Soaplovers

The show has a lot of potential, but I think Tyler Perry needs an experienced soap writer to help clean up some of the filler and shorten/tighten up the scenes a bit.

From what I recall ratings were bad in season 6, and they ended the season earlier then expected.. I think they aired/tweeked the last episodes of season 6 during the summer which is considered season 7 technically. I think they were given one last chance.. even though the quality improved in season 7, the ratings didn't and since it was so expensive to produce they were canceled. I do remember TPTB had the last episode of season 7outlined for either a series finale or season finale depending on what FOX decided.

So after reading that article about the NY going ons.. why did the show insist on bringing back Luann?!?! She didn't fit in really in season 5 so why bring her back when apparently they had one or two women in the wings if reports are true. Sonja vs Ramona and Carole vs Aviva sound interesting and why is Heather being chastised for promoting her line when that is the MO for a housewife nowadays? Though I can't wait to see Ramona's reactions to Aviva's attempts to befriend and hug her.. will be entertaining just for Romona's reactions alone. Ramona took over quite nicely once Bethanny and Jill left so if she wants to believe she's the Joan Collins of the show then who cares.. it isn't hurting anyone.

The only parts I like in RHONJ are the scenes of Tre with her daughters, even her husband had a cute scene with Gia recently. What girl or boy wouldn't be embarrassed at 11 or 12 of their parents? It's relatable and what the original RH franchise was built on. I read that was one of the reasons Dina wanted to quit because she was sold on the premise of family and figured they would show the families together having fun, etc. In fact, a lot of the season 1 bonus material featured a lot of Dina with her daughter, sister, and Teresa as well as by herself.

It seems like 5 housewives are going to be in Miami for season 3, but is it possible there might be a new one that they haven't advertised as of yet?

This season of RHONJ is why you need to switch up the casts.. that is the one thing that RHOC has done very well. Though I think on RHOC that it is time for Gretchen and Slade to exit stage left. I think the brief showing of Jennifer D. on RHONJ was cool since she was friends with Teresa and basically told Joe Gorga/Melissa that they aren't going to sell their house with the price as is. She seemed interesting.. shame she is just a friend of housewives. Even though some fans have been annoyed with the Alexis and Jim scenes, watching season 1 through 3... this is how the housewife shows used to be structured. More scenes with the housewives with their families/lives.. very few scenes with all the housewives together. Nowadays, it seems like all the women come together in every episode.. and you can tell how fake it will be. It was refreshing seeing some of the gatherings in the first 3 seasons of the housewives with very little cattiness. A perfect example was the season 2 barbeque where Slade brings a date just after he and Jo break up. All the women are telling her to not make a scene and make nice... and Jo politely says hello and is cordial then leaves the party. Nowadays, Jo/Slade/Slades date would be having a knock down fight with words and fists.

Watching season 2 today, but love this season and season 1 so much better! Even though Jo was/is a ditz, she is still 100 % more likable and real then Gretchen will ever be on her worst day. Also, I liked seeing scenes with all the housewives together with little to no fighting. I loved the season 1 reunion with all the women reflecting on the season individually and then briefly meeting up together at the end to discuss the season and just look like they are having a good time and enjoying each other. Perhaps Andy Cohen should remove himself from the reunions and producing the shows. Wow, it's a miracle Briana and Michael turned out as well as they did with Vicki as a mom. However, she is still the same person in season 1 and 2 that she is in season 8. I just came to the episode where she drops in on Michael at college! She provides priceless scenes!

Vicki is the OC.. I think even Nene said as much. Though I pause at the fact that Nene doesn't think Gretchen needs to be replaced though I think Gretchen would fit in perfect on the RHOA... she's kind of obnoxious and very shallow/ditzy.. but can be sweet at times as well. Heather so belongs on the RHOBH.. could you imagine Heather/Lisa mixing it up.. or Heather shutting down Kyle (or even getting along with her and Kim so all three were actors at one point). Though I'm not sure how Heather would react to Brandi or Yolanda though.

I agree that I thought we only saw the first half of filming that ended with the White House scandal. Especially given that lots of stuff happened in the 2nd half like Mary's charity antics, Erika/Cat.. I could have seen including Erika as a housewife in season 2. I think Bravo was too one track minded, and edited the show all wrong. The White House scandal could have gotten buzz going to get people to tune in.. then show-cased the other women and their lives to keep them in. Cat was an outspoken witch (funny, but witchy), Lynda had great one-liners, Mary was ditzy, and Stacie was the normal one of the bunch... so I could see why all four banded together. Shame that Bravo couldn't see beyond the White house scandal. A show that ended before its time. I mean, they could have written off Miami after their sucky first season.. but Bravo didn't.. and look how awesome season 2 was! Adriana/Joanna feud was made of gold.. and there was no staging to be had with that feud! I even liked Lisa.. she was sweet but when pushed she could stand up for herself! I'm intrigued to see if Ana will be bitchy like she was at the reunion.. or be more laid back like she was through-out the season. Did Marysol really get down-graded to 'friend of' status? Wouldn't the show have to film completely before making that decision?

I read somewhere that Andy C has been trying to get Lauri to come back since season 6, but that she didn't want to come back due to the changing nature of the show. She did agree to come back for guest stints in season 8 to test the waters. I bet she agreed to come for visits after the whole Vicki thing occured off camera.. imho

I do think that TP should employ some soap writers and/or primetime soap writers to help give his ideas some structure and meat. In episode 3, there was a long scene between Jim & Katheryn that was interesting, due to the acting between the two. It reminded me of an Ingmar Bergman movie (Scenes from a Marriage.. which was the inspiration for Knots Landing).. but it could have been even better with decent lighting and slightly better lines. I see potential there, but TP might need to give up a little control so that the potential is realized.

In comparison to 1998 and thereafter... 1997 was more balanced but you are right that Annie was a big focus of 1997.. though other stories were kind of going on. I think the show should have learned their lesson when Cynthia W jumped ship at the start of 1998.. but the show focused even more on Josh/Reva after she left.

I think when Reva first came back in 1995, that she didn't hog the show.. that she was part of an ensemble.. but I think after the Josh/Annie/Reva story kicked into high gear in 1997, with the climax causing the ratings to shoot up for a few weeks (I think it went up to like #4 during the final week of the story).. the show tried other story climaxes for the rest of 1997 (i.e. Vanessa/Matt reuniting, Abby's attack then her shooting her attacker in court after he is found not guilty and he mouths a threat to her, etc).. and the ratings didn't shoot up. So I think the show felt that Josh/Reva were the reason for the ratings increase thus in 1998.. they started to dominate the show. What I don't think the show realized was that the story itself was so good that the ratings went up.. not because of Josh/Reva themselves. 1997 was a balanced year.. but 1998 became more Reva, which only got worse in 1999 and thereafter. I think the final year or so started to balance the show again.. but it was too late.

I agree that the girls should have made the best of it, but I think Heather was not the best person to help plan an event like that. #1) She didn't plan for her audience (i.e. going to a dive bar is up Vicki/Tamra/Gretchen's alley more then an elegant restaurant). #2) She didn't plan correctly (i.e. elegant restaurants like this work for date night, business meetings, etc.. not for a wild bachelorette weekend). I did like Lydia stating that she was worried that it would be too wild/crazy, but instead was so boring LOL I totally am seeing that Lydia never watched the show, hence her attempts at talking during dinner were met with resistance from all the girls. Adding Lydia was a step in the right direction, but perhaps Bravo should reboot RHOC for season 9. I don't recall the earlier seasons, but did all the women hang out together so much? I seem to recall they had their own lives focused on without constant chatter about the other women.

My favorite scene was the Jim/Katheryn scene. It was a long scene that detailed the tension and mutual disinterest between the two of them. A very clear portrait of their marriage... very Ingmar Bergman.. imho! Scenes from a Marriage type of material.

I remember they chemistry tested Josh/Jenna at some road-house that Tangie was working at. I seem to recall Jenna was getting trashed after Buzz/Nadine got back together and before she found out she was pregnant. Vanessa and Eve had a heart to heart, and of course, after all the players left the bar.. Alan entered and met Tangie. It seemed like 1994 was a transition year of sorts. It was as if the show was throwing things at a wall to see what stuck. I like to think that the writers were throwing darts and where ever the darts landed, that was what they went with. How else could you explain Tangie/Alan/Alan Michael, Nadine/Buzz/Jenna, even Nick/Mindy getting back together. Although I did like Eve/Ed getting together.. even though Eve was no Maureen, she seemed good natured once she got help. For me, the last good year of GL consistently was 1997. You had Josh/Reva/Annie going on, you had Blake/Ross, you had Holly/Fletcher acting like journalists at every event with Roger trying to get back with Holly as he was romancing Amanda to stick it to Alan. You also had the community feel during that time with building the dream house that Matt/Vanessa reunited in, Dinah/Hart were good.. and early Cassie was bitchy and snarky. It's hard to believe that 1998 was such a horrid year, and from the same writing/EP team. I always thought that B & E were great at turning around shows around, just not good at staying at said shows once they turned them around. They did wonders for Loving's last year and GL during their first year of writing.. but anything further always seemed to go downhill. It makes me think that some head-writers are great at turnarounds, others are good at keeping the ball rolling but not getting the ball rolling, some are just great writers all around, and others are just not good writers period.

I would have seen Nola going for a mysterious guy, or a successful reporter/professional.. not someone blue collar like Buzz.. imho Of course, I never understood why Jenna would go for Buzz either.

They changed RHONY filming, partly due to the cast strike.. and also cause they wanted to film during the summer in order to feature the Hamptons, etc.

Ringer had a 50's film noir look to it... very dark and cold. I'm not sure quite what Tyler Perry has in mind for The Haves and the Have Nots. I wish someone other then Oprah would interview him and ask him what his intentions are for this particular show.. and why he has such stark views of good and evil..

I did read an interview with Pam Long stating that she loved writing for the Reardons especially Tony & Nola. I could see the mandate handed down in 1984 for her to shift the focus from them, even though she wrote some good episodes for the Reardons (there was one from Feb. 1985 where the whole family went bowling right before Jim was due to leave to go on a think tank.).

I agree, considering how involved she was in the Annabelle Sims mystery. She was funny, quirky and intelligent during that mystery.. even Quint said it was eerie how logical she was being LOL With her being involved with the cabin mystery, it would have bought up character based conflict with Quint.

That's true.. I remember after the Jill interview where she basically slammed Carole and Heather.. Carole was asked by Andy Cohen her thoughts on what Jill said.. and she basically asked 'Whose Jill Zarin?' and then moved on LOL I know that Heather would have had a field day with Jill... didn't Jill also have a shapewear line she was trying to launch? I know Heather is an acclaimed designer (she designed Sean John's men's line when it first came out) so I could see Jill trying to suck up to her while Heather wouldn't have any of it.. sort of like what happened with Ramona.

Season 4 started out well.. I still laugh at Luann on the camel to this day LOL What is weird is that when the season started, Jill and Alex were on the outs but made up. Alex was getting along with everyone it appears.. but then I remember cracks starting to form when Kelly/Cindy went to Alex's party and they were being all snooty about going to Brooklyn.. and then leaving a minute after getting there. By the time of the Africa trip, Luann and company were torturing Alex. They saw her as the weaker of the trio of Ramona/Sonja/Alex, imho. Though I still remember the scene where Kelly was slamming Sonja's house and stating how in disrepair the house was and that Sonja was not dealing with a full deck. The only person to defend her was Luann... but once season 5 rolled around, viewers were treated to Sonja in the Grey Garden variety. How eerie that cray cray Kelly was on the mark for once and no one believed her LOL However, I think Jill was the lead in her group of mean girls and even if Kelly/Cindy/Luann were axed.. Jill would have easily recruited Aviva/Carole/Heather against Ramona. With Luann being left alone, she wasn't able to be effective in recruiting people against Ramona and by the reunion, everyone was dumping on Luann at the reunion.. it was wonderful With that said, with Luann signing on this late.. will she have a slightly smaller part then the other housewives? Perhaps be downgraded to friend of?

I think the Nola/Quint break-up was realistic.. but I always thought Nola would have been the one to leave him.. not vice versa. It was like the show was trying to turn Nola into Iva. Nola always seemed restless and wanting to try new things instead of being satisfied with what she had. I think she loved Quint because of the mystery and excitement that she had always dreamed of.. but once they had married and had the two children, she became bored. While I think Pam Long was able to write Nola decently, I don't think she was able to read her 100 %. Nola always was bored and wanted to try new things, but I don't think opening up an aerobics studio was the way to go. Nola was a snoop and a curious cat so I would have seen her mixing it up with Fletcher (hence she would have been involved in the haunted cottage story with Tony/Annabelle).. and being an annoying tagalong on his capers. Perhaps Quint could have gotten the job in that faraway land and presented that to Nola, who would gladly jump at the chance to go with him because it would be a new adventure. That is how I would have written them off with Nola willing to go. Then jump several years in the future, Nola is restless again and leaves Quint while taking the kids with her. She becomes restless with her travels and decides to come back to Springfield to regroup. She wouldn't be so bitter and Iva-like, but still Nola wanting adventure..but a more mature version of Nola, if that make sense.

I think the show realized Mark and Lily didn't have chemistry.. and I think this was before Damian had announced he was leaving the show so I think Damian/Lily became seen as end game. I guess Mark had some chemistry with Connor.. but then the show writers changed and they were rushed together.. I think.