Jenny McCarthy, antivaccine lunacy, and "The View"

We have also started a petition directed at the producers of The View. Please take a moment to sign.
http://www.change.org/petitions/abc-s-the-view-just-say-no-to-adding-je…

Good luck at TAM, enjoy the erm... initiation rites!

It would would be hilarious if someone had leaked the news about the Warrior Mommy in order to tip off her fans, only for it to backfire.

I don't think Anne is right about anything including this. Of course someone will mention Jenny's anti-vaxx activities, it's her most identifiable feature. I'm surprised though that the Dashelbot didn't mention the incident with Barbara Walters: http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2008/10/06/why-now-jenny/

I wonder if that factors into her paranoid delusions of conspiracy and persecution. Or it could just be that she knows Jenny will ultimately make an arse of herself and pull another "Larry King".

You know, I think the loonies are losing. For a while there, a lot of average people were listening, but not anymore. Somebody on my pregnant-lady board asked about vaccines the other day. There were 54 replies. 1 was anti-vaccine, all the others were pro. Answers tended to be:

"Of course I will, why wouldn't you?"
"Even if there's a one-in-a-million chance of harm from the vaccine, the disease is much more dangerous,"
"These diseases are making a comeback"
"Pertussis scares me."

It's getting through, at least on that particular board. Made my morning!

See you there!

And yet, as you may all know, there is a severe measles outbreak in the Ultra Orthodox communities in the UK and in Brooklyn. Pediatricians serving those communities have been urging parents to vaccinate.

Just today, Rabbi William Handler told parents to avoid the MMR, and peddled FUD about other vaccines.

The comments section needs some help.

I am angry at Jenny McCarthy on two fronts.

- Her use (pimping), of her child's seizure disorder to revive her moribund career as a D-List celebrity...and her statements that she *recovered* Evan.

- Jenny, being handpicked by J. B. Handley to be the spokesperson for Generation Rescue and the annual Quack Fest.

Yes, I'm angry that any TV program would even contemplate rewarding this creature, by giving her a slot on The View...to gin up the ratings.

TAM participants may 'luck out' with weather in LV: a cooling trend has been forecast starting Thursday- mid-90s, then about 100 on Saturday, slightly higher on Sunday ( 2 sources).
I've seen 107-109 F for today.

Lord, I hate that place. It's a desert in more ways than the obvious one.

At any rate, I find that it takes several days to get prepared for a trip and then several more to catch up when I return. So a 4-5 day outing amounts to nearly 2 weeks overall. Thus, I am presently exhausted despite not working..

At least I got really great photos. And my companion has quite happy.

Orac, Ms O and others, have a terrific time, stay out of the friggin' sun, don't drink drinks made with dark whisky/etc and don't do anything that I wouldn't do ( that last phrase isn't particularly informative, is it?)

Do you think that some anti-SBMers might show to b!tch and moan?

WAS quite happy...

@Liz Ditz

Dorit has made some excellent comments. I also tweeted about that article. Rabbi Handler also thinks that documented evidence of serious infection following Bris Milah (thanks to mohels kissing the freshly circumcised area) is just fearmongering by corrupt officials.

Tricia Romano at the Daily Beast has just weighed in on Ms. McCarthy and the View:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/10/why-jenny-mccarthy-is-…

TAM participants may ‘luck out’ with weather in LV: a cooling trend has been forecast starting Thursday- mid-90s, then about 100 on Saturday, slightly higher on Sunday ( 2 sources).
I’ve seen 107-109 F for today.

Lord, I hate that place. It’s a desert in more ways than the obvious one.

Oh, there's no doubt that Vegas isn't exactly my favorite place, particularly in July and August (and I've been to Vegas in both months). Last year at TAM, it was surprisingly tolerable, with highs rarely cracking 100°, but this year looks to be absolutely brutal. Why anyone would want to live in Vegas, I have no idea. I couldn't handle it, and the only reason I ever go there in July is because of TAM. This will make five July trips in a row to Vegas, as I've been going since 2009, which is why I really wish that TAM would be held somewhere else on occasion, like every other year or something like that. Chicago would be cool. So would DC. Or Los Angeles. Someplace. Any place.

The whole place stinks like smoke because of the fire. I had no idea TAM was in Vegas, so now you'll all have to deal with the heat and smokey air, it makes being outside miserable. Our monsoon type weather should be moving in soon though. (yay! Rain and thunder storms!) Have fun at TAM!

@Orac #12
You know, I've lived in Vegas for almost 17 years and I still hate the summer, I don't think you ever get used to it. Have fun and stay in the AC as much as possible, lol.

@Todd - the wholesale denial of deaths and permanent disabilities from metzitzah b'peh* is sickening. The excuses given to explain genital herpes infections in neonates are fvcking ridiculous. The fact that parents are not only actively choosing mohelim who have been legally barred from working, but then deliberately stonewalling authorities so that no progress can be made, makes me want to vomit. This has happened in Hasidic communities all over the world, and yet nobody will admit to it, instead screaming about anti-Semitic conspiracies every time authorities attempt to introduce safety recommendations.

*oral suction of the blood from the penis, following brit milah/ritual circumcision.

@ shadow1458:

I once visited a 19th century hacienda**- the home of a Spanish/ Mexican General- it's revealing how the builders recognised that people need SHADE from the sun!

It can be quite dark inside the very thick walls and the balconies/ verandas are roofed and sweep around the entire structure on both levels.

When you take a photo from inside, you get very high contrast because of the bright sun vis a vis the shadows

Shade can be a precious commodity..

** in Pareidolius' neck of the woods.

@elburto

The really sad thing about the community in Brooklyn is that the low vaccination rates aren't even really because of anti-vaccine misinformation. It's more from lack of education. The rabbis could do so much to help prevent outbreaks in their communities.

BTW, if you want to hear some really good rants to help alleviate your desire to expunge the contents of your stomach, look up Joshie Berger. He's an ex-Hasidic Jew from New York with some very choice words about some of the practices.

I am trying to log into Liz's link at The Jewish Press (I don't do Facebook), to offer up some comments directed at that creepy rebbe. Creepy rebbe is on a "mission" (vendetta) against the NYC Department of Health.

In the meantime, look at this from the NYC Department of Health about neonatal herpes transmission and infant deaths, following ritual circumcision:

https://a816-health29ssl.nyc.gov/sites/NYCHAN/Lists/AlertUpdateAdvisory…

Orac, have a great trip and maybe you can convince the TAM folks to change the venue. :-)

I want to go to TAM!!!!! badly :P

Given that taking course @ university does pay me well, I figure I would be able to go next year. And I second that motion of hosting TAM someplace else.

Alain

Randi knows Walters, and Walters is not a complete idiot. He should give her a ring and find out what is going on.

Here's someone who sounds like he's a fan of SBM -- he nails all the daytime-TV quacks but good:

http://www.upworthy.com/i-always-wondered-if-those-doctors-on-tv-were-h…

So would DC.

I have to disagree with Orac on this one. Yes, few major US cities have more brutal weather in July than Las Vegas, but DC is one of those places. DC in July can have not only temperatures in the triple digits, but high humidity to go along with it. I have firsthand experience here: my last trip to DC was July of last year. The hotel was only three blocks from the Metro, but those were pretty long blocks on a hot summer afternoon.

One of the advantages to a drier climate like Las Vegas is that your sweat will evaporate, helping to cool you off (but you still need to watch your hydration levels).

Antivaxer Sue Keller's in the comments section over at Jewish Press:

Of course, as is the case when antivaxers cite things, the cite from the legitimate source doesn't say what she implies it does, and the link to the antivax site turns out to be problematic (in this case, going from the JP Facebooked comments to the VacLib site elicits a FB warning: "The link you are trying to visit has been classified as potentially abusive by a Facebook partner.")

@Phoenix Woman

That Jenifer Sellars is an interesting sort. Gish galloping all over the place. I notice she also brings up the Generation Rescue survey. It would be nice if someone pointed out that that survey found that those who received partial vaccinations had a higher rate of autism than those who received the complete schedule.

And for any vaccine ingredient claims, I have a couple posts about some, and Just the Vax has also written up some explanations of a few vaccine ingredients.

Thanks for the tip Todd (pun intended!) I'll check him out. The area I used to live in was home to a Haredi community so strict that the yeshivas and girls' seminaries were held in great esteem by parents from all over the diaspora, and even Israel, and their children were sent over to board for years. They would spend Shabbat and holidays with local host families.

That community was an island in the middle of a very deprived area, heavily populated with young families. High unemployment and poverty, lots of fairly recent immigrants, and some student enclaves. Add it all together - Poor community, and Jewish children from all over the world with varying vaccination histories, staying with families with up to fifteen kids who, despite doing a stellar job of remaining entirely separate from the rest of the community, still use parks, public transport, hospitals etc, it's a viral paradise.

We'd get so many outbreaks of all sorts of things. Can you imagine norovirus in a family of twenty? With some of the VPDs some of the Jewish mums simply lost track of which kids were vaccinated, not surprising really, when trying to juggle pregnancy, kids and work. The former Rebbe of that community had lived through some nasty epidemics in Poland as a boy, and insisted on vaccination, that helped a lot. His successor though, ugh, he'd bought into some "vaccines aren't natural" crap. Distinctly unHalachic.

The wider community had similar issues. Single women scrabbling to make ends meet, arranging childcare, work, other responsibilities like caring for family etc and again, some kids get lost in the shuffle.

Local schools and hospitals were often riddled with various viruses at certain times of the year. I was stunned to find out, from friends still in "the business", that the recent local measles epidemic skipped over the town almost entirely.

This place, as dirt-poor as it is, has a brilliant GP (at last) who has a mission when it comes to protecting local kids from VPDs, and making sure people like me are safe.

Thanks for the link, ScienceMom.

Jenny McCarthy had two stories for what happened on The View the first time she was there.
http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2008/10/28/jenny-mccarthy-a-tale-of-tw…

Both can not be correct. (Neither has to be).

After being challenged on The View by Barbara Walters, Jenny McCarthy told a rally (at mile square park in Orange County) exactly where Barbara Walters could stick her microphone.

When Jenny McCarthy returned to The View for some later book tour, it was on a day when Barbara Walters was gone. I wonder if that was intentional on the part of The View.

Barbara Walters will remain behind the scenes at The View even when she retires from on camera work. One does have to wonder why (if it is accurate) Jenny McCarthy would be considered?

My speculation differs from that proposed by Ms. Dachel. I suspect that this announcement is crafted by Jenny McCarthy's publicity people. How real the opportunity is at The View is certainly to be questioned. There have been many announcements over the years about this group or that group in "serious talks" with Jenny McCarthy.

Ms. McCarthy was supposed to be on Oprah's channel when it debuted. If we believe Ms. McCarthy's press people. The show on "O" never happened.

I have to suspect that Barbara Walters is quite aware of the fact that Jenny McCarthy does not share Ms. Walters' love of facts and integrity. I'd put this announcement as more of a Hollywood job application on the part of Jenny McCarthy than as an indication that The View is serious about her.

Science Mom has a great post about Jenny McCarthy and the crank doctors/quack practitioners who present at the Autism One Conference http://justthevax.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-view-of-jenny-mccarthy.html

When I posted a comment on the ABC Feedback Page I linked to the Just The Vax post. I also posted another comment on Phil Plait's blog, urging the posters to comment on the ABC feedback page and to link to Science Mom's blog.

(Sigh) I'm registered on The Jewish Press, but still unable to comment because "I don't do Facebook".

I will be at TAM again; yes, I've been to all. The first one was in Ft. Lauderdale (I'm bringing the t-shirt!) and it had the advantage of being close to the JREF. I was able to get a brief tour afterwards from the Amazing One.

All the others, however, have been in Vegas. Over the years various reasons have been offered -- easy to get to, good hotels, cheap deals, close to performers and the media, etc. Maybe.

The first few years the convention was in January -- and it was on the strip. You needed a coat or jacket to walk around at night but I thought it a welcome break from what waited for me back in Wisconsin. But then TAM was rescheduled for July (presumably so academics could get away more easily) and moved away from the strip (the convention had gotten too large and expensive.) Everyone missed being right on Las Vegas Blvd ...

...Till it started getting so freaking hot and we figured out that July was pretty much always a good time to stay indoors. First year or two I tried taking the shuttle with friends and walking around under the lights and it was still something like 98 degrees. No fun.

The advantage of staying at South Point Hotel is that you don't feel too guilty if you don't leave it. It's huge. It's a city. It's by itself. It's fiercely air-conditioned (bring a little jacket or sweater to the main stage.) You might as well be there in July as any other time since you only learn about the "outside" temperature through gossip.

I look forward to seeing you again.

@Sastra

I'd love to make it to TAM some year - it's not very far from me - but, criminy! The registration cost! I'll have to forgo all other conventioneering for the year to swing it...

Rabbi Handler also thinks that documented evidence of serious infection following Bris Milah (thanks to mohels kissing the freshly circumcised area) is just fearmongering by corrupt officials.

Handler was also a defender of Yisroel Weingarten. Head over to Failed Messiah and use the search box.

LJ Goes has some "interesting" thoughts up on her FB page. She's referring to the speakers at the IACC meeting.

Dear Pharma,

Couple things. Jenny is pretty much a done deal on The View so quit with your minions of FB. And, Dawn Loughborough, Jeanna Reed, and Jill Rubolino toppled your empire today. Yes, I know to you it seemed like a brick on lower level may have shifted or cracked...but...it was a load bearing brick. Yup. Suuuuuuuure was. Put in place by alllll the activists who came before us, whose babies are now in the care of state institutions. By all the people who have walked and marched for justice that you have silenced at every turn. They put that brick there, just the tiniest bit askew so when these ladies dropped their word bombs today the whole foundation shook. And ya know what? Lots and lots and lots of people heard. Not just the whackjob cray anti-vaxxers like me. Nopers. Good honest law abiding folks with real jobs who go with the flow. They heard. They saw the pics of our precious little "I" man. And they all realized he looks an awful lot like a whhhhhhole lot of kids they know. Kids who have been labeled "special" but are really rotting from medical neglect despite their parents HUNDREDS of attempts to interact successfully with the medical system. So...just for review, BANNER day for my people. Most profound loss, the first in a series of many, for you. Ya really need to realize that even though you control legislation and write laws that allow you to kill children...that doesn't make you God. And well, we are moms and dads of sick kids. In the end, you are powerless against us. We are FEARLESS because you have already taken away everything that matters. And unlike you, we will willingly spend the rest of our lives getting it back. Because people mean more than profit. You will learn. We will teach you. As I often say to my son who is melting down in a fit of rage--something that happens many times daily--"it's okay. I can be patient. I'll wait."

Go write some laws that try to block us while we change the world you are trying to control. Love respect and integrity still mean something...

You can try, but you cannot legislate morality and compassion
... lj

"You can try, but you cannot legislate morality and compassion"

True. Otherwise giving bleach enemas to disabled children would be a crime.

"Dawn Loughborough, Jeanna Reed, and Jill Rubolino toppled your empire today. "

What is this babbling about?

OT: but are anti-vax loons who denigrate the writings of an innovator whose vaccines have saved or improved the lives of countless children WORLDWIDE, ever TRULY OT @ RI?
I didn't think so.

Today @ Progressive Radio Network/ Gary Null Show:
the money-grubbing, millionaire host speaks with woo-drenched Scott Tips, General Counsel of the National Health Federation ( NHF.com) discussing the latter's article there that "discredits" Dr Offit as a compromised shill with COIs. It seems that Offit is the "new Barrett", who has already been "discreditted" by the aforementioned.

( starts at 48 minutes in- to about 1 hr 10 minutes;
this segment follows a long infomercial for Null's newest cookbook/ films which can be purchased to benefit his own "station", PRN, not the usual public ones he on which he frequently shills 34 minutes- 48 minutes approx.)

LW - those who don't accomplish much, if anything, see tremendous portents in things that happen - even if they are generally irrelevant.

Example: I had a can of soup for lunch today - for the glory of Lord Draconis. Take THAT, Illuminati!

Lisa Goes Goes Crazy...

"Couple things. Jenny is pretty much a done deal on The View so quit with your minions of FB. And, Dawn Loughborough, Jeanna Reed, and Jill Rubolino toppled your empire today. Yes, I know to you it seemed like a brick on lower level may have shifted or cracked…but…it was a load bearing brick. Yup. Suuuuuuuure was. Put in place by alllll the activists who came before us, whose babies are now in the care of state institutions...."

You go girl! Make certain that all those autistic kids like Alex Spouradalakis leave institutions and hospitals to go home with their murderers.

Lying POS accessory to murder.

Lisa Goes certainly has an interesting literary style. Very "Black Knight" vibe to it.

How many more Facebook pages does Lisa Goes have?

https://www.facebook.com/SaveAlexSpourdalakis?directed_target_id=0

What is this babbling about?

Maybe they got together to write another bad elegy. This is the "Autism Is Medical" crowd.

Analogies never read well. Or they rarely read well. Go back in time to the "Dark Tower" analogy by Kent Heckenlively (talking about the victory that was about to happen with the Omnibus).

It's a cracked brick..but it's a load bearing brick?

Goes is just another brick in the wall.

You know, when I read these tales, ( by anti-vaxxers / alt medders) who continuously predict the fall of the old order ( wicked SBM malfeasance) and the emergence of a new, purified one, I can't help but think of the ancient Christians being rallied by John with tales of the Apocalypse and the Endtimes of Revelation and being promised a New World for their forbearance and allegiance to their holy and just cause.

Well, John's vision hasn't yet come to pass and I doubt Lisa's will either. At least he could dream up engaging or frightening imagery.

Having looked further at LJ's output, I have a certain suspicion about why she and, by extension, Wakers were conflating the psychiatric and developmental-disability arms of the Illnois public health system.

Narad, I posted this about Lurie Childrens Hospital Psychiatric Services on RI, weeks ago.

http://www2.luriechildrens.org/ce/online/article.aspx?articleID=75

That b@st@rd Wakefield and his Autism Media Channel have made a documentary about Alex's death:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecandystore/2013/07/13/our-special-guest…

@Matt Carey: I remember when the Oprah announcement came down in about 2008/2009. Their deal languished for a year until Harpo Productions punted Jenny's prospective program to NBC (then still a mouthpiece for Bob Wright's own crankery) until it finally went bust. She finally hosted a show over on VH1, but it seems that was panned and cancelled. If you take all of that and Jenny's PR mishap in Ottawa back in February, and you get a clear indication that Jenny's anti-vaccine past is now following her like a ghost and she now can't get a steady job anywhere.

At one level, part of me thinks that anyone who is gullible enough to believe JM on vaccines isn't going to be swayed be any amount of science, research and logic. But any decrease in JM's anti-vax airtime is fine with me. Petition signed. Email sent.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was on "The View" (June 7, 2013 episode), to plug her new TV series...and to speak about her affiliation with the March of Dimes "Sounds of Pertussis" program. At 4:20 minutes into the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUfyC-mK6YI

Can anyone translate Lisa G's ramblings into Earthspeak pls? I haven't the foggiest who, or what, she's talking about. I'm intrigued.

@ elburto:

Instant translation:

We are winning the war against the Pharmatocratic Lizard Monsters, I say unto you: the three Marys' testimony at the IACC has revealed unto Sion the lies and divers poisonings perpetrated by the darksome evill SBM: now all the World will tremble and quake, shattered down to its Foundations fraught with Hypocrisy, the tainted Powerbase of the Legions of Satan will crumble into Dust and be whisked away by the cleansing, purified breezes.. they will vanish into thin Aire and become Forgotten and so then will arise the New Jersusalem, gemlike, sparkingly bravely in the noonday Sonne of Holiness into whence we Wise womyn will rule justly and wysely.. for each Childe's sake.

( Could you imagine what I'd be like if I did drugs?)

@Denice Walter

I initially misread you as writing the "New Jersey".

Todd, you probably made that error because I capitalised both words as would be aproppriate in True Apocalyptic Literature fashion.

But perhaps I misread my inner Apocalyptic Literature Processor and it is indeed New Jersey where the ASD has skyrocketed in recent years as AoA always tells us. So maybe the Great Cleanup shall commence there.

@Denice

Now I'm imagining all sorts of apocalyptic imagery featuring ~~Warrior Mommies~~ wielding enema bags.

Bring on the drugs!

@ elburto and Denise, don't forget the 'womb bombs'.

At least there would finally be someone worth looking at on the View, but really is it that big of a deal?

Phoenix Woman @21: That's ZdoggMD, who starred in Immunize: The Vaccine Anthem with his sidekick, pediatrician Dr. Harry.

ZdoggMD is now practicing in downtown Las Vegas.

@ elburto:

I am hopeful that that imagery at least looked somewhat Wm Blakean?

@Science Mom - is that like a wombat?

Q. What do you do with a wombat?

A. Play wom.

@Denice- Blake meets Bosch, and lots of pyrotechnics.

Last spring McCarthy was the cover girl for a fitness magazine to which I subscribe. The opening paragraphs of the interview said that she didn't want to talk about the whole autism thing - which in magazine-speak means she refused to do the cover if they brought it up. Is she aware of how much it has hurt her public persona? Or since her son "recovered", has she simply ceased to care very much?

@LovleAnjel: I think she has wised up. Having said that, i don't think that that was the only thing that hurt her persona. She used to be involved in the Indigo Child movement. When I heard the story of how she became involved, I thought "you silly, gullible prat".

David M. Perry at The Atlantic has a great post up about McCarthy and The View TV show. Come and join me there.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/destabilizing-the-jen…

.. while the computer's away, the minions will play....

maybe.

Here is additional antivaccine lunacy fresh from the source:

Mama Mac** ( TMR) complains how people reject her message ( vaccines cause autism, supplements rule, meds are dangerous): they don't buy the theory and explain that she behaves/ speaks as she does because she has a child with autism which she hasn't accepted. ( she is -btw- a social worker)

But she will never be silent.

Lisa Goes** ( @ AoA) complains about her difficult life, how money is scarce and how her NT daughter asks when things will improve.

She carries on about "Mr" Insel, why Alex's story isn't manstream news and why the media covers the stories they do and fail to see that the "silent and primary killer of our children is our medicine and our food".

And as mentioned previously by me:
NHF's Scott Tips' evisceration ( heh) of Dr Offit is at Green Med Info amongst the other rot.

** sometimes these posts remind me of people seeking help in the form of therapy without realising it.

that is, MAINSTREAM news.
( altho' the other might be interesting)

@Denice Walter

the “silent and primary killer of our children is our medicine and our food”.

She left out parents duped into believing that they should not trust any medical professionals. Though I suppose she did say, "primary". I guess I'll let it slide, even though she got even that wrong.

which in magazine-speak means she refused to do the cover if they brought it up

It's expressly not a part of her mind-numbing excuse for a blog and irregularly appearing Sunday advice column at the Chicago Sun-Times, but this may have been a rare flash of wisdom on the part of the publisher.

"Jenny McCarthy's Pseudoscience Has No Place on 'The View'" by Pat Garofalo at US News & World Report, currently all the comments are from the anti-vaccine crowd.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/pat-garofalo/2013/07/12/keep-jenny-…

Sent my letter to ABC and signed the petition. Hopefully they will get enough negative response from this that they will realize their ratings will severely drop out from under them if they put that poor excuse for a mother and human being on their show.

It's now official, and I'm sad:

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/15/jenny_mccarthy_officially_joins_the_vie…

Hopefully they will get enough negative response from this that they will realize their ratings will severely drop out from under them if they put that poor excuse for a mother and human being on their show.

I've spent enough time in years past at TVBTN to be quite certain that their ratings aren't likely to see any change whatever.

I'm sad too.

I wonder how quickly the Anti-Vax groups will turn on Jenny if she doesn't make their message front & center of her daily presentations on The View?

@Lawrence,

I don't think it will take long for them to turn against her, and thanks for pointing out the only bright spot in this whole mess.

I wonder how quickly the Anti-Vax groups will turn on Jenny if she doesn’t make their message front & center of her daily presentations on The View?

Lawrence, it doesn't matter to them; they are more enthralled with the fact that Jenny is visible in a 'mainstream' setting. It's a win for them and even they know that if she lets her freak flag fly, she'll be sunk.

@ Science Mom:

Jenny will probably ramble on about sex in a smarmy way- which may be the reason she got the job - ratings are guaranteed.

Odd how the anti-vax congtingent thinks her clever and "real" but shriek whenever a SB supporter says "f@ck".
( e.g. Rebecca, amongst others)

@Denice - I agree, I think they want Jenny there as eye candy and to talk dirty and be "outrageous" (for daytime TV, anyway.) ABC is probably looking to attract a younger audience and thinks Jenny will appeal to the "yummy mummy" demographic.