Superb Owl

I'm not a big Dulce fan (I know I'm in the minority, but that's ok), but I'm wondering where she is these days. She still has only had 1 day hosting (last year) IIRC and she's not done any bits this week, but Grace has done a couple. It seems odd. @Lantern7 I really miss Roy too. I think the correspondents have been doing a really good job for the most part, but I wish they'd find a way to bring Roy back.

Ronnie Chieng was on Late Night with Seth Meyers last night and confirmed tht the correspondents will handle hosting duties Tuesday-Friday.

Roy Wood Jr. and Jordan Klepper co-hosting would be my dream team for the non-Jon shows. Regardless, I hope they continue have Jordan do his excellent field work. Out of the guest hosts, I liked Kai Penn the most. I'm giddy about Jon returning!

I agree with this (I was pretty self-sufficient at 9 y.o. myself; both my parents worked at the business they owned and were gone 12-15 hours a day); but IIRC, nothing was modified or adapted for her height--kitchen counters, cooking areas, etc.) so I'm not sure how she adapted to that aspect, let alone get up & down both the inside stairs and the steps leading up to the apartment house. Most apartments don't have washers or dryers; how did she keep her clothes clean? Or herself, could she get in & out of a bathtub? It really does boggle the mind and there's no doubt she had to learn survival skills and grow up FAST, so those who make comments about her "not being sweet and innocent" may consider how "sweet and innocent" a child may be after being shuffled around an orphanage, a number of foster homes, emotionally abused, and finally abandoned in an apartment at age 9. Add in the factor that she very well could have been sexually abused (at the very least, at the orphanage if not beyond that) and yeah, there's some major damage there. I truly hope she has had or is getting therapy.

This story has me so fascinated that I did what I never thought I'd do; I created a TikTok account. Natalia has her own Tiktok account (recently created); so do the Mans. It appears that on 12/29/23, Natalia made her first post about how 2024 was going to be incredible. That was followed by a comment from the Mans which said: "I love you so much, my forever baby"; Natalia replied "I love you too". The timeline, as far as what I can piece together, is that Natalia was formally adopted by the Mans in June '23 (after living with them for I believe 10 years), and that phone call was placed in mid-December. While I don't doubt that Natalia suffered severe trauma in her first 10 years of life, and exhibited inappropriate behavior at times as a result, I just can't fathom what could have changed in the 10+ years the Mans have cared for her, and a mere 6 months after her adoption, to trigger a phone call like the one we heard. And going by the Tiktok exchange, if there was anything truly difficult happening a few weeks back from that, it's all patched up by now???? So very many questions. Although I'm not a huge fan of religion in general, and in particular the rabid, rigid christianity that the Mans seemed to follow, they did seem to care for her a great deal and didn't try to whitewash past behavior of hers. I guess you just never know with "reality tv", even one that presents itself as a documentary, what is exaggerated/staged/edited to be more dramatic and what the actual truth is (although I think there's plenty of reason to believe, from all sources, that the Barnetts are just garbage people). I hope we're not kept in suspense until the inevitable Season 3, although I'm sure the producers would prefer it that way.

It's his basement room, he lives there. it was mentioned in Season 1. Very weird, since it appears to be a fairly good-size house from the exterior shots, so I'm sure it has more than one bedroom. Which reminds me of Michael crying (of course) in S1, E1, that he "has nothing" and I think he specifically mentioned not having a house and a car. But he has a big house (probably a rental, but who the bleep knows), a yellow Corvette sitting out front that's "broken", but also has what looks like a late-model white sports car that he drove to the trial and to the meeting with Natalia (and away from, as we all witnessed the temper tantrum). I guess he hides that somewhere? What a douche.

Oh, and another thing I was wondering...I think it was the last episode of Season 1....when Jacob (oldest son) declared he was done with his interview, but forgot to take his mic off...and then proceeded to go upstairs and have a conversation with daddy dearest about "I didn't say anything about 'falling down the stairs" like you told me, then they both repeated the"falling down the stairs" line a number of times before Jacob realized he was still mic'd. But there was no follow-up to that! Who fell down the stairs (I imagine Natalia, but what was the story? )God, what shitty people. I do feel sorry for Jacob. From outgoing child prodigy to just being this repressed, affectless shell of a person. And so vulnerable to brainwashing from both parents.So very sad.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing about lack of documentation (including all you said and more....how about the supposed feces on the car window?) considering the amount of random stuff they *did* record. And also...if your 6-year-old child had publc hair and then started having periods, would you NOT take her to the doctor toot suite? Yes, it's not completely unheard of, but it's certainly unusual enough to get her checked out. But they were just like "huh, that's weird, oh well" Did they take her to a doctor/pediatrician at all? doesn't sound like it. But then again, it was driving me nuts during Season I when they never talked about taking her to the dentist, who could also give an estimate of her age. But then it turned out they DID, and then just blatantly lied about what was said. Every episode of this blows my mind a little more. What evil, foul, malicious people the Barnetts are.

Apparently the alert was sent in error or whatever, because it didn't happen. BM's website says "Real Time is returning! The date will be announced soon!" I've also seen references elsewhere to a Sept. 29 return. I really don't think anyone has a clue right now, including BM. For those who haven't seen it, BM and Howard Stern are currently feuding because BM went off on some weird tangent on his podcast about how Howard Stern talks too much about how he loves his wife and that must hurt the feelings of his ex-wife of 22+ years ago. (huh? yep). Howard, understandably , called the rant bizarre and sexist (if Howard Stern is calling you sexist, well....) and just pretty much trashed Bill. I never would have predicted 15 years ago that Bill Maher would regress into the creepy cranky narcissist he is and Howard Stern would turn into an evolved, "woke" (his words) human being.

Bwah ha ha🤣 🤣 But you're right, and now I can't unsee it.

But what happened to the 3-horned sheep that was kept in the jail cell? Only half-joking. I'm sure there was a symbolism there, but I'm not sure what it was. Does anyone have any answers/theories? Was that an element in the books?

Yes, exactly, I said something similar earlier in the thread. Seeing how they both treated John, I said to Mr. Superb Owl while watching the episode that "this is child abuse". Maybe it wasn't meant to be taken so seriously but man, it was brutal to me. Question, was the kid that John was fighting with when the episode started the same kid who was teaching him baseball? Maybe when the shit hits the fan with Barry & Sally, John can go live with that kid's family who at least seemed closer to normal. I'm obviously thinking about this too much.

I neither loved it or hated it. I just mostly felt sad for that poor kid. And I don't even like kids that much.

My completely unqualified opinion is that Nutsa will be around for awhile. Because she's talented? No. Because she's charismatic? Ha. Because my recollection of AI (haven't watched it in *many* seasons) is that there's always somebody, every year, who wears out their welcome real quick (although I'm not sure Nutsa even had a welcome to wear out), but somehow persists in hanging on, week after week, as more qualified contestants get flicked off, collectively making the viewers groan "WHY is he/she still here??? WHY????" Let's face it, the producers LOVE the drama. You can never convince me there isn't some manipulation going on. Part of why I quit watching, but here I am again. Glutton for punishment, I guess. I'll be glad when the show gets down to a manageable hour every week. Right now all I have time for is to go through the clips. Nobody blew me away, but We Ani and Iam remain my favorites so far. One problem is that I'm getting too old to know not only the songs but the mentors. But at least the contestants get to sing songs they're familiar with, even though most aren't my jam. Does the show still have Motown night and Elvis night and all those old corny theme nights for old people like me? 😁

I haven't watched Idol since Season Ten (!) because I got sick of the obvious machinations of the judges/producers, and I couldn't stand that year's winner. I don't know if the favoritism aspect has gotten any better, but at least they're not body-shaming the contestants anymore, thank god. What sucked me into watching was when I heard that Clay was appearing as a mentor. I've always loved him and thought he did a really good job with his advice. I cannot stand shouty songs (And I am Telling You) or shouty singers (Nutsa) so I tuned both of those performances out. I think my favorites from tonight were Ian (or is it Iam?) and the girl who sang her original song, something about What Are You Good For? I was not paying attention during the introduction, but found the song so catchy that I was searching for it online, unaware that it was a original song being debuted that evening. She was great, and I love the dichotomy between her singing and speaking voice. Looks like I'm hooked again, at least for the time being.