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The other children: Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, JimBob, and Elizabeth


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Well she grew up at a lumber mill, so I guess she should.  But I don't think I'd have known that at 12.  I don't remember ever being exposed to anything that would gain me that knowledge.  I'm a city kid.

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I hate Mary Ellen when she gets on her high horse nurse persona. If I were Ben and Jim Bob I would have reminded her of the time she almost killed Grandma by mis-diagnosing her appendicitis.

Livvie was delusional, what with thinking John Boy was the next Shakespeare and that Mary Ellen was next door to being beautiful.

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The Ordeal is just a rehash of The Easter Story. Instead of Olivia, it's Elizabeth and instead of polio, it's a woodpile. Only the 6th season and they were already recycling storylines.

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Watching "The Grandchild". How sweet was Mary Ellen rolling her eyes at Cassie's grandfather when he came looking for help with Cassie's childbirth. Where was the dedicated nurse? Of course Mary Ellen's baby was the only one that mattered. I'm glad Cassie spooked her.

The Ordeal is just a rehash of The Easter Story. Instead of Olivia, it's Elizabeth and instead of polio, it's a woodpile. Only the 6th season and they were already recycling storylines.

At least The Ordeal (and it is) didn't have John Boy railing at the heavens.

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I just thought it would be a nice crossover show if Elizabeth were to move to Miami and move in with a couple of older ladies, and after awhile, she would bore them with tales of "Back on Walton's Mountain! Back on Walton's mountain, Back on Walton's mountain!"

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Just watched "The Idol" last night and was again disgusted by selfish, special snowflake Elisabeth's actions. The poor woman was dying at a very young age from a brain tumour and all Elisabeth does is yell at her that she's a liar before giving her the silent treatment because the poor woman was leaving her. And everyone is tip toeing around "poor" Elisabeth. John does finally slap some sense of shame into her, but of course it has to be done gently.

God I detest that little b***h! She needed a smack aside of the head.

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God I detest that little b***h! She needed a smack aside of the head.

And she had cutie Drew eating out of her hand and then had to screw it up by joining the Peace Corps. 

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But she didn't screw it up.  Drew was so much her bitch that she returned after years in the Peace Corps and got pissed that he was dating someone else.  And he apologized and got back together with her. 

 

Ok, there actually was a nice scene where Olivia smacked her upside the head and told her to stop acting like a little bitch. And Elizabeth actually did it.

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It was in the last movie - the easter one where the timeline was completely tossed out the window and WWII vet John Boy was having his first children in 1968.

 

I do want to add that I am grateful that they didn't make that episode about how MLK's assassination was really about his BFF - John Boy.

 

ETA that I now have a a vision of John Boy superimposed on the Memphis hotel balcony ala The Hindenburg.  Livy and John would be home watching on TV and lamenting how awful it is for JB.  

Edited by oceanblue
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One thing that really bugs me is the mystery of what happened to Ben and Cindy's two children, Virginia and Charlie. They totally disappeared when the TV specials aired

. I remember hearing Cindy begging Ben to adopt, but Ben was so against it.

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Just watched "The Thanksgiving Story". In all the times I've watched it I never noticed that both Doc Vance and Doc MacIvers both appear. Doc MacIvers is introduced as the hospital chief of staff. So Livvie got an appointment with the chief of staff for her mid life crisis baby obsession? And wasn't there something in that episode where John says he has three or four dollars in his pocket? And the chief of staff makes a trip to the mountain to tell her about the foster baby? Well, maybe in the 1930s, but I doubt it. Although Jim Bob's surgery did only cost 28.00. Times sure have changed.

Edited by DoughGirl
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Ok, I am a grown woman having a Beavis and Butthead moment.  But does anyone else arch a brow at the end of the Beguiled when Jim-Bob says "I guess we better find something else to do with our hands."

 

I thought he did "find something to do with his hands", whenever he decided to go off "for a walk" in the woods....

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It's weird to see the opening credits of the later episodes and the first credit says "Starring Jon Walmsley." To paraphrase MST3K, can anything really be starring Jon Walmsley?

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Watching a Love Boat now with Mary McDonaugh and Dean Butler as newlyweds. Funny to see Erin and Almanzo Wilder.  Mary McDonaugh looked so gorgeous in the early 80s. Never would have predicted that in the early seasons.

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Just watched "The Idol" last night and was again disgusted by selfish, special snowflake Elisabeth's actions. The poor woman was dying at a very young age from a brain tumour and all Elisabeth does is yell at her that she's a liar before giving her the silent treatment because the poor woman was leaving her. And everyone is tip toeing around "poor" Elisabeth. John does finally slap some sense of shame into her, but of course it has to be done gently.

God I detest that little b***h! She needed a smack aside of the head.

I had the same reaction to Jo on the Facts of Life this week, in the same exact plotline.  Though I would be more scared of Jo.  Do you think Olivia would have been a good Quiverfull woman?  She has the uterus, but too much feist.

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Just watched "The Idol" last night and was again disgusted by selfish, special snowflake Elisabeth's actions. The poor woman was dying at a very young age from a brain tumour and all Elisabeth does is yell at her that she's a liar before giving her the silent treatment because the poor woman was leaving her. And everyone is tip toeing around "poor" Elisabeth. John does finally slap some sense of shame into her, but of course it has to be done gently.

God I detest that little b***h! She needed a smack aside of the head.

Also that time in the episode where that kid from Hell's Kitchen(who had no New York accent whatsoever). Elizabeth takes a raccoon as a pet but it's sick and it dies. She blames her dad for not being to help and gets angry at him and doesn't want to talk to him.  I wish the raccoon had bit her and gave her rabies!

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On 5/3/2014 at 4:44 AM, DoughGirl said:

Jason and his music:

Okay, he was talented, but when they have him composing variations on musical geniuses such as Mozart and everyone is raving, please.

Thank goodness one of his professors at Klineberg finally smaked him down for it yesterday in "The House".

I liked how after going into the military and seeing a little of the world Jason did realize that he wasn't really that good and bought the Dew Drop Inn so he could play the kind of music that he cared about. I always thought of Jason as the most like Zeb. He had a serious soul but was all smiles and happy go lucky on the outside. A natural entertainer, but not an artist. 

I just wondered by the end of the series if Jason even liked his family. By season 9 none of them seemed especially invested or supportive of the guy. I liked how the stuck with who he was instead of trying to make him John Boy 2.0. He never tried to force his beliefs or opinions on other people. He clearly cared about his family, but it was kind of painful to see him dumped on by them and their closed mindedness really seemed to bother him. You just wanted to scream at him to just grab Toni and get the hell out of there. 

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It was interesting to show how the times were changing through the other kids throughout the series. Or rather, just how differently Olivia and John related to their children as time went on and there wasn't as much stress/as many mouths to feed and bodies to cloth.

John-boy - John and Olivia's son who they had when they were young. Related to them as more of a friend. Whatever resources they had were put into John-Boy and his success as their oldest son. 

Jason and Mary Ellen - the deep depression year kids. Were very mindful of being respectful at all times to their parents. Olivia and John and the grandparents were never afraid to put them in their place. Grew up knowing that they needed to pay for their own educations and help support the family, not that the family was there to support them. Both very serious as teens about finding their way as adults and knew that they didn't want to grow up to be like their parents.

Ben and Erin - the depression was ending in their teen years. There were always hand-me-down from older siblings. Olivia and John could relax a little, even come up with money for small luxuries for them. They looked up to and could count on their parents for support in whatever they wanted to do. They were also about to explore their options in life a little bit instead of feeling like they needed to decide what they were going to do with their lives at 16. They got away with back talking and being vain or silly that didn't seem to be allowed with the older children.

Jim-Bob and Elizabeth - only experienced lean years as small children. The mill was doing better and Olivia had the free time to work when she wanted to. The babies of the family. Where rarely disciplined. John and Olivia seemed to loose interest in parenting (because they left the show but really it happens a lot in big families) by the time they were teens. Allowed more freedom then the other children. John let Jim-Bob be a flake and Olivia only seemed interested in making sure that Elizabeth had a social life. 

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