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TLC's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo returned for a third season last night. Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that concerned TV viewers were losing their shit over these people who can't seem to keep theirs (or anything else up their asses) in. Now, the Honey Boo Boo family seems just kind of...normal.

Or maybe it's that we've seen the extent of what they have to offer at this point. This fumbling discussion about sex that Mama June had with her children during the second of the back-to-back premiere episodes was predictably goofy and unhelpful. It included established terms from the clan's lexicon like "vajiggle jaggle." It was full of food analogies to the extent that Jessica commented, "It just kinda made me hungry," upon reflection. That's a good punchline, as was the close-up of the sole Fruit Loop on the family's carpet ("Fruit Loop" is another euphemism for vagina that Mama June employed).

More than ever, this family exists on camera as a comedy troupe. They've always gotten a kick out of themselves and putting on a show, and their ability to do so allows for plenty of sitting-around-the-house moments that don't have the high-concept, contrived plot lines that plague other reality shows as they run through seasons, the novelty wears off, and it gets harder to justify their continued existence. I think these people are good at what they do—this is a funny vignette. But the self-consciousness is by now unmistakable.