S02.E07: Family Reunion

[Absolom]

TLC is including the three episodes from last fall in the numbering for this production run.  They began this spring with 4.

[LittlePeas3]

OMG, if someone was playing a ukelele on a plane and I was on it, I would want to drop it on their head, hard!  

The lack of new footage was astounding!  

Edited April 29, 2016 by LittlePeas3

[GeeGolly]

I agree with you guys - this episode was a joke. Even the leg humpers are going to fade away if they continue trying to pass off clips as a new show. Between the bring-you-up-to-date clips, the before and after commercials 'teaser' clips, the actual commercials, and the past episode clips, this was a non-episode.

My theory is that this was going to be a short season and TLC is making it longer with this piecemeal bullshit. They're underestimating the viewers - all the viewers; leg humpers, haters, and in-betweeners. This formula of non-shows is not going to bring in new viewers either. 

[Barb23]

10 hours ago, LittlePeas3 said:

OMG, if someone was playing a ukelele on a plane and I was on it, I would want to drop it on their head, hard!  

The lack of new footage was astounding!  

I forgot all about the ukulele.  Who brings one on a plane besides Don Ho?  They seem like little kids who grab something  just to grab something while heading out the door.  They are so stunted.  

[Tabbygirl521]

This was indeed an insultingly boring rehash of not only this new series, but even some of "19 Kids." Next week will be more of the same, I am sure. Maybe with some "stunning" announcements, maybe not. Maybe Josh will appear in the background as some sort of teaser. 

Even just typing this makes me zzzzzzzzz. What on earth is the point of such a show? The actual fans sure aren't getting their money's worth. If they just want to watch the next generation grow up or whatever, I would think they'd get more satisfaction online from the Duggar sites, Instagram, etc. 

The only hope for this show is to start throwing in some conflict, which the Duggars don't "do" - or have Josh show up. 

Which reminds me, there was a shot of Jessa smilingly (of course, they ALWAYS "smile") saying to Anna, "So Josh will be back soon" or something like that. Maybe it was in last week's ep, I forget now. Anyway, it was an invitation for Anna to speak of him, not Anna coming to his victims for sympathy. 

(I had never seen the Ben-Jessa wedding ep. I must say, i think her dress was lovely. She looked beautiful.)

[BitterApple]

Jessa's dress was beautiful. I'm getting married next year and if I were in my 20s it's something I would've worn.

Judging by the TH's, I'm assuming Jinger is courting. If that's the case, poor Jana. Yet another younger sister is fleeing the coop. At this rate it'll be Jana and Josie stuck in the TTH for life.

[Sew Sumi]

16 hours ago, Marigny said:

Michelle and Boob would never risk letting the world get to know the Seewalds. That would be like Joan Rivers letting Arsenio Hall sit in for her on her late night talk show. Folks liked him so much he became the new host. Can't have someone else play the role of "doting parents/grandparents" and we can't give anyone outside the family an opportunity for a spin off. He's probably still kicking himself for giving Gil Bates screen time. 

I could be completely off base but here's my theory: The money train has slowed tremendously, not just for the family as a whole but especially for Jill & Derick. Walmart might be 6 blocks up the street but that doesn't mean they have the funds to buy anything other than the bare bones basics. The house they're staying in is probably belongs to someone affiliated with their organization but they are responsible for their personal needs. The types of care packages they seem to get from the family are typically reserved for broke college students. They are flat broke. Why else would you need folks to bring you baby clothes from the states? A little box of stuff you definitely can't get there (ie. ranch dressing, local brand of chips) I can understand but half a dang closet of baby clothes? Really?!

And they aren't even using clips from this incarnation of the show! They are mostly recapping stuff from 19 Kids! 

To be fair, those weird-looking THs were from the 3-part series we were tortured with over the holidays. Jer is currently at ALERT and unable to participate in the current crop of TH segments. Not that it mattered; their TH apparently was on the cutting room floor the first time around, only to be resurrected when they didn't have enough original material to make a 60 minute episode (and what, 43 actual minutes of run-time). 

Pathetic.

[lookeyloo]

Really a snooze fest. Spurgeon is cute and Jessa seems to like him. 

[Wellfleet]

On April 28, 2016 at 1:47 PM, Churchhoney said:

I'm not surprised that TLC keeps going with this. When you think how hard a ton of people work to put together the shows that survive on other networks -- and the amount of money it takes to conceive of and direct them and so on -- this must have essentially zero production costs in comparison. It's worth zero as viewing apparently, based on people's comments. But they're still getting nearly a million and a half people to watch it every week and, potentially, hang around for other shows in nearby time slots and see the advertising for other TLC shows, plus a little ad money. Financially, I'll bet it's kind of like getting a million and a half people to watch a test pattern twice a week.

Exactly right. Never has "You get what you pay for..." been more painfully-true. TLC and the "creative team" that supposedly manages this mess really put SO little effort, enthusiasm or $$ into making this program interesting or informative for the viewing public. I've never seen people in a supposedly-creative field be so lacking in creativity - or so lazy either. Jill's wedding was a prime example. Boob said "I can't believe Jill is getting married..." at least 30 times in that 2 hours, and they could have done a nice job showing the wedding in just 30 min. But of course then they could only have sold 30 min of advertising - and we couldn't have that. Weddings are to TLC what the Super Bowl is to network TV - a massive cash cow.

[drafan]

20 hours ago, BitterApple said:

 

Judging by the TH's, I'm assuming Jinger is courting.

I'm not watching this, but from the previews (which are constant and sickening), JB is getting his wish....people believing that somebody is courting....he knows that's the stuff that ratings are made of. I actually feel sorry for Jinger.

10 hours ago, lookeyloo said:

Really a snooze fest. Spurgeon is cute and Jessa seems to like him. 

This ^^^^^ is funny. That seems to be the whole take-away from this show. Kinda sad, really.

Still not gonna watch it tho....can piece enough together from the previews on TLC and the snark here to know it would bore me to tears.

[truthtalk2014]

10 hours ago, drafan said:

I'm not watching this, but from the previews (which are constant and sickening), JB is getting his wish....people believing that somebody is courting....he knows that's the stuff that ratings are made of. I actually feel sorry for Jinger.

This ^^^^^ is funny. That seems to be the whole take-away from this show. Kinda sad, really.

Still not gonna watch it tho....can piece enough together from the previews on TLC and the snark here to know it would bore me to tears.

Awwww.... come on!  You don't have four free minutes in your day to watch the most boring reality show on the planet?  ;)

[CarolMK]

I haven't had time to watch any of the new season but it sounds like I haven't been missing much. All of the recaps here are more interesting than the show !

[becca3891]

On 4/30/2016 at 7:23 AM, drafan said:

I'm not watching this, but from the previews (which are constant and sickening), JB is getting his wish....people believing that somebody is courting....he knows that's the stuff that ratings are made of. I actually feel sorry for Jinger.

This ^^^^^ is funny. That seems to be the whole take-away from this show. Kinda sad, really.

Still not gonna watch it tho....can piece enough together from the previews on TLC and the snark here to know it would bore me to tears.

 

On 5/2/2016 at 10:55 PM, CarolMK said:

I haven't had time to watch any of the new season but it sounds like I haven't been missing much. All of the recaps here are more interesting than the show !

The DVR and multitasking are my friends! I can't imagine sitting down and watching the full hour, complete with endless repetitive "coming up" blurbs and 5 minute long TLC show promos. I catch up on Facebook on my phone while keeping an eye on the show and that works for me!

[Arwen Evenstar]

On May 8, 2016 at 5:17 AM, becca3891 said:

 

The DVR and multitasking are my friends! I can't imagine sitting down and watching the full hour, complete with endless repetitive "coming up" blurbs and 5 minute long TLC show promos. I catch up on Facebook on my phone while keeping an eye on the show and that works for me!

If the full hour were actually interesting and engaging, it wouldn't be such a chore to watch.

The show used to more interesting when they all got to do stuff together and go on trips all the time, but since TLC now only has a bare bones budget, we see how trite,tedious, dull, and boring they really are. Since more of the kids are doing talking heads, we also see how woefully undereducated and unprepared for real life that they are.