To quote screechy redheaded woman (in reference to FUF1):



I've had it with DP's FUF. I'm not going to watch anymore. They are not getting any better. They are running around in circles and that's it. I know how difficult it is to break old patterns. Sometimes it takes a while and sometimes you do run around in circles, but how long has it been with this family? Six months? Every time they seem to make progress, the next episode airs and it's same old, same old. I seriously question how much work DP is doing with these families (both FUF1 and FUF2). Has DP even sat with them (not in front of the cameras) for longer than an hour? Whatever.

Arggggh I HATE Marty. So much hate. The least he could do is answer Dr. Phil in some kind of reasonable time frame instead of just sitting with your head down. How hard is it to know whether you've done something bad or not? Idiot. I think he fucked that woman. I can see why he would lie if he just talked to her, but he seemed way too resistant for it to just be chitchat at the gas station.

Erin is annoying too, with those overly dramatic wincey faces and yelling everything she says. Plus, she says "I'm done!" like every episode, yet she's still there famewhoring it in front of America. Shit or get off the pot!

I've never been quite in the feeling that this show is anything like Maury before, but I did today! Ick!

I feel dirty. This FUF ep felt a lot different to me; I actually felt guilty for watching the FUFs fall apart.

Marty should learn the lesson Future-Mr. SnowDog did a long time ago: when you run into an ex, tell your current partner because when they find out and you didn't tell, there will be holy hell to pay. Merely running into an ex is not a sign of cheating but he should've told Erin about it. Erin certainly has reason to suspect Marty of cheating so he should do everything in his power to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing.

Erin said "Assinine." Yay!

Oh, and was anyone else freaked out when we could see up Stacy's skirt in the promo for next week? If you can't cross your legs so we don't see the goods, wear longer skirts.

I wonder if DP is having the FUF followed by private detectives? First he has the "secret info" that proves Alex is having sex, and now he knows that Marty -- gasp! -- ran into his ex-lover at the gas station. If I were a member of the FUF (heaven forbid), I would keep an eye out for tails everytime I drove somewhere.

During the first 20 minutes, I was so sure that it was gonna turn out that Marty had gone to a strip club or a whorehouse. The gas station is kind of a comedown, but I agree he should have told Erin. Even if you don't have DP's private eye after you, word gets around in a small town.

I thought that too. That's kinda creepy having someone you are supposedly working with in a "counseling" capacity spring all that stuff on you for (obvious) shock value. Personally, that is coming at the cost of sabotaging any kind of client / therapist relationship. I could not IMAGINE my counselor interogating me and then springing something on me!
Makes me wonder if that is part of the agreement when these FUF's sold their souls to DrP and daytime tv.

These FUF's are just getting TOO CREEPY! It's WAY past any kind of informative value and has gone into shock value. It's a freak show enhanced by the OVERLY dramatic next episode previews. We're now at both families whining about not being sure how much more they can take or for how much longer.
Yeah... yeah... blah... blah.... you're hanging in there for the expensive trips and gifts, etc. These folks need serious and sincere help.
This is just wrong in too many ways.....

Seriously, is Marty retarded? Mentally challenged? I only caught a bit of this (sorry, Dr. Shil, no one comes between me and Jeopardy. Actually, I just mock Alex Trebec's foreign accent for thirty minutes). I am just stupified that he cannot simply tell the truth. Let alone, answer a questionin a timely fashion.

Why did it take fifteen kagillion months to realize that this asshole can never be trusted? HATE!!!

I'm with you Tiggertail. I wonder if there is more and like DP's proof that Alex is still having sex, we the viewers don't get to hear it. Marty = big ol' waste of skin! Let's hope Erin sticks to her guns this time and does go home and change the locks.

Thanks to whoever mentioned above that it was the Gate Gas Station. I could have sworn he said Gay Gas Station - I even backed up the TiVo - and I was thinking gee, is Marty's big secret that he's gay or bi?!

I thought Phil said early in the show that Marty had told the information to someone in an interview. A producer, maybe? If that's the case, he's even more of a dumbass to think Dr. Phil wouldn't find out about it and bust him on camera.

Whether he's done more than talk to the other lady or not, I just think that Erin should divorce him simply because he's an asshat. Can't answer a simple question and doesn't have a clue.

Let me state: I'm no fan of Marty. AND I think he's lying through his teeth. But I also think if he'd told Erin he had run into one of his ex whatevers that she would have created more drama than what we saw today (hard to believe, I know). I'm doubting it was a gas station, but I'm guessing it went like this:

Ex: Hey, Marty-kins, how ya been?
M: Oh, you know....
Ex: Yeah, actually I do. I've been watching you on TV. You don't look good, darlin'.
M: uh....
Ex: So that's your wife? Well, that explains a lot. But dude, you're whole family is fucked up.
M: uh......
Ex: In fact, if you don't mind, can we forget we ever knew each other? Know what I mean? So. Like. Bye.

Marty can rot. But those three shrieking drama queens can shut up, too. Erin, you're not doing anyone any favors by keeping him around. And just what was the point of today's show? To show us what? To teach us what? Oh, I forgot, it's only for entertainment. Jeez.

I don't think this show did any good for Marty or the family (ok -- yeah, stating the glaringly obvious, but still...). Marty is just going to think that he was attacked and blind-sided and can fill himself with self-righteous indignation at how unfairly he was treated. Sigh. But, I agree, Hexele -- I can just imagine the scene he was facing if he HAD told Erin about it. I hate the guy, but I think he probably just didn't want to deal with it over a chance meeting (if that's all it was, which who knows).

And I feel used and abused after all the build up to this show -- and how I got sucked in. I only have myself to blame. This show is really getting bad. In a dirty, uncomfortable way.

The bad parenting shows are starting to scare me. Not as much as the fact that I conintue to watch this show, but ... :)

LOL Drummouse. I would have been really irritated over yet another totally false hook but a wierd thing happened today. I found that every time Catherine's chin started to tremble I would start to giggle and then Erin's face puckered up and I started to laugh harder and by the time all three of them were clinging to each other and sobbing I was having to stuff my fist in my mouth so I could hear.

To think I actually once cared about these people.

-------
Maggiegault for President!

I had the tape of the Debate Dr. Phil show going in the background while I was working on my conversion program. There I was, in the middle of my switch statement, when I heard, "Wiggedy wiggedy whack!" I turned around and shouted "WTF?" at my cat. I think I have a new catchphrase.

While I would love to go on the show with a bunch of TWoPers, it ain't gonna happen. DP only picks people from his own message board and we all know how bright the majority of those folks are.

I can't wait to see the inevitable Family in Crisis meets DP Debaters episode. Stacy's so gonna throw down on the guy who said she wasn't normal.

I think Dr. Phil has turned into Big Dr. Brother.

I can see years from now that DP's FUFs will be on some tv news show or something and say that they were victimized and exploited by DP and his producers. Why would anybody want to share their family problems--really bad family problems--with millions of viewers?

Marty didn't tell Erin that he saw his ex-mistress--when is she going to be on the show?--possibly to spare her feelings. But I bet that slimy Marty was all friendly and chatty with his ex. Ever since they've been on DP, Erin has sounded like a broken record about divorcing his arse, and I don't think she'll ever do it.

I can't wait to see the Mormon Baby Machine. In the preview, she tells her hubby that he doesn't have the balls to cheat. Yeah, because she cut 'em off!

Boy this show is like a soap opera. I can walk away from it for months and come back to the same plotline. Progress. I think not.

Marty: Erin honey... I ran into that woman.... (twenty-eight minute pause) with my penis.

I personally am pissed at Marty for his response about not telling Erin about the check and then her becoming embarrassed because she called about it (I only saw a scrap of this on my way out the door). He had the nerve to put it back on her (she does get on my nerves too, but this time it was him) -- "Well we should have been communicating and whose fault is it we weren't?" or something shitty like that.

I don't cheat on boomersdaddy, but if I run into an ex from way back before I met him, I make sure to let him know in case something comes up about it later. If I had Marty's history, I would certainly do that. But then again, why should he? Erin's not going to divorce him.

Edited because my ignorant self forgot to capitalize "I."

I'm all about the "why"s of obesity. Here's something else.

Poor doggie. No ice cream. But let him watch TV, right?

Dr Phil: For Nathan's sake & Nathan's sake alone, STOP with this series. You're doing a real head trip on Erin & Marty--I think--because these two are pretty vulnerable because of their awful childhoods. But of course no one has a monopoly on awful childhoods AND they're adults, so your head games don't seems as horrific.

With the two girls, you've crossed the line with abandon. Anyone else remember how squeamish you got when someone from school saw you with your parents & your folks were doing something TERRIBLE OMIGOD! like wearing a polyester pantsuit or singing or something? Imagine Mom & Dad on national TV over & over discussing their cussfights, finances & sex life. These girls seem pretty tough, but just wading through adolesence is enough for Katherine & Alex has enough on her plate--outside mothering--having to deal with her baby's daddy.

Nathan is at the bottom of the pile, where crap trickles down. All this angst and door-slamming is affecting him in untold ways. Dr Phil is grabbing ratings at the expense of this infant. No one in the FUF1 house is more important than Nathan. The girls are a close second. If Erin puts time into her mothering, career & working on her old pain there is nothing left for Marty. As it should be. The gas pump strumpet has seen all of Marty's crap & still wants him...Well, they deserve one another. And Nathan deserves a peaceful home.

Pull the plug Dr Barnum & Bailey. For Nathan's sake.

I feel bad for Erin. And I think it says something about how she has progressed that the girls would support her like that. When the series started the girls were all "my parents suck" and now they are holding her hand and telling her Marty isn't good for her. I went "awwwww" when Kathryn reached out her hand. That said---I did not think this particular revelation was worth the angst and tears it got. If he had admitted to having another affair, maybe. But that he ran into someone? Whatever.

I loved the whiggedy whack guy. This part especially:

Shil: But do you think you can learn from them?
Guy: No! I don't WANT to learn from them!

Heh. I think that ties with Marty's "So it's MY fault we don't communicate?" for line of the week.

You and me both, percolata. Everytime Catherine started with the trembling chin, I kept thinking about that SNL sketch with Will Ferrell when he's playing the drill sargent and Chris Parnell is a soldier trying not to cry as Will Ferrell is yelling at him:
"Oh, what's that quiverlip? Trying not to cry? Lookit that quiverlip quiver"

Friday show.

People who fight in front of their kids like Troy and Tammy were doing make. me. sick. I hate them both. Hate. That little tiny girl in the back ground "doing dishes" was truly heart breaking. I'm furious.

I haven't replied to the Dr. Phil board in ages, mainly because it's been nothing to write home about. As a previous poster said, it doesn't really seem that they've progressed any from where they were when they came on. Marty is still a liar and very untrustworthy. Erin still doesn't know what she wants. Alex still isn't mature enough to raise a baby. And Katherine is still, well, Katherine.
My husband and I have had a lot of trust issues in our marriage(not affair related, drug related), so I can see where Erin is coming from to a certain point. However, I honestly was expecting to find out that Marty had been caught in another affair judging by the show promos and previews. I do think the whole thing was really made into a bigger deal than it was, and I blame Dr. Phil for that. If I had a raving fit everytime my husband ran into someone from his past I would go crazy. I realize drug abuse is nothing like a spouse cheating on you, but the loss of trust is basically the same. Shame on Marty for keeping things from Erin, shame on Erin for putting up with all this crap and shame on Dr. Phil for dropping this on Erin and the girls in front of his TV audience.
I also had a lot of concerns about Alex keeping Nathan, and nothing has happened with this family to ease those concerns. They are all still fighting like cats and dogs on national television and now this gorgeous little boy is in the middle of it all. I wonder if one of those couples who so desperately wanted a baby wouldn't be better off with him. I worry that the child will never know a stable homelife.
Personally, I am hoping that Dr. Phil wraps it up with this bunch soon. I don't see that it's really been all that helpful to them and they need to get off TV pronto because making a spectacle of all this isn't beneficial at all.

Word. Even if the girls agreed with doing this in the beginning, I very much doubt they fully knew what they were getting into. Erin will be "That kid with the fucked-up family" for the rest of her life - and even worse, Alex will be "That girl who gave birth on national television". I'm still furious about the camera in that delivery room.

I watched the episode this morning and I was like...

So he ran into his Ex-Ho' at the Gas Station and he didn't tell Erin? That's it? That's THE "MAJOR" REVEAL that we've been building-up to for the last week? And Erin is trying to claw her and his eyes out over this recent "indiscretion" that never happened?

GIMME A FUCKING BREAK!

In terms of marital law and lies -- and after everything that's rotten that he's really done -- this is like (at best) the lowest level of misdemeanors and considering his track record he should probably be praised for not doing anything worse. And now Erin is going to throw him out of the house and change the locks over this? Who is engaging in abusive behavior now?

I think Marty should sue and should write a memoir:

Betrayed By Dr. Phil: How America's Self-Help King Put A Knife In My Back And Because Of His Abusiveness, Incompetence, And Endless Need To Be The PERFECT Alpha Male Helped Wreck My Family After We Came To Him For Help

BIG FAT WORD to all of you who indicated that you knew how Erin REALLY would have reacted if he'd been straight with her over the accidental encounter with the Ex-Ho' just like you all also probably know how she'd likely REALLY have reacted if Marty indicated to her that he needed some money instead of forging his name on the check and depositing it. I agree that Marty lies like all get-out but Dr. Phil never talks about how Erin "as a soft place to fall" ranks right up there with a titanium girder.

Erin can't trust Marty?

Well, newsflash, Marty can't trust Erin!

Yeah, I can see why Erin is upset, and how it raises old issues, but if Marty really didn't hook up with this woman then Erin is totally overreacting even though I can understand where it's coming from.

For once, aside from witholding the information -- because he didn't want to get pounced on for something he deemed pretty minor (And that he KNEW would send Erin through the roof!) -- Marty really doesn't seem to have done anything all that wrong. And it was actually kind of comical to see Alexandra and Marty both get busted by Dr. Phil for lying and then be stuck sitting next to eachother in the audience like chastised "sinners" they are. Like Father, like Daughter, I guess.

I can't staaand Katherine. I'm really not a violent person but I always want to grab her, give her a good shake, and then slap her upside the head and shout "I'll give you something to cry about, Drama Queen!" At least Alex and Erin are capable of some rational thought but Katherine is about as stupid and overly dramatic a Fucktard as they come and they present her like she's so smart.

Now... the NEXT show involving this family looks like it's gonna be a winner! Alex and Erin facing-off over the International Arrivals Terminal that is Alex's vagina should be fun to watch.

Oh, one last thing... Dr. Phil telling Erin that he's "Just a Country-Boy!" was sooo disingenuous because what she was saying was perfectly clear to everyone watching and this Country-Boy also happens to have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Admittedly, it came from a non-brand name University so perhaps we should be at least curious as to the quality of his program. I think that the next time he mentions that he's basing his opinions on The Latest Research -- with his usual faux humility and down with the people schtick -- that somebody needs to remind Dr. Phil that he's "Just a Country-Boy!" and is therefore not qualified to be leading anyone anywhere! It makes me sick how much this man has a problem with strong and smart women and passes himself off as some brilliant mind and agent of progressive social change!

I've already posted my clinical and moral objections over the way PP and this show operates, having made them, and since they've already been taped and are scheduled to air, I'm going to just sit back and enjoy the upcoming episodes for the guilty pleasure that they are.

If I were Marty, I would be GONE after that last "reveal."

I hate the dude, but Dr. Phil has somehow made me feel sorry for him (perhaps with his unethical, frankly abusive "therapy"). Gah. Couldn't even watch the whole thing.

I was working out yesterday when a big ol' lightbulb went off over my head, concerning Dr. Phil's fatties.

Remember when Dr. Phil was first shilling his new weight loss book, and he went out of his way to tell us it was soooo much better than all the "fad diets" out there. He specifically mentioned "low carb" diets as being "fad diets" that aren't healthy ways to lose weight.

Well, Dr. Phil's poster boy, Jim, who is now shilling for Dr. shill in magazine ads, touting his 120 pound weight loss in 8 months, is on a low carb diet!

How do I know? Because during the food raid, Jim told his wife they were finding his peanuts and beef jerky. If Jim were following Dr. Phil's plan, he would have been snacking on fresh veggies and fruit. But every low-carb diet I have ever read about (or been on) has encouraged snacking on handy sources of protein, like nuts and jerky. Also, low-carb diets have statistically helped people lose weight faster than traditional low-fat diets, which would explain Jim's speedy weight loss. But the true test of low-carbers is whether they can stick with it-after a while, the weight loss evens off, and if you ever go off the diet, you will regain the weight.

Now Dr. Shill is going to scold the challengers that are losing weight slowly and steadily, the healthy way. (even though people who lose slowly are much more likely to keep it off) And he will keep rewarding the challengers who lose weight quickly, even if they are losing weight through what he himself has called "unhealthy" methods.

Damn, this guy is such a hypocrite.

Oh, and Marty is a sleazy liar. But talking to an old girlfriend at a gas station is hardly worth all the outrage we saw on yesterday's show. Erin should divorce him, but not for that. Please.

That was the longest hour ever broadcast on TV. Was there really some need to watch silent Marty and snuffling Erin for endless minutes? For, God's sake-EDIT!!That wasn't drama that was a test pattern. Whatever the hell happened afterward with the family that we saw blips of could all have been put into this show with time left over for Shill to plug his new book," Relationship Rescue II- Private Investigators Are Pivotal People" I wonder how much private counseling these people are actually getting. Hopefully they can find someone other than him because this Is. A. Disaster.

Dr. Al, Are you saying you've taped a rebuttal to be aired on the show? If so, can't WAIT to see that!

FUF1? Disgusting exhibitionism by the Shill. Truly awful, awful, awful, creepy, dirty, awful.

No doubt, Shill has private investigators following these people. What the hell kind of therapy is that? And to include the girls in this peep show horror? Totally irresponsible by any stretch. This isn't therapy, it's torture by intimidation.

Hey, Shill! You're ratings are way up! But, your credibility is bankrupt.

Ever been cheated on? Ever decided to work it through? Ever tried your damnedest, even though you have problems of your own that you are also working on, to redevelop trust with someone who has smashed it to the ground and then crushed it underfoot?

I have. And here is what I learned: when you are in the process of rebuilding trust, you need to be more transparent than ever. If you so much as catch a glimpse of your former partner-in-cheating across a room, you need to come clean about it. And if you are afraid that your partner is going to be more reactive than you can handle (which is a very good possibility, all things considered), then you come clean at the very next opportunity with the therapist in the room. That's one thing that counselor is for: to hold the container with the emotions that are stirred up. To allow the cheated-on partner to be terrified at the news of the latest encounter (no matter how superficial the contact might have been), without screaming, yelling, or attacking. And to help the person who did cheat learn that being present to the partner's pain is the only thing that will ever help the pain eventually recede.

I totally get why Marty was afraid to tell Erin. But he should have done it anyway. And I completely understand why his keeping it secret rubbed her raw on a place that is already quite painful.

What I do not understand is why those girls were present when this discussion about their father's affair was taking place. That is so wrong, I don't even have words for it.

You know, I finally realized that Alex kept that child because her father wanted her to, and she is desperate to please him. Not that she ever will.

Yep. For me, that pretty much sums the whole shebang up.

Marty is skeevy and shady in the extreme. That's not in dispute. I could have told you the first day the FUF1 was on Shill that Marty would never change.

However, with the level of drama surrounding the supposed "confession," with all of the sobbing, not to mention yet another ambush...the revelation SHOULD have been a HELL of a lot more than "I ran into a woman I once had some feelings for."

The fuck?

Perhaps this is a bad sign in the maggie marriage, but I don't think this is uncommon: married people lie to one another all of the time. It's not kosher when it's about the big stuff, like sex, money, children, substance abuse, job situations, etc. However, is my relationship headed for the toilet because mr. maggie doesn't speak the truth and tell me my ass is bigger than it was when we got married? After all, it is a "universal truth" and he doesn't say anything...is that one of those deadly "lies by omission"? Okay, mr. maggie had some of the worst-smelling gas ever in the history of mankind the other night. (I don't know what that man ate, but...) I didn't comment each and every time he polluted the air around him. Was that, too, a lie by omission?

I just don't get it. Sometimes we lie a little bit or leave things out of a conversation because we are interested in saving the other person's feelings. Or, saving our own asses because our spouses are such shrews.

I'm no fan of Marty, but I felt so bad for him last night. Really and honestly bad. The betrayal he was feeling was written all over his face in big red letters. And for what? For running into his former paramour? In a small town?

Three words: Big. Fucking. Deal.

You know, I'm visiting my hometown next week with mr. maggie (my brother is coming home on leave! *happy dance*). On Friday night, I am having dinner with a man with whom I was very close...close enough for him to have proposed to me. I turned him down because I love mr. maggie, but there were still some feelings there. He and I just rekindled our friendship recently and we want to catch up on old times. mr. maggie is not coming to dinner with us. No hard feelings there; he just wants me to have time with my friend and his family. And when I return home, I won't have to subject mr. maggie to a bunch of "lies by omission," because we are secure enough in each other that we don't have to know every minute detail of each other's lives.

The maggiemarriage ain't perfect, but come on. Is Shill really married? Does he really understand what a lot of what an "ordinary marriage" entails?

This is my perspective about Marty's supposed sin: did it ever occur to Shill, Erin, and whoever else that Marty was being genuine when he said that he didn't mention the supposed "encounter" because it really meant nothing to him? To me, that's entirely plausible, and may actually point to how he has committed himself to his wife and family. Men think differently than Shill and women do. Marty may have been all, "Well, here I am on the Shill show, and I really do love my wife and kids and grandson, and I fell ass backwards into seeing my former flame. She means nothing to me now, so there's nothing to tell." I really think the former girlfriend may be of so little consequence to Marty that it just wasn't worth mentioning.

I mean, Christ. I know there are ongoing trust issues in that trainwreck they call a marriage, but what is Marty supposed to do for the remainder of his life...wear horse blinders so he doesn't see anyone but his loving family?

Also, Erin has a long history of shrewage in that marriage...Marty may simply have reasoned that telling her about the former flame situation would give him more trouble than the encounter was worth.

maggiegault for president? You are so sweet. No one's going to elect me...I ain't a white man. For the time being, I will have to be content to be the crazy person who screams about the government while passing out inflammatory leaflets outside of the post office.

What an awful show. No more on-air family therapy- it's veering into Springer country. I'm starting to believe that we are all FUFs when there is more than one teenager in residence. Just hearkening back to my days as a defensive, loud, hormonal teenager.

Shouldn't some of the girls' and Erin-Go-Shrew's vitriol be directed at the ho who supposedly told Marty she was still interested? If I knew some goofy chick were still making herself available to my gullible, slightly moronic dad, I would call her up and tell her to go find another FUF. Women who go for married guys need an occasional heads up as to ALL the parties involved in their little trysts.

maggiegault so happy for you and your brother's upcoming visit

Okay, I am totally not saying that everyone should say everything that is true all the time. What I am saying is that when you have created a wound in your marriage, there are certain lies (of commission or omission) that are going to hurt a lot worse than they would in other circumstances.

I'd hate to be in a relationship where I could not have any mental privacy or friendships of my own. But I also recognize that if two people are trying to repair a damaged relationship, some little things that otherwise are not such a big deal become big deals.

Should Marty have told Erin about his encounter? Yes. Should he have been able to predict she would fel betrayed if he did not mention it? Yes. Is he too stupid to be able to do basic stuff like that? Also yes.

These people make me tired. And DP isn't making it better by exploiting them for ratings.

I hope each and every one of those couples has a baby in their lives right now. Because even if they do it's got to suck to watch Dr. Phil and see Nathan's future ... knowing how much better Nathan would be if he'd gone to them AND still not having a baby? Would have to drive them over the edge.

I laughed my ass off when Bozo said he had someone post the "tracys really evil!!! U dont no here like i do!!!!" drivel to the DP board. Get a clue dude... you're a putz and a momma's boy. Nobody likes you because you're an ass, not because they don't know the "whole story." It's just like Marty accusing all his critics of having "issues."

fangums, I never even thought of that. Word. Of course, with all the publicity the three non-FUFs got, I imagine that they will have by now. Hey, Shill - that'd make a nice show, don't you think? Bring them back to say hi. This would also please Mr. Wiggedy Wiggedy Whack by giving him a normal family to watch;).

I have a question. If fighting in front of your kids makes them afraid and insecure, why is it ok to talk about their parents cheating on each other and how to earn their way out of the marriage?

[yeah, ascxas, and whatever happened to "it changes who they are''?]


SorchaRei I think about that whenever I see Nathan. I was one of the few here that wanted them to keep the baby and it was mainly because Marty had fooled me into thinking he would be so thrilled to have this little grandson that he would be changed into a new responsible man and Alexandra would feel her father's joy plus that wonderful bonding thing and turn into a mature young lady who put her baby first. If a cynical old hag like me fell for Marty's act then I can't blame Alexandra. Marty's a slime ball.

I think Dr. Phil is jumping on Marty so hard because Marty cannot be Dr. Phil's fucked up Southern Baptist style conception of what a Man should be in a marriage. Marty is just too damned damaged to ever be that Man and Dr. Phil just doesn't get that. I so wanted to slap Alex's ugly little bitch face right off her shoulders today and word to everyone who said those teenage girls don't need to be a part of their parents' intimate business. God I hope they have earned their way out of this marriage because Erin dating again, Marty bringing the gas pump in as the girls new step-mom, ALex getting knocked up with Twins and Katherine joining a sapphic cult would be way more interesting that what's going on now.

Marty's a sociopath. The way he looks at his wife and daughters, when they're crying? Like, "Keep staring and don't let them know they're thinking about how to dispose of their carcasses." He's a cold fish and an emotionally abusive prick. I'd like to backhand that leer right off his face.

Everytime I watch the Dr. Phill familys I always feel that the children know too much about their parents relationships. Like, how dull their sex lives are, cheating, etc. I would be so grossed out and crawl into a hole if I sat through an entire in depth conversation about my father or mother's infedility. Or about how they don't have enough sex. Honestly, I would stab my ears out. Who wants to know their parents in that kinda way?

What in the hell does "earning your way out of a marriage" mean? Shil is always throwing that around. To my uninformed and half-interested ears, it sounds like, "Well, he's beat me for ten years, now I've earned my way out this marriage" or "I've put up with her cheating ways for xx amount of years, I can leave now".

How much shit does Shil expect a person to take before one "earns" a way out?

Mr. Star and I watched Thursday's ambush. He believed that Marty was lying about the whole encounter. He thinks that Marty probably hooked up with his former girlfriend. "She still likes me...." How would Marty know that if he only "had a few words with her"? Please. Marty was setting up some new ass for when Erin leaves him!

ITA that Alex and Katherine shouldn't have been there for the ambush.

WORD-squared!!
That was, IMHO, completely inappropriatea and amazingly unprofessionally out of line with family counseling ettiquette! That is an issue for the adults to discuss... and NOT in front of millions of viewers, let alone their MINOR children. As tho those daughters didn't already have a distorted, perverse view of men thanks to Smarmy Marty... it's written in stone now! I would love to see Erin take SOME inititative SOMEWHERE!
At least when it got too carried away with Smarmy's antics, she should have said "WHOA!" to it being part of the show involving the girls. Do these people have NO SHAME??!!
I can't figure out if these folks are as F'dU as they seem or if they are now so delusional from being on tv and a sense of "celebrity", or what?

.... and DrP is playing this like a fiddle....

Here's DP's answer to this question, taken from his website:

"I've said before if you want out of this, you've got to earn your way out. And long suffering is not the same as earning. The fact that you've been in pain a long time is not earning your way out. Earning your way out is drilling down to the issues. Earning your way out is owning your responsibility for the marriage being off in the ditch, and saying, 'This is not 50/50; it's 100/100.'"

Dr. Phil continues, "You're ready to get a divorce when you can walk out the door without bitterness, resentment or unfinished emotional business. You've got to finish the emotional business until you can look into a mirror and say, 'I've done everything I know how to do and I'm at peace with the fact that it simply wasn't meant to be.'"

I am not a big fan of DP by any means, but I think he is right on the money with this definition. From my perspective, you should not leave a committed relationship until you know what went wrong, why it went wrong, what your part of it was, and how you will not do that again. You also need to know that you did what you could, even when it was hard, to fix this one.

If you don't do this stuff, then the next relationship will have the same problems. You know the old saying, "It's not one thing after another, it's the same damn thing over and over again"? I think that's what happens to people who don't take the time and effort and heart to understand deeply and truly what prevented their broken relationships from remaining whole.

On the other hand, I don't for one second think that going on DP's show counts towards earning your way out. Real counseling that is not about entertaining the slavering masses? That counts. Whoring yourself and your problems for a few minutes of fame on DP's stage of horrors does not count.

SorchaRei and PP's opinion are very in line with that of most mental health professionals regarding how one needs to operate in order to constructively end a marriage.

In essence, you need to understand what in you, in your partner, and in the marriage is causing the problems in order to change and grow because if you just rush-out (or on to someone new) you'll (through your emotional radar and transference) merely find the same sort of experiences and persons over and over and over again. People don't "accidentally" find bad relationships, there are always unconscious agendas and repetitions that are at work.

And, to his credit, PP also makes it clear that if there is physical abuse of any kind or very high levels of emotional abuse then that couple needs to be separated immediately and only move back in when a qualified professional can evaluate the persons and situation and deem it to be safe.

To answer someone's question for the last page, no, I'm not going to be on the show, I was merely alluding to the fact that because they have already taped the shows we'll be seeing I will therefore be partaking of them even though I have some strong clinical and moral issues with how they stage and run them.

But since they are there, I'm going to enjoy them.

It's interesting, there's so much I loathe about PP, his methods, and his guests but I still am hooked on the show.

I agree with DP on the "earn your way out" theory, too. I've seen quite a few women friends put up with a bad marriage for years, doing nothing about it, not having the energy to upset the status quo, and then leaving in a five day flurry because they fell in love with a guy at work. The jerky old boring husband who has been drinking beer and watching sports, for the past ten years, is left stunned - blubbering about counselling and helping out more while the wife has already jumped off the high dive and cant go back. It's probably just what Mr. Selfish deserves, but the marriage and the kids deserve the effort of seriously trying to work things out.
{Understand, this theory excludes dangerous abusers.}

I think Erin is starting to believe that with her good looks and new found fame she can do much better than Marty. Deep down, I think she no longer wants this marriage to work at all. I'll bet she already has a stash of e-mails from far more attractive ($$$) men.

I agree with you 100% Percolata!

She's an attractive and successful woman, she's not in love with Marty anymore, she knows she can do better and this recent dramatic flare-up over basically nothing is largely an excuse for her to make Marty look like a shit (In this case, the one time he actually wasn't one!) and then get-out looking like a Martyr.

The one thing that kinda sucks though is how Erin and the girls all come across as the perfect victims and are only lightly slapped on the wrist for their own abusive behaviors.

I wouldn't doubt this at all. If you look back from the beginning, she seems to be the one who has changed the most both physically and cognitively. Granted, the at-home footage of her yelling at the top of her lungs at someone three ft away is less than convincing... but overall I would have to give her credit.

I don't get why she doesn't just make a decision. Obviously she thinks about this more than just when she's at the show. Are they supposed to drag this out 'til the end of the season?? (that wouldn't surprise me judging from the obnoxious "coming attraction" clips they use, no matter what the storyline)

If they are just going to dog Martyr all the time, at least start making it constructive and work with Erin on her making a decision. OR is she getting some kind of payoff in the whole scenario in that she doesn't want to decide?? Is she getting off on the power/victim roles she alternates between? hhmmmm....

My MeeMaw and I were talking about DP at my b-day party yesterday. I brought up the WLC folks and my grandma said, "I went on the DP plan for two weeks and I gained three pounds. I was so mad, I ate a bag full of jellybeans!" Hee!

I've often speculated that many of the women (Though obviously not all!) who go on Dr. Phil to "work on their marriages" have already made the decision to leave (at the unconscious level) and basically just want to show the world how much they have suffered at the hands of this man (and tell specifically how they have suffered).

My suspicion is that they specifically do it to tar and feather the man while looking like the long-suffering wife.

Considering how many people watch PP, it's actually a VERY good way to get even because the husband's chances of finding (non-pathological) women to hook-up with post-marriage are greatly reduced because so many people will look at him, recognize him, and and shriek:

"Why you're that no-good, low-down, two-timin', wife-beatin' dog from Dr. Phil! You get the hell away from my daughter! Run, Sally-Anne, run, I KNOW that boy ain't gonna treat you right!"

I have been wondering something about the WLC people. I wasn't watching DP when he started the challenge, so maybe I just missed it, but did he ever deal with the pyschological reason as to why these people overate in the first place?

I realize that not everyone who is overweight had a tramatic past that causes them to turn to food, but for people like Jim, who have 100+ lbs to lose, there's usually some reason why they overeat. Was he a binge eater? Did DP ever ask him? Maybe he did and we didn't see it. Maybe all his challengers were chosen because they didn't have any eating disorders like binge eating.

I would just think that someone who has a PhD in pysch would want to deal with the underlying issues as to why people overeat. From what I've seen with the challenge (only the last 2 or 3 episodes) it just seems like every other non-fad diet out there...eat less and exercise. Thanks DP for that brilliant revelation!