S01.E01: Jill and Jessa Counting On: A New Chapter

[queenanne]

Jessa's response was inane and stupid.  The entirety of the series has clearly, clearly been about holding themselves up as perfect.  "The Duggar Way, is the only way to train up righteous children, so that when they are grown they will not depart from the good well-lit paths of God."  They absolutely think (or thought) their witness is fabulous and pure.

[JoanArc]

I can't wait until the ratings come out. Even with the scandal, it was SO BORING. That can't be good for the numbers.

Edited December 15, 2015 by JoanArc

[Marigold]

I think it's funny that their "friends" are shunning them because the Duggars would have no problem shunning someone that they deemed sinful.

What goes around...comes around.

In real life, not a fan of Biblical shunning. I've seen it done and it's really just nuts.

[FakeJoshDuggar]

so I like watched this show and like where in the hell did they like pick up saying LIKE every other word?

it was like driving me out of my mind... Michelle must speak this way at home... and I noticed the boys did NOT do this at all...

I did not watch the show. I felt like all of the highlights were hit during promos. That being Saud, I attribute their "likes" and "ums" to be from a limited vocabulary. I doubt they could stumble through a tenth grade reading list.

[zoomama]

i really thought that they were hesitant to say the wrong thing, thus the um's, pauses etc.  someone else said that the girls were basically held to a script and the guys talked off the top of their head. i believe that. its what they do.

[Arwen Evenstar]

The thing that stood out the most for me was that Izzy was always being carried and not by his mom.  My back ached watching poor Joy Anna lugging him for how ever long in the children's store.   Doesn't he have a stroller?

 

Ben seemed over it.  Can't help but believe he is seeing Jessa's real personality and it isn't pretty, plus being constantly surrounded by Duggars.   What on earth happened to Derick's face?

Perhaps Jilly Muffin has that hereditary missing back muscle. My apologies if someone already beat me to it.

[MarysWetBar]

Maybe Jill is medicated too? She had such sad eyes. That's what I saw. She isn't as giggly and annoyingly chipper as she used to be. You know, I DO feel sorry for the girls. .for all of them for what those parents have done to them. Hauling them out again on tv..making them discuss this shit that so obviously upsets them. (Jana, Joy, Jill.) For some reason, Jinger didn't move me.

Shame on them all for totally trashing their brother like that for the almighty dollar bill. They(JB& Mechelle) have been informed by TLC that the only fucking way they will get their show back is to change direction and make the girls more sympathetic to audiences and do ya mind having a few more cry on cue too..for ratings?

Time to throw your son under the bus totally. Murica hates his ass, so disengage. .get a few more kicks in...recalibrate. I cannot stand Smuggs...never could. .but what his family did last night was reprehensible. Do i think they should be able to voice their feelings about what he has done? Absolutely. With Smuggs. Not on t.v.

I swear I have a bad feeling about him. And not in a "nail another porn star" way. I fear he is going to make himself a bullet sandwich cus he doesn't have coping skills, education or any resources right now to work his way thru this shitstorm and likely sees no way out.

Shunning my ass. He needed professional treatment years ago.

His fucking parents are who need to be shunned.. .or shot.

I'm pissed. I cannot believe i am feeling sorry for him but I am.

I feel sorry and incredibly angry at the same time.

Edited December 15, 2015 by MarysWetBar

[farmgal4]

I did not watch the show. I felt like all of the highlights were hit during promos. That being Saud, I attribute their "likes" and "ums" to be from a limited vocabulary. I doubt they could stumble through a tenth grade reading list.

You're being very generous. My guess would be 6th grade.

[flyingdi]

For all the people saying Jessa dropped Jinger after she got married. I feel I have to defend Jessa a little. That's what the Duggars do. Jessa is jus behaving as she was trained to.

The Duggars have often stated their children's relationships change after "seasons of life". Boys and girls are not to hang out one on ons after puberty. The marrieds are not to spend a lot of time with the singles. It all seems to be about appearances and influences with them.

[BitterApple]

IMO, it's odd that they threw Josh under the bus for adultery when child molestation is clearly the more egregious sin. I mean, do they seriously think Josh is the first Fundie guy to look at porn and get caught with his pants down around his ankles?

I can understand being mad at their brother and feeling horribly for their sister-in-law, but these girls were practically having nervous breakdowns last night. Their reactions were extreme, especially considering these interviews were taped months after the second scandal broke.

Edited December 15, 2015 by BitterApple

[JoanArc]

 

For all the people saying Jessa dropped Jinger after she got married. I feel I have to defend Jessa a little. That's what the Duggars do. Jessa is jus behaving as she was trained to.

Jim Bob and Michelle have stated many time that the marriage relationship comes first over anything. Even over their own stupid, uneducated, starving, molesting, lying, dull children. Plus, for all the acquaintances everyone seems to have, there's no real friends.

Edited December 15, 2015 by JoanArc

[queenanne]

Jim Bob and Michelle have stated many time that the marriage relationship comes first over anything. Even over their own stupid, uneducated, starving, molesting, lying, dull children. Plus, for all the acquaintances everyone seems to have, there's no real friends.

 

It's almost like they've made the mistake of giving the "intact nuclear family" they present such backpatting weight, that they ignore a lot of other problem areas, thinking they've got a free pass.  "At least we're not divorced like those heathens!  That solves most problems... right?  Right?"

[NikSac]

I'm truly surprised (why I'm not sure) that the Duggars haven't figured out that had it not been for their thirst for fame, none of this would be anyone's business but their own. We would know nothing so there was and is a huge price for their fame and/or infamy.

 

I don't think they want it to be their own business. How does that bring in any $$? 

[JocelynCavanaugh]

I blame this on Ben's parents. They (his father) encouraged him to get married. He is not fully formed and won't be for many years to come. He is (was) just a horney teenager, I have an evangelical friend. Her daughter and boyfriend were told by the parents, pastor and churchmembers, "It is better to marry than to burn." (As in burn in hell if you have premarital sex. ) So they got married, had a couple of kids and divorced in fewer than 5 years. All they really wanted was to have sex. not get married, which they found out soon enough.

No, not "burn in hell." The verse they're quoting refers to "burning with desire." Evangelicals don't teach that premarital sex sends you to hell. They believe in salvation by faith, not works.

[JenCarroll]

After thinking about it for a while, I can kind of see why the Duggar siblings appear to be more upset about the cheating than the molestation. It's right there in the narrative they all rushed to put forth when the first scandal broke. "He's redeemed, y'all, he's sorry and we've forgiven him. He's a good Christian man now, walking the straight line to heaven. He's the very symbol of what Jesus can do if we let him in our hearts."

Then suddenly the Ashley Madison story breaks, and it turns out that whole repented, forgiven etc. story was bullshit, and Josh knew it, and he let them stand up for him anyway. Apart from feeling betrayed, Jill and Jessa are probably embarrassed now.

"Oh now, we were molested, we had to go through that whole circus with family services, then we had to stand up publically and forgive him in church, then years later it all comes out again and we -- the victims -- once again have to jump in and defend him, on national television this time, and our whole story turns on his having been a dumb kid and having repented and been forgiven, and grown into a steady Christian man. And then it turns out that was all a lie! Fuck this noise, I'm through standing up for that weasel."

tl;dr It's not that the cheating was the worse thing, it was just the final straw.

Edited December 15, 2015 by JenCarroll

[Wellfleet]

Donut burgers. :-)

 

Oh right, those donut burgers [yuck]. Also Derick, Josh has been eating Anna's very processed, very fatty cooking for going on 6 years. And a good deal of fast food. And he's a load - we mustn't forget that. I think Josh's been training for the Olympic lazy team ever since he got married. 

Edited December 15, 2015 by Wellfleet

[BitterApple]

Derick was probably on liquid/soft foods following his surgery, but I'm surprised he hasn't tried protein or nutrition shakes to bulk up a bit. When my late father was in a nursing facility his doctor supplemented his diet with calorie dense Ensure because he had lost some weight. You'd think the resident medical expert, Dr. Jill, would be aware of options like that.

[kokapetl]

Ben's hair looks like Ted Koppel's Nightline hair.

Ben's hair is just baffling, it's like he wants people to think he has Teresa Giudice's hairline.

[Obsidian]

How about Spur???

How about Urge? (It could be Nike for short.) Seriously, though, this is the best that you can do with that name.

[kokapetl]

I finally watched it all. 2 trips to the same freakin store to buy baby clothes? Did Scott Enlow feel that he didn't have enough repetitive footage already?

[Micks Picks]

Have the Dugger's any redeeming value?  I'd say yes.  When I first saw the show I thought, my what a nice family, no arguing and yelling.  The kids are pretty well behaved.  This was pre-howler I guess.  Then I watched some more and saw all the things that were wrong.  It warned me not to ever be sucked in by people who at first appear to be fine and be doing a good job raising a family.  It taught me to look and see what was really going on.  I am certain that was the experience of thousands of other people.  

 

That's why I would not do a sponsor boycott.  Sponsor boycotts seem to be favored by those who hate their robocalls and so on and will never forgive them for that.  Hate = Hate.  One group of haters can just not watch.  Easy enough.  Their being on tv can actually convince people NOT to be like the fundamentalists.

 

I have a feeling Michelle may very well not be taking meds, but be self-hypnotizing herself into the zombie she is.  With the population explosion going on, they are really getting to the mental breakdown again.  No way can Howdy Booby support that many people.  You know Jill is pregnant again.  Can you imagine her in dangerous Central American directing a vaginal birth for herself after her C section.  Lucky if she makes it back alive.  The baby can come back in an ammo box for burial.  7 or 8 grandkids under the age of six, plus Josie is going to drive them all batty.

 

Anybody notice Jana wondering who you can trust on this episode?  Seems like she can't trust her dad or her older brother.  She seems to have appropriate, not tearful, reactions toward Josh for adultery.  Angry that he is a dips hit but not crying about it.

[kokapetl]

Jana's retelling of how Michelle broke the news of scandal #2 makes me think Michelle absolutely lost her shit and had a breakdown then and there.

[GeeGolly]

In this day and age becoming a public figure is not without risk. Short of just going away, they were damned if they talked about Josh and damned if they didn't. I don't know if it was money or self-righteousness or both, but they obviously felt the need to defend themselves. What I'm curious about is if they would have handled this any differently without the public watching. Would they have pow-wowed together and discussed how they would 'handle' the situation or would they all have found out the news, prayed about it and moved on? I get that they feel betrayed about Josh and his hypocrisy, but he cheated on Anna. I just can't imagine having my family all up in my business as an adult. 

 

They remind me of when my son was about 4 years old and learning soccer. In the beginning all the kids on both teams would be crowded around the ball at all times. By the end of the season they learned to play individual positions and support each other. The Duggars need a good soccer coach.

[ginger90]

I would think the fact that the females were Josh's victims would make their presentations (for lack of a better word) MUCH different than the males

[Tabbygirl521]

IMO, it's odd that they threw Josh under the bus for adultery when child molestation is clearly the more egregious sin. I mean, do they seriously think Josh is the first Fundie guy to look at porn and get caught with his pants down around his ankles?

I can understand being mad at their brother and feeling horribly for their sister-in-law, but these girls were practically having nervous breakdowns last night. Their reactions were extreme, especially considering these interviews were taped months after the second scandal broke.

Some of the tears may have been from sheer embarrassment, too, at having to speak of sexual transgressions on camera. These are very sheltered kids. I dunno. They must be so sick of it all. And Jana seems to have been thinking a lot about trust. That has to be painful on its own. Edited December 15, 2015 by Tabbygirl521

[Churchhoney]

IMO, it's odd that they threw Josh under the bus for adultery when child molestation is clearly the more egregious sin. I mean, do they seriously think Josh is the first Fundie guy to look at porn and get caught with his pants down around his ankles?

 

 

Maybe it's a Gothard thing. After all, old Bill pretty much set up his whole cult for the purpose of providing much younger girls for himself to fondle. And on his account, it was actually all for the girls' benefit, not his own. Meanwhile, he doesn't seem to have touched women of his own age at all. Ergo, the latter must be evil, while the former must be really kind of a virtue....

 

It's probably all there in the Wisdom Books somewhere.

[Ilovemylabs]

When someone you believe you are close to reveals that they are not who you thought they were, that they've done things you didn't think they were capable of doing, it is a betrayal. Even if you're not the person they wronged.

Someone I was close to murdered someone. Not me or anyone I knew, but I still felt betrayed and that betrayal is something I took personally. We judge people on how they treat other people, how they behave defines who they are. Josh's siblings were led to believe Josh was someone he was not, he misled them about who he was. They have every right to feel betrayed.

Well said.

[Loves2Dance]

Shortly after the molestation police report was released to InTouch and InTouch reported the story, a judge ordered the police department to destroy the report. It was a really oddball, out-there ruling. I do not recall whether the judge said the release was wrong, but she did order the record destroyed. (The police department consulted the city attorney, and followed the city attorney's advice, as to the release of the report and the redactions they did before releasing it.) 

The judge never said it was wrong, per say, but because one of the children were still under 18; she petitioned for it to be erased and that is why it was. 

[Churchhoney]

I don't think that they think that the second Josh problem is worse than the first. It's that they view the second scandal as a current problem, while they thought the first was a resolved problem. In their eyes they had a family crisis twelve years ago, resolved it, and put it behind them.

 

 

I agree with what you're saying in part. But since they resolved the first issue largely by sweeping it under the rug, while they're certainly not doing that with this one, I still think there's a difference in the way they're treating them ....

 

I just think that the molestation is such a touchy off-the-wall issue -- for anyone -- that people tend to go much more into denial about it than anyone does about adultery, which just isn't as insane a problem.

[Oldernowiser]

It's my belief that if the AM hack hadn't outed Josh to the media, the family would have buried this even deeper than Josh's sister fondling. Much deeper. They just would have quietly tightened his choke chain, told him to knock up the little woman ASAP, and gone on with the Duggars Are Wonderful Show.

[allonsyalice]

Something I found very interesting is that the older Duggar males seem very well spoken. The girls use all the speech fillers, but I'm not sure Joseph or John David did. It surprised me, to be honest. 

[leighdear]

JD would have failed at pilot training and constable training if he had not learned to verbally communicate efficiently, and without extraneous words.  All those pauses, filler words and platitudes the others use are simply not acceptable within the jobs JD does.  He's been able to train himself out of using those verbal crutches.

[RazzleberryPie]

Some of the tears may have been from sheer embarrassment, too, at having to speak of sexual transgressions on camera. These are very sheltered kids. I dunno. They must be so sick of it all. And Jana seems to have been thinking a lot about trust. That has to be painful on its own.

Absolutely, and from compassion for Anna and her kids. She was betrayed the worst, but the whole family was lied to.

I want to add trust issues to Jana's list of Why She Isn't Married Yet. I don't blame her for having major trust issues. All she's been told her whole life is to be godly and Gothard, Michelle and Jb, Josh, evev self centered Jessa, are godly people. However, they ALL have huge secrets and live completely different than they proclaim. (Jessa is just vain and bitchy, don't think she has the dishonesty or perversion of the others listed).

[Soup333]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I was really surprised at how aggressive Jana was when trying to keep Jessa from wrestling that ultrasound photo away from her. To the point where another Duggar daughter called her name as if to say knock it off. Jana kind of giggled it off, but I don't think anybody else laughed. It was more personality than I think I've seen her express in years. Which is kind of troubling. 

[kokapetl]

Absolutely, and from compassion for Anna and her kids. She was betrayed the worst, but the whole family was lied to.

I want to add trust issues to Jana's list of Why She Isn't Married Yet. I don't blame her for having major trust issues. All she's been told her whole life is to be godly and Gothard, Michelle and Jb, Josh, evev self centered Jessa, are godly people. However, they ALL have huge secrets and live completely different than they proclaim. (Jessa is just vain and bitchy, don't think she has the dishonesty or perversion of the others listed).

I think Michelle had a very hard time coping with the molestations back when they happened, and 12/13 year old Jana was quite affected by that also. She probably has a lingering fear of her mother losing her mind for probably the third time. Edited December 15, 2015 by Kokapetl

[bigskygirl]

JD is a part time volunteer officer and fireman/EMT. The reason why he is doing these two volunteer jobs is it was approved by JB and Gothard. Yes, he may have spoken well once on a television special, but this does not mean he has knowledge of how to deal with people in the real world. He is probably is being watched like a hawk, and one mistake which causes more embarrassment for the family will be a major no no. Plus the fact, he may be taking heat because daddy wanted to sue the local law enforcement department over the leaked molestation information will not make him popular with his fellow officers. I would not be surprise if he is mad at Josh for making him look bad.

[RazzleberryPie]

I don't think JD spoke that well. If he were 15, well spoken. At 25, he sounded like a not so bright grown man or at least one stuck in limbo. What 25 year old man feels the need to tell his older brother that he can't be his role model anymore?

I realize we all have mentors and people we admire at every age, but JD sounded like a man child speaking.

[Maizie131]

I can't wait until the ratings come out. Even with the scandal, it was SO BORING. That can't be good for the numbers.

I'm interested to see those numbers, too.  (I didn't watch it.)  When do they come out? 

[Aja]

I vaguely remember Jana being named as one of Gothard's victims, too. If that's true, I can't even begin to imagine what goes on in her head when it comes to these things. The last fricking thing I'd want to do, whether I realized it consciously or not, is pass my entire life from the hands of one sick, twisted asshole to another. 

 

Also, lots of people have mentioned the "we never said we were perfect!" line of defense. Hilarious, since it was the main narrative of their show. I only saw the early specials in their entirety (14 Kids, 15 Kids, 16 Kids, etc) and if I had a nickel for every time I heard "Now, a TYPICAL family would do xyz, but WE'RE SO NOT A TYPICAL FAMILY!" Bubbling just beneath the cutesy (and wildly exaggerated) mathematics--it takes six hundred pizzas to feed the Duggars! They do 36 loads of laundry every day! They spend $6000 in a single trip to the grocery store!--was palpable self-satisfaction. And there were definitely plenty of overt examples too. They loved nothing better than to blabber endlessly about how holy and godly and correct they were compared to "a typical family"--we don't let our girls expose their knees, we keep strict control over every single personal interaction that they have so they don't end up like you heathens, we won't even let them go to public school or interact with anyone not as awesome and godly as we are, we don't have any debt like most of you stupid people do, we have a perfect marriage--let's demonstrate that with five thousand lip-pecks per minute, here! Pride cometh before the fall, right Dullard?

Edited December 15, 2015 by Aja

[galax-arena]

Also, lots of people have mentioned the "we never said we were perfect!" line of defense. Hilarious, since it was the main narrative of their show. 

Right? They might not have explicitly said that they were perfect, but actions speak louder than words anyway. It's like smug self-satisfaction dripped from every facet of their show.

[sleepyjean]

I just swung by here to say I am completely gobsmacked that this family is still on tv. I haven't seen any Duggar shows in years. I stopped watching long before any of the children became adults. However, I did of course hear the news about the oldest boy molesting some of his sisters when he was a teenager. When I saw the TLC ads for this special, I was amazed that the Duggars were back. (And also amazed the the daughters have turned out to be attractive adults. I was sure they'd all grow up to be kind of funny looking, but I digress.) When this show first started, TLC packaged it as look at this family with this alternative lifestyle that is so wholesome and family oriented and untainted by modern life! Watch how they manage with such a large family! Look on with envy at how the children cooperate so beautifully, when the two or three you have are total brats who can't get along for five minutes! Observe as they produce more offspring and go on adventures, and hang out with people just like them!

 

Fast forward a few years and the shine has worn off. The kids aren't little and adorable anymore. Ma Duggar's uterus as finally given out. (I assume. I haven't seen any additional birth announcements on Yahoo trends since the one daughter was born with some kind of medical condition.) The media turned over the rock of the Duggar's wholesome lifestyle and revealed they have creepy crawlies underneath just like everyone else. There are so many kids they are interchangeable to me, and I don't find the family nearly as interesting now that the kids are older. But there are plenty of people here who are still interested, so the Duggar magic is still working on some folks. Are their ratings still decent? Is this special a way of testing the waters to see if they can do spinoffs for all of the kids? Would people watch all of that?

 

My question is why are the Duggars still doing these shows? Have they answered that question?  Could it be any other reason but they've fallen into the reality show trap where they are dependent on the TLC paychecks? Now they are "celebrities" and nobody can go on to have a regular life with a real job that comes with a boss and regular hours? I can't imagine any other reason why they would want to do a show that airs their dirty laundry and (by all reports here) makes everyone act all wooden uncomfortable and why they would want to remain affiliated with TLC, which has changed dramatically as a network since the Duggar saga began? Or is this special some kind of "we want to set the record straight" nonsense, that everyone but them knows is just adds to the freakiness of the situation?

 

Really, the only thing that I'd be interested to see with this family is what happens when all of the kids are up and out, and Ma and Pa Duggar are knocking around that big house by themselves. Their whole identity seems to have been wrapped up in raising those kids. What will they do when the kids no longer need raising and they have nobody to talk to but each other? Or have any of the kids promised to stay on the homestead and raise their families there forever and ever?

Edited December 15, 2015 by sleepyjean

[Aja]

Suz, you make a great point too. If it weren't for the police report being released, if it weren't for Ashley Madison getting hacked, we'd still be hearing about what a fabulously untypical family they are. Jim Bob and Michelle consciously, deliberately chose to present themselves a certain way knowing full well that their son was far more disturbed than the typical heathen, yet they very insistently pushed their homeschooled, forced-isolation, blanket-training child-raising philosophy as superior and godly--knowing full well what that upbringing produced. 

[dillpickles]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but I was really surprised at how aggressive Jana was when trying to keep Jessa from wrestling that ultrasound photo away from her. To the point where another Duggar daughter called her name as if to say knock it off. Jana kind of giggled it off, but I don't think anybody else laughed. It was more personality than I think I've seen her express in years. Which is kind of troubling.

Troubling?

[Soup333]

Troubling?

 

In that we hadn't really seen any other personality from her other than sweet, helpful, and quiet. I've never seen her playful like that with her sisters, especially the ones that are her age. I've only ever seen her holding a baby, cooking or doing some sort of quiet busywork.

[Zahdii]

My question is why are the Duggars still doing these shows?

 

Really, the only thing that I'd be interested to see with this family is what happens when all of the kids are up and out, and Ma and Pa Duggar are knocking around that big house by themselves. Their whole identity seems to have been wrapped up in raising those kids. 

 

They've become addicted to the fame, the paycheck, and the positive feedback they get from leghumpers who never would have known anything about them without the show.  They've constructed a narrative of themselves as a family who was almost as perfect as could be, specially blessed by God because they found the secret to living a life that God approved of more than anyone else.  They might have at first considered the show to be a 'ministry', where they show by example how to get on God's Special Snowflake list, but over the years they've simply become a bunch of people willing to do anything to stay on camera for the above mentioned perks. 

 

I think some of the Duggar children are starting to have doubts about what they've been taught, but so far no one's been willing to publicly call out the hoax.  Derick might have tried, but he's a sheep and Jill's with him 24/7 making sure he doesn't stray from the Duggar party line.  Jill's a sheep, herself, but she has bought into the Duggar brand and I suspect that when push comes to shove, she'll do what JB wants over what Derick wants.

 

John David seemed to be slipping away for a time.  I'm pretty sure he lives in that house he bought and only appeared on the show when he had to because he realized that the family's livelihood depended on keeping up the pretense of him still living at home snuggling under Jim Bob's stupid umbrella.  But now that JD has been annointed Crown Prince, he might just scurry on back on screen more often.

 

The J boy who's attending college might break away, even if he stays fundy or fundy-lite, but at this point his education requires him to follow his father's wishes because he can't pay for his education any other way.

 

Josiah is a wild card.  He was the whipping boy for years, but a year at Alert training found him coming home and lining up a new bride as fast as possible.  Although Marjorie jumped ship after the molestation scandle, she and Josiah seem to still be friends.  They might get back together in the future and provide a new plotline in the Duggar Family Saga.

 

Jinger used to be thought of as the child who wasn't buying the whole Duggar thing, but she's so thin and depressed looking, I wonder if she'd have the energy to look for a way out.  Jessa used to be her Number One, but Jessa is married now and her self obsessed personality is getting stronger by the day.  Jinger is alone now.

 

Jana has shown signs of understanding how her family is messed up, but she's too busy raising a bunch of kids for her idiot parents to do much else.  Both she and Jinger might also be wondering if staying in their dysfunctional family is safer than braving the world outside.

 

JB and Michells identies haven't been raising their kids, it's been having kids.  Michelle gave up raising them years ago.  Now the older daughters are raising the younger children.  Now that two of the oldest three daughters have married, Jana is pretty much in charge, and either she or Michelle is trying to whip Jinger and Joy Anna into shape to take over for Jill and Jessa.

[kokapetl]

I thought it was more playful than troubling. Kind of telling that Jana hadn't seen the photo before and was probably never invited to visit Jessa when the cameras weren't around. Jinger also seemed as though she felt she only got an invite to go shopping because Jessa needed footage.

[Aja]

They might have at first considered the show to be a 'ministry', where they show by example how to get on God's Special Snowflake list,... 

 

 

This is the only bit of your superb post that I would argue with. Not even argue so much as point out that Jim Bob was the famewhoriest of famewhores before TLC ever got involved. He got criticized heavily during his political campaign for parading his children around and tooting his own horn (and spending $250,000 when his family--which was how big at that time, eight kids? Ten kids?--were all living in the tiny church parking lot house.) People in his own circles found it distasteful. So I don't know how much of their "it's our ministry!" bullshit I believe, either.

[leighdear]

 "we never said we were perfect!" 

But there was ALWAYS the subtext of: "but we're a hell of a lot more perfect than you nasty, godless heathens!"

[Lesia]

Oh My God was that boring.   Why are we following/watching this?  It's almost as bad as My Big Fat Fabulous Life.  These people have a gimmick (52 kids, fat dancing you tube post) and they think it's enough for a show.  I know so many people whose lives are SOOO much more interesting, and funny, or other shows that have more value.

What drivel, TLC.  And now the Long Island Medium is back.   Not giving the time of day to that.

[Maizie131]

I just checked for cable ratings - don't know if this source is accurate, but if it is -- a whole lotta people watched that show.  SHIT!

 

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-sunday-cable-originals-network-update-12-13-2015.html