S05.E09: Tell All

[LazyToaster]

I agree with whoever suggested that Christine didn't like the whole idea of interviewing Kody & Robyn alone. Maybe she agreed to it, but the longer she thought about it the more it bugged her? It would seem SO dismissive... Ok, we want to talk to just the baby makers now so you old wives can go now. Ugh.

[SometimesBites]

Honestly I really don't see how spelling mistakes make someone moron. Intelligence isn't measured like that. It's so arbitrary and knowing the difference between one or the other doesn't make someone a genius - just good with grammar.

Oh, it's SO much more than their grammar. I don't have enough time left on the planet to waste it listing the ways that Robyn and Kody are moronic. I didn't suggest that IQ is measured by grammar skills, either--just snarking on the Browns.

Edited August 2, 2014 by NewBaku

[Higgins]

Honestly I really don't see how spelling mistakes make someone moron. Intelligence isn't measured like that. It's so arbitrary and knowing the difference between one or the other doesn't make someone a genius - just good with grammar.

I agree with this. Spelling has nothing to do with intelligence. It has more to do with visual and auditory processing. For instance, dyslexics are generally poor spellers but, very often very intelligent.

[riverblue22]

It's fine to be a business person who is a bad speller, as long as you know it and compensate for it by having others check your work.   I am sure the brighter teenagers could look at what they put on their website and correct it.  I would also think Janelle could put out a polished product.  But for some reason it seems to have been left to Robyn who Is uneducated and apparently doesn't even know it.  Could it be nobody really cares if the business fails?

[Rhondinella]

As much as I appreciate a good grammar discussion, what with being an English professor and all, I'd like us to move off this topic.  I THINK I can say that we would all agree on the following things:

 

a) ability to spell or use correct grammar is not necessarily a sign of intelligence of lack thereof, just a sign of facility with language, which is not everyone's thing

b) we all misspell stuff or say things incorrectly occasionally, especially in social media environments 

c) this generally isn't a huge deal if it's a casual context

d) but, if you are business person or have any kind of public presence and want people to take you seriously, you need to do it as well as you possibly can

e) which, in some cases, may mean recognizing your limitations and hiring or recruiting someone who IS good at it to proofread it for you.

 

Right?  Ok, with all that stipulated to, let's move on please.  Thanks.

[DakotaJustice]

As much as I appreciate a good grammar discussion, what with being an English professor and all, I'd like us to move off this topic. 

I agree with this, but I have to interject that the fact that we've run out of snark material and now have sunk to criticizing their proficiency in English pretty much shows how this episode was utterly devoid of content.  IMO :)

Edited August 4, 2014 by DakotaJustice

[Starfish]

Did anyone else notice that Janelle wasn't wearing any jewelry? No crappy joolry and no wedding ring? Nothing at all. Everyone else was wearing their usual 17 pieces of flair, but Janelle had nothing. 

[SometimesBites]

Did anyone else notice that Janelle wasn't wearing any jewelry? No crappy joolry and no wedding ring? Nothing at all. Everyone else was wearing their usual 17 pieces of flair, but Janelle had nothing. 

Ha...I appreciate that reference to Office Space. And yeah, I noticed that Janelle was not dripping with MSWC trinkets, and smiled. Being a sister wife is a game of survival and oneupwomanship. She may follow Kody in a lot of asinine directions, but when it comes to Kody's other snuggle-bunnies, Janelle is more often like a rock in the stream, just letting the other wives and their goofy middle school drama flow around her.

[BuddyMom]

I think refusing to wear the ugly jewelry is part of the middle school drama. I don't blame her, I wouldn't wear that cheap looking crap either. She's making a statement without actually saying anything. Make no mistake, she's as dysfunctional as the rest of the them.

[SometimesBites]

Make no mistake, she's as dysfunctional as the rest of the them.

No question. That's why I acknowledged that "She may follow Kody in a lot of asinine directions." Trailing after Kody's many schemes and hare-brained impulses--all while batting her baby-blues--is the very definition of dysfunctional. However, I still see her decision to forgo the MSWC bling as a step away from sister wifdrama

[mamey2422]

Janelle will hopefully find a real estate job or another state job with benefits

 

On her twitter, Janelle talks about showing houses and even selling a couple so it seems that she's an active real estate agent already. I know it's perhaps not saying much given the context of the family but I do think she's the most normal of the bunch and admire her attitude. 

[LuckyBitch]

On her twitter, Janelle talks about showing houses and even selling a couple so it seems that she's an active real estate agent already. I know it's perhaps not saying much given the context of the family but I do think she's the most normal of the bunch and admire her attitude. 

 

Good for her. If she's smart, she'll open a secret bank account and hide her commission earnings from the leeches.

[Kohola3]

On her twitter, Janelle talks about showing houses and even selling a couple so it seems that she's an active real estate agent already.

 

If you go to the TMI website (I know, too much time on my hands) it's pretty unimpressive.  They only have a handful of properties listed and if you check out the Agents page, Janelle has none listed and nothing in her profile except that she's in the "hit" TV series.  Christine is also listed.  There are only a few agents that appear to have be showing properties and a couple of them have only one.  

 

But then maybe they are using the same website designers as the SWC site.  At least there seem to be no misspellings but it takes forever for the pages to load.

[DakotaJustice]

If you go to the TMI website (I know, too much time on my hands) it's pretty unimpressive.  They only have a handful of properties listed and if you check out the Agents page, Janelle has none listed and nothing in her profile except that she's in the "hit" TV series.  Christine is also listed.  There are only a few agents that appear to have be showing properties and a couple of them have only one.  

 

But then maybe they are using the same website designers as the SWC site.  At least there seem to be no misspellings but it takes forever for the pages to load.

That was my thought as well. It's not like I go there often but I don't recall seeing Janelle as the listing agent on any of those properties. Maybe she helped with the open houses on the weekend and therefore would be considered helping to sell/selling a home.

[Kohola3]

At least Janelle tries to work, unlike the rest of them.

 

Of all of the jokers, she is the most likely to bring in the bread.  But Christine is also listed as an agent and, from her horrified reaction to having WORK WEEKENDS (horrors), I doubt she is actually working.  So I am not sure if having those two shown on the website as Realtors is at all accurate or just a publicity stunt

 

And since there are at total of 9 properties listed for the entire firm and 11 agents, figure the odds...

[Oldernowiser]

 

And since there are at total of 9 properties listed for the entire firm and 11 agents, figure the odds...

Too lazy to hunt down that website, but DH is a realtor, and he alone has five times that many listings and turns down more than he takes because it's too busy. I call bullshit.

I suppose it's possible that they're mostly just working with buyers but in this market, sellers are outnumbering buyers 20 to 1.

[DakotaJustice]

Too lazy to hunt down that website, but DH is a realtor, and he alone has five times that many listings and turns down more than he takes because it's too busy. I call bullshit.

I suppose it's possible that they're mostly just working with buyers but in this market, sellers are outnumbering buyers 20 to 1.

Especially in Vegas I bet. Here in Silicon Valley it's the opposite - the median home price in my county is 1.4 million now.

[Featherhat]

I'm in a different country, and it's not exactly the same but to be a good estate agent/realtor you have to put in the hours IMO, whether you have 9 houses or 200 to sell. Where I am it's fluctuating between a buyers and sellers market but either way you aren't going to make much money if you won't work weekends or evenings and have to take time off for filming your show. It's possible Janelle works mostly in the admin/legal side which would match up with her previous government job in Utah and be more regular in terms of hours at the office, and even work that can be done at home.

 

She's certainly dysfunctional (I'd love to know exactly why she thought becoming her ex brother in law's 2nd wife was a good idea. But she does seem to acknowledge some real world issues that will get worse if not sorted out (like the houses) then again anyone who spent even 5% of their time thinking about practical issues would come across as a genius in this group. 

[DakotaJustice]

I think if Janelle was ACTUALLY doing any real home sales and open houses they would've filmed her at work.  Certainly Mona ("Realtor to TLC's Sister Wives") wouldn't mind, and it has the potential for plot lines...Trainer Sean is getting very tiresome as a plot line IMO.  

[youcantbeserious]

Did anyone else notice that Janelle wasn't wearing any jewelry? No crappy joolry and no wedding ring? Nothing at all. Everyone else was wearing their usual 17 pieces of flair, but Janelle had nothing. 

Could it be as simple as the jewelry not fitting her? Even with some weight lost, she's still bulky.

[Kohola3]

Could it be as simple as the jewelry not fitting her?

 

More likely her taste is not just in her mouth as opposed to the rest of them.

[youcantbeserious]

The only reason there is a show is because of plural marriage. It's not as if Meri had enough going on solo to get a tv show. She seems to love the benefits but feel none of the responsibility.

 

I was actually thinking about that just before I came upon your post. IMO this show existed because of 2 factors: viewers enjoying the novelty of watching people

whose personalities & lifestyle are far different. I'd imagine if it were about IRS employees who were responsible adults but just happened to be polygamous,

it'd never get off the ground. Meri did work for awhile, but like Robyn, went only for the career she desired, rather than that which would be the best for the family

in terms of money & benefits.

[youcantbeserious]

The whole finances thing in this family is hard to wrap my mind around. On the one hand, Meri does not need five bedrooms and a wet bar. Also, it isn't fair if she does in fact get to have a different standard of living than the other wives and their kids. But if I was Janelle back in the day, who seems to have been the main breadwinner until TLC showed up, I might be resentful that I had to keep giving a part of my paycheck to someone who might need it less than my own kids. 

Yes, there's no getting around the fact that the distribution of living within the Brown clan is unfair. But I can see Meri's side of it: she feels she deserves the best

due to generously sharing her husband. Without her, there'd be no sister wives. Apparently, Kody failed to act as the man of the house by making sure living

arrangements were better allocated. And the way he let Robyn wind him around her little finger, he's not about to change.

[youcantbeserious]

.

I was really alarmed when they had that episode about selling their Lehi plig house.  I'm thinking they should hang onto that as their fallback position.  Plan for the future, for Pete's sake.

I don't know if the Lehi house's mortgage is paid up. If not, by renting it out, renters can pay out that mortgage, lifting the burden off the Browns & enabling them to keep it. Or if no mortgage, that extra money monthly can sure come in handy.

[youcantbeserious]

None of them had any money stashed away either. Janelle stated in one of the episodes that they blew through both her and Kody's retirement money when they moved to Vegas. I think Robyn worked as a waitress so she was barely able to support her kids with that income. They all tried to qualify for conventional loans before the McMansions fell out of the sky into their laps and they failed due to the bankruptcies and poor credit. They owe more on the Lehi house than it's worth. They are pumping their money into a hobby joory business that has had only 500 "sells" in two and a half years so far.

 

We are as puzzled as you are.

I don't know anymore than anyone else, but could it be possible the Browns signed over a percentage of their future TLC salaries to the builder? Or

could the sister wives got loans or advanced inheritances from their families? I would think Robyn's ex was helping to support his children.

[youcantbeserious]

Or she just had to go to the bathroom and TLC needed the drama moment to fill the 40 minutes of this lame-ass show.

 

​ETA: Just read another good hypothesis at Cynical's blog (Thanks to Eeeewwww): The producers had Christine walk off, requesting no pregnancy discussion when she returned. That is how they got out of talking about the cliff-hanger. It would also explain why Christine was so awkward rather than upset when she left. Who knows with Christine and this show. It could be a combination of everything.

Or it could be frustrating editing by TLC. Maybe they're thinking if we confuse the viewers enough, they'll watch more to learn more. Well, SW is still on.