This Is Our Minutiae Thread: For Those Pesky Job/Housing/Money/Geography Details

[momma2seven]

11 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I think it's tricky because the teen Big Three flashbacks are set in the late 90s, a few years past the "golden age" of grunge. The Smashing Pumpkins weren't nearly as popular as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were in their day, and their most successful album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, came out in 1995, before the teen flashbacks.

Born July '79 in Pennsylvania so only a year older than The Big Three... Our Senior Trip was to Florida, we left at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night in a drizzly rain in early April. We arrived in Florida around 11am, 90+degrees and the humidity of a sauna. Why do I remember this? Because of all the really weird looks we got as we walked our pale skin swaddled in flannel selves from the bus stop to our first destination. I'd be more taken out of it if they weren't still living the grunge scene a bit.

[NicoleMN6]

Is this the thread for nitpicking in general? I'm annoyed that Kate and Kevin supposedly had this mystical "twin connection" in Season 1, and now we're about to see that there was a FIRE at their house that almost kills Kate and does kill their dad, yet Kevin had no idea anything was amiss while he was partying in the woods with Sophie?

[biakbiak]

56 minutes ago, NicoleMN6 said:

Is this the thread for nitpicking in general? I'm annoyed that Kate and Kevin supposedly had this mystical "twin connection" in Season 1, and now we're about to see that there was a FIRE at their house that almost kills Kate and does kill their dad, yet Kevin had no idea anything was amiss while he was partying in the woods with Sophie?

We haven't seen Kate's reaction to the fire much less Kevin's and twin connections aren't fool proof, perhaps he does get a vagie feeling of unease, doesn't mean he knows to go to Miguel's house to find her.

[JudyObscure]

Response to several people in the Unpopular Opinions thread who thought George's wife was an idiot for saying they couldn't sell a hose full of old junk.

I thought the "old junk" she was referring to  was just that pile of stuff in the basement and other storage areas.  All of it seemed to be clutter that had been parked down there for years, like the hazardous crock pot he gave the Pearsons.  We were military for most of our marriage and moved every five years.  Before each move I would go through the entire house and give away or pitch anything that hadn't been used for a while.  When the Air Force moved us to England they said we had 3000 pounds of stuff where most people had trouble keeping it under the maximum of 10,000 pounds.  Yet we had the full compliment of bedrooms, dining and living room furniture, just no storage. 

Now that we're retired, we live in a house with no basement or attic and we can get our three cars in our three car garage -- because we don't have any "storage," other than a little bit of Christmas stuff. George's wife and I believe that  "storage" is code for  "old junk you don't need."  All this is only a problem when  a keeper marries a minimalist, like  George and his wife. 

Come to think of it, it's extra sad that the Pearson's not only lost Jack, but most of their material things  in that fire, because they're all "keepers," who attach lots of sentiment to things.

[ShadowFacts]

14 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

Response to several people in the Unpopular Opinions thread who thought George's wife was an idiot for saying they couldn't sell a hose full of old junk.

I thought the "old junk" she was referring to  was just that pile of stuff in the basement and other storage areas.  All of it seemed to be clutter that had been parked down there for years, like the hazardous crock pot he gave the Pearsons.  We were military for most of our marriage and moved every five years.  Before each move I would go through the entire house and give away or pitch anything that hadn't been used for a while.  When the Air Force moved us to England they said we had 3000 pounds of stuff where most people had trouble keeping it under the maximum of 10,000 pounds.  Yet we had the full compliment of bedrooms, dining and living room furniture, just no storage. 

Now that we're retired, we live in a house with no basement or attic and we can get our three cars in our three car garage -- because we don't have any "storage," other than a little bit of Christmas stuff. George's wife and I believe that  "storage" is code for  "old junk you don't need."  All this is only a problem when  a keeper marries a minimalist, like  George and his wife. 

Come to think of it, it's extra sad that the Pearson's not only lost Jack, but most of their material things  in that fire, because they're all "keepers," who attach lots of sentiment to things.

I also think George's wife might be referring to actually showing the house and having people be interested, seeing past the junk.  Depending on the house and the market at the time, that might have been very important.  Right now in my area, not so much, there are more buyers than homes for sale and sellers often get multiple offers, so there is some slack as to how the house looks if it's basically sound.

And you are in the minority about keeping a pared down house, I think.  I'm remembering a report on NPR about a certain expert on the matter saying most people have lots and lots of "priceless treasures", short of being hoarders.  I'm guilty as charged.  I'm cleaning my dad's house now after his recent death, and it is putting a fire under me -- I don't want to leave a job like that to my kids. 

[Guest]

They should've worded it that buyers can't see the house past their junk.  She said people didn't want to buy a house full of junk, or something very like that.  And then suggesting they give away their old stuff like a 2-year-old crockpot and buy new again made it sound like they weren't just paring down.  Tiny nit but bugged me the whole episode.  And as I wrote it last night I knew people would defend it, too, because it could mean paring down.   But the way both scenes were worded, it didn't, to me.  

[ChromaKelly]

I'm going to pick another nit with the George Crockpot couple. One thing that contributed to the fakeout (at least for me) in thinking that they were flashback-present day (1998) and were going to be the house that Rebecca had circled in the ad is the fact that That'll Be The Day plays on the jukebox. But, then you find out that they give Rebecca the crockpot back in 1980. So, they are about 70, I'm guessing, in 1980. That'll Be The Day was released in 1957, only 23 years earlier. That would not be the song they met and danced to, unless they met in their late 40's.
I'm just really over fakeouts in general. Why show the damn fuse three times if it had nothing to do with anything? 

[JudyObscure]

3 hours ago, ChromaKelly said:

Why show the damn fuse three times if it had nothing to do with anything

I think it did mean a little something just as the not-replaced batteries in the smoke alarm did. 

 One reason your  your circuit breaker might keep tripping, or a fuse keep blowing, is that somewhere in the house there might be some faulty wiring or an appliance with some faulty wiring.  My hair dryer kept popping ours until I got a new one.  I wonder if, in that episode about the fuse box, there was any mention of what Rebecca was cooking?

[Mrs. DuRona]

Just curious... I had never heard of "house flipping" until around 2005.  Not that is wasn't a thing in the 90s, but was that really a term tossed around?  Yes, Jack worked in construction, so maybe it was more of an industry term at the time, but it felt like too recent of a term to my ears.

[chocolatine]

1 minute ago, Mrs. DuRona said:

Just curious... I had never heard of "house flipping" until around 2005.  Not that is wasn't a thing in the 90s, but was that really a term tossed around?  Yes, Jack worked in construction, so maybe it was more of an industry term at the time, but it felt like too recent of a term to my ears.

I remember a house flipping storyline on Roseanne in the mid-90s. I think they used that word back then, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Mrs. DuRona]

1 minute ago, chocolatine said:

4 minutes ago, Mrs. DuRona said:

Just curious... I had never heard of "house flipping" until around 2005.  Not that is wasn't a thing in the 90s, but was that really a term tossed around?  Yes, Jack worked in construction, so maybe it was more of an industry term at the time, but it felt like too recent of a term to my ears.

I remember a house flipping storyline on Roseanne in the mid-90s. I think they used that word back then, but I'm not 100% sure.

OK, thank you!  I wasn't sure, I just remember hearing the term/idea as a business later than this.  Then again, a lot of those real estate shows weren't a mainstream thing until later, so that makes sense.

[Gurkel]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:10 AM, chocolatine said:

Randall came back from the movies in the evening and was eating a bowl of chili when Jack came down and Randall told him that he'd kissed Allison.

I’m glad that Randall (and Allison) weren’t hung up on being an interracial couple, but I’m surprised that no one talked about it at all. Not snarky Kevin, and not even Jack and Rebecca having a throwaway line about being glad that times have changed, or something like that. 

I don’t know when Randall and Kevin go to the gym, but I’m so,glad they do.

And why don’t Tessa and Annie play team sports anymore? Tessa was the family athlete. 

[leopardprint]

Did I miss them saying what exactly Beth's job is? She seems to work for some sort of non-profit that does something with low income housing but then they also show her drawing at a drafting table and then saying she lost a lot in another episode? 

[Guest]

Urban planner, I think.  

[Dejana]

On 1/26/2018 at 12:38 PM, Gurkel said:

I’m glad that Randall (and Allison) weren’t hung up on being an interracial couple, but I’m surprised that no one talked about it at all. Not snarky Kevin, and not even Jack and Rebecca having a throwaway line about being glad that times have changed, or something like that. 

Maybe there's more of that to come...the relationship still seems pretty new and we don't know why they broke up. The show went to the trouble of giving Teen Randall a girlfriend at this stage in the story, when no one really would have cared if he'd been single in high school, given the primary focus being on how Jack died.

A black male/white female pairing has a particular set of baggage in America, even now and more so in the 90s. Still, I can picture Jack and Rebecca not viewing Randall dating Allison as being that different from their old BFFs Miguel and Shelley, who were married and had kids together back in the 70s.

 

I looked up the weather in Pittsburgh on Super Bowl Sunday in 1998 to see if there was some sort of winter warm spell that year...nope, it was cold.

Edited January 28, 2018 by Dejana

[methodwriter85]

I lived about an hour northeast of Pittsburgh for two years, and that region is pretty much very cold and very overcast.

[MaryPatShelby]

On 1/23/2018 at 10:40 PM, ChromaKelly said:

Gonna nitpick the crockpot. The crockpot was still on when Jack was cleaning up the kitchen and he switches it off. So, Rebecca left the crockpot of chili on that whole time? No one scooped out the chili, put it away, and washed the crockpot out? 

But they left during the Super Bowl, or shortly thereafter, to go have sex in the bedroom, remember?  Then they fell asleep, and when Jack woke up and came downstairs, all the food was still out because of Sexy Times.

[biakbiak]

13 minutes ago, MaryPatShelby said:

But they left during the Super Bowl, or shortly thereafter, to go have sex in the bedroom, remember?  Then they fell asleep, and when Jack woke up and came downstairs, all the food was still out because of Sexy Times.

She came down before he did after they had sex, its when she talked to Kevin on the phone and she was wearing a robe, she started to clean up but then just threw her hands up and left. It does seem odd that she wouldn't have at least turned it off and put away the food even if she wasn't going to clean all the dishes. 

[ShadowFacts]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

She came down before he did after they had sex, its when she talked to Kevin on the phone and she was wearing a robe, she started to clean up but then just threw her hands up and left. It does seem odd that she wouldn't have at least turned it off and put away the food even if she wasn't going to clean all the dishes. 

Which I think will be a source of guilt for her.   At least if the origin of the fire is found after investigation.  And doubly so if the smoke detector battery was never replaced. 

[Valjean3902]

On ‎01‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 7:51 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

Urban planner, I think.  

I'm an urban planner.  I hope R & B put a lot of money away while Randall was working, they are not going to be able to keep up their lifestyle very long on an urban planner's salary.  Urban Planners seldom use drawing boards and rulers any more.  It is all computerized these days.

Edited January 29, 2018 by Valjean3902

[Mrs. DuRona]

Do they not know where Pittsburgh is?  Is Jack's tree actually somewhere between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for some reason?  There is no way Kevin went from NJ to Pgh in one day by car with there still being any daylight when he returned.  Maybe he flew?  UUUGGGHH... Pennsylvania is pretty wide - it's approx. 7 hours from one end to the other.  I think whoever is in charge of geography forgot which side of the state Pgh is on.

[methodwriter85]

13 hours ago, Mrs. DuRona said:

Do they not know where Pittsburgh is?  Is Jack's tree actually somewhere between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for some reason?  There is no way Kevin went from NJ to Pgh in one day by car with there still being any daylight when he returned.  Maybe he flew?  UUUGGGHH... Pennsylvania is pretty wide - it's approx. 7 hours from one end to the other.  I think whoever is in charge of geography forgot which side of the state Pgh is on.

I went to IUP and it is at least a 4 to 5 hour trip from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

[bros402]

So, Randall lives in Alpine. Rebecca also lives somewhere in NJ (If I heard what they said last night right). They don't live close enough where they might stop by often, but they are close enough to pop into the city for a night. Stopping in Alpine before going into the city would be pretty annoying if coming from points south - so they probably live west of Alpine - Maybe Sparta or Lafayette?

Edited February 6, 2018 by bros402

[PRgal]

Did they delay his funeral for two months or something?  The funeral CERTAINLY did not look like February.  Not February in Pittsburg, anyway!

[ShadowFacts]

38 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Did they delay his funeral for two months or something?  The funeral CERTAINLY did not look like February.  Not February in Pittsburg, anyway!

No it was definitely the next week after his death because of the concert tickets, but it was a ridiculous lapse.  Even Hallmark movies do fake snow that looks weird but at least they're trying-- and they understand the need for coats and sweaters.

[PRgal]

23 minutes ago, ShadowFacts said:

No it was definitely the next week after his death because of the concert tickets, but it was a ridiculous lapse.  Even Hallmark movies do fake snow that looks weird but at least they're trying-- and they understand the need for coats and sweaters.

Snow isn't necessary, but definitely bare trees.  And ugly grass in lieu of snow.  

[Valjean3902]

Kevin's cast is off for the funeral.  I guess he could have had it removed in the week between the Superbowl and the funeral. It is odd they never mentioned it.

[chocolatine]

2 minutes ago, Valjean3902 said:

Kevin's cast is off for the funeral.  I guess he could have had it removed in the week between the Superbowl and the funeral. It is odd they never mentioned it.

They did mention it. In the scene were the whole family is coming home with the food for the Super Bowl, Randall complains that Kevin's cast is poking him, and Kevin replies that it's coming off in two days.

[txhorns79]

Quote

Snow isn't necessary, but definitely bare trees.  And ugly grass in lieu of snow.  

It reminds me of Gilmore Girls where they made some effort to make things look cold, and had some fake bare trees around the set, but the trees were always lush and green in the background. 

[chitowngirl]

7 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

It reminds me of Gilmore Girls where they made some effort to make things look cold, and had some fake bare trees around the set, but the trees were always lush and green in the background. 

But the GG episode on Vaentine’s Day at Martha’s Vineyard was the worst in that regard. But that’s a discussion for a different show thread!

[bros402]

On 2/6/2018 at 9:25 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

I wouldn't put too much thought into it.  I don't think things are necessarily supposed to make sense geographically.  They're suggesting Beth works in Trenton, which is 75 miles from Alpine.  Last season Randall would flit between home and his Manhattan office in his car within the workday, like it was 10 minutes from home.  

Maybe she works from home sometimes?

I was just thinking "Maybe she drives to Newark and then takes the train to Trenton?"

But that's still a ~35 minute ride to Newark, then a 1.5 hour train to Trenton.

This *is* the minutiae thread, this is the place to think of weird stuff like that.

Or maybe Beth's job involves things that happen in Trenton - so maybe she works somewhere local-ish, and has to travel around north & central jersey as part of her job - it's urban planning, right? So her primary locations would be Trenton and Newark - maybe she usually works in Newark, but occasionally has work in Trenton?

Randall going from the city to home super quick was just funny. I'm in central NJ and I go into the city every few months, takes forever to leave (We take the tunnel, but still).

[pennsygirl]

I was raised outside of Pittsburgh but haven't lived there in forever,  Can anyone tell me about the bridge that Rebecca was afraid of?  Where is it?  etc.

[methodwriter85]

1 hour ago, pennsygirl said:

I was raised outside of Pittsburgh but haven't lived there in forever,  Can anyone tell me about the bridge that Rebecca was afraid of?  Where is it?  etc.

I don't think that was a real Pittsburgh bridge. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) I don't think the show does any actual location shooting in Pittsburgh. However, Pittsburgh is known for it's bridges.

[love2lovebadtv]

On 1/28/2018 at 6:14 PM, biakbiak said:

She came down before he did after they had sex, its when she talked to Kevin on the phone and she was wearing a robe, she started to clean up but then just threw her hands up and left. It does seem odd that she wouldn't have at least turned it off and put away the food even if she wasn't going to clean all the dishes. 

 

Not saying this is what happened, but I could see her leaving the crock pot on for her kids. Lots of people leave a plate of food on the stove/chili in the crockpot or whatever when they live with teenagers or just with anyone who might be coming in late. 

[love2lovebadtv]

On 2/6/2018 at 9:25 AM, Winston9-DT3 said:

I wouldn't put too much thought into it.  I don't think things are necessarily supposed to make sense geographically.  They're suggesting Beth works in Trenton, which is 75 miles from Alpine.  Last season Randall would flit between home and his Manhattan office in his car within the workday, like it was 10 minutes from home.  

1

Precisely this^. I have worked in Manhattan with folks from Darien, Poconos and Philly suburbs and no one I have ever known got around as swiftly as the Pearsons. The Pearsons flit from one state to the next. There's never any traffic. Everything is close lol. I usually handwave all of that but sometimes I get a chuckle out of it. If a show takes place in a region I'm not familiar with, I have even less desire to make the geography make sense. 

[bros402]

11 hours ago, love2lovebadtv said:

Precisely this^. I have worked in Manhattan with folks from Darien, Poconos and Philly suburbs and no one I have ever known got around as swiftly as the Pearsons. The Pearsons flit from one state to the next. There's never any traffic. Everything is close lol. I usually handwave all of that but sometimes I get a chuckle out of it. If a show takes place in a region I'm not familiar with, I have even less desire to make the geography make sense. 

Yeah, they get around really quickly on this show. I'm in Central Jersey, went into the city on Monday, there was a crash outside of the tunnel, so it ended up taking like an hour and a half to get home. 

Much harder to handwave it when they use names of big towns in NJ. If they went "oh beth does work down in Shiloh" I'd be like "huh where's Shiloh" and if I were to google it, I would see it's in very south jersey. But they had to use Trenton.

[Pallas]

On 2/21/2018 at 3:00 AM, bros402 said:

Much harder to handwave it when they use names of big towns in NJ. If they went "oh beth does work down in Shiloh" I'd be like "huh where's Shiloh" and if I were to google it, I would see it's in very south jersey. But they had to use Trenton.

Beth referred to losing a project in Trenton, but not that she works there. I think she works in Newark, a reasonable commute from Alpine, and the state's largest city. 

[Pallas]

10 minutes ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

Randall said he dropped by her office that day because he was 'in the area' when he was in Philly, so I assumed that was Trenton, since she'd mentioned Trenton and it's at least somewhat in the area.  

He did. At the time it seemed to me that Randall was "in the area" Beth was because "the area" is where Beth was. Still. Beth might work in Trenton and Randall in Manhattan and the family live in Alpine because (1) the public schools are good, as Randall pointed out to William, and (2) Randall probably worked more days and longer hours.  

And with the R&B project in Philly, I now kind of hope that Beth's job is in Trenton. Except that means both parents are more than two hours away from the kids during the weekday (and not just by bus). Oh those Pearsons. This building is another used crockpot. 

[bros402]

Things would be much easier if they put Randall & Beth in Montclair. The minutiae would be much less annoying - since Rebecca & Miguel stopped at Randall's house because they were on their way to the city to see a show.

Let's just assume it is broadway. To go from Alpine to midtown, they have to go south for like 15 minutes then hit the GWB (the GWB is so annoying), then go alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way down to Broadway.

 

If Randall lived in Montclair like I want him to, they would just have to take the tunnel in.

[biakbiak]

46 minutes ago, bros402 said:

then go alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way down to Broadway.

Depending on the day and time, it was still light out it's not that horrific for this show.

[bros402]

23 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Depending on the day and time, it was still light out it's not that horrific for this show.

True. Last time I took that way (Had to stop at Columbia University Medical Center on Fort Washington Ave, then go down to Radio City) was on the Tuesday after Labor Day 2015, it was around 11 AM, and it was a decent amount of traffic heading down to Radio City.

However, a lot of this depends on where Rebecca & Miguel live. If they live in Central or South Jersey, stopping by Randall on the way would be going waaay out of their way.

Okay, This is Us Powers That Be, please make the next cliffhanger "WHERE DOES REBECCA LIVE IN 2018??" with a special flashback episode dedicated to Rebecca & Miguel reconnecting, with an 5 minute flashback where Jack, i dunno, makes a new tradition because they lost the number that goes on their mailbox, or something like that. Jack made enough Pearson traditions that soon he's gonna have to start co-opting holidays like Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, bros402 said:

True. Last time I took that way (Had to stop at Columbia University Medical Center on Fort Washington Ave, then go down to Radio City) was on the Tuesday after Labor Day 2015, it was around 11 AM, and it was a decent amount of traffic heading down to Radio City.

But they wouldn't have to do that so wouldn't be using city streets depending on Waze they would take the FDR Drive or the Westside Highway from the GWBridge and cut over at 42 or 49.

Edited February 25, 2018 by biakbiak

[bros402]

22 hours ago, biakbiak said:

But they wouldn't have to do that so wouldn't be using city streets depending on Waze they would take the FDR Drive or the Westside Highway from the GWBridge and cut over at 42 or 49.

True.

At least they haven't really gone much into the city in this show, otherwise we'd have pages and pages about the unrealistic lack of traffic.

[Cardie]

In Breaking News: Several models of Instant Pot have been recalled for overheating and posing a fire danger. Crock Pot, you are no longer alone as a homicidal slow cooker.

[bros402]

1 hour ago, Cardie said:

In Breaking News: Several models of Instant Pot have been recalled for overheating and posing a fire danger. Crock Pot, you are no longer alone as a homicidal slow cooker.

17 year old crock pot redeemed

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, Cardie said:

In Breaking News: Several models of Instant Pot have been recalled for overheating and posing a fire danger. Crock Pot, you are no longer alone as a homicidal slow cooker.

Well they haven't hurt anyone and its actually not the pressure cooker model that most people own but a lesser known "roaster" version that is built completely differently, most articles have done a deservice by using pics of the popular model not the Gem 65 that most people haven't heard of and don't own.

[TwoGrayTabbies]

I believe there have been two references to Randall’s apartment complex project as a “job.”  I can’t see how this venture could be bringing in any money for Randall; on the contrary, it seems like this is a massive cash hemorrhage.  Even if he obtained financing (which would take much longer than the time passed between episodes) he would probably have to personally guarantee the loan.  Randall was probably a diligent investor, but even seemingly infinite investment accounts can dry up pretty quickly when you’re withdrawing principal and incurring tax penalties.  Even if he and Kevin did all the work themselves, building materials and equipment rentals are not cheap.  This show isn’t aimed at kids.  It’s aimed at adults who know how things work in real life.  So I would really appreciate some explanations from the show.

[qtpye]

6 hours ago, TwoGrayTabbies said:

I believe there have been two references to Randall’s apartment complex project as a “job.”  I can’t see how this venture could be bringing in any money for Randall; on the contrary, it seems like this is a massive cash hemorrhage.  Even if he obtained financing (which would take much longer than the time passed between episodes) he would probably have to personally guarantee the loan.  Randall was probably a diligent investor, but even seemingly infinite investment accounts can dry up pretty quickly when you’re withdrawing principal and incurring tax penalties.  Even if he and Kevin did all the work themselves, building materials and equipment rentals are not cheap.  This show isn’t aimed at kids.  It’s aimed at adults who know how things work in real life.  So I would really appreciate some explanations from the show.

You know...none of the Pearson's have any financial problems, ever.  Randall and Kevin are rich enough to do whatever they want and Toby is more then happy to support Kate, while she gets the singing career off the ground.  It would be interesting if managing the tenement would cause Randall to lose his fancy house and car, but I doubt the show will go there. Alpine, NJ is hella expensive, but this is a show where the finances are not realistic.  It could be that they all got a big settlement when Jack died, but it has not ever been mentioned to explain the lack of money worries of the big three.

We saw in their 20's Kevin had his room mate cover his rent and Kate worked as a waitress, but that was about it when it came to struggling financially.

[Portia]

1 minute ago, qtpye said:

You know...none of the Pearson's have any financial problems, ever.  Randall and Kevin are rich enough to do whatever they want and Toby is more then happy to support Kate, while she gets the singing career off the ground.  It would be interesting if managing the tenement would cause Randall to lose his fancy house and car, but I doubt the show will go there. Alpine, NJ is hella expensive, but this is a show where the finances are not realistic.  It could be that they all got a big settlement when Jack died, but it has not ever been mentioned to explain the lack of money worries of the big three.

They followed in the footsteps of financial genius magician Jack, who could buy an anniversary piano on a whim. Three kids starting college the same year? No sweat. Let them apply to whatever fancy schools their hearts desire! It'll all work out!

[qtpye]

17 minutes ago, Portia said:

They followed in the footsteps of financial genius magician Jack, who could buy an anniversary piano on a whim. Three kids starting college the same year? No sweat. Let them apply to whatever fancy schools their hearts desire! It'll all work out!

Jack just goes to the college and tells the administration about how special his family is and they all get full scholarships.