Chris B

I've just reached Peter Bergman's entrance and it's so interesting seeing him do his best Terry Lester impersonation. This is a completely different Jack. Very masculine and to the point. Nothing like he grew to play him. Also interesting as I enter December is how often they rotate the main story to allow others (like the Rawlins murder mystery) to simmer while others take center stage. I've seen Nina/Phillip as the A story, the Rawlins mystery, Cricket's rape and now Marge/Kay's switch. Even characters without a star turn get meaningful scenes that keep them involved in the action for when their time comes. There's a true rotation and everybody seems to matter. The use of relationships and supporting characters keep the scenes from becoming boring or repetitive. Characters like Douglas, Esther, Lynne, David, Miguel and Farren add a lot. Also interesting considering what she's become is how vital Traci is to the Abbott family. For this year she is easily the Abbott getting the bulk of the story. Yes John has Jessica and then the Jabot takeover, but as Traci is romanced by two men you have Jack, Ashley, Mamie and John bending over backwards to not only make sure she's okay but plotting go ensure that. She's such a vital and central character that it makes me sad she became just a talk to. Beth Maitland is a great leading lady and has a lot of range.

Eva from RHOA got a huge radio contract that will require a move to Dallas! Link: https://tamaratattles.com/2019/06/28/exclusive-eva-marcille-to-leave-rhoa-and-atlanta/ For the record, the article states that she wouldn't have to move until January so she'll still be on RHOA for this upcoming season. I wonder if knowing this will cause them not to give her a peach since she'll technically be on her way out. Plus she's giving birth soon so there's no telling how much she will film as the season progresses. Now it would never happen on segregated Bravo, but now you'll have two former RHOA's living on Dallas (Claudia and Eva). Perhaps that could be the jolt you need to boost RHOD in terms of ratings. Also, Mary from RHODC also lives in Dallas and is friends with the ladies. I'm surprised we haven't at least seen a guest spot from her.

I had read somewhere that he did prepare, but he didn't follow what they had given him. I wish I could find the article, but I read somewhere last night that his staff was shocked at his performance and disappointed he didn't follow their advice. Even today, he met with a civil rights group and there's a video of him going around saying just because you see a young black man in a hoodie, it doesn't automatically mean he's a thug or criminal, he may be a poet as well. Ummm...can he possibly be someone who is cold? Someone wearing the hoodie because it's an ultra common thing to wear? Why do you jump to it somehow being criminal? He can't keep having moments like this back-to-back and stay at the top of the pack. His team is gonna have to clear up his message and he will have to listen.

Kamala Harris absolutely smashed this debate. I felt like night one Castro FINALLY broke out after being ignored by the press for so long and Warren was good. Even tonight Mayor Pete did better than I expected and I felt like Sanders and Gillibrand (despite her constant interruptions) were good, but Sen. Harris was far and away the leader on stage. Every time she has a town hall, hearing or opportunity to speak to the public she delivers. The thoughts of her against Trump in a debate are just insane. He wouldn't be able to handle her. I also was shocked by her comments towards Biden, but I loved them. He is truly a mediocre candidate who did a poor job (as he always does in debates) and she needed to break out strong to have a chance. Had she done everything the same EXCEPT addressing Biden, all the press would've been about how she did a wonderful job and will make a great VP for Biden. She is NOT running to be Biden's VP and that's the mold the press keeps putting her in. "Yes he's middle of the road, but Kamala will save the day." No. She's running for president and needs to be treated as such. I think she did a great job of ending those talks and forcing people to consider her as a candidate.

Camille calmly GATHERED Dorit and Teddi at dinner and didn't even break a sweat! That was pretty epic! She had that table SHOOK! I just wish she'd also mentioned Dorit getting chased in the Bahamas. The money issues don't just belong to PK. The preview for next week is literally centered around Camille and featuring Lisa Vanderpump. Camille isn't a housewife and LVP hasn't been on in weeks. They deserve a bonus for Carrying this entire season on their backs.

That Lisa Vanderpump news is pretty devastating. Two immediate family members back to back is tough. It's a shame because she finally seemed happy again and from what I saw filming for Vanderpump Rules was going well. Now it's like she has to start over in terms of the healing process. To make matters worse, the reunion is filmed so we still have to go through weeks of them bashing her at the reunion, plus the final episodes. There was talk of her potentially doing a WWHL special to clear things up, but I highly doubt she'll want to do that now. In other news, it's heavily rumored around Twitter that Vicki is a Friend of the Housewives this season. I'm not sure where this rumor came from, but many of the reliable bloggers are stating that that's what they're hearing.

I'm watching the available episodes from 1989 and I'm at the end of April right now. It's such an interesting bunch of episodes. I thought of jumping ahead to 1990 when Dru and Neil arrived, but decided to check these out first and I was sold. I started around 1997 so this is fresh to me beyond a couple episodes here and there and researching. What I love about this era is that you can truly see the lush production values. They haven't gone on location that I remember, but the sets look so nice. You also have the classic music and directing that makes it look less like your typical daytime soap. I feel these episodes have aged really well. The big storylines are the George Rawlins murder mystery, Jill's desperation to keep Nina away from Phillip (I think he dies next month), Traci deciding what to do with newly returned Brad after his kidnapping and you have Leanne pulling one over on Victor and Ashley and Nikki teaming up to stop it. One of my earliest memories of Nikki is how she rarely left the ranch so I screamed when she told Nikki how sick she was of being cooped up on the ranch lol. Other things that have caught my eye: - Kay and Rex were cute. She's mellowed a bit except in the scenes with Jill. It's nice to see her in this stage. Also, Jess Walton officially owns the role at this point. - Christine *does* appear a lot, but she isn't always the center of her storylines. I wonder if this annoyed Terry Lester because of her connection to Jessica (who was married to John) which may have caused him to film with her often which led him to think she had taken over the show. Of course I could just be watching a period where she isn't so dominate. So far I see her supporting everybody elses stories. - Speaking of Terry Lester, he is still amazing even towards the end of his run. Whenever I see an episode with him it's a treat. He has sparkling chemistry with Brenda Epperson who remains a solid Ashley recast. She's different, but you don't doubt she's Ashley. I also love seeing Beth Maitland's Traci chased after by two men and her family actually being invested in her love life. It's sad contrasting it with the 80 year old bitty they write her as now. - A huge loss to the show are the supporting staff. Mamie, Douglas, Mitchell Sherman, Lynn, Esther, etc are all well drawn characters and they pop up just enough. Despite focusing on many of the same families and characters, everything seems more rich and realistic than it does now. It's weird seeing a Newman ranch with STAFF and actually difficult to get on. You'd think in 2019 it would have state of the art security, but 1989 is putting them to shame. ETA: I also wanted to mention the myth (IMO) that Y&R moved like molasses when Bill Bell wrote it. Yes it's true there are certain story threads that took years or decades to come to fruition, but that's true to life. It's not like he'd harp on something forever and then it would end on a whimper. Right now my biggest problem with the show isn't the cast or storylines, but the pacing. You have two major stories (Adam's return and Kyle/Lola) and everything else is lucky to muster one or two episodes a week. In these episodes he uses so much of the cast that I feel the plot moves along. I haven't yet seen one week where its the same story all week with no progression. Depending on the week Nina/Phillip/Jill/Kay may be featured more or the Rawlins murder or John/Jessica or Victor/Ashley/Leanne/Nikki. The show would benefit from this style of storytelling now.

Kelly literally told her about this on the show and Kelly got bashed for it and nobody listened. She could’ve saved herself a lot of trouble had she at least looked into it. Looking back, that is pretty vile of him to keep this a secret for so many years.

They’re moving RHONY to Thursday’s as a lead in to Million Dollar Listing being on that night apparently. Also, shame we’re getting a mid season trailer already (means they’re going back to a short season), but this looks GOOD: Lastly, with RHOBH this week besides being really boring, it was very similar to Puppygate. I know LVP gets the manipulative title, but Rinna and Kyle are no different, but seem to get away with it a lot easier. This episode you got to see that with Kyle. She is obviously pissed at Lisa Rinna and IMO she is perfectly justified. Rinna was an [!@#$%^&*] to Kim out of nowhere over something you KNOW didn’t bother her, plus it was at Kyles daughters party, but why not just say that? The whole thing with Erika Jayne was just to get Erika fired up to join in with Kyle and Teddi to bash Rinna. They all dance around the subject and play these stupid games so I don’t understand how LVP got singled out for it.

Oh my, Beverly Hills was really slow. Next season casting will be important. They need some bold new faces. This particular grouping there is no spark. Had Camille gone there would’ve been drama and Denise wouldn’t been nice but still there’s no star. They’re like a girl group with no lead singer.

What he’s doing is very manipulative because he knows how his fans are. If he truly didn’t do anything he’d come right out and say that. Considering he’s been damn near blacklisted and actors have gone on record saying he was difficult to work with, why can’t he acknowledge ANY wrong doing, say he’s learned and move on? He could easily say “Oh I didn’t do X thing I was accused of, but I let my ego get the best of me and I was difficult to work with.” Anything, but instead he denies and keeps it vague because he knows his victims won’t speak out.

I'm certainly happy, but surprised they doubled the $5,000 they wanted to make their documentary. Shows the power of soap fans! I hope it ends up being a well produced documentary.

I think when she returned in the later years there was a place for her. She was sexier and had finally gotten rid of that baby-ish look. She also came across more self assured and smart. Had they taken that and given her a husband to move in south fork and complete with JR it could’ve worked. Instead she just floated around for two years until she left town. It was especially odd since they’d added so many young characters yet still have her nothing to do. I feel Knots could’ve used her in those later years but I don’t think Joan Van Ark would’ve enjoyed an adult child.

I'm finally attempting a full re-watch of Dallas! Everytime something happens and I end up starting over lol. I've been wanting to try it again but was hesistant to buy all the seasons on Amazon. I finally bought the first season and was watching when they added it to Freedive for free. The commercials are VERY limited so it isn't hard to watch. Right now I'm almost done with season 3, the season that ends with JR getting shot. The first two seasons were very hit or miss with quality, but this season is when they took on a fully serialized format and they've fine tuned the characters just right. I wish every soap writer had to watch this season (along with a couple from Knots Landing) as a template on how to develop characters, story arcs and cliffhangers. The cliffhanger this year only worked because each and every episode built towards it. I'm not even done with the season and can already name at least 10 viable suspects to shoot JR. He works his way through each character in such a clever way, even his parents. The one thing about Dallas I never liked was Lucy. I feel she would've thrived on Knots Landing, but she just doesn't fit in. They never made any real effort to make her work. I do like her story this season with Alan Beam and later Mickey, but her good stories were always ended prematurely.

Jill did an interview and said they filmed her inviting the cast to her birthday party which Bravo wanted to film, but they all turned her down LOL. I think the cast is probably banding together to keep her off the show, or at least the important ones (Ramona/Bethenny).

Okay I can officially say I'm done with Lisa Rinna. D-O-N-E. I've tried because I love her soap worked, I loved Soap Talk and I loved her friendship with Eileen. I can't keep supporting her though. The LVP thing has been obnoxious, but what she did to Kim tonight was shameful. I know Kim could be the biggest bitch at times, but I'm so sick of her using that woman for a storyline! Kim was going through serious health issues when she had her issues with Rinna and Rinna gave as good as she got. Why now after so many years would she greet Kim that way? That was shameful and calculated. How is it a shock that Kim is at her nieces birthday party when Kim is closer to her nieces than she is to Kyle? And Denise? She's lucky she built up a lot of goodwill this season because I wasn't down for her jumping in to also attack Kim. Lisa Rinna HAS to go! Then you have the nonsense with Camille. First of all, why would she tell you about a People magazine article? That is insane. Plus she's always been clear that she IS upset LVP didn't go to her wedding but she understands and considers her a friend. She can be disappointed but still support her. Participating in an article that doesn't bash her makes her two faced? Teddi and Rinna need to come up with an actual story. If both are back next year I can't see myself wanting to watch that.

Oh I can't stand that guy. He's always stirring up some drama. I remember with the Beverly Hills trailer he led everyone to believe he was releasing it and then it was another Bravo show and he was upset that people were upset with him about misleading them. This thing was very obvious too and again, easily provable if true, so I'm not surprised he went private. The website you linked also has a story about Teddi either leaving or being demoted, Camille being promoted and Rinna possibly leaving. After threatening to sue Bravo and no storyline for two years straight I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Rinna left.They could *easily* replace Rinna, Teddi and more if they wanted to.

I’m glad she dodged that bullet! She just has a couple months left. She needs to stop being stupid.

THEY DONE LOCKED LUANN UP!! Link: https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/luann-de-lesseps-ordered-back-to-jail-after-positive-alcohol-test/

I think what messed RHONY up was that they started filming pretty quick after season 10 and they needed a bigger revamp than they got. They have a good core cast, but losing Carole hurt them. I feel the entire Bethenny/Carole feud was unnecessary and unfortunate because both fit in so well on the show. Barbara is good, but there is something still off. I don't think they could've anticipated it though so I don't blame Bravo. Its still entertaining, just not quite where it could've been. I feel like they'll make it work next season. I just finished Potomac and they're continuing another great season. I dread the time they have a bad season because this is such an easy watch every year. The scene of Gizelle at Karen's house was CLASSIC! The sage and the shade was iconic! I also loved Katie's return. Katie was my favorite in season one. Just GORGEOUS and she had the best hair which made her return even more bizarre because she's so disheveled. She obviously left the show due to problems with her ex husband which is unfortunate and it's been a VERY tough year for her. I hope she's able to get her life on track because she really was great in season one.

On the subject of RHONY, it IS a short season just fyi. They filmed lots that has apparently been skip, including pretty much every event with Jill. Remember when Luann listed Jill as a cast member? It's because she filmed enough to be a friend, but with the events being cut so did her role. I can only imagine they cut the season simply because there wasn't material. They'll probably do a retool next season.

That Biden story is stunning, as are the many other things coming out about him. Seeing his momentum worries me, but we've seen that before at this stage. It seems like we've been waiting forever, but I'm hopeful the first debates will help some of the neglected female candidates (particularly Harris and Warren). Also, the more Biden talks, the more he puts his foot in his mouth.

I like people suggesting to use Dylan's death as a kick off point. I think it would be easy. The kids should most be either done with high school or almost there so some of them could be dealing with life as single parents (Kelly, Andrea), Steve and Janet I'd keep as a solid couple and I'd develop a new love interest for Brenda. Brandon I'd put into a triangle with Kelly and Andrea. You could have Andrea and Brandon working in media, Donna running a boutique, Kelly could still be working at the high school or have her own practice as a therapist. I would just treat it like Knots Landing or Big Little Lies, a community show focused on the lives of the different characters.

Bravo did a good job of keeping the lie detector secret and the way the women (particularly Kyle) exploded in anger goes to prove LVP's point. They act like its so outrageous that she would do that, but what exactly do they want from her? She's been consistent in saying she didn't leak the story to radar and when Kyle came over THAT is what she was upset about. Not the dog coming out at Vanderpump Dogs, she specifically said she didn't believe Lisa didn't leak the story. They keep saying they wish she was with them in scenes (especially phony Rinna), but there doesn't seem to be any way for them to win with her. If she does return next year and I do hope she does, I hope they bring back Joyce. She had a good season and I never felt she deserved to be fired, plus she is genuinely good friends with LVP and she'll need an ally if she returns. I'd give it serious thought. Add Joyce and maybe Camille and definitely get rid of Teddi and Dorit.

It does seem more and more like they're behind this whole thing. I notice the interviews are centered on them. I think it's always a mistake when you have actors involved that closely. Especially considering they're playing versions of themselves. I wonder if the issue might be them trying to control how THEY are portrayed. I'm not sure that's fair to the others either. I feel like the end result will be very watered down. I enjoyed Tori's show btw and it deserved to last longer, but to me these are two different things. I hate it being tied to the brand of 90210.