I’m rewatching and I just got to the episode where Crosby and jasmine get a minivan and jasmine makes Crosby trade in his car instead of hers and gave him no say in the matter. Why would he have to give up his car and have to drive her beetle? Idk why but it annoys me 😂

I cannot STAND the character or how the actor plays her. She complains alllll the time about the basics of being a mom. Just say you hate having kids! I'm shocked and appalled at some of the things she says and the way she's constantly playing victim.

Much has been written about the shit show that is the poorly run (yet miraculously successful!) charter school, Chambers Academy; however, I wanted to turn our attention to the equally atrocious Sycamore Charter. It’s no secret that this show holds charter schools up as the gold standard in public education….as a teacher, I vehemently disagree, although that’s a discussion for another day. From the beginning, Sycamore is portrayed as a pillar in the Bay Area school system: it’s exclusive, competitive, “nearly impossible to get into,” etc. After multiple re-watches of the series, I find this deeply perplexing. In fact, I would argue that Sycamore is right there with Chambers in its ineptness and unprofessionalism. So, here’s a list of examples of why Sycamore Charter sucks:

1. The principal is an egotistical, unprofessional clod. His bitching about the quality of the kindergarten play to Crosby behind Joel’s back was mean-spirited and manipulative …..especially considering Joel was a fucking volunteer and getting paid nothing AND Crosby is Joel’s brother-in-law! Like, way to triangulate people.

2. Why was a parent directing the kindergarten play in the first place? That should be assigned to one of the teachers/staff members or, at the very least, be hired out as a supplemental. I used to be a drama teacher/director, and putting on any kind of performance, especially with that age, is an insane amount of work; yet, they clearly dumped it on an unpaid parent volunteer who they then treated like garbage.

3. They clearly don’t prioritize the arts there, between the above mentioned examples and Raquel complaining about having to have a fundraiser to keep the music program from getting cut. Where the hell is all of their budget going if they’re such a wildly successful charter school?

4. Hobby day is a ridiculous idea. Career day? Sure. But regardless of whether you’re a working parent or a SAHP like Joel, most parents are way too overextended and exhausted to have time for hobbies. Joel was totally right. This just seems like a needless filler activity to take up time in the classroom.

5. Between Sidney’s horrific and unapologetic treatment of her classmate in season 6, the Mathletes’ making fun of Max, and Max’s beat down of Jabbar at lunch time, Sycamore clearly had a bullying problem that wasn’t being addressed. The kids weren’t closely supervised and the school culture was obviously toxic, partially due to….

6. What year is it that they still allow kids to pick teams in gym class? That was already considered an outdated, humiliating practice back in the 80s and 90s when I was a kid. And yet the PE teacher at Sycamore was still doing it. No wonder kids were getting picked on there.

7. Back to Max and Jabbar’s altercation….whose brilliant idea was it that first graders should be eating at the same time and in the same space as fifth graders?! First graders need much more protection and oversight than older kids. Why did no one notice that poor Jabbar was sitting with Max everyday instead of his usual classmate friends? Or that Max had been eating alone? The teachers/staff just seemed so hands off and uninvolved.

8. The security and pickup/drop off procedures are lax at best, dangerous at most. It appears that all of the parents can just come and go as they please, walking through the building at their leisure, without so much as checking into the office and/or wearing a visitors badge. I’m

volunteering for the Thanksgiving party at my daughter’s school this week, and that place is locked down like a fortress. They have to buzz me in, then I have to check in at the office, LEAVE my drivers license there, sign-in and out, sign a procedures agreement paper, and wear a visitor sticker with my name on it. Meanwhile, the Sycamore parents roam the halls freely, gossiping, chatting with students, teachers, and other parents.

Not to mention, there doesn’t appear to be anyone on duty monitoring pickups or dropoffs. Multiple times kindergartener Sidney is just dumped out of the car and runs off into the building alone without a staff member in sight. Same with kids just loitering outside the building waiting for someone to pick them up with no one making sure they’re even getting picked up by the right person, etc. Every morning when I drop my kindergartener off, the school police officer and the principal are standing there high fiving each kid as they go in the building, not to mention the no less than five teachers and aides making sure each kid gets to the right car at pickup.

9. The whole situation with Victor was handled horribly. He should have never been pulled out of his class and sent back to fourth grade in the middle of the school year. Plus, how did his fourth grade teacher the year before NOT see that he couldn’t read or do math?? This all

should have been caught not long after he was enrolled. Plus, the school never offered any interventions or assessments to try and support him first. It’s very likely he could have had a learning disability, yet he was never assessed for any learning challenges. He could have been put on an IEP or, at the very least, given the fact he’d missed so much school AND been through the trauma of bouncing through foster care, a 504 plan. Their only suggestion was to dump everything back on his non-teacher parents by just having them read to him every night and help him with his school work. Like, WTAF?? Oh, that didn’t work? Fine, let’s just send him back a grade!

10. Mrs. McKindall (sp?) who taught both Max and Victor, was a horrible teacher. She clearly had no training in dealing with a student on the spectrum in her regular class, she contributed in the poor handling of the Victor situation, and she let parent emails go for days without responding. Granted Kristina was a nightmare for emailing her so many times, but it was clear that she was worried about mainstreaming Max, and this teacher went days without replying to her. Our school has a policy that we have to reply to all parent emails within 24 hours. Even when Kristina went to talk to her, she was just super dismissive. And I say this as someone who hates Max and only barely tolerates Kristina as a character. She definitely gave off the vibe of someone who was out the door by 3 everyday.

11. The school’s selection process shouldn’t be allowed AT ALL. Charters are public schools that usually operate on a lottery system. Granted, Jabbar started a month or so into the school year, so maybe it was different for him, but there shouldn’t have been some ridiculous selection process that judged whether the parents were “stable” enough. This just screams classism and discrimination. I guess they don’t take kids from (gasp!) divorced families? Or, God forbid, poor families? Private schools can certainly exclude on that basis, but this is a public school that’s suppose to represent a diverse student body and provide equal opportunities for all students using PUBLIC money.

*On a related note, all of the parents there seemed like a bunch of toxic, gossipy, backstabbing, politicking assholes, Joel included. In fact, I’d say especially Joel. He played the game well with all of those cliquey moms fawning all over him. Him telling Julia to cancel Sidney’s play date with that Amy girl due to some ridiculous kindergarten social politics never sat well with me. He was a huge part of the problem, and I think Sidney’s atrocious behavior stemmed more from his parenting and the toxic school culture than from Julia. Say what you will about Adam and Kristina, but they would have never put up with their kids treating a classmate like that, and they would have found a solution or kept an open mind about Amy instead of perpetuating that situation.

Sorry for the book here, but I’ve been writing this post in my head for probably about a year. lol. Feel free to add to the list or disagree!

The show finale was awesome and definitely made me cry. Did they HAVE to the absolute worst possible rendition of the intro song though???? it was excruciating. The same off key notes and tone over and over again. They didn’t have to end my show like that 😂

I have watched the series before but totally spaced that the lead singer of All American Rejects (Tyson Ritter) was in it!!

I have been chipping away at this series all fall and I started out liking all the characters (I like Dax Shepard, but was also just looking for a series to watch). However, by the end, I wished bad for all of them. Kristina, Adam and their parenting of Max, and their overall level of entitlement was disgusting. In fact, they are all so goddamn entitled and dramatic. Not a humble one in the bunch except for maybe Hattie and the photo guy (played by Ray Romano). In every instance, when something happened that for 99% of people, would be no big deal, the writers made everything a HUGE FUCKING DEAL. The number of temper tantrums they all threw was exhausting to watch. In the end, I wished that Adam and Kristina died in a plane crash, Crosby developed a bad coke habit, and Joel and what's her face got divorced and she shacked up with the FB boyfriend. Ugh!

Deleted my last post because no one was really understanding the post so going to rework. This isn't post about whether or not Zeke is a jerk, traumatized, about his behavior in Vietnam, etc.

Camile was dismayed when Zeke cheated on her in his later years. She would not have been cool with him being a lady's man in Vietnam. But there's a plot hole where she says something like "I knew you'd come back to me" referring to his PTSD after war. There's no way a man who was presumed to be so loyal to his wife that cheating would nearly destory their relationship would be bragging about having sex with women in Vietnam to his children. It's just a huge oversight-- surprised that missed this. Again this about a plot inconsistancy-- I'm not analyzing Zeke at all.

Sorry for the typo in the subject.

The movie is on Max and I never watched it before so I did tonight. I forgot it was related to the show until about halfway through I was, oh that's Adam and Max and Kristina. There is so much that they used in the first season! It's very different but if you're into family dynamics it's a nice watch. Dianne Weist who plays the movie version of Sarah was nominated for an Academy Award for her role. Has anyone seen it?

I’m partway through season 3 and Sarah is still living at home with her parents, she’s had steady work as a bartender the entire show. I’m so confused why she never has any money for anything.

She doesn’t pay rent. I’m pretty sure her parents buy the groceries her and the kids eat. Amber has already moved out on her own and can pay rent and she works at a cafe. I’m pretty sure Sarah must make more as a bartender. She drives an old crappy car. I’m just confused why she never has any money.

1. In a scene in a season 3 episode, Max and Jabbar are having lunch together. Jabbar decides to go sit with a friend. Max tries to force Jabbar to continue sitting with him and they get into a physical fight. I don't remember this for sure but I think at one point, Max pushes his cousin to the ground. If anyone remembers, let me know

2. Max and Dylan are suppose to do some kind of presentation (I think) together for open house. Max continues trying to convince Dylan she should like him and not the other guy. Dylan says she simply likes him as a friend and nothing more. Max then assumes it's because he hasn't shown physical affection and grabs her wrist causing her to freak out, begs him to stop, and says he's harassing her

I really hope he votes today because both candidates are neck to neck and every vote counts.

Adam and Kristina initially disapproved of Haddie dating Alex because they believed he was too mature for her. Haddie accused them of being racist a couple of times but they denied it. They do eventually let her see Alex. In the season 2 finale, Adam found a positive pregnancy test and immediately concluded Alex had knocked up Haddie showing he was still a little conscious. Anyway, would you have let Haddie date Alex knowing what we know about him (he's a recovering alcoholic, he lives on his own, etc)

I haven’t finished the series yet and I’m not sure I have a favorite but my top 2 are Joel and jasmine.

I think they are such supportive and strong partners that balance being a parent and partner while also holding space for their own needs.

I like how we see more of jasmine and Rene’s relationship and understand how jasmine was raised with discipline and faith by a strong single mom.

I’d love to hear your take!

● I don't know why Sarah broke up with hank but then in season 4 she was like going back and forth between him and Mark. To be honest I preferred Mark and Sarah together because he really put Sarah's needs before his own and to be honest that is something I think was good quality for Sarah but she ended up picking hank which he is fine. I just think that it feels like she trying to fix him instead of them equally having what they need. It just kinda bothers me a bit.

●Adam and Kristina last season the cancer arch it made me go through loop of anxiety and feel for Kristina. I'm not huge fan of Kristina due to her being so controlling and also due to her and Adam really make Hadie sacrifice everything for Max when she was just a child her self. I felt like that since I started watching.

●Jasmine and Crospy I love their relationship yeah they bicker and fight but I enjoy watching them mostly because they seem most relatable to me. But I also didn't like how Crospy cheated on Jasmine that made me so mad and kinda disappointed.

●Julia and Joel I can't really say to much about them because I just I never found their story parts interesting.

These have been my thoughts in my head so far the rest kinda just all over the place.

Sarah can’t get a salaried job and when she does, thanks to her brother, she starts sleeping with the boss instead of caring about her future. And then she does it again at the photography shop so she’s fine with it.

Sarah is so codependent and keeps prioritizing every toxic guy she’s ever met above her own needs. Seth, Hank, the Baldwin boss.

Amber can’t get a job that might lead to an easier life out of poverty and so her aunt gets her one. Then she starts sleeping with the boss. Then she falls in love with the veteran who clearly isn’t in a space to be in a relationship but as long as his needs are taken care of and hers are last she’s good.

It’s soo frustrating to watch these characters because this family is so trashy and they love repeating trauma and unhealthy communication and they depend on the more successful ones to cover their asses and deal with their bad decisions.

Her controlling neurotic behavior is exactly why men grow up thinking the world needs to kiss their feet and do exactly as they say.

They should have shown her sitting down with him and explaining what she did to make it possible and how some decisions really are out of his control and how she’s not going to be able to control every decision and fight his battles forever.

Max’s character is not taught how to work with others and that the world is not fair and this episode was soo disgusting to watch.

Especially at the end when max celebrated the vending machine thinking HE was the ONE responsible for that.

I hope no one watches this show and thinks wow this is great parenting right here. I think it’s really just a trashy enmeshed family that has zero boundaries and is really messed up lol.

I'm close to the end of season 6 and I'm just noticing how hard puberty hits Victor/Xolo. He goes from looking like he's in elementary school to looking like he's in high school in just a couple of years. I know puberty happens and Max went through a growth spurt too in season 3 but still it's crazy seeing Victor grow this quickly

In the beginning of the show that mom who was the parent of Sydney’s then best friend kissed Joel. Joel drew a hard line and told Julia is she couldn’t trust him and also forced her to be around her because it was Sydney’s best friend.

TELL ME how Ed kissing Julia is different than that? At face value? Seriously, Joel can dish it out but can’t take it?

Something changed about when season 4 started. It was so much better. Did they get new writers or something?

I thought about this because I recently watched an episode where Joel gets Drew to babysit Victor and Sydney. This is the first time I recall seeing Drew directly interact with these two. Then it hit me, Drew doesn't interact with much of the other characters. The only characters he regularly interacts with are Sarah (his mom), Amber (his sister), and Zeek (his grandpa) He also occasionally interacts with his uncles, Adam and Crosby but mostly for advice. Has anyone else notice this? I don't exactly want to single Drew out. Now that I think about it, Jasmine doesn't really interact much with any of the kid/teen characters aside from her own kids, Jabbar and Aida

What Do you think their portrayal of autism especially regarding max,personally I always found it to be extremely flawed?With Max And even with Haddie?

I just came here to say I’m on season 5 episode 14 and as a foster kid I HATE Joel right now. 🥺

For me it’s Julia not being able to conceive another baby (I don’t like her at all tbh and don’t really sympathize with her character, plus Erika Christensen is a really bad crier and it’s just cringy imo)

And also Sarah writing a play. I don’t care AT ALL about any of the play crap.

I do these type of posts a lot because I think they’re fun! Where to you think the characters are today in 2024? What jobs are they working? Do some of the kids have families of their own? What do you think?

She was honestly so mean about the amber and Steve situation. That was her niece. She then told Adam not to help his nephew practice baseball because he wanted to join the team and to think about his own family?? Drew did nothing wrong and that’s literally Adam’s nephew, and Drew’s father can’t help with that stuff. But since Kristina’s mad at Sarah he shouldn’t help drew. She made me so mad. Adam’s is literally Drew’s father figure. (Sorry for my bad writing and grammer)

 She is awful,in real life she wouldn’t be considered nearly as good a parent as the show portrays her to be,especially with Haddie.

Rewatching again and I have always gotten the impression that Sarah is Zeek’s favorite, and maybe Crosby is Camille’s. Poor Julia and Adam are neither of their parents favorites imo lol. Curious if anyone else sees what I see or if you see it differently?

1st run through, no spoilers please What’s with Kristina telling Max he is brave and amazing for not taking no for an answer??? How about telling him when I girl says no and asks you to leave her alone you, well, leave her alone. Was this not understood in the 2010’s???

Amy cheated on him at summer camp broke up with him to get with the guy. She makes one move he immediately took her back . Then she dropped him after the baby situation. Then came back running cause she felt alone in Boston. Ridiculous. Feel like she’s a polite user.

Now Natalie is something else. He tells her he likes her she doesn’t respond but tries to do friends with benefits later. Drew doesn’t like it so she said well let’s be friends. That’s cool, then Amy shows up with her drama and she gets jealous???? Admits that she slept with Berto cause she was pissed at him. After that Berto and Natalie gaslight him saying it was his fault. Like she tried to hurt him and kept badgering. And just like Amy they made him take her back like. Writers could’ve gave him some actual friends & found a girl later route instead of Amy & Natalie.

Why does Kristina seem to always have an issue with Camille? Like she never seems to be thankful for Camille’s support. Don’t get me wrong- I know how in laws can be. I guess I’m just irritated with Kristina’s attitude with Camille. And while we’re at it, her attitude towards Sarah and Crosby (I’m only halfway through season 4)