriarch of the family, Kody Brown, reportedly negotiated the network and agreed to a pay cut to keep the show on the air. He purportedly proposed to continue doing the show for one salary, less than $200,000. This apparently happened for season 12, but seeing as the show is now on its 17th season, it's safe to say that his tradeoff was successful.

She seems to be going hard on the Plexxus as a primary business, but said she does still sell LulaRoe in the interview. And yes, I imagine she makes something on the Cooking w/ Christine, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not really that much. Kody took a huge paycut to keep the show going and I saw it rumored that what they used to get per epsiode they now get for a whole season--and conjecture was it was as low as like 40-50K! So that only means 8-10K per person for each of the adults. It would be really ironic if Christine made more on her cooking show than she does participating in Sister Wives. I imagine she had to untangle her payment for SW from the family finances too.

Christine was interviewed on a podcast that just posted: Reality Life with Kate Casey. I listened last night and wouldn't say there were any real revelations but a few interesting tidbits - She did have counseling/ therapy to learn how to deal with Kody, specifically hypnotherapy. (She breathes through it, tells herself nothing he says matters, plants her feet and grounds herself and finds her center. ) -She was indeed talking to others about leaving him when they were in Vegas. Janelle gave her good advice and said you can't leave until you can afford (financially) to support yourself. (This gives me hope that Plexxus is pretty damn lucrative for them both and Janelle also sorted her finances out and was able to separate herself.) -Her one stipulation to doing the interview was that the podcaster couldn't ask her about her individual relationships with the other wives. (Though they did ask about Janelle, since it's clear they're on good terms. Christine said Janelle is her best friend.)

Clip of Janelle and Kody fighting about buying Christine's house while Savannah looks on silently: https://www.etonline.com/sister-wives-janelle-argues-with-kody-over-not-wanting-to-live-in-christines-house-exclusive-194866 A) Poor Savannah B) What a dumb argument. I know they're not going to actually talk money on camera but assuming they both (and maybe they don't) have access to the bank account they'd be drawing the funds from: how can Kody think there is enough money while Janelle thinks there is not. I mean, it should be pretty cut and dried? We need X, we have Y. Y must be greater than X. (Although... all Kody's mentions of needing to be "creative" might be a big key as to how they got in this predicament. Too much being creative, not enough acknowledging reality.)

Daniela's story is sad, but I'm a little surprised they framed it almost entirely around her and didn't go all in on the Camila texts, especially since that was what Nancy said made her "wake up." I mean I think Nancy actually knew everything all along (Moira Penza and Susan Dones have been tweeting that she did), BUT I think that's actually the pedophilia stuff that would be most convincing to most people that he really is despicable because she was underage. The room stuff is nuts (and actually make me think Lauren really should've gotten time/a harsher sentence) but Daniela was 24 and the room itself wasn't even locked. I get why she felt she couldn't leave it, because she was brainwashed to the extreme but ... IDK. I feel like Camila's texts were more damning and I'm surprised they didn't focus on those much more.

Kody and Robyn do know that they don't give any Emmys out for Reality TV acting right? Because whoo boy, what a performance. Never mind gaslighting Christine. Now they're gaslighting us, because all I could keep doing is scratching my head in confusion. Kody didn't love her, but he pretended to love her and it was such a sacrifice, because he married her just so she would play interference/ref between Meri and Janelle and birth a million kids for him and raise everyone's kids and... what a twisted fucking view of marriage he has. People should just stay and be miserable and never divorce if things go bad? He wouldn't have his precious Robyn if that was the case. And speaking of Ms. Eyebrows -- why the frak would Christine want more AFTER she divorces the family, when she wasn't getting anything from you before she left? THAT IS NOT HOW DIVORCES WORK. And why, if you were Robyn, would you be so broken up over someone that you clearly think doesn't like you and hasn't for years leaving your circle? You would not. These people are just nuts. Kody isn't angry for any of the 27 "Wait! I know why I'm so angry" declarations he made on this show. He's angry Christine is leaving because he is completely jealous that she was unhappy and did something to change her life by leaving him, whereas he's unhappy and doesn't (feel he can) do anything. He sees it all falling apart -- wives not toeing the line, kids leaving and not talking to him, money not there to build plyg palace(s) -- and knows he can't really turn it around that he DID waste a lot of years being a stupid, mean shit and now it's finally coming back to bite his ass. The irony is that he's already got what he wants -- a monogamous happy family with Robyn and their kids. So what does he need from/care about with the other women/kids. Literally, just that they aren't under his control anymore. He's mad he can't be a dictator!

IDK, MLMs have always existed and, honestly, kind of thrived, as dumb as it may seem to us. The fan base has already been established and if they're hooked on those products (however implausibly) they may continue to buy for years to come. (I mean how are people STILL buying LulaRoe with all the ripped/flamable products, lawsuits, bad press/documentaries? But they are.) And if it's true that all the adults are only splitting like $40k a season now to film the show--$8K each isn't even as much as you'd make at a part-time job. I think they all have some accumulated wealth at this point, that will probably carry them for a few years.

So Gwen has seemingly confirmed (via an IG Live) that Janelle has left Kody too. That's incredible. And means at least two more seasons to get to and cover that, I'm guessing? I don't think Kody will be quite as dramatic about it because Janelle has always been pretty independent, but maybe his control issues will rise up to the occasion and make him throw a new tantrum.