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Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
At TCA this morning, TLC trotted out the Utah family of its new reality series Sister Wives, the network’s 7-part look at real-life polygamy that premieres in September. The media met advertising exec Kody Brown and his three wives — Meri, Janelle and Christine, who all call themselves “Fundamentalist Mormons” and combined have 13 children and evidently a life comprised of nonstop fun to hear them tell it. It quickly came out that Brown is legally married to only one of the women to prevent imprisonment and keep the prejudice of an unaccepting society at bay. The term used by all is “plural family,” and Kody explained, “We’re doing this now because we feel this is a story hat needs to be told.” Insisted Janelle: ”Because people will understand better how this is a life we’ve all chosen and are an extremely functional family.” Producers must be thrilled that a 4th wife will soon join the family, perhaps to create potential conflict within the polygamist dynamic for the cameras.
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TLC and MTV have both successfully courted the lowest common denominator of society for some time. They have already made pedophilia mainstream with their toddlers and tiaras series I’m sure polygamy is just one step towards zoophelia and whatever else they think is an under served portion of society. Whatever they show the only thing you learn at TLC is to change the channel quickly.
Wowww…… couldnt have said it better myself.
Absolutely disgusting. How much of a low self-esteem can a woman have to allow herself to be part of such a sham, while of course the man gets to f**k anything & everything. I’m sure he’s thrilled to *add* another wife to his harem, what in the hell has this country come to airing sh*t like this and trying to make out out as “acceptable”. Let’s hope Mr. Kody Brown and his family meet with all kinds of prejudice, too bad this scum can’t be thrown in jail where he belongs. Women, get some self-respect and throw this dirty old dog to the curb.
WTG TLC, just when I think you can’t stoop any lower you find a way…bring back shows like Trading Spaces, Clean Sweep, instead of all this garbage.
They should just rename this network The Exploitation Channel. Dwarves, the morbidly obese, breeders, the poor “tree” guy. TLC has gone from a network I once actually learned something from to “Behold! Gawk at the dredges of society so you can feel better about how ‘normal’ you are”. Because honestly, when you get down to it, that’s what it is. It’s nothing but the modern version of a freak show carnival. The saddest part is they ploy these people with the one thing they need into exploiting themselves: money.
Yes, the two of you should definitely avoid The Learning Channel because so long as you harbor that rage fueled myopia it will be a cold day in hell before either of you open up enough to learn anything new.
I’ve mixed feelings about polygamy and can’t decide if it is good or bad but I do know (1) that I don’t have enough information, and (2) that nearly 7 out of 10 children are currently being raised in NON-traditional families (http://www.rainbows.org/statistics.html) and that the divorce rate continues to be disturbingly high (http://www.divorcerate.org). Thus anything that truly helps us understand our marital problems is useful. If this family functionally knows how to actively deal with some of the problems facing ALL families then we all need to watch with rapt attention.
If polygamy we more common I’ll bet we would find a much lower rate of familial violence in polygamous families: having more clear headed people around before and during a potentially abusive episode is always a good thing.
Fear (which is usually covered by anger) about the loss of identity and self-esteem (which can occur in ANY kind of relationship) can possibly be heightened in a multi-partner arrangement so I hope a significant amount of time is spent examining the individual support structures to which this family has had to adapt to accommodate each parent.
More than likely, if either of you will actually watch the show with us WITH the slightest sense of curiosity, I imagine we’ll find out that three times the number of wives does not equal three times the amount of sex. (That this topic was the first thing you mentioned Liz points more to the problems you are probably having in your own relationship(s?) and, btw, wishing a terrible end to this family from YOUR clearly troubled perspective is most malevolent.)
My hope is only that the producers/directors will adamantly refrain from leaning toward the typical emotionally exploitative ratings cesspool that so many shows these days have become (http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/2545). Please God, can we actually LEARN something this time?!
Oh wow – a show about CHILD RAPE. Who are your sponsors TLC? Is Phillip Garrido going to be doing the hosting?? I sometimes think if TLC could have snuck a camera onto the compound where he kept 11 yr old Jaycee Duggard chained up like a dog in the backyard — they would have. TLC should burn in hell.
I think I stopped reading the bloviating post above mine when I got to the part, “I have mixed feelings about polygamy.”
Bottomline, if you value women and girls (and boys, for that matter) you do NOT have ‘mixed feelings.’ It’s ABUSE – and most often it’s CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE. These women/girls/children are hunted in those communities, and they have no choices.
Everyone knows that in most polygamous communities, the families, have skewed even their religious beliefs so that the child sexual abuse component which it thrives on, and which is a foregone conclusion (anytime you have a patriarchal society that is responsible for deciding when a female should engage in sex and procreate – and arranges unions, without female consent, incorporating societal and family pressure (and RAPE) upon said children – child sexual abuse IS part of it – it is the heart of the community).
So congrats TLC, you are making perverts with child harems, and child stables acceptable.
I’m sure in their attempts to court ratings, some child will be abused, or stalked or raped or pressured into a ‘union,’ with some child molesting perv — I guess according to then, that’s good tv.
Is the apocalypse nigh? Oh what does it matter – I don’t give a sh*t anymore.
Not all polygamists are equal in how they interpret things. Of the 30k polygamists in the west, there are at least 12 different sects that I know of, let alone the ones who are independents. The Colorado City bunch(FLDS) do arranged marriages with underage girls. That is just wrong and should be prosecuted. But the Apostolic United Brethren does not allow people to marry before 18 and everyone chooses their own partner. No arranged marriages. Many of their children leave the group.
Some of these groups are really scary–the TLC bunch has some really wild ideas, so do the Kingstons. The LeBaron group and the Swapp group turned to violence. But AUB is pretty main stream. I’m not supporting their life style. It is something I could not choose. But I know too many wholesome, intelligent, moral kids who have come from these families not to give them credit for being good families.
LOL! Yes, please! Stop reading right there. We wouldn’t want any new ideas to shatter your fragile world! Fragile because of the ferocity with which you protect it, small because there is a lot more to the real world than what appears on that little electric babble box in front of your easy chair. Clue: the only stories that make it to the TV are the extreme ones that hopefully will shock viewers. Polygamy has only a negative shock value in the mainstream media right now so yes, you have only SEEN a negative bias. YOUR responsibility is to spend a little time BEFORE firing off tripe like this, RESEARCHING the rest of the picture. There IS (a) another extreme which you obviously ignored and hopefully which this series will reveal, and (b) a whole LOT of ground between both extremes. Again, it IS possible that polygamous relationships are overall healthier than monogamous ones, we do not yet know.
Religion be damned, the first test is to see if you can separate the “cult” from the concept of multi-partner families. Polygamy == sexual child abuse IS the first PREJUDICE that you’ve apparently adopted without the slightest bit of thought. I don’t care if that is the only kind of story you’ve seen, the association is invalid and you are an intelligent being capable of rational thought. Next would be that polygamy dictates the sexual activities of females. Third is “polygamy degrades women” – please, a huge number of MONOGAMOUS relationships degrade women so obviously it has nothing to do with the number of adults involved, only in HOW WE ALL TREAT EACH OTHER! Fourth: polygamy == harem etc. etc. We getting the drift yet?
Education begins when the incessant recorded loops that play within our heads pause for the briefest moment. I pray that everyone in this thread has such a moment of silence. Fear/anger of an IDEA is the clearest sign of the potential for each of us to reach some new level of understanding. Please don’t waste one of these moments, they don’t happen very often …
You are obliviously not so bright as you think you are. You are stereotyping dearie. You know nothing of what you are talking about. Maybe if you’d watch the show you might learn something. DUHH! Not all pologamists are created equal. These people are exposing thierselves for some reason, might be to break this mindset you have. Live and Learn.
Child Rape.
WOW what a joke, child rape is the prerogative of polygamous families because we have seen the cases trumpeted in a FEW plural families where 14 year olds are married off. In the state of Utah, the DA and FLDS are working together to eradicate this evil. Damn, won’t it be a sad day when it is abolished in polygamy and the only occurrences will be in monogamy.
Of course we are selectively blind to the Fact, repeat FACT, that child abuse is rampant in socially acceptable monogamous families. Of course these innocents are assaulted by their own fathers and brothers but hey, let’s not advertise the fact we want monogamy to retain all the best perceptions.
Have you ever seen, monogamous father rapes monogamous daughter as a news headline? Why not? Isn’t rape equally as bad in monogamy?
Anyone who thinks child rape (either forced underage marriage or rape) is found ONLY in polygamy is as ignorant and I believe, willingly ignorant of the facts as can be imagined. Child rape (without marriage) and abuse of every kind is alive, well and flourishing in monogamy that is a FACT. (If I weren’t a Christian I might write something like “pull your head out of your” (hmmm let me think now????) Ok, I can’t remember the entire saying, maybe someone will remind me. Try talking to anyone and I will guarantee they have experienced or known of abuse in their monogamous families.
Good for you TLC, and kudos to the family willing to stand against ignorance and prejudice.
I must agree with your comments and others against this program “Sister Wives” How can this channel STOOP SO LOW? Must be desperate for ratings. Well, as far as I’m concerned this program can go under. I haven’t watched the show don’t intend to, just seeing the introductions prior to airing made me sick. “Sister Wives” has got to go, vanish, leave, disappear. !!!
Thanks for the comment TLC!
BTW…this will be deleted by the mormon/polygamist/flds person who is monitoring this blog by this time tomorrow.
BOYCOTT TLC & THEIR ADVERTISERS – coming soon to a community (wbe-based, and otherwise) near you. It’s going to be a BIG ONE. If there’s a product, manufacturer or advertiser that does NOT want to go down in flames, I suggest you stay far FAR away from ‘The Phillip Garrido Show.’
I AGREE! I already boycott TLC (aka the breeder channel).
For one thing, there are perverts in every religion. Stereotyping and assuming that there is child molestation and underage marriage in ALL polygomist households is absolute ignorence and stupidity!!!! In this day and age NO ONE has a right to say HOW or WHAT a family should look like!!! How dare you judge these people when the defintion of what a family unit should look like is different for everyone!!!! I happen to personally know the Browns and they are amazing people!! I am, and never will be a polygimist however, their family unit is strong and puts other families to shame! The children are amazing and amazingly normal. There is no, and I REPEAT NO underage marriage!!! It isn’t and NEVER will be allowed and excepted!!! It isn’t allowed and acepted in MOST of the sects!!! The sects are not all connected and just like in any religion, their beliefs and practices are not all the same!!! You have no right to judge these people until you actually get to know them and see how amazing they all work together!!
I’m glad that you have the guts to defend them!! I can’t wait to check it out. I am fascinated that they are allowing it on tv at all and very happy it is!!
Wow! Some people have some serious personal issues about how other people choose to live judged by the hate filled rants on this thread. If some of these people bothered to do some research rather than allowing themselves to be consumed by hatred bordering on madness, they would discover that there are thousands of people living polyamorously, including women with several male partners, Hugh Hefner type playboys who share a home with several mistress, and other mix and match poly groups.
Of course, only when the motivation is religious do the bigots go stark raving mad. I wish the best of luck to the Browns and hopefully this show will open up some eyes and put on damper on religious bigotry.
Just one more compelling reason to 1) have an antenna only and; 2) download the shows you want to watch (and the kids) from iTunes/Apple TV or similar technology.
I am shocked at the anger and hate directed at these people, not to mention allegations of Child abuse et al when it clearly states in the write up that these are five adults perfectly happy with their lives, where does this anger come from? Have people fallen so far into convention that they cannot even imagine a world where people make choices that they don’t understand? You might not understand it, but all this hate is just not acceptable in any way, shape or form. These are human beings, with families that love them just like you, no matter what religion you follow, surely you can understand that?
I think there is a lot of extreme views here, people need to wait and see what these people are like and I applaud the more tolerant posters on here who are willing to wait and see. You might just learn something!
It is ignorant to judge them before watching the show. From what I have seen so far, they seem like a very nice and loving family, and I am very much looking forward to this show.
Having lived in Utah most of my life, my expectation of what a polygamist family looks like is very different than the Brown family. Occasionally you will see a polygamist patriarch with two or three women, presumably his wives, wearing very simple and conservative pioneer style dresses, with their hair pulled back in a bun or simple style and no makeup. Somewhat homely. Very meek and quiet. Obviously unspoiled with modern conveniences. It’s very easy to know they are polygamists.
I have rubbed elbows with Kody and he is extremely charismatic and full of energy. I never would have guessed he was a polygamist, and I have to say his wives seem adorable and full of personality as well. This looks different than what I thought polygamy was so I am intrigued about this show. I’m curious now to find out who else I might know that practices polygamy
. Good for TLC to show a different perspective than what we know about Warren Jeffs and maybe how this lifestyle could be good.
I can honestly say this would not be an arrangement I personally would be comfortable with, but I can see many benefits with regard to raising children. Furthermore, these women are happy and in love with their family. What could be more amazing than that?
It is my opinion that this show is going to be a white washed version of what polygamy really is. I’m sure that the women that entered into this plural marriage were adults and have done so of their own accord. (Well, as much as they can with what their religious beliefs dictate for them.)
However, it is well known but most people that are actually educated on this subject that polygamy is bad for women and children. Anyone who says otherwise is either A) a man B) a polygamist. If you truly want to educate yourselves on this subject please read The Flora Jessop story.Or the story of Caroyln Jessop.
Polygamy is a powerful cult as we have seen, the women and children were returned to the compound in Texas and we haven’t heard anything about them since. Do you really think that little girls aren’t being married off and raped?
I’m sure this show will be interesting. A “modern” polygamist family pretty much a reality TV show about HBO’s Big Love. We all know that a slim minority of polygamist families operate this way. Hey, I’ve got a great idea, why doesn’t TLC do a show about a woman with a bunch of husbands and her 15 kids? Now that would cause an uproar!
If comments 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 and 19 are correct then we can take the following 5 statements to be facts as they are all based on the same logic:
1. All polygamists are child rapists.
2. All white males are serial killers.
3. All women who experience post-partum depression are child murderers.
4. All white people are members of the KKK.
5. All german people are Nazi’s.
It becomes more and more apparent everyday that there are entirely too many people that do not have the ability to think AND speak. The garbage being doled out as “thoughts” (and I use that term as loosely as possible) the above mentioned comments proves that a usable brain is a rare commodity.
I was glad to see that there are people in the world that are able to learn about something BEFORE they make judgements. I am not a polygamist and will never be one, but that doesn’t mean that no one else has that right. If you are over 18 years old, you have the right to marry anyone (that is over 18) that you choose and that chooses you back!
Isn’t pologamy against the law in the US? Who are the sponsors?
What a unspeakable tacky show. Silly, stupid women. Idiot, sex driven man. The women should turn the tables and demand to have brother husbands. Imagine him going along with that.
BIGAMY AND POLYGAMY ARE ILLEGAL! What part of that are you morons not getting??? Why are you defending these people? This is the crap that TLC wants you to do! Watch their stupid little previews of this show and say “oh they seem nice! or They look cute hehe!” I reading your comments and I am just shaking my head in disbelief. This is why TLC is putting this show on and trying to make it look “normal”, because they know all of you sheep will fall for it. SMH. Disgusting. I have no other words. Disgusting.
However nice and functional this family might be, i think it’s at the very least stupid to present it as a viable option to the general public. The children, no matter how amazing, have got to be confused as to how this unit functions, it can easily be constructed as the socially acceptable orgy fest in the minds of the viewers, as well as perpetuate the idea that this kind of behavior is just as normal as monogamous relationships. The problem with that is that most people, in my experience, prefer to get their fair share of attention and love from their partner (what happens to the “you are my world” statements – they turn into “you are 1/4 of my world???”) and I think that a lot of women/girls might be led into these kinds of relationships ‘of their free will’ whereas in fact this is far from being their choice, but rather the only option that they are presented with by predatory, charismatic men. Because let’s face the fact that the man benefits the most out of this relationship. the women are not marrying each other, they are all marrying him.
There is just something weird about that man, Kody Brown. He has his cake and gets to eat it too!!! He can’t support them all, so one wife has to work terrible long hours, while the older son takes care of the children every morning. He smiles about his time he spends pleasing each wife and now has a silly gitty girlfriend to play with. Maybe he needs her income, too. He makes me sick!!! Wake up women, you deserve better and so do your children!!!!
The key points in this matter seem to be overlooked or intentionally ignored. (1) Polygamy is illegal. (2) TLC, as it has in so many others, is seeking to appeal to prurient interests to sell a show. But, more importantly, they are seeking to erode the ethical and moral integrity of our nation. Sure, there are many things people do because “they enjoy them” or that – in their opinion – they feel are “right” but that does not automatically make them acceptable. The net effect of condoning behavior that is erosive of the character of a society is the ultimate destruction of that society. I believe that is what is intended by TLC. I would hope that we, as a society, re-learn the value of self-control, restraint, decorum and respect for others. If we do not we are doomed to live in a world that is increasingly violent, destructive of the rights of others, increasingly oppressive and downright disgusting. This is not about prudishness, it is about survival as a civilization.
These women may say they are happy. They may even have mostly convinced themselves they are happy. But they aren’t obese because they’re happy. They are eating to either stuff anger or seek love and comfort that they aren’t receiving from the man they are sharing. It is a sad indictment to the pain that polygamy brings. I feel very sorry for them.
The Loser Channel comes up with another winner – or is it loser?
Now the LDS Church is gonna be mad – no one is supposed to know this happens all over Utah…. still….
As a non-Mormon who is in a plural relationship, it is sometimes difficult to have to be something or someone I am not for the general public. My “sister wife” is a beautiful, talented woman I consider my friend. It is sad to me that I can’t always show how proud I am of her or worry that if the three of us go out, only one of us can hold hands, get a kiss, etc. We aren’t’ on welfare, my husband and I both have lucrative careers. My sister wife loves to be domestic and is fabulous at it. She also has a hobby that takes her all around the country and she is number one in her class. We have raised 5 happy, successful, talented, and beautiful children who love us and accept us, but none share our lifestyle. There is no jealously, only support and love. No, we don’t all have sex, we have a schedule and it works well. But for any man who thinks this is a dream, imagine having two women on the same side for an opinion. He’s an amazing man, but it doesn’t mean we bring him to his wits end on occasion.
HE IS ALSO SETTING A VERY BAD, TERRIBLE, EXAMPLE FOR PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! YOUNG OR OLDER, EVERY PERSON!
TERRIBLE EXAMPLE!
with or with out kody?
TLC, I am really shocked that you would stoop so low as to this type TV exposure. My prayers are with the other little girls and boys who are in harms way of those condemplating such an abomination. Knowing the ramifications of this TV show, what could be your reasons? TLC, you have stated that this show must be seen, haven’t we had enough of Jim Jones and Charles Mason reality. Why don’t you show something like, what could happen to young men and women sleeping around with any and everyone. better yet, how the (DL) down low broters and sisters are religous leaders. In continuance, really put the spot light on these crooked politicians. Oh wait, you can’t investigate the politicians, you are enjoying some of their perks on the tax payers dime. ENOUGH is ENOUGH. This show will not educate, heal, enhance our lives, or help shape this world in no way. This show will only create more impossible life situations and confusion to our young america, we must be careful. Our young people are our, future TV producers, Presidents, Lawyers, Doctors, Political figures, etc…. How would you feel if your child(s) were to join a Harem? expecially you daughter. This is over the top. This show has pushed the people to the tolorance point. You must reconsider this…..