The weak men and women of The Week The Women Went

Last week I reviewed a new 5 episode series on Lifetime called The Week The Women Went.  As a television show it’s watchable, but very far from enjoyable. The concept behind the show is interesting, but in the end it’s just a mess.  It’s rare that commentary is done on Daddy Mojo, but being from the south and having been on reality TV, a voice of reason and logic needed to step in. 

I had a chance to speak with two of participants in The Week The Women Went, Justin Lane and his mother, Tammy.  On the show, Justin is the 21 year-old Fire Chief of Yemassee and Tammy is his mother.  Tammy is the loving, southern mother that has unapologetically coddled Justin all of his life.

If you’ve seen the show you know that Tammy is polite, potentially curt and micro manages every aspect of her son’s life.  That’s the way she is on the show and that’s the way she was on the phone call.  During an hour phone call she represented 90% of the conversation coming from the other end.   It’s not that she was stopping Justin from talking, she just answered every question and Justin only answered the questions that were directly asked to him.

Tammy didn’t want to be a part of The Week The Women Went because she was concerned about how she’d be portrayed; but her sister talked her into doing it.  In the end Tammy feels very positive about the show’s experience and would do it again.

One of the reporters asked Tammy if Justin was unable to take care of himself.

“He can take care of himself, it’s more a comfort thing for me, I’m a hands on mother, some people call it control, I call it comfort”, Tammy said. Regarding the upcoming marriage of Justin to his fiancée Amy, Tammy said that she can relate to the term ‘monster-in law’.

At times during the conversation it sounded like they were setting up the second season of the show or perhaps a spin off that would be called My Monster Redneck Mother-In Law.

When Justin was asked about what he thought of the week that the women left town he said, “Once was enough, it was terrible”.

Justin, my southern brother, let me hop in my time machine, that only plays Lynard Skynard, and go back to the time before they filmed this and give you some advice.

• The African Village on the outskirts of town is NOT part of a voodoo or animal sacrifice cult.  If you look like a slack jawed yokel when you go there then you’ll be painted as a de facto racist ignoramus.

• If you encounter any gay or homosexual people treat them the way you would anybody else.  They are to help the city, not convert you, relax.

• Tell the women around you to buck up and stop doing everything.  They are gatekeeping information and allowing you to not know things.  Take ownership of your life and do something.

• Being stupid is not cool.  Being stupid is high school wasn’t cool and it’s not cool now.  Just because people, even your mother, will do something for you doesn’t mean that they should do it for you.  “Thank you mom, but I can do this myself”, is a phrase that you need to practice over and over before the show films.

• Do NOT tell people that when you and Amy get married that she’ll be expected to do ALL of the cooking and cleaning.  This show will be broadcast on Lifetime, whose viewership is 99% women, except for when that Jennifer Love Hewitt movie is on.

The Week The Women Went airs Tuesday nights on Lifetime at 10:00 EST PM.