CarolMK

I really like Dr. Now. He's from Iran, I think (hence the accent) and he's been in Texas for quite a long time now and will operate on the severely obese than probably many other doctors will not. I think I heard that the limit for most gastric patients is about 500 lbs. When he was talking about having to tie off 400-500 blood vessels through some of these surgeries, my respect for him increased tremendously. It also appears from what we've seen that he doesn't turn too many patients away, he will operate if at all possible.

I watched the old episode of Olivia's story, the one who had a twin sister and had to live in her mom's basement for 2 years. She'd previously had a lap band but it was unsuccessful, so she ended up moving to Texas to live with her brother after her surgery. Dr. Now actually kept her in the hospital 3 months after surgery because of her medical issues...the inability to walk was a big problem because she had a huge 40 lb. lympodema on her stomach that hung down past her knees....once she went from 587 down to 300 lbs, he removed it. Holy cow, that lympodema looked really, really bad. Seeing stories like hers makes me wonder why people wait until they get to around 600 lbs before seeking help. Anyway, her update is on tonight and I can't wait to find out how she's doing.

I thought that Jana played the harp, and was the most talented out of all the girls who played. Also, she does sew, as we've seen many times on the show. I have a feeling she made most of the girls' dresses starting when she was about 12 years old for many years, until TLC came along and they could afford to go to thrift shops. She could play the harp at fundie weddings or be a seamstress and make a living if she was allowed to do so. I just don't think the Duggars encourage their daughters to have careers outside the home. Their friends the Bates don't seem to mind (Michaela is employed as a full time nanny), but the Duggars want their girls home until they get married.

I doubt Zach and Whitney had chaperones when he was hanging out with her at Sonic, where they met. I agree this was filmed and spliced together over about a 3 month period so it's a little hard to keep up with what's going on with everybody in real time.

I think in "real time" it's only supposed to be about 2 1/2 years since the series started. Ian was 15 in season one and Lip 16. However, last season Lip told Amanda's parents that he was 19, so Ian should be 18 or close to it. Also, if Ian hadn't dropped out, wouldn't he have graduated right about now (summer starting)? The one I'm not quite sure about is Liam, he was supposed to be about 18 months in season one, and he looks to be at least 4 years old by now. It's funny how both actors who play Carl and Debbie are now 15 , they're literally a month apart in real life, but he looks at least 2 years younger than she does. Deb was 10 1/2 in season one, but she looks too old to be age 13, or whatever age she's supposed to be now. I believe Carl is supposed to be either 12 or 13.

Since it seems a lot of cable providers don't offer the UP channel, will the ratings matter for a network like this? I'm sure that the TLC network pays better than this network does. Since it's a new show, it might do better as time goes on.

I think that both Erin and Chad seemed more relaxed and happier in this episode. It might be that they're still getting used to being in front of the camera, but overall it looked like the dinner she made with her siblings looked like fun (and the younger ones were cracking me up, all talking at once). They seemed relieved once they visited the doctor, too.

Out of curiosity I did some reading up on the Daniel Webster family. Apparently they did homeschool all 6 of their kids using the Gothard basic life principles books. Blech. Hopefully John and Alyssa won't do the same. Considering how young she was when she married him, it seems her main motivation was to get out of her house . What exactly does John do anyway...is he some kind of politician too?

I admit that I did like Kellly saying that they have rules in their house, but once the kids leave that they make their own rules. Can you ever imagine MIchelle or Jim Bob saying this out loud? Also, way to go on Zack and Whitney kissing before marriage (trust me Bates, I'm certain that 99% of your viewing audience could give a damn if your kids kiss before their wedding day), and also Michaela and her front hug with Brandon. In addition to Zack saying his son can watch Pooh Bear, and Alyssa stating that she had pierced ears whereas her family doesn't, this is a stark contrast to the Duggar family. The Duggar offspring won't admit on camera to any different kind of thinking that their parents. In fact, a couple of years ago, it seemed to be a big deal that Joshua grew a beard when the family went to England and Israel. Now that both Jill and Jessa's husbands sport beards, it seems to be okay for John David and Joseph to have them as well...I'm sure that before that, all facial hair wasn't allowed because Jim Bob never had it. I did notice the timing seemed strange with Alyssa and the little kids. The clock in her kitchen went from 4:30 to 5 15 pm, which seems like an odd time to have the kids drop over for a visit and a snack. I also laughed about the pre made cookies. At least Erin let her siblings help her make dinner. Overall it seems like Alyssa is doing well away from her family, I'm not sure that Erin could handle it, so it's good that they live so close to her family. I noticed Alyssa's husband doesn't like talking on camera.

One thing I'm hoping for is that they don't get singled out and picked on if they don't conceive right away. I feel that for any of the Duggar daughters, they'll be compared with Michelle and the public will be speculating why Jessa hasn't suddenly gotten pregnant the way Jill did right after marriage. Even if it's the truth, I'm sure Jessa and Ben would never publicly announce that they've decided to limit the size of their family. I have no idea on what his parent's view on birth control is..it seems lilke they chose not to use any...but still, his mom and dad had 7 children in 20 years of marriage. This seems more to be in line with what would be normal for most people not using birth control..having 19 in as many years has to fall on the extremely high end of fertility.

I think that one reason that the kids seem more mainstream than the Duggars is that both the parents seem to be more normal than Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. The Bates are fine with going to a local church, they didn't mind when their oldest son married a woman he found on his own without parental involvement and they also seem to be okay with their children having more mainstream jobs like Zack working as a sheriff and their son in law Chad working at a metal factory. It seems like the Duggars are super controlling...look at how Michelle freaked out when Ben and Jessa held hands during a simple dinner prayer. Jim Bob insists on approving a man before his daughters can even go on date and on announcing that their kid saved their first kiss for their wedding day, and on and on. If I recall, it was the Bates who had both Zach and Michaella as volunteer firefighers/first responders before the Duggars thought it was all right for their children to volunteer as well. It seems that the Duggars do not allow their kids to make any meaningful decision on their own...everything has to be approved by Mom and Dad. I don't see the Bates as nearly as controlling. I also tend to think that the Bates parents are more relaxed and happier with each other than Jim Bob and MIchelle...Jim Bob always has to prove to the audience how great he is and how much he loves Michelle by constantly making out with her on camera.

The one good thing about the show continuing to air is that the single adults like Jana will be a part of it and the audience will wonder about what's going on with her. If she continues to remain single, Jim Bob may feel that he has to either come up with a suitor that she likes or find an approved career path for her that is acceptable to their faith. If it lasts 5 more years, Jana will be approaching 30 and the need to mother the little ones won't really be there anymore. Somebody has to be in charge of homeschooling but it will probably only be the youngest 5 who are still learning at home by then. Some of the other siblings will be married and then what will Jana have to do all day if she doesn't have a job, besides cook, clean and do laundry?

I hope I'm not being off topic for making comparisons, but one thing I observe about the Duggar children is that they all seem to be totally dependant on their parents. I do think that Jim Bob and Michelle have strongly encouraged this. Jim Bob has to provide jobs and homes for his children before they can marry. Having watched the new Bates show, I don't see this same dynamic with their kids. It seems that they are able to think and express themselves better than the Duggar offspring.

Was it really Thanksgiving when Alyssa told her family? I'm not sure about the editing, but Whitney had the baby on October 29, so the shower must have taken place sometime before that. I thought that Alyssa was due in April. Also, didn't they mention that this was the first time Alyssa was coming back to see them all since her wedding in late May? I'm thinking it all must have happened sometime in October. The fact that Alyssa told her inlaws before she told her own family makes me wonder if she relates to her inlaws and feels closer to them than she does her own family.

I like Erin and Chad. We don't know much about him yet, but he seems to genuinely love her. I always thought she was very talented with her music and was happy to see that she did complete college (I know there was some talk about it not being accredited, but still a better choice that the online College Plus program). Does she teach students the piano? I thought I had seen this in the Bates family blog. Hopefully they'll be able to find out what's going on with her since she's had 3 miscarriages in a year. Same thing happened to my mom over 50 years ago (actually it was 4) , who went on to have the 3 of us in the 60's. By the time my sister and I were expecting our first kids around 20 years ago, it turns out that both of us had very low progesterone and had to take it throughout our pregnancies...my sister did almost miscarry her oldest daughter, now 26, until the doctors discovered this. I'm hoping it's just a simple case of hormone imbalance for Erin too and she'll be able to have no further problems.

I thought one of the boys , maybe Nathan, wanted to be a minister? And was Lawson the one who had his own landscaping business? I do think that all of the Bates boys appear to be more prepared for the future than the Duggar boys. It seems like the Duggar boys will need help from Jim Bob to get into a home business or whatever he has in mind for them. It doesn't appear that the Bates parents want to totally control their children's career choices, at least from what I have observed so far. Zach got the job of county commisionner or sheriff, (not sure exactly what his job is) without the help of Gil and Kelly, didn't he?

Kelly is pretty likeable in my opinion. I just wish she would change her hairstyle so that she doesn't look so much like MIchelle Duggar. Gil is all right, too. He doesn't seem to have a huge ego the way Jim Bob Duggar does and actually likes his kids.

Aren't they waiting until her boyfriend finishes school? I thought there could be no formal announcement until that time. Also, I wouldn't classify her as an old maid since she's been in a relationship for over a year now. I like the fact that she is actually employed as a nanny and doesn't work for her parents as an unpaid one. She probably has to only watch 2 or 3 kids as opposed to a dozen little ones.

It's interesting that Alyssa chose to marry so young (19?) and move to Florida with her husband. Maybe she truly wanted to get away from her family, she loves them but doesn't want to live down the street and spend all of her free time with them. I predict this couple won't be Gothard followers in the future. It will be interesting to see if they decide not to homeshool, homechurch and all the other things that her parents did while she was growing up.

So if Zach met Whitney on his own then they didn't have a courtship, no going to her daddy to have him approve him first, right? But it seems like it worked out well for them. Maybe the Duggars could learn something from the Bates.

I like the fact that the married couples have their own houses and I don't think that the parents gave the houses to them. Unless I'm missing something, it looks like the 3 married couples are self sufficient. Compare that to the Duggars, all 3 of their married children had houses given to them.

One inconsistency I'm wondering about is when Cole says that he's been with Alison for 20 years. Isn't she supposed to be 31 or at the most 32 by now? Also, if it's 4 months after Christmas, then it's late April. in New York, that's still cold enough to wear long sleeves and sweaters, not sundresses. It looked more like June. We haven't seen Whitney with Scotty at all in this series, other than the time they were at the house during that party. Yet Whitney tells her parents that she loves him, even now 4 months after her abortion....really? Has she actually seen him/beein in touch with him all of this time? You'd think a 17 year old girl would have tried to move on after that experience. I didn't like how Noah treated Helen when they first decided to get back together. She's caught up in kissing him and all he wants to do is get it on doggy style, and it seems like that wasn't at all what she was expecting. And by showing him with about 4 or 5 young women and only being separated for 4 months, both from his wife and his lover, not only does he come across as a sleaze bag, he doesn't appear to have any emotional attachment to any of these women. They might as well have been prostitutes.

I liked it too. And Rose playing Santa was fantastic! I didn't think Walden would accept her friendship so easily after she set the ferrets on him and Alan last season. One thing I have been wondering...do foster kids usually call their foster parents by their first names? I remember back in high school, there was a family nearby who had several teen foster kids living with them and the kids always referred to them as Mom and Dad. And yes, I do agree that I hope Walden gets to adopt Lewis. Though wouldn't Alan also be his parent too, since he's married to Walden?

Ben is majoring in political science. I saw it on his facebook page one time, he actually replied to somebody who asked.

I wonder if there's any chance that they will return to the same orphanages that they've been to before. Does anyone remember the one teen girl that Jill became very attached to, the one who told her that she wished that the Duggars would take her home with them? How long ago was this? It would be truly amazing if Jill and Derrick decided to adopt this girl although the process would probably take so long, she would be an adult by the time the paperwork was completed.