Counting On Season Two

[Geechee Girl]

I'm kinda shocked that no one has mentioned the sorry state of Noelle's hair. It's obvious time and attention were given to other girl. Why is it ok for the little one to leave the house looking groomed & accessorized, but Noelle's hair looks like a rat's nest? It pisses me off that the Napiers are willfully ignorant on how to take care of this girl's hair. They are failing as parents to a black child. There's no excuse for their negligence. This aspect of trans-racial adoption rubs me the wrong way. 

[ClaraOswin]

I don't know...if I had a daughter of any race...her hair would likely be a rat's nest. I have no talent with hair. Never have. I live in a ponytail. I guess it's a good thing I just have a son.

[Antimony]

43 minutes ago, Geechee Girl said:

I'm kinda shocked that no one has mentioned the sorry state of Noelle's hair. It's obvious time and attention were given to other girl. Why is it ok for the little one to leave the house looking groomed & accessorized, but Noelle's hair looks like a rat's nest? It pisses me off that the Napiers are willfully ignorant on how to take care of this girl's hair. They are failing as parents to a black child. There's no excuse for their negligence. This aspect of trans-racial adoption rubs me the wrong way. 

I didn't think it looked bad. It seems braided, just not expertly so. (Whether this is because she has short baby hair or if their mom just isn't good at braiding black hair, I couldn't tell you. It didn't look as good as some of the images I get on google for cornrows on babies and the like but I didn't view it as unkempt either. But I'm white so maybe somebody else can tell us more?) In any case, they should learn more and hopefully have somewhere to go for that. Hair braiding looks like it was just recently deregulated in Arkansas which should mean more resources and stylists available.

The other child's hair didn't look amazing to me, but seemed exactly like mine as a child. Stylable but wispy baby hair so prone to fly-aways and escaping braids. It was easier to just let it go.

Why they have dressed the children so differently, I have three ideas

a) They are Doing Their Best (TM) to make sure Noelle has a connection to her culture
b ) They are White Saviors and would like you to know they have adopted an African But Who Cares About the Country It's All the Same to Us child
c) TLC asked them to do this to highlight the adoption story line

I think it's b and c. a is being very hopeful, IMO. 

They do seem to be delightful children. I love that Noelle humored Ben and ate one carrot and then told him how to color. 

[Jessie E]

On 8/23/2016 at 9:54 PM, snarkysuki1724 said:

What do y'all think of Jeremy.??  He seems so MANLY to me, and Jinger seems so much younger, maybe not necessarily in years, but just in general.  

To me it seems like something is off about it.  I can't pin point it exactly but something is not quite right with him.

[OyToTheVey]

13 hours ago, OldFadedStar said:

During my time in Japan... I saw many women who didn't want to be there and could not embrace the new culture at all. So what happened? They stayed home/on base all the time and were miserable. Like, I know people who wouldnt even go off base down the street to get dinner because they hated it too much..

 

Sucks for them. I still have about 20 pounds of japanese food on me and I've been home a year haha

I went to Japan last year. Omg all that food! I even lost weight cuz of all the sweating and soup lol. Question tho: How'd you get used to the smell of teriyaki everywhere? At first I didn't care but on week two it was just making me sick. I still ate everything I saw lol

[justmy2cents]

Here's a video of the older kids singing 'Happy Birthday' to the sound guy.  I think there's a beat, anyway they're all snapping their fingers.  http://keepingupwithfundies.tumblr.com/post/148889179124/oh-dear-the-singing-was-indeed-a-little-rough . Next thing you know they'll be swaying to music and before long there'll be dancing at a wedding.

[Four is Enough]

Well a barbershop quartet or two, they'll never be.

 

[Geechee Girl]

@Antimony The condition of Noelle's hair shows it hasn't been cared for properly. Black hair requires a specific regimen. It's way more labor intensive. Her 4C hair was very dry. The left side appeared to be pulled too tightly. Her edges are damaged,  too. I also have the distinct impression her hair isnt being wrapped at night. I didn't go in on the style in my earlier rant, but here goes. It appears whomever did her hair gave up on the center part. The back was a mess. Too much stress was on the hair getting it into two sections. Four would've been better. Although her hair is short, it still can be braided into a protective style. Her parents need to learn how to maintain and style her hair properly. It's part and parcel to the responsibility they signed up for in adopting a black child.

[OyToTheVey]

30 minutes ago, Geechee Girl said:

@Antimony The condition of Noelle's hair shows it hasn't been cared for properly. Black hair requires a specific regimen. It's way more labor intensive. Her 4C hair was very dry. The left side appeared to be pulled too tightly. Her edges are damaged,  too. I also have the distinct impression her hair isnt being wrapped at night. I didn't go in on the style in my earlier rant, but here goes. It appears whomever did her hair gave up on the center part. The back was a mess. Too much stress was on the hair getting it into two sections. Four would've been better. Although her hair is short, it still can be braided into a protective style. Her parents need to learn how to maintain and style her hair properly. It's part and parcel to the responsibility they signed up for in adopting a black child.

I was about to say that they probably don't wrap her hair at night. The Chrisleys raise their granddaughter and I've seen that child with a wrap all the time. They made sure to know what to do to care for her hair. I doubt Neilers even know to do some research or go to a black salon so that someone who knows what they're doing can handle it. 

[patsymae]

On August 21, 2016 at 10:06 PM, nst said:

I buy Jill never going out by herself because she is scared her "gringo" son will be taken - her words - and that already says  a lot - so her mission field adventure is between four walls - does this surprise anyone?  reading the bible and skyping her sisters. 

she is at home cleaning what she was trained to do 

plus the fact who can forget the image of her cleaning the McMansion with a feather duster newly pregnant and now cleaning her SCA house cleaning the house. 

She was obviously with Derick when those people were "watching" Izzy - those were staged. 

 

Didn't they have armed guards with them at all times?

[mpheels]

50 minutes ago, OyToTheVey said:

I was about to say that they probably don't wrap her hair at night. The Chrisleys raise their granddaughter and I've seen that child with a wrap all the time. They made sure to know what to do to care for her hair. I doubt Neilers even know to do some research or go to a black salon so that someone who knows what they're doing can handle it. 

I'm going to go out on limb, and suggest that the Neilers probably haven't had a lot of meaningful exposure to Black people in real life. As of the 2010 Census, Springdale was a whopping 1.8% Black. Fayetteville is 6% Black. 

[Becket70]

I will be following the ratings for Counting On closely because I am confused as to why TLC continues to be so attached to the Duggars.  The previous season did not break-out in terms of ratings.  By the last episode I believe they were hovering around the 1.2 million mark, numbers way short of 19 Kids and Counting.  In addition, it appears that a lot of TLC's tried and true shows are underperforming so I would draw the conclusion that people are staying away from this network. (it was reported that in 2015 TLC went down 15%...looks like this trend is continuing into 2016) This new iteration of 19 Kids underperformed last week.  If this show continues to underperform and is a drag on the network, why do they cling to the Duggars?  What is in it for TLC? Last spring, Nancy Daniels of TLC stated that there were millions of Duggar fans out there.  Where are they?

[RabbitKM]

Regardless of the reason why Jilly won't go out with Izzy, it begs the question of WTF did she expect?? Why is she there with a small baby then?? If she is literally stuck at home all day and night, what good is she doing as a missionary? And its pretty rude to just expect all the ladies to come to HER house all the time for bible study, as if they don't have children either? I was shocked by this development.  Why would you sign up to be a missionary with a small baby in a dangerous country and just sit at home all the time? It's a good thing they went home then, it also sounded like Derrick was pining for home "back in Arkansas."

Gringo is not a derrogatory term, at least in my experience.  My Salvadorean family calls those of us born in the US gringos, we call ourselves gringos, etc.

[nst]

27 minutes ago, RabbitKM said:

Regardless of the reason why Jilly won't go out with Izzy, it begs the question of WTF did she expect?? Why is she there with a small baby then?? If she is literally stuck at home all day and night, what good is she doing as a missionary? And its pretty rude to just expect all the ladies to come to HER house all the time for bible study, as if they don't have children either? I was shocked by this development.  Why would you sign up to be a missionary with a small baby in a dangerous country and just sit at home all the time? It's a good thing they went home then, it also sounded like Derrick was pining for home "back in Arkansas."

Gringo is not a derrogatory term, at least in my experience.  My Salvadorean family calls those of us born in the US gringos, we call ourselves gringos, etc.

their dreamlike courtship and then their dreamlike idea of mission work is a joke that they didn't know would turn out the way the way it did. 

perhaps that is what they are thinking.  

 

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Jill is probably just afraid of Zika, but talking about how her white baby could be taken is better for the show because it's DANGEROUS there!!!!11!!eleventy!!!!

[Antimony]

35 minutes ago, RabbitKM said:

Regardless of the reason why Jilly won't go out with Izzy, it begs the question of WTF did she expect?? Why is she there with a small baby then?? If she is literally stuck at home all day and night, what good is she doing as a missionary? And its pretty rude to just expect all the ladies to come to HER house all the time for bible study, as if they don't have children either? I was shocked by this development.  Why would you sign up to be a missionary with a small baby in a dangerous country and just sit at home all the time? It's a good thing they went home then, it also sounded like Derrick was pining for home "back in Arkansas."

Gringo is not a derrogatory term, at least in my experience.  My Salvadorean family calls those of us born in the US gringos, we call ourselves gringos, etc.

The part where he said "It's not like being back home in Arkansas [...] where there is society" or something similar was awful. As if there is no society in central america. 

Also strikes me that they seem to refuse to adapt. Not having running water sucks. It really does. But what does everybody else there do? Find a way to cook with fewer dishes? Dry shampoo? Collect rain water? There has got to be a better way than just letting piles build and occasionally walking over to your faucet to check while hoping you don't run out of disposable diapers. 

Derick recently blogged about depression. I wonder if she is and/or this is the reason it was topical for him. Of course, make sure you get yourself to a Christian counselor and nothing else.

@Geechee Girl & @OyToTheVey -- Thank you! I really didn't know.

[Eatingintheprayercloset]

I don't think 19KaC ever got super stellar ratings until the Jill and Jessa started courting. That was the Duggars peak and now it's just a sloooow ending of the their franchise. TLC screwed themselves over because they didn't have a show that would garner any strong ratings. Let's be real, no one gives a hoot about Whitney from MBFFL or Buddy from Cake Boss. Kate Gosselin is still around but no one cares about them enough to fully invest in her show since 2010. I think what's keeping Counting On alive is the amount of snarkers that watch the show and leave comments on articles about the show. Once TLC finds a show that the general public will tune in to, Counting On will be taken off life support. You can tell TLC is trying to revive other freak shows because they are making new episodes of Toddler and Tiaras. 

[Coconut Flan]

14 minutes ago, Eatingintheprayercloset said:

TLC is trying to revive other freak shows because they are making new episodes of Toddler and Tiaras. 

Which premiered to lousy ratings.  TLC is searching for new shows, but hasn't found a new breakout hit that I've seen. 

[Eatingintheprayercloset]

17 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

Which premiered to lousy ratings.  TLC is searching for new shows, but hasn't found a new breakout hit that I've seen. 

Thank goodness!! Toddlers and Tiaras gives me the heebie jeebies and it was disappointing to see TLC resurrect it from the reality tv graveyard. 

[guitar_villain]

5 hours ago, Geechee Girl said:

@AntimonyHer parents need to learn how to maintain and style her hair properly. It's part and parcel to the responsibility they signed up for in adopting a black child.

Heh, can you tell me how to get a black teen boy to take care of his hair?  He wants an afro, but since he's biracial his hair isn't quite curly enough.  He can get it to a basic round shape,but we can't get him to take the time to clean, style and oil it properly, so it's always lopsided and misshapen.

Difficulty: We're white, and since he's 15 he knows everything and his parents are idiots...

[Mela99]

1 hour ago, RabbitKM said:

Regardless of the reason why Jilly won't go out with Izzy, it begs the question of WTF did she expect?? Why is she there with a small baby then?? If she is literally stuck at home all day and night, what good is she doing as a missionary? And its pretty rude to just expect all the ladies to come to HER house all the time for bible study, as if they don't have children either? I was shocked by this development.  Why would you sign up to be a missionary with a small baby in a dangerous country and just sit at home all the time? It's a good thing they went home then, it also sounded like Derrick was pining for home "back in Arkansas."

Gringo is not a derrogatory term, at least in my experience.  My Salvadorean family calls those of us born in the US gringos, we call ourselves gringos, etc.

This is pure speculation, but what are the odds that whatever missions place that sponsors them said "No more" if all Jilly does is stay inside with the baby?

[socalrules]

The ratings may be low but my guess is that they are high enough to justify keeping the show on the air. The show is likely cheap to produce. The Duggars are persona non grata pretty much everywhere but TLC. TLC is likely paying them bargain basement money as the Duggars really don't have other options that can use to negotiate. No other network will take them. They are likely making enough to live on now but not enough to have a nice nest egg 10 years from now. No way are they getting 19 kids size checks or likely even as much as The Little Couple. You can't even market the Duggars as wholesome anymore. You can only really market them as snark material. 

[nst]

5 minutes ago, socalrules said:

The ratings may be low but my guess is that they are high enough to justify keeping the show on the air. The show is likely cheap to produce. The Duggars are persona non grata pretty much everywhere but TLC. TLC is likely paying them bargain basement money as the Duggars really don't have other options that can use to negotiate. No other network will take them. They are likely making enough to live on now but not enough to have a nice nest egg 10 years from now. No way are they getting 19 kids size checks or likely even as much as The Little Couple. You can't even market the Duggars as wholesome anymore. You can only really market them as snark material. 

but do they know that that we market them as snark material. 

Does jessa believe what she says is what I am saying 

Does Jill really believe it? 

[defraudedbychipendales]

I didn't see a scared Jill. I heard, "People make fun of us for saying it's dangerous Cintral Merica."

[felinefundie]

On the dress Noelle was wearing: I'm not entirely sure that the dress she was wearing was supposed to have any significance. Like, she's probably old enough to pick out her own clothes, so maybe she just picked a dress she liked out of her closet to wear that day. I mean, it's always possible that I'm wrong and they (parents, TLC, what have you) dressed her that way for some insidious or at least eye-roll-inducing reason, but I think it's just as reasonable she wore that dress because she wanted to and it was clean.