Chris B

Okay now I’m onto season five of RHONY and the opening episodes are just as awkward as I remembered. By the third episode it’s fine because you’re fully introduced to the new wives, but I wish that had happened the first week so you know what you’re dealing with. It felt very disjointed and this cast doesn’t have any chemistry thus far. In retrospect I do see why Jill had to go. She’s such a large personality and they wouldn’t have been able to move the stories forward with her because she would dominate the narrative. The one thing that doesn’t work AT ALL is Luann. She eventually gets it together, but it’s as if it’s season one Luann doing damage control and trying to create a picture that isn’t real. This is some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen. The feud with Ramona doesn’t work either because I remember how nasty she was last season so I feel no sympathy for her. You can definitely see she’s out of her element going from best friends with the HBIC to a lower tiered housewife that literally no one is close with. It makes me appreciate her come back in later seasons. Another big note: Heather was a godsend. Interesting family life, a business woman and she’s nice but scrappy. It’s a damn shame she isn’t there anymore. I’d love to see her join Jill next season and return. Tinsley can go to make room if they need it.

I’ve grown to like Porsha or at least deal with her over the years. With Marlo I feel she’d be better served as a HW where you can get a full picture of her life instead of just having her to stir up drama.

For those in the know...the episodes on YouTube I notice in the first 100 or so episodes posted, there’s a lot missing. That I don’t really care about, but I notice a gap between 520 and 600. Is there a way around that? I wanna do a rewatch but I’m trying to figure out that gap.

RHOA news ladies and gents: Filming is in full effect for season 11. Sheree is truly gone. Theyre on a cast trip to Miami featuring Nene, Porsha, Kandi, Cynthia, Eva and Marlo. No word on if Kenya is around but rumor has it both she and Sheree have been offered Friend Of spots. Personally I wouldn’t count Kenya out because every season they say she’s getting fired and it’s never happened. I’m hoping that this is the year my dreams come true and Marlo gets her peach. It bodes well she’s one of the main six on the first group trip. Eta: Im still watching RHONY season 4 and I’m a few episodes after Moracco. This is crazy what they’re doing to Alex. I feel like this had to be planned on camera. Kelly and Luann keep talking about icing her out. Jill had agreed to meet with Simon to patch things up like she did with Alex and Luann and Kelly demanded she not go and it’s started this new story where everybody is suddenly mad at Alex and she’s “going through things” and is “fighting” with them as she literally just sits there lol. This season is W I L D! I did not remember it being this juicy. This makes me anticipate the anti-Luann seasons coming because she did that to herself.

No wonder I missed it! I was so bored during that anti-bullying party! I’m going to check that out right now lol. Crazy that Dorinda has been around that long and finally became a wife. I’d always hoped Ramona’s friend Joni would become a wife. She was there the first four seasons then nothing.

@Gray Bunny wait, Dorinda appears in season 4?! I never knew that! Do you remember the event she was at? I wanna look for that.

I can’t wait to rewatch season five. I just got to Morocco in season four. What I remember really killing season five and based on rewatching four it holds true, is that it was too drastic a reboot. By modern HWs standards season four is what they want. Today it’s considered boring if you don’t have endless fighting. In addition I hated how for season five it started as if the new women were already there. That’s a huge mistake for any soap, character development is key! Now my biggest takeaway from season four is how blessed Luann is to have a job. Jill took most of the heat but Luann is the one who made the season as toxic as it was. She’s literally in her talking heads FUMING that Jill has made up with Alex and Ramona. Eventually she brought Jill down with her but I did see try to make an effort to change prior to Luann’s manipulations. Also it cannot be stated enough that they were insane to replace Bethenny, your young and vibrant Greek chorus cast member with bitter old Cindy. My god was that a miscast. Complaining because you thought someone stole your hangers?! What?! And because they needed numbers, Luann and Jill would go along with her even though it made no sense! Then the most fascinating and soapy thread was Ramona learning from the psychic that Mario was cheating on her and Sonja having a meltdown as if she knows that to be true. This and RHOC are the only ones that truly play like an epic long running soap. It’s amazing how even at season ten things feel real and these relationships are organic. You just don’t have that on the others.

I am so sorry to find out about Gregg! Tonight we say goodbye to Bobby on RHONY so this is the last day I wanted to hear news like this. Hopefully he makes it through this. One of the sweetest househusbands!

I loved how Y&R was written in terms of interaction. The fact that Michael didn’t meet Victor until 1998 made it a big event when they DID meet. Why would a billionaire be hanging out with a second rate lawyer running around trying to rape women? People interacted when they needed to. The bubbles made it feel more natural IMO and kept it from being too repetitive since there were different stories going on.

Before I get into last nights episode I’ll join y’all with season four talk lol. As I rewatch I don’t mond Cindy, but the timing is off. How do you replace Bethenny, your Greeks chorus and young aspirational cast member with this hard old lady that never smiles?! She’d be fine had she replaced Kelly for season 3 but as a Bethenny replacement the show is missing that wit and humor Bethenny brought. The Alex takedown is painful to watch though. I found her and Simon very enjoyable as time went on but the ladies pounced on her, even Sonja and it is hard to respond with so many people calling you crazy at once. They definitely were wrong to fire her. Now onto this this newest episode, it was great. The Luann fallout was so soapy and I loved all the reactions which felt like how a group of friends would truly react. Sonja in her townhouse gave me life. That woman is just on another planet and I’ve learned to accept it and enjoy it. Tinsley went above and beyond for her which I don’t think Sonja deserved. I feel like she was mean for no reason when it came to Tinsley living with her. I cant believe next week not only is Luann back, but it’s Bobby’s funeral. It’s crazy how even with her gone Jill has still impacted the show so much. I know the funeral was a Who’s Who of Real Housewives since she was friends with most of them, even those who joined after she left. This franchise just feels so real compared to the others. They have history on RHOA but the relationships are so phony. Here it truly does feel like they walk in the same circle and are friends. I’m going to be sad when this season ends!

Now I’m in season three of RHONY and this is peak housewives. This is their best season easily and when everybody came into their own. Luann stopped the Countess pretense and became the Countless we know today. Ramona became renewed and started owning her kookiness which made her more light hearted. Alex finally became friends with some of the women and Jill finally let go and allowed fame to consume herself. At Scary Island we know Kelly is nuts. It’s shameful Bravo brought her back for another season after two seasons clearly hooked on drugs. Kelly aside, my favorite moment this entire season was Jill surprising them on vacation. That is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen! That was the most awkward scene until Luann’s arrest! Alex of all people being the one to dismiss Jill was iconic! Jill looked like she wanted to FCUK Alex up after Bobby got that plane! I am dying watching this lmao! Why are none of the other housewives as iconic as New York?! I’m sorry but RHOA doesn’t rewatch nearly as well as this.

Hell no I was NOT ready! I knew the Luann stuff was coming but I had no idea it would be tonight! I feel like this was too much for me. Every single scene was just flawless. This episode felt like a 5 minute episode it just flew by! I cannot wait for the fallout from Luann’s arrest. I expected this season to be boring for some reason and they’ve blown me away. I thought the highlight was Ramona’s ramotional call with Bethenny but then they hit us with the Luann video. That was iconic. No franchise will ever come close to what New York gives us.

What happened with Heather and Bethenny was so interesting and I can’t wait to watch that back! Heather was very sharp but you could tell she got caught up in typical Bethenny gaslighting. Bethenny I feel just didn’t like her but instead of just saying that she took whatever Heather did to turn it on her. I can’t wait to see that again!

Im rewatching RHONY from the beginning since the current season is so good and my first big takeaway is how consistent Ramona is. She’s always been a favorite of mine. Just a lovable nut and it’s crazy how season one Ramona ties into what we’re seeing now. Earlier this season you had Bethenny bashing Ramona for not being a real business woman and literally the first thing you learn about her is that she’s a self made woman. Even Avery has a talking head saying she loves school so much because Ramona taught her to always make your own money so you can stand on your own two feet in case your relationship fails. Maybe that’s why Ramona has adjusted better than someone like LuAnn post divorce. LuAnn has often felt very lost and with Tom it seemed like she was desperate to have a man to hold onto. Ramona being an independent woman doesn’t have that particular issue. That’s all I have on past episodes for now, beyond the fact that Jill returning would definitely be interesting. I really wonder how she’d interact with THIS cast. Now onto current stuff, that Carole and Bethenny fight was the stuff that dreams are made of. You could tell Bethenny was caught off guard when she couldn’t shut Carole up as she does others. This is going to be so good to watch unfold. In Carole’s new blog she talked about how upset she is because she didn’t know all this was going on so she’s still playing catch up as she watches the show and sees new things unfold. This reunion is going to be for the record books. Might someone finally take down Bethenny? It’s crazy because since she returned she’d been the star of the show. The girls grovel when they’re not in her good graces. It’ll be ironic if Carole is the one to finally bring her down to earth. Switching gears to Potomac, that mid season trailer was everything! I didn’t expect that but that’s a good sign the rumors of an extended season are true. I’m happy with everything I saw and I’m pleasantly surprised we have a friend of the housewives which I didn’t expect. I’m going to be sad when this season is over.

I think my standards have been lower because most HWs shows have been so bad lately, but I love this season lol. I like that they have an actual cast and the newbies are good. If a newbie or two actually sticks for more than one season it would benefit them. I feel like each year is a reset. My biggest takeaway from this episode is remembering how I always hated Jen. She’s so two faced and such a snob. I found Evelyn enjoyable last year but Jen is going to drag her down I can tell. Had anybody accused Jen or Evelyn of being prostitutes they’d have flipped out so it amazes me they act like Cici is crazy for being offended.

Quad has this and her talk show so as long as she doesn’t live too large she should be okay. I’m just surprised she filed for divorce and not Greg. I’m sure he wasn’t perfect, but she treated him so bad and I hated how she kept lying about wanting to wait to have kids when you knew she didn’t want them.

I know y’all don’t like Carole, but I’m shocked y’all don’t see this for what it obviously is. Bethenny is clearly pulling a season 3 Jill Zarin on Carole. Yes Carole is rarely the center of drama, but she’s never had trouble defending herself particularly against Aviva and Luann and I do think she’s done a good job of supporting her friends on the show. I’ve never bought her as a puppet. She’s always brought her own thing to the show IMO and was easily the best of the season five newbies. This feud is obviously one sided and Jethenny is playing it perfectly by being passive aggressive and telling everybody except Carole about the problem AND talking smack about her nonstop in her talking heads so by the time Carole realizes what is up it’ll be hard for her to catch up and defend herself. Hell, even the promo for next week you have Bethenny denying she has a problem with Carole and making it seem like she’s being dramatic and crazy when she knows damn well she’s been talking about her all year. I get the whole Adam thing but Adam and Carole broke up and I’m not going to blame Carole for what her ex-bf did. I think Bethenny held that back to weaponize against Carole. I love Bethenny much like I love Jill or Nene, but they are petty and have histories of picking fights with anyone who doesn’t bow down to them. Bethenny likes having a person devote all their time to her so seeing Carole with Tinsley is probably what sparked all of this.

@Cheap21 They only showed two of the three. I did like a couple of the ones from last year but the new ones definitely seem more polished. As for Jennifer...I never liked her ass. I always thought she was so fake and pretentious. I’m not surprised she’ll be at the center of drama which is where she always was. If Tami IS the bad guy it’ll be interesting to see because she won’t go down without a fight. I know they had to beg Tami to return this season so I wonder if that’s why they’re really upset with her.

I felt completely different, I think this is going to be the first truly solid season in a long time. I love the main cast and all three newbies seem solid. The past couple years they have endless newbies come and go through the year and you can tell there is no focus. This season it feels like they have a cast in place and they can just hit the ground running and we can invest instead of the usual midseason retools. I found it mostly interesting and a good start. I’m curious where the Tami/Evelyn thing will go. I feel both were being petty but as usual Shaunie will egg it on. I wonder where the season will go. It looks like Jennifer is going to side with Evelyn, but her bombshell affects Shaunie and Evelyn more than it would Tami. At least on the surface. Im happy to be finally genuinely interested in basketball Wives again!

On one hand, Giselle and Charisse are total haters and we’re throwing shade, but Candiace was stupid for oversharing too soon. I agree with Karen on that. With that said, I look forward to her lighting their asses up the rest of the season lol.

Could you PM me the link? I’d love to rewatch.

That reunion was epic. It matches season 4 as their best! Kim at the end with Andy was so revealing and bizarre. She asked why he didn’t feature her businesses or loving husband and family life...when did she show that? Let’s be clear, if Bravo could’ve had Kim as an official housewife they would have. The issue was what ended up happening in season 5 and again here, that she refuses to be a full part of the show. If she didn’t want to be attacked at the reunion she shouldn’t have been negative and picked fights literally the entire season. I also think it fired the ladies up that she did it mostly behind their back so they’ve been waiting to get her ass. That was an epic farewell!

Beverly Hills has elements that work but the overall chemistry isn’t there. I agree that it feels too scripted which leads it to be very stilted. Like with Erika you have this fantasy that she’s a perfect and hugely popular pop star, when she basically is performing at the same type of venues I do as a Drag queen, she simply has the means to travel the world doing it. I don’t want Brandi back, but like Rinna they need someone rich and fabulous that is willing to call out the bullshit. Erika treated Teddi horribly for example, but she wasn’t strong or rich enough for it to matter. I mention wealth because that’s very important in terms of what they’ll accept on this franchise. I also feel that this season suffered immensely from not having Eileen on. I know feelings are mixed, but I thought she brought a lot to the show and she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Now moving on to the best and most consistent franchise, New York. What has happened to Ramona? I love her no matter what, but she has been a kooky delight this season. She’s usually the center of all drama but this year she seems calmer and more rational which I like. The stuff with Carole and Bethenny confuses me. It did seem like Bethenny was taking a dig at dinner and Carole did prove her wrong. Even had Carole not immediately text her back after the marathon, why would you expect someone to be available after running 26 Miles? I feel like Bethenny is projecting and is the one upset Carole has been too busy to give her the nonstop attention she needs. Sonja is a total disaster and it amazes me that she keeps getting herself involved in these situations. She literally just patched things up with Dorinda so why tell her anything potentially negative about anyone? Dorinda doesn’t have any loyalty to her. That’s just insane. Then for her to complain about Dorinda mentioning her dead husband? I can’t imagine this season being good for her lol. I don’t like Tinsley (everything Bethenny said about her was right), but she’s right when it comes to Sonja. Overall this season continues to be a delight. Along with RHOC I feel they’re the most consistent and yes I include OC’s most recent season in that.

Kim is a damn fool to come against Kandi. I knew her spin offs were the most successful without even looking. People need to stop sleeping on Kandi. She is probably the most popular and important housewife they have. Kandi is the glue that holds this show together and the reason they survived without Nene is because of her. Yall know for years i been tormenting y’all with my love of Marlo, but Kenya dug her entire leg up Marlo’s ass! The Shereé beat down was glorious as well. I feel like this reunion so far seems a lot of fun and definitely not as dark as last year. It’s a good transition to the next season so far.

Anybody else excited for the RHOA reunion tonight? It looks like it’ll be one of the best ones. Most of the ladies look good and the clips are promising. I hope this is another season four, what with it being the potential exit for Shereé, Kim and Nene fighting on her way out and Marlo on the couch. When it comes to Sheree, I can’t even say she got fired if that’s the case. She clearly didn’t value her job and quit. I say that because there is no way in hell that to this day she sticks so closely to Kim—who has ZERO allies and thinks that’ll work out for her. Those stolen funds from Tyrone must be doing her good because you can’t convince me she values are job after this season. Early season Nene was a hot head and caused many of her issues like with Kim and especially Kandi, but since she came back she’s had absolutely no problem with Shereé. Why would Shereé poke the bear? It baffles me. Shereé could’ve been a power player with Nene and secured her check.