Jill & Jessa Special, Sunday, December 20

[Jana814]

Yes Jen & Bill were successful before their show, however I think the show helped them financially in the adoptions meaning they had the extra funds to go on these trips. 

Also I think Jen & Bill would end their show if they felt it was hurting the kids unlike Kate or the Duggars. 

 

[JenniferJuniper]

13 minutes ago, Snarkylark said:

Yes, Bill and Jen have their kids on TV. But, they had their show before their children, not because of them. Minor difference, maybe. But I don't feel they are out to make $$$ off the backs of their children as much as Duggars, Gosselins. They were pretty successful before TLC. 

True, but their prior success and financial security doesn't make growing up on reality show any healthier for their children.

They should stop it soon.  Especially since they can clearly afford to.

[DaisyD]

On 12/21/2015 at 7:56 PM, Gossamer1 said:

Nursing while walking?  Is that safe or even reasonable to expect a baby to nurse while getting jostled down the street?

I know this was eons ago in Duggar land but, I used to nurse my son while shopping all the time. It only worked if he was in the sling. I'd just find a secluded corner, pop him on and support his head with my arm while I pushed the cart.

[Hikernana]

I think it's being forgotten that things are scripted on these "reality" shows. Anna may well not live in the home with her in-laws, TLC may of set up her "bed" in the girls room to make it appear they're all drawing close in this "time of crisis" & Derrick heading off to school, that may well be scripted as well. Who knows?

If they didn't make things up can you imagine how boring a "show" like this would be? Lordy, shoot me now.

Anna's eyes are dead. She may well remain married to Josh, but she will never, ever, ever be able to give her whole self to him again. That part of her will forever remain guarded or protected (she'll try anyway). Her eyes just look so very sad. He really has broken her heart. I agree with a previous poster that she's distancing herself emotionally (that's what I was attempting to convey above). 

[luv2laugh]

Jen and Bill have class, NONE of the Duggars do.

[pnwgypsy]

3 hours ago, Chickenbutt said:

I wonder what is defined as porn by the Duggars......Sears Catalog opened to the "young miss" section? Playboy?

Cosmo? It would be interesting to know what Josh looked at as a young teen, and what porn he has become "addicted" to.

Does the Sears catalog equal Hustler magazine (is that even still published?)

 

3 hours ago, Natalie22 said:

I also wonder how 'addicted' he is to it.  Does he like looking at it often?  Because that's not necessarily unhealthy.  The amount that he's viewing is probably related to not being able to explore what he's into with his partner.  I'm sure they have very defined rules of what is acceptable and I'm sure it would be difficult for both partners not to have an open conversation about what they're in to.

 

2 hours ago, Gossamer1 said:

I've suspected from the start that there is no addiction as we in the non-fundie world understand the word.  Most addictions start as a choice (to have a drink, visit a casino, etc) and then escalate to the point that the person no longer has control or realizes they are beginning to lose control.

 I believe the Duggars define it as  "we told you once not to do that, you've done it again anyway, you must be an addict. Also, you have embarrassed us and we need to make sure that everyone knows it's not our fault."

 

2 hours ago, Natalie22 said:

That's my take on it too.  I'm sure being told that it's a horrific sin makes it harder to understand moderation.  If we thought drinking was a sin and one drink will ruin your life, I don't think I would care as much about my consumption levels once I started.  It may be the same for him with porn.

Also wonder about this.  The talking heads mention pornography as if by rote.  Regurgitation of terminology.  It's been drilled in their heads as the ultimate sexual sin, but do they really understand it? 

[Cerealgirl]

I just finished the episode - on YouTube btw. But ouch, that was a COLD side hug from Michelle at the airport. Is she a sociopath too? Watching Jill and D in "Central America" makes you realize just how special the little firsts are in a young family, as well as the freedom to explore having just one baby with them. Also made me realize that Michelle's addiction to getting knocked up as soon as the last one was weaned, likely was her trying to replicate that "specialness" (jfc I'm talking like a duggar now), obviously not actual joy for her children.

[PracticeMakesProgress]

On 12/21/2015 at 9:56 PM, Gossamer1 said:

Nursing while walking?  Is that safe or even reasonable to expect a baby to nurse while getting jostled down the street?

Lol, yep. Have had to do this, too. Went for a family "walk," I ran (very slowly jogged) while my husband had the baby and the dog. Thought I'd timed feeding right, but nope, little schnuggs was hungry again, and there was no way we'd get home in time. So, just walked/nursed back to the car with him and a very exhausted new dad 

[silverspoons]

1 hour ago, Jana814 said:

Yes Jen & Bill were successful before their show, however I think the show helped them financially in the adoptions meaning they had the extra funds to go on these trips. 

Also I think Jen & Bill would end their show if they felt it was hurting the kids unlike Kate or the Duggars. 

 

Jen and Bill were more successful then they show goes into. Jen's salary is good, not only being a neonatologist but she is head of that simulation center. The 2 neonatologist I know not only make over 250k but work hard for 4-6 weeks (lots of 24 hours shifts) and then get 2-4 weeks off. This could be the reason they were able to take so much time off for the adoptions and for filming.

 

Bill is not just a pet store owner. He has an advanced science degree and ended up starting his own business in NY. It dealt with medical supplies (?) is is worth a few million dollars. In the early episodes before kids Bill was seen going back to the business and talking about how proud he was to be able to hire people with various disabilities in his call centers. He still runs the business from his home office and travels to NY a few times a year. He admits after the kids he has someone else in NY full time running day to day operations but he is still the owner.

Bill and Jen have cut the number of episodes down a lot. I know TLC wanted more but I remember Jen saying in an interview that once they had to put a gate up in front of their home because fans wanted to meet the kids, she scaled back filming. They only had 7 episodes in 2015 and 1 at least was Q& A.

I think they would still have the same house, lifestyle and adoptions funds. A dr and a business man who deals in medical supplies and has had call centers for over a decade could afford that home and adoptions and travel.

[metheglyn]

TLC is now streaming the first two episodes on their website if you are willing to contribute to their viewer numbers. Not sure if it's region-locked, but it apparently no longer requires a cable subscription account.

 

http://www.tlc.com/videos/

[EmmieJ]

To all Little Couple fans.  I respectfully  agree to disagree with you.  It is my opinion that minor children should never be on reality tv.   In fact, I find Jen and Bill to be smart and educated and they should know better (than to put their children on reality tv).  My consciousness about little people and their unique life challenges has already been raised by the variety of other tv shows about little people.    How can posters who know how contrived  any and every  TLC  "reality" show is think The Little Couple   is any different?  That surprises me.

[HuggleMonster]

Totally off the current topic of conversation. 

Episode 2 is on in Australia right now and ads are just regular ads. Nothing different from any other show. I guess it wasn't as big of a scandal over here? 

Although it's on Foxtel and they did show an anti gay ad a while back. So I don't think they have the highest of standards. 

[missegeno]

Does anyone know if Anna has had counseling? Real, professional counseling? Probably not. She needs it. It would be a huge benefit for her to talk to a NEUTRAL party, not a counselor set up by the Duggars. She must have some kind of health insurance that includes mental health. 

The poor thing is probably being made to believe it's all her fault. sigh. 

What makes you think Anna has such nice insurance? I had my doubts about her having insurance at all, let alone one with mental health coverage.

[KylieJenner]

14 minutes ago, missegeno said:

What makes you think Anna has such nice insurance? I had my doubts about her having insurance at all, let alone one with mental health coverage.

As somebody who has suffered from bipolar their whole life I can say- Even with insurance, 90% of my mental health costs come from my own pocket. I have yet to find any decent coverage for mental health in my adult life. Maybe one day though. 

But the Duggars can afford to pay out of pocket for these things- but choose not to because.. Jesus.

[CorruptionInc.]

Totally off the current topic of conversation. 

Episode 2 is on in Australia right now and ads are just regular ads. Nothing different from any other show. I guess it wasn't as big of a scandal over here? 

Although it's on Foxtel and they did show an anti gay ad a while back. So I don't think they have the highest of standards. 

Golly how on earth did it make its way over here?!

[HuggleMonster]

18 minutes ago, CorruptionInc. said:

Golly how on earth did it make its way over here?!

We've had it on pay tv for as long as they've been on TV. I remember they had a marathon of all the specials just before they started showing the regular show. I'm pretty sure that was when it was on discovery before TLC was even around. 

[CorruptionInc.]

18 minutes ago, CorruptionInc. said: Golly how on earth did it make its way over here?!

We've had it on pay tv for as long as they've been on TV. I remember they had a marathon of all the specials just before they started showing the regular show. I'm pretty sure that was when it was on discovery before TLC was even around. 

I knew about Foxtel for years but so shocked about the special getting over here quick stat!

[OnceUponATime]

6 hours ago, Gossamer1 said:

I've suspected from the start that there is no addiction as we in the non-fundie world understand the word.  Most addictions start as a choice (to have a drink, visit a casino, etc) and then escalate to the point that the person no longer has control or realizes they are beginning to lose control.

 

but this is what is taught in church (at least the one i spent my youth in - thanks independent AoG)! Every year, when all the [married] women went off to 'ladies camp', it would be the pornography sermon. I guess they forgot about the teenage girls and the occasional woman who didn't go to camp being in the audience. Those sermons are what make me feel dirty when just seeing the word porn today.

That first you might [accidentally] see a bra/underwear ad and you like it. then you go looking for it because it makes you feel good/lusty/whatever (choice). Satan grabs that part of your heart that wants to look at scantily clad/naked women and it escalates to the point that at every opportunity you have you are feeling the need to look at pornography. Apparently the woman's equivalent is romance books. This would go on for half an hour talking about how sinful it is (lust, adultery, idolatry, ...) before a few minutes of 'what do you do about this': pray, accountability buddy, website blockers, avoid magazines, ...

Sometimes they would mention the slippery-slope that goes from accidentally seeing an underwear ad to needing to watch porn videos.

 

11 hours ago, EmCatlyn said:

But the loss of her own home must be bearable only if she can look at it as temporary.  She may not have tried to make other arrangements because it is too difficult.  It is a time in transition when she can't lead a normal life.  But she misses Josh in part because his return will mean the return to normal life, whatever her new normal will be.

She is going to be so relieved to get Josh back simply because of the current living situation (providing they get to move into a different house together). I do think it will take a massive crisis of faith for Anna to accept a split with Josh (the whole 'vows to God' thing). Even if Josh leaves her I can see her still believing they are still married and praying for/working on their relationship.

[Marissap]

8 hours ago, Chickenbutt said:

 

Does the Sears catalog equal Hustler magazine (is that even still published?)

I was a huge nerd when I was little (maybe still am?) but I LOVED looking through both the Sears and JCP catalog when they came in the mail. I would seriously look at every single page of that monstrosity. I would sit at my grandparents and they would joke it was the best babysitter because it would take me hours. And I would of course write a list of everything I "wanted". 

[InThePrayerCloset]

5 hours ago, silverspoons said:

Snip

I know TLC wanted more but I remember Jen saying in an interview that once they had to put a gate up in front of their home because fans wanted to meet the kids, she scaled back filming. 

Snip

I will never understand why "reality shows" including the Little Couple and 19kAC don't use "dummy" shots of sets as the outside and fronts of the houses to make it harder for people to "identify" (or stalk..) the homes of these personalities. it can't be safe. i know that i would be uncomfortable if i was jessa alone in the "starter home" while Ben mows lawns or cleans JB's toilets... In such small towns and with the use of freely available government data it isn't hard at all to identify the addresses of these people... 

i know it might be hard with the Duggers given building the home by hand was a story line in the early specials etc, but it just doesn't seem at all safe or sensible to this risk analyst...

(as an aside, my laptop wants to continually autocorrect "Duggar" to "digger"... as in gold... that is way too appropriate for words...)

[SilverBeach]

9 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

But kids don't belong on reality TV.  Period.

I have seen every episode. Bill and Jen had a show long before the adoptions. There are few absolutes in life, and I disagree wholeheartedly with your blanket statement as it applies to the Kleins.

[accountingstar]

1 hour ago, InThePrayerCloset said:

I will never understand why "reality shows" including the Little Couple and 19kAC don't use "dummy" shots of sets as the outside and fronts of the houses to make it harder for people to "identify" (or stalk..) the homes of these personalities. it can't be safe. i know that i would be uncomfortable if i was jessa alone in the "starter home" while Ben mows lawns or cleans JB's toilets... In such small towns and with the use of freely available government data it isn't hard at all to identify the addresses of these people... 

i know it might be hard with the Duggers given building the home by hand was a story line in the early specials etc, but it just doesn't seem at all safe or sensible to this risk analyst...

The Kardashian Family is smart because they do this. They stated that they do this for safety reasons which makes sense. Some fans take it a little too far and can become stalkers. I don't know why Figure 8 doesn't do this with their reality TV stars.

Quote

Kim Kardashian has spoken out over using a 'fake' house for filming Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Earlier in the week it was reported that the exterior of the 'Jenner house' was not the real home of the family, that is seen in the reality show.

Now Kim has revealed that she too had a different exterior used in the show.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2574497/Kim-breaks-silence-fake-house-featured-Keeping-Up-With-The-Kardashians.html#ixzz3v3btZ96Q

More recaps have finally been done by the media outlets on Sunday's episode.

http://www.people.com/article/anna-duggar-hopes-josh-duggar-mariage-restored-jill-jessa-counting-episode-2

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a51088/jill-and-jessa-counting-on-episode-2-recap-anna-duggar/

Quote

This isn't about giving viewers "closure"; if that were the network's aim, that goal could've been accomplished by combining Anna, Jill, and Jessa's stories into a single hour. We do see Jill and Derick's early days in Central America and Jessa and Ben on a speaking engagement, so the show does at least pay lip service to the idea that this is a story about the girls' next steps, but only barely. 

On the whole, it is profoundly disturbing to feel the network trying to lure viewers back in with wholesome baby shower games and declarations of sisterly love and embarrassingly earnest prayers and weepy airport good-byes — it's like your creepy, pathetic ex-boyfriend at your front door, crying and trying to remind you of the good times, hoping you'll be dumb enough to buy it.

http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/jill-jessa-counting-on-recap-anna-duggar-is-praying-for-her-marriage-to-be-restored-w160103

Quote

So in other words, no, she's [Anna] not leaving him [Josh].

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/12/21/anna_duggar_finally_speaks_on_josh_duggar_s_betrayal.html

Quote

Leave it to TLC to turn her year of humiliation into prime-time television.

The Duggars’ radical sect of patriarchal Christianity, to which Anna also subscribes, teaches that wives are meant to submit to their husbands’ command, and it doesn’t look kindly upon divorce.

Let’s hope the Duggar girls don’t want to be like Anna—publically shamed, blaming herself, stuck in a black hole of a marriage—either.

 

[OnceUponATime]

Just now, SilverBeach said:

I have seen every episode. Bill and Jen had a show long before the adoptions. There are few absolutes in life, and I disagree wholeheartedly with your blanket statement as it applies to the Kleins.

I haven't seen the show but do they have lots of leghumpers like the Duggars? I'm not sure how easy it would be to detatch yourself from your reality tv fanbase if you decided to quit it for privacy reasons. By the time you probably see that, it's probably already to late. Then there is the issue that not everyone is going to respect your decision and you are going to have a lot of pressure from people asking for little tidbits of your life if not stalkers.

You just have to look at the begging from Duggar leghumpers. I sometimes wonder how many people would go on 'vacation' to Duggarville to try and catch a glimpse of the Duggars if all the Duggars went completely AWOL from tv/gossip mags/social media for an extended period of time

I get the feeling that [some] viewers acquire some weird expectation over time that they have a right to get updates about these people's [private] lives due to the fact they have been on tv so long.

[Buzzard]

14 minutes ago, accountingstar said:

The Kardashian Family is smart because they do this. They stated that they do this for safety reasons which makes sense. Some fans take it a little too far and can become stalkers. I don't know why Figure 8 doesn't do this with their reality TV stars.

More recaps have finally been done by the media outlets on Sunday's episode.

http://www.people.com/article/anna-duggar-hopes-josh-duggar-mariage-restored-jill-jessa-counting-episode-2

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a51088/jill-and-jessa-counting-on-episode-2-recap-anna-duggar/

http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/jill-jessa-counting-on-recap-anna-duggar-is-praying-for-her-marriage-to-be-restored-w160103

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/12/21/anna_duggar_finally_speaks_on_josh_duggar_s_betrayal.html

 

I'm not clicking through because I dont want them to see my interest in the articles, but its good to see negative write ups.  If even the tabloids are calling it creepy, the advertisers will as well.  Regardless of the ratings, this show needs to go. 

[nokidsmom]

Ok just run through the thread and read the recaps.  Didn't watch the actual episode but I saw enough clips of Anna's part.

First thoughts:  Anna is still obviously devastated, which I would expect four months out.  That's completely understandable.  It's also obvious that she's not going to leave Josh, also not a surprise but really, I wanted to shake her over her statements about her vows.  That she made a vow to God and then to Josh.  Maybe that's typical in her circles, but no!  Your vows were to each other and your scumbag of a husband broke his vows to you.    Sorry, it's personal and putting Sky Daddy in the mix, only complicates things preventing people in Anna's situation from seeing the situation for what it really is and perhaps making choices in line with that.  Maybe not necessarily divorce but perhaps insistence on real therapy or willingness to continue with the marriage fully knowing what working on things will really involve.  That there are no guarantees.  I still think she expects Josh to come back all "fixed" but I don't think she's thought about how her new normal is going to be.   I suspect she's going to die inside in order to continue her marriage.  Really, Josh would be doing her a favor to leave now versus coming back and leaving again, something I see as a "when" and not an "if".

Interesting that she read the report about the molestations.   But I still believe that she and her father were not given full disclosure.   Yes, she knew that Josh did things but the report, in all its detail, was a shocker.   I took her statement about it not making a difference in her heart was that she knew that there were things in Josh's past but she's really trying not to give away that she didn't know all the shocking specifics.    The AM scandal just underscored that things are not all right with Josh, that he's not really repented, turned away and all that.   

As far as living with her in-laws: it makes sense since they have space that the Kellers don't, especially with four small kids, and she will have J'slave support.    As far as the other properties, it's weird she's not in one of those but it's possible she preferred being at the TTH.  I don't discount the JB control factor either as the whole family is in damage control mode but I am not sure that how much of Anna's current situation is her father in law's control versus space versus being near her in-laws or other factors.

If Ben really wants to do ministry, he needs to vastly improve his communication.  I think he's naturally not talkative but marrying his princess has thrust him in a spotlight that he's not comfortable with.  And Jessa clearly wears the pants in the family, choice of baby's unfortunate name by his father notwithstanding. 

Jill doesn't fully get what missionary work involves, Derrick seems to have a clue though he's got to lose that mustache. It makes him look like Snidely Whiplash.   Either shave it off or grow the full beard.

Family is entirely messed up, they need to go away and process their personal clusterfuck off screen.