Season 6 of 19 Kids and Counting. God help us all!

[ILoveJellybeans]

It did sound like it was the little kids doing it, from Jessa's comment, which is even worse as children that young need sleep, and no parent (or older sibling as theyre crappy neglectful parents) wants to deal with an overtired grumpy 7 year old who got no sleep last night.

[mebeforee]

Michelle wrote on the parentables thing that it was Justin, James, and Jason. And maybe Jed/Jer. The others are probably playing with the kittens and whatnot, but the primary care is going to the middle boys. She also said that for the first several weeks while the kittens were still in a very fragile state, she was the only one getting up in the night to do their feedings, until they were big enough to space them farther apart.

Not that I think they should be the ones taking care of these kittens in the first place, but it seems that she is taking the kids' ability level into account when it comes to the kitten care. Of course, who knows when she will consider it acceptable for the kids to take complete control of the kitten feedings, I seriously doubt she will wait as long as a responsible pet owner would.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Just like the kids. First 6 months, she cares about them, then after that the baby pretty much belongs to another sibling.

I think asking the 9-12 (?) year olds to do it is maybe a bit better than getting smaller kids to do it, but I hope that she doesnt completely leave the kittens up to the kids once theyre a bit older. They have no clue on how to care for animals.

[Emme]

Well then, I must be a dude since both my ring fingers are longer than my index fingers. Tell that to my donkey booty. :lol:

love it! I've got myself a bigish butt, andlegs, and giant boobs. But then again, my ring fingers are shorter.. so there :-P

but I'm pretty sure I have weirdly stubby/fat fingers... I was playing with my parents wedding rings a few years ago and I can fit my dad's on my finger! I have man fingers!

[DarkAnts]

First time poster... I just caught up on this week's two episodes and couldn't help commenting on this trainwreck! A few observations:

• I don't fault the Duggars for all the endeavours they take on - clearing lots, rehabing houses etc. And good for John David that he has a paid off house at 22! But seriously, can we please stop ignoring the gigantic financial elephant in the room - the fact that the bulk of their income is derived from the reality show we are watching. Will the Duggars please stop acting like Josh supports his family from the car lot alone or that commercial real estate keeps 23 people in designer clothes, endless vacations, expensive cars and more - not to mention the fact that none of that stuff was part of their lives before the show. Commercial real estate hasn't gotten more profitable since the show came on the air.

• Did anyone catch Jessa's comment about the kids taking care of the kittens... "I'm glad the younger kids have the opportunity to suffer, I mean to learn through the same process of getting up and doing the feedings every three hours all throughout the night." Why do I have a feeling she wasn't talking about taking care of kittens! The look on Jinger's face kind of said it all!

• Did anyone else think it was weird that JimBob thought that having a paid off house was the milestone that made John David "ready" to be married.

• The bowling commentary was 15 minutes of the most god-awful Television in the history of television. Maybe next week they will treat us to 15 minutes of paint drying in the rehab house

.

This was clear to me. I can see the resentment in the older children more and more now that they are getting older.

It was also clear that Joshes employees were annoyed with him when he was playing with his helicopter. It looked like the general manager wanted him to leave so they could actually get some work done.

[Arete]

Sounds either that the older kids are starting to show cracks, or that they have been there all along and TLC is only now starting to air things like Jessa's little "slip" in order to throw the Duggars under the bus.

If it's the second, that is right out of their Kate Plus 8 playbook.

[bettertomarry]

I don't get the whole 'throwing under the bus' thing. I never watched "Kate Plus 8" or "Little People, Big World" so I can't testify to how that went. What is the perk of allowing unflattering things to leak through? The ratings are fairly low for the Duggars, TLC could easily cancel if they wanted to.

[mebeforee]

I think the idea is that, the more 'scandalous' or unflattering the footage, the more likely that people will watch it. Which is true... people tuned in for Jon and Kate to watch their marriage fall apart, and after they separated and the show just featured Kate (and it actually appeared she was maturing somewhat), people lost interest. Viewers don't care about watching people heal or grow, they want to see the dirt.

So, ratings going down on the Duggars? Let's fill those episodes with symptoms of restlessness and displeasure, until it becomes clear to the viewers that what the family claims to be and what the show actually displays are two different things. Then people will want to watch to see if it crumbles.

[bettertomarry]

I think the idea is that, the more 'scandalous' or unflattering the footage, the more likely that people will watch it. Which is true... people tuned in for Jon and Kate to watch their marriage fall apart, and after they separated and the show just featured Kate (and it actually appeared she was maturing somewhat), people lost interest. Viewers don't care about watching people heal or grow, they want to see the dirt.

So, ratings going down on the Duggars? Let's fill those episodes with symptoms of restlessness and displeasure, until it becomes clear to the viewers that what the family claims to be and what the show actually displays are two different things. Then people will want to watch to see if it crumbles.

So is the idea that if TLC lets the Duggars show their true colors, then people will watch? Because most people only seem to watch the show for the 'down-home wholesomeness'. I'm not sure I get the logic that people would watch a family demonstrating their true fundamentalist leanings in the same way they would watch a crumbling marriage.

Which is just to say, that I don't understand television executives.

[mebeforee]

Well, I assume the goal is to bring in NEW viewers who aren't watching for wholesome family values, but instead are getting a different sort of pleasure from watching wholesome family values fail catastrophically.

[mebeforee]

I'm not convinced that's what's actually happening with the Duggars, though. Most of the stuff I've seen this season has been considerably lower in production value; lazy editing, poor composition, etc. I never noticed that with Jon + Kate, which made it seem more deliberate that they were exploiting the situation. The new Duggar episodes strike me more like they are giving up on the show and are just trying to ride out the end of their contract. I doubt we'll see any real drama in the Duggar household, at least not on the air.

[Arete]

I believe Kate and Matt Roloff were thrown under the bus because both of them were high maintenance primadonnas and frankly their shows ratings in the end did not justify their sense of entitlement. They could make shows about other things that got better ratings and not have to put up with Kate's tantrums or Matt's megalomania.

Not sure what the deal is with the Duggars. mebeforee is probably right that TLC is just phoning it in at this point. Maybe Jim Bob is trying to be high handed or they have had all that they can stand of Josh, and are now not as "careful" of editing the less flattering. The Duggars are costing too much money and are not bringing in ratings to justify sending 23 people hither and tither. I think TLC wants out as quickly as legally possible.

[Witsec5]

Or maybe (like us) they just don't like the Duggars anymore. I know some of us were wise enough not to like this family from the beginning but for me it was a progression.

I do think that if anything, the more fundamentalists lifestyle is shown on TV, the more its hypocrisy comes to light. And that's a good thing. I just want the Duggars to be off the air anymore so the older kids can have the freedom to fly if they want to. I think the show is getting in their way.

[Shasta ODonegal]

I watched the episode where Jana has the meltdown about the jewelry box and am now wondering if there is a link between ATI and ACE (Accelerated Christian Education). The exterior of the building they showed for the home schooling conference in Nashville looks an awful lot like the ACE headquarters in Madison, TN.

[Becket70]

I noticed that, besides ending the morning reruns, they no longer appear to advertise the show. In addition, last week they didn't show reruns the hours before the new episodes. If these are not signs of ending this show, I don't know what is.

[Shasta ODonegal]

When TLC ends a series, is there a big series finale sendoff or do they go out with a whimper?

[Lola]

I watched the episode where Jana has the meltdown about the jewelry box and am now wondering if there is a link between ATI and ACE (Accelerated Christian Education). The exterior of the building they showed for the home schooling conference in Nashville looks an awful lot like the ACE headquarters in Madison, TN.

What episode did she take a meltdown?

[Lola]

Do they really want John David married??? What about Jana?

[formerlyfundie]

I watched the episode where Jana has the meltdown about the jewelry box and am now wondering if there is a link between ATI and ACE (Accelerated Christian Education). The exterior of the building they showed for the home schooling conference in Nashville looks an awful lot like the ACE headquarters in Madison, TN.

I live in Nashville and have been trying so hard to figure out there this "headquarters" was! Interesting how it isn't actually IN Nashville like they said (if the buildings are indeed the same), I figured they wouldn't be so blatant about where it was but then again they showed JTTH and even are naming ATI by name now and showing conferences so they aren't really hiding anything anymore.

[Guest Anonymous]

Can you imagine the leghumpers reactions when this show gets canned?

[Buzzard]

JD is just about done clearing the lot, so he'll have a house. What we dont know is the condition of the house. Its likely in a similar situation as the one the family renovated and then was burglarized. My guess is that there will be a future episode where boob and JD go to the bank, sign some papers (really in boob's name) and then begin fixing the house. I would NOT be surprised if smugly moves into the house in the end. It woldnt look good for the poster child of the duggar family to still be living in grandma's house while lil bro has a home of his own.

Did anyone else see that the hummer now has a "duggar towing" ad painted on the side of the windows? Is that how she justifies driving it now? No cloth diapering... so now its a business expense for JDs business because you're a advertisement? I bet they expense the gas, too...

[Knight of Ni]

Going back to Josiah rescuing the kittens. I don't understand why Michelle would go on and on about how sensitive Josiah is. I would think that male wouldn't have to be super sensitive to rescue kittens just a decent person. Would a man she considers "masculine" leave them to starve? Is that the type of behavior that's expected of manly men in her eyes? If so that is really worrying.

[bellpepper]

Going back to Josiah rescuing the kittens. I don't understand why Michelle would go on and on about how sensitive Josiah is. I would think that male wouldn't have to be super sensitive to rescue kittens just a decent person. Would a man she considers "masculine" leave them to starve? Is that the type of behavior that's expected of manly men in her eyes? If so that is really worrying.

This was my thoughts exactly! Would the "masculine" Jim Bob have left them there to fend for themselves? I agree with you, that's just something a decent person would do.

[ShadowyOne]

Seconded. I've heard of that study, and maybe there is some degree of correlation, but overall it sounds as reliable or meaningful as "big hands/feet = big dick." Which, purely anecdotally, not so much.

Still, I got out the ruler. My ring fingers are the same as my middles, but longer than my indexes. All is well, I guess.

This whole supposed correlation reminds me of the pseudoscience of phrenology (19th century "science" of determining personality traits based on sizes of areas of the skull/bumps and crevices of the skull). If you have ever seen a model of a human head divided into dozens of areas, each designated for a particular personality trait, that's it. It was once taken very seriously, and even used in education and criminal reform. And was, of course, complete bunkum. Still fascinating, though.

*btw, my ring fingers are both longer than my indexes, and I suppose that the correlation is good in that I do not fit the model of a girly-girl, but I have been with the same man for 11 years.

[Luvchild]

Or maybe (like us) they just don't like the Duggars anymore. I know some of us were wise enough not to like this family from the beginning but for me it was a progression.

I do think that if anything, the more fundamentalists lifestyle is shown on TV, the more its hypocrisy comes to light. And that's a good thing. I just want the Duggars to be off the air anymore so the older kids can have the freedom to fly if they want to. I think the show is getting in their way.

I think that's what happened with Jon and Kate. At first it was really cute and I never wanted to think Kate was really a witch. I felt bad for her when Jon left and all of the drama. But TLC did throw her under the bus in the end and I think it was because they really couldn't stand her in the end either.

And I liked the Duggars at first. I thought all of their kids were happy, why not, good for them. But then I watched and learned. I don't like Jim Bob and Michelle. I hope the producers have had enough of them and will throw them under the bus in the end too. I, for one, cannot wait. I'm not a mean person, but I can't stand them and feel so bad for their children. And these little tidbits TLC throws out each week is the only reason I'm watching now. Just wish it would all come out soon.