Moroni's Review of TLC's "My Five Wives"

My Five Wives

In the wake of all of the anti-polygamy, "I-escaped-from-polygamy" books that seem to be prevalent, it is refreshing to see material that comes out that puts polygamous families and relationships in a positive light.  Being semi-isolated the way I am, I have not had a chance to see many of the TV shows that have come out.  Truthfully, I have only ever seen three episodes of TLC's "Sister Wives", and I really liked it.  I have never read "Love Times Three" by the Darger family - a family I knew back in my days living in Utah, nor have I seen their TLC special "My Three Wives", although I heard positive reviews about both.  I have never seen National Geographic's "Polygamy USA" that details the community in Centennial Park, AZ, although I have heard it was interesting.

When "My Five Wives" aired about a week, or so, ago, I also missed it.  I don't have cable or satellite, but I heard mostly good reviews about it.  I participated in many of the online discussions about it, but I finally got to watch it when TLC put it on their website here.

This one-time special deals with a polygamist man in Utah, Brady Williams, and his large family of five wives and many children.  Hopefully, this family will get their own program, because there was very little time in the allotted 45 minutes other than to introduce each of the wives and their respective children.  It would definitely take a whole series to explore the intricacies of the family.

Some of the criticisms - many of them coming from the Christian polygamous communities - included his housing arrangements.  Instead of everyone living in a common area, he has his house broken down into townhouse-style apartments.  The truth is - most polygamist houses in Utah are set up this way, and I thought it was a very good arrangement.  In fact, I am kind of jealous.  I wish that I had that kind of setup for my family.

There was a clip in the show where some of the wives express jealousy about Brady sharing the birthday with another wife.  Another online criticism was that, after fifteen years, it was unlikely that this was still an issue with the wives.  Having experienced plural marriage, I can say - wives can remember things for a long, long time - especially if it is an unresolved issue.  I thought it was very commendable how they met together and discussed the problem and come up with a solution.

There were also discussions about how he handled broaching the subject of health with a slightly overweight wife.  Some felt he was insensitive.  I thought it was handled tastefully with genuine concern.  I could find no fault with the way he handled it.

A lot of fuss was made about the family "leaving the religion", whatever that means.  The Williams belonged to the same congregation that I did back in the '90s, the AUB, just like the Browns on "Sister Wives".  I heard that the Williams left the AUB.  But they still seem spiritual, loving, and they radiate a goodness.  I have no problem with any of their decisions in regard to their religion.

The last criticism was about how he handled the issue of having another child with one wife, while another wife wanted to adopt a baby.  I admit, I would have handled the situation differently, but every family is different, has a different dynamic.

One of the things that I learned upon entering plural marriage, everyone automatically becomes an armchair judge of how you run your family and criticizes how you do things.  I don't know why.  Perhaps the expectation of you grows.  The things that people forget - people don't enter plural marriage because they are perfect.  They have to grow and work through things, just like everyone else.

I, for one, think that Brady (a guy I also knew back in the day) has a wonderful family.  They are beautiful, photogenic, well-adjusted, and happy.  They are a good face for polygamy, and I hope they return to the small screen.