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S01.E01/E02: The Stinker Thinker/The Gloomy-Zoomies


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Krystal puts her confidence on her husband's dream while he's considering leaving his job; Cody meets his hero.

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Krystal networks her way into an opportunity in the beauty pageant industry; Cody tries to be his own workhorse, and Ernie builds a time capsule. 

Original air date 2019.08.25

Note:  The episodes are available early on demand.  You may post prior to the official air date. 

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I'm halfway through the first episode. I live in the same city as the Amway headquarters and have been burned a few times (when I was younger and more naive) by going to what I thought was a social gathering only to find out it was somebody selling Amway. So don't know how much I can take of the husband (Alexander Skarsgård) and the other people from the pyramid scheme company even though I like Kirsten Dunst.

*edited to say I finished both episodes and it gets better, I'm in.

The husband was such a dork, wearing his tux as he walks out on his job was so funny/cringe inducing.

I want Krystal to succeed but I don't want her to use the nice neighbors as a downline and hurt them in the process.

Just realized the big wig President of the company is the same actor who played Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

Edited by Armchair Critic
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Ha, this show got moved from a single thread to a full forum so somehow my posts about the first two episodes got dumped into the anticipation thread so I'm resposting here in the episode thread:

I know they're playing all of the pyramid scheme stuff as funny, but I find the cult like atmosphere with the weird acronyms/vocabulary, the insistence that people devote themselves to the system, the excessive financial commitment, etc to be SO FUCKING CREEPY. I hate that it preys on people like Travis who are desperate enough to believe that this is what will make their dreams come true.

It's clear that people like Cody are true believers (his excitement at seeing Obie in person was ridiculous), but it's sad to see someone like Travis spend so much of his time and money trying to make this happen, especially at the expense of his health. When you are doing things like not paying your insurance premiums because you need to buy more tapes and seminars, you are not making good choices. Expenses like this should be optional things AFTER you pay your bills. Paying $300 for another cult event when you should be using that money to pay your credit card bills is a terrible idea.

I also hated how Cody and Travis were pressuring Krystal to get her boss to carry Fam products at the water park. They're lucky that Ernie is such a nice guy. Stan's reaction was totally appropriate.

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Whoops, forgot to include my post for the second episode!

No surprise that Buzz is a skeevy jerk who uses his business to get hand jobs from local girls. And OF COURSE he's a vindictive asshole.

I love that Rhonda the repo lady came back to bring Krystal some condolence booze. I already liked her in the previous episode when she at least tried to give the appearance that she was buying stuff at the garage sale instead of repossessing it.

Man, Travis was in even deeper than we were shown in the first episode. He took out TWO mortgages on the house and then didn't make the payments for several months? Seriously, what kind of fucked up priorities do you have when you're risking your house being foreclosed so that you can attend seminars?

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I watched the first episode, and this show is already wild. While the whole Pyramid JOB cult is being played for laughs, they're also doing a good job of showing how creepy and damaging it  can be, especially for people like Travis who really do believe that they can get rich doing this, and are clearly just being jerked around and taken advantage of their naivete and desperation. The similarities between companies like this and well documented cults are uncanny. They both start people off with ridiculous high levels of positive thinking and building people up telling them how awesome and special they are (called Love Bombing) and having them come to these big parties and events, and then they start sending the person out to sell whatever it is that the cult is selling and recruit other people, and if the person gets in too deep and things go sideways, well its your fault for not believing enough, and not the cults. They also both build up these cults of personality around their founders, and convince people to aspire to these mythical levels of success that no one ever achieves, but they keep dangling   in front of people.   

I did not see that coming! Getting eaten by an alligator after quitting your job in a cheap suite to commit to a crazy pyramid scheme is the most Florida story to ever Florida. 

This seems like it will be really fascinating, I am all in!

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I'm loving it.  When Krystal shot those gators and brought them home I thought she was looking for evidence of Travis in their stomach at first.  Turns out she's just resourceful and could use the meat?   A poaching charge may force her to  go all-in the FAM scam.

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On 8/21/2019 at 5:14 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Whoops, forgot to include my post for the second episode!

No surprise that Buzz is a skeevy jerk who uses his business to get hand jobs from local girls. And OF COURSE he's a vindictive asshole.

I love that Rhonda the repo lady came back to bring Krystal some condolence booze. I already liked her in the previous episode when she at least tried to give the appearance that she was buying stuff at the garage sale instead of repossessing it.

Man, Travis was in even deeper than we were shown in the first episode. He took out TWO mortgages on the house and then didn't make the payments for several months? Seriously, what kind of fucked up priorities do you have when you're risking your house being foreclosed so that you can attend seminars?

I agree the pyramid scheme/cult is really creepy. Twice I've been invited to someone's home for dinner and they turned out to be selling/sign up to be distributor parties.  One was for Amway, the other was for pots & pans. They had people there that really try and pressure you to buy/sign up. We had no idea before we arrived. So disappointing. 

I didn't think I'd like this series because of the cult stuff, but I got drawn in. I also hope Ernie & his family don't get hurt by the cult. It looks like he's already having a tough time. I love Rhonda too. I hope she's a regular in the series.

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For me, it's Kirsten Dunst that makes the show eminently watchable. Didn't really know much about it going in and was surprised to see Alexander Skarsgard. Woops! On the first episode, anyway. Heh.

I struggle between pity and contempt for these people who get suckered into pyramid schemes like this. It seems to me the head honcho who flew in on his helicopter for the funeral would have been wiser to shell out some cash to Krystal just to keep her from running her mouth. I know they didn't have the internet back then but they sure had newspapers and TV. 

Can't wait for the next one. Why would Buzz go to Krystal's house after reporting her? 

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I actually yelled, "OH MY GOD!" when Travis got eaten by the gator; I didn't see that coming at all.

I really wish Krystal would leave her neighbors out of her scheme, Bets seems so sweet and doesn't need Krystal's situation to happen to her either. I still don't understand Ernie. Is his going above and beyond for Krystal supposed to be due to a crush and the guilt behind it? And what's with the after-hours water park visits? I was really scared he would hit his head or something would go wrong going down the slide and no one would find him until morning, but two major deaths in back to back episodes would probably be a bit much. This isn't Game of Thrones.

Every man that wasn't Ernie was a complete ass to Krystal.

On 8/21/2019 at 4:51 AM, Armchair Critic said:

Just realized the big wig President of the company is the same actor who played Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

He'll always be Captain Stottlemeyer from Monk to me.

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Skarsgard.. Dying horribly on TV shows since who knows when.

I didn't actually get what happened at first, until all the blood started rising to the surface, and then I saw the license plate and remembered this taking place in Florida. I didn't go back to re-watch but I don't think we actually saw the alligator itself during the attack, did we? It was just a sound effect and a "woosh."

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On 8/24/2019 at 6:29 PM, Razzberry said:

I'm loving it.  When Krystal shot those gators and brought them home I thought she was looking for evidence of Travis in their stomach at first.  Turns out she's just resourceful and could use the meat?   A poaching charge may force her to  go all-in the FAM scam.

She was killing them for their meat? Can you eat alligator meat? I'm Canadian so no clue. 

Can't wait for the next episode. I'm finding this show equal parts bizarre, hilarious and moving. 

As for Ernie, my take is that he's in love with, or possibly deeply infatuated with Krystal, despite loving his wife and son, and he hates himself for it. 

Edited by Melina22
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1 hour ago, Melina22 said:

She was killing them for their meat? Can you eat alligator meat? I'm Canadian so no clue. 

Can't wait for the next episode. I'm finding this show equal parts bizarre, hilarious and moving. 

As for Ernie, my take is that he's in love with, or possibly deeply infatuated with Krystal, despite loving his wife and son, and he hates himself for it. 

Yea. I have had it more than a few times, fried, jerky etc. 

Generally though, Gators dont kill by biting. They drown you and then store you for later. They also are not super aggressive like Crocs. We do have Crocs down here too but nowhere near as many.

A simple rule for florida. Treat ANY body of water like there is a gator in it, because there may be 

We also have bears and venomous snakes and spiders.

Florida is the Australia of America. Everything here is trying to kill you.

Edited by JennyMominFL
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16 hours ago, Melina22 said:

She was killing them for their meat? Can you eat alligator meat? I'm Canadian so no clue. 

Tastes like chicken!  😃  Grew up in Florida, never had gator until I moved to California.

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I watched the first episode last night and I don't know if it was just because I was tired but I had a hard time understanding what the hell was going on. I know that Skarsgaard was in some sort of get-rich quick scheme but I did not understand anything about how the business was supposed to work or all the acronyms they were saying. I didn't see how he could quit his job if he hadn't even made any money or even how he was supposed to make money. Maybe the second episode will make more sense. I do like Kristen Dunst a lot but so far this show is just very odd.

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I wasn't very far into the pilot before I started excitedly texting friends to whom I've tried to explain the Amway experience.  They nailed it! Truly, they did.  The expensive gatherings to which you're expected to go, regardless of what you have to give up in order to afford it.  The chanting ("FIRED UP!!!), the adulation, the glassy stares.  The garage full of products.  The overloaded credit cards, the multiple mortgages, the unpaid bills.  The stalking and pouncing on people to try to get them to listen to a wonderful opportunity to walk away from your  J - O - B and be your own boss....

Way back in the mists of time, in the late 1970s, I was married to a man who heard The Plan and became a true believer.  Fortunately he also had a short attention span, so when we'd been in Amway for a year or so and weren't millionaires yet, I was able to convince him that we should drop out.  We lost a little money on the adventure, but not very much, and while I would rather have skipped it, I must say it makes a fun story to tell.

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21 hours ago, MamaBird said:

I wasn't very far into the pilot before I started excitedly texting friends to whom I've tried to explain the Amway experience.  They nailed it! Truly, they did.  The expensive gatherings to which you're expected to go, regardless of what you have to give up in order to afford it.  The chanting ("FIRED UP!!!), the adulation, the glassy stares.  The garage full of products.  The overloaded credit cards, the multiple mortgages, the unpaid bills.  The stalking and pouncing on people to try to get them to listen to a wonderful opportunity to walk away from your  J - O - B and be your own boss....

I lived in Central Florida from 1995 to 2002, and lost my best friend to multi-level marketing, and just from seeing her get sucked in and what I saw when I was trying to hold onto our friendship, I'd agree that they nailed it. She just would not stop pressuring me and finally I gave up on her. The hair and clothes and look all work, too. 

Great cast, fast pacing, and locations I recognize. I'm in. 

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I got dragged to a seminar for something very similar a few years ago.  Market America.  There was a kid on stage.  Bad suit.  Looked like he bought it off the rack at WalMart.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he was portraying himself a millionaire at 23 years old.  Didn't have time to have that suit tailored though.....  Then, the owners wife got up.  Bad dye job.  Like she sprayed her hair with Sun-In and blew it dry, bad.  "Lee" press on nails.  A "suit" that if you lit a match near her would have melted.  When the seminar was over my "friend" offered to lend me the seed money I needed to get started.  I demurred.  Then she brough the owner's wife over to meet me.  Now, if these people have any sort of talent, it's a talent to know who can see through them.  She moved on from me with lightening speed to some other idiot who was gazing at her with stars in their eyes.  

It truly frightens me that there are really and truly people in this world that fall for these schemes!  Everything I saw on "Becoming God....", I saw at this seminar.  

The "friend" who tried to rope me in was still involved with them for at least 5 years (I severed contacat with her...)  She had poured thousands of dollars into this scam, and was still preparing to pour thousands more when I last spoke with her.  

What is wrong with people?

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What is wrong with people?

Psychologically it's probably similar to having a gambling addiction. They just keep throwing more and more money into it thinking eventually they're going to hit it big, and they can't walk away because it will mean all that money down the drain for nothing. Meanwhile they're getting validation from these organizations, being told how great they are and how rich they're going to be.

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I'm really glad that Travis died early.  I wasn't going to keep watching if the series continued with him in that ridiculous wig, and being so naive!  Loved Kristen Dunst in Fargo S2 and am loving her here, and believing this character.

One of my sons was briefly in Amway many years ago.  He sold my mom a bunch of stuff -- it was still in her house when she died, 25 years later.  Their products are crap.

I'm still using cookware that I bought in 1967, at a marketing event.  We had just moved across the country, and when neighbors invited us to a dinner party, we were thrilled.  Of course we bought the pans.  The company came to our house the day after to deliver them and they took our old pans as down payment.  How smart was that!  If we don't make the payments, we don't have anything to cook with.  Anyway, the cookware was an excellent investment.  My kids can't believe I still use them.

I've been to lots of marketing parties since then, usually for friends who are looking to make some spare change, or just score some free product.  Mary Kay, Weekender clothing, Home Interiors, Pampered Chef, Tupperware -- those companies aren't as scammy as Amway, but they're close.

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5 hours ago, iMonrey said:
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What is wrong with people?

Psychologically it's probably similar to having a gambling addiction. They just keep throwing more and more money into it thinking eventually they're going to hit it big, and they can't walk away because it will mean all that money down the drain for nothing. Meanwhile they're getting validation from these organizations, being told how great they are and how rich they're going to be.

This is more or less it. It's the same as people who fall for the infamous Nigerian Prince scam emails, Scientology or any other pyramid scheme like this - or even a business they set up that isn't working out.

When you're in this situation, you get to a psychological place where you literally can't admit to yourself that you've been scammed. Doing so would mean admitting to yourself that (a) all the money you sank into this (which you likely couldn't afford) is gone, (b) no miracle is going to happen, (c) you have been a fool and (d) now you have to figure out how to pay all the debt you're likely in and how to carry on with your life in the face of crushing disappointment and without the hope the scam gave you. You're in too deep, so you go deeper and give it just one more week, one more month, one more year and before you know it, a big chunk of your life has gone by and you have nothing to show for it. Often less than nothing. 

Dreams give people a reason to get up in the morning and people who have very little  - and even less chances to bring anything good into their lives - are easy targets for empty promises. In the most passing way I knew a couple in London in the mid-90's who were involved in an eerily similar scam to Kiki & Skars' characters, albeit with less of the overt culty-stuff depicted in the show (which probably wouldn't have worked in England!) 

This couple bought cleaning products to sell on too. They were desperately poor, with little education, saw the woman who was their "handler" driving her base-model BMW, wanted what she had and talked endlessly about how this was going to make them rich and get them their own home away from the shared house they lived in. They were perfect targets for her, worked every hour at it and I hope they escaped.

Watched the pilot and Kirsten Dunst was awesome, but it was a little slow for me and the story seems to meander a bit. Not sure if I'll continue.  

Edited by BaskingsharkGTX
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Kirsten Dunce is great in this. I never realized how talented she is. And she has a real, albeit pretty nice, womanly figure. I knew Alexander S. was going to die since he was not listed in the cast when I checked the Direct tv listing. 

Was sad to see Krystal shoot the gators though. I'm happy to know Florida at least has big time anti poaching laws. I thought she was avenging her husband and just went nuts but I think she comes from trash and poaching was probably something they always did. Poor alligators. Live in Florida, be wary of the beasts. They were there first, and they are awesome . Living dinosaurs. 

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On 8/25/2019 at 11:16 PM, ichbin said:

I'm so glad I wasn't spoiled for that.  It was so macabre but still hysterically funny!

I DIED. I mean, may he rest, but I fell the ENTIRE FUCK OUT. 

21 hours ago, msrachelj said:

I think she comes from trash

Me too. She said in the pilot that she wouldn't be poor again, and she said in the bank that she knew how foreclosure worked. She told Travis that their middle-class life was more than she'd expected (though of course, it was precarious at best).

On 8/26/2019 at 6:37 PM, Popples said:

I've eaten fried alligator in New Orleans! It was pretty good.

During the recession I was a part of a job interview that turned out to be an MLM scheme. It was a  group interview, which none of us knew - we'd all applied for a job posting online, as you do, so when people started arriving we were like " ...?" We were all like "Yeah, no" and left en masse and then stood on the sidewalk talking shit about it for a little while afterward. I used to work with two women who sold Thirty One products, which I'd never heard of until I started working with them, but they weren't pushy about it. I got the impression that it was a side gig for them, not anything they thought they'd get rich doing.

I like Rhonda the Repo Lady. I hope they become friends and we see more of her.

Kirsten Dunst is fantastic. I don't know if I want her to take down the scheme (although I guess that's impossible), or to succeed in it. 

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On 8/28/2019 at 8:32 PM, AuntiePam said:

I'm really glad that Travis died early.  I wasn't going to keep watching if the series continued with him in that ridiculous wig, and being so naive!  

It's almost 2020. How are wigs, especially men's wigs, so bad?? I can be watching the most advanced SciFi show, CGI effects costing millions and totally convincing, yet I'll still see some horribly fake straw-like wigs on the men. I just don't get it. 

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On 8/29/2019 at 11:54 AM, msrachelj said:

Was sad to see Krystal shoot the gators though.

I do agree with this. However, I was impressed with Krystal's skill and abilities. First of all to get the (or those?) gators out of the water, into her car and into her garage. Those things are heavy! I once held a small 2-3 foot one at a library reptile presentation when my kids were little and was surprised how heavy he was. Kirsten sold it to me that Krystal could do that.

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I hated Krystal trying to recruit Ernie.  Don't scam your friends.  God gave us strangers to be our victims, dammit!

These are very unusual characters. Ernie with his Gloomies, apparently relieved by a trip down the slide.  Cody with his enthusiasm and competitiveness, and getting physical!  What were they drinking that turned their lips blue anyway? 

The uniqueness of the characters will keep me watching, even though I hate what Krystal is doing. 

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If anyone is interested, there'a great podcast called "The Dream" that examines MLM from a variety of angles, psychologically, socially, historically, fiancially, legally. It;s super entertaining. They even go undercover and infiltrate one of those motivational meetings. 

I have been approached by freinds and acquaintances lots of times to both buy product and recruited. Never been remotely interested. My neighbr ended up with a garage full of Amway after buying into their crap. I know people who do MaryKay, Herbalife, MonAVie, 31, LulaRoe, etc etc. No one I know makes significant money and most ended up losing money and quit. I figured out it's not about the product, it's about the pyramid. It;s pretty sad because in many cases it's those that can least afford it that get preyed upon. 

The show is good. I'm hoping Krystal takes them all for a ride

Edited by poeticlicensed
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I an really enjoying this show. My hope is that Krystal scams the scammers at the end and doesn’t get friends and family involved, just finds a way to sell her garage of FAM crap and then takes them all down. We shall see...

The hair and clothes are pretty fun, they take me back  to my youth.  That was the style then LOL.

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On 8/30/2019 at 1:17 PM, Melina22 said:

It's almost 2020. How are wigs, especially men's wigs, so bad?? I can be watching the most advanced SciFi show, CGI effects costing millions and totally convincing, yet I'll still see some horribly fake straw-like wigs on the men. I just don't get it. 

I've worn wigs because I had chemotherapy.  I've worn good ones and bad ones (for everyday).  Even most expensive ones still look somewhat fake.  There's no way to make them look perfect, because of the way they have to be placed on the head and cover the hairline. 

22 hours ago, poeticlicensed said:

If anyone is interested, there'a great podcast called "The Dream" that examines MLM from a variety of angles, psychologically, socially, historically, fiancially, legally. It;s super entertaining. They even go undercover and infiltrate one of those motivational meetings. 

I was going to recommend "The Dream" as well, but you got there first.  Fascinating but depressing too.

Edited by GussieK
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It truly frightens me that there are really and truly people in this world that fall for these schemes!

And they're allowed to vote, and drive cars.

Alexander Skarsgaard could play Jim Carrey in a biopic.

Did Kirsten gain weight for this role, or is that her look now?

Enjoying this and can't wait to see if Krystal takes the company down or ends up running it.

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On 8/26/2019 at 7:20 PM, JennyMominFL said:

Yea. I have had it more than a few times, fried, jerky etc. 

Generally though, Gators dont kill by biting. They drown you and then store you for later. They also are not super aggressive like Crocs. We do have Crocs down here too but nowhere near as many.

A simple rule for florida. Treat ANY body of water like there is a gator in it, because there may be 

We also have bears and venomous snakes and spiders.

Florida is the Australia of America. Everything here is trying to kill you.

Florida resident as well.  I watched this with my husband and as soon as the car went into the water he said to me "bet there are gators in there".  He won't even swim in lakes down here because of the snakes and gators.  Agree on gators drowning you rather than eating you right then.  And they are not as aggressive as crocs unless it is mating season.  We have at least 1 death every year from a gator not to mention all of the dogs that get eaten.  I know his death was kind of played for laughs but it is plausible.  

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Can someone explain to me why that guy would not want Krystal as one of his salespeople? His male customers would probably love to talk to her and she could open up a new female customer base as well. She was probably desperate enough to work just on commission. Was it because she knew he was a total skeev?

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2 hours ago, EastCoast4Life said:

Travis's quitting scene is one of my most favorite things I've seen on TV EVER. I recently quit my job and sent a video of that scene to all my friends. 

It's one of my most favorite things captured on film, period.   I'm still laughing now thinking about it. 

It's the dead pigeon squished at the bottom of the tearaway box that sets this one just above The Shawshank Redemption in my book. 

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Coming in late to this series.  I saw Beth Ditto on Colbert the other night and thought she was pretty interesting so thought I would give this a try.  So many things to watch these days!  Then KD shot the alligators and I was mad.  They were just doing what alligators do.  He shouldn’t have been driving his car in the water 😈.  I always root for the animals.  Plus there is the thing with the damn pythons eating the alligators too.  That is an animal for which  I just can’t root.

In  the 70s I too got tricked into going to several gatherings that turned out to be pyramid schemes.  Fortunately my Daddy didn’t raise no fools and I got out of there quick.  The one that was the most memorable was “Dare to be great!”   When those nut heads stood up on their chairs (metal! In high  heels!) to chant their chants I knew it was time to go.  It was entertaining though.

and the baby is so damn cute!

Leave the cookie 🔪

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1 hour ago, Lifesabeach said:

He shouldn’t have been driving his car in the water 😈.  I always root for the animals.  

He was only driving his car in the water for a minute. The alligators should be a little more tolerant. Maybe everybody in Florida should drive with an emergency Python in the back seat 🐍.

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On 9/27/2019 at 12:37 PM, EastCoast4Life said:

Travis's quitting scene is one of my most favorite things I've seen on TV EVER. I recently quit my job and sent a video of that scene to all my friends. 

I still have that episode on my DVR just so I can look at that scene over and over!

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