Faulkner

The demos for the show improved a lot with Tyra, so maybe not? It’s not at all the show it was, so the longtime fans really have had trouble adjusting. A lot of the complaints are from a certain demographic who often have issues with black women, so I do look at some of the kvetching sideways. But after her America’s Got Talent debacle, it’s clear live hosting isn’t Tyra’s strength. And DWTS does now feel like a Tyra vehicle. There used to be a lot of time spent on backstage interviews after the judges’ scores (with Erin Andrews), and, in the background, you could see the contestants and professional dancers chilling, bonding, supporting each other, and interacting. That’s all gone now. Tyra does all the interviews with the pairs alone right on the dance floor after they’ve done their routines and heard their scores, and she’s just not a very warm presence.

Kenya’s first routine on Dancing with the Stars: For context, those are pretty good scores for the first week (26). The leaders Suni Lee and Amanda Kloots had 28 (as of now).

I’m somewhat interested in seeing what Kenya Moore does. Tyra is terrible as a host. She has zero rapport with the judges, which was one of Tom Bergeron’s many strengths. She’s very mechanical and not very present, so you can feel her rushing the judges to keep the show running on time.

“Did you make love? Good.” I cackled.

“Stay” is back at No. 1, while six of Drake’s nine top 10s from last week dropped out:

It’s actually a pretty good track and video. A bit anonymous but legit and not simply amplifying her HW persona.

Too many black male entertainers, especially rappers and comedians, are dying in their 40s and 50s. Speaks to a larger public health crisis among black men.

I largely agree, even though I was previously a purist. But there was something about the last season (with Dorinda and Tinsley leaving halfway—pre-COVID, so no excuse there) that, while still somewhat enjoyable and watchable, felt a little too well-worn, with the same dynamics we’ve seen year after year. Leah as the too-self-aware Tasmanian devil didn’t really enhance things. (Sonja is a lot of fun, but, unpopular opinion, I think she could use a break from the cameras, at the very least. Her drinking and drugging can’t continue to be a story. I’m a little bit over her.) Could be a good idea to spin off some of the OGs for Peacock exclusives or something, and reinvent the show for a more multicultural, LGBT-inclusive, non-UES/Hamptons-focused scene of actually married friends.

Deidre isn’t at her best today.

Adrian from San Diego 🇺🇸

RuPaul is now the winningest person of color in Emmy history: he won his 11th tonight.

Blaze, a trainer from Dallas 🇺🇸

I’m not sure if this would work and it’s not necessarily what I’d want, but, for some reason, I can imagine a RHONY looking like this (a soft, more inclusive reboot of seven housewives, which could be executed well or be a disaster. Leah, who is almost universally disliked now, and at least one older HW - likely Luann or Ramona, for their participation in the racial conflicts and fallings out with Eboni - would be axed): Dorinda Heather Luann OR Ramona OR Sonja (two of the three at most) Eboni OR another black housewife (not saying they are interchangeable—but it’s obvious they want to preserve at least one place for a black woman) New black (Bershan? Hmmm…) and/or Latina (Dominican/PR) housewife New Latina or Asian housewife (from Queens?) New white housewife OR maaaybe they keep one of the older housewives (maybe Sonja) It might be worth looking for multiple new housewives (two or more) who share some kind of longterm, more than superficial connection. That’s barring one of the existing NY HWs hitting the dubious “jackpot” of an Erika/Jen Shah/Luann-gets-arrested-type scandal…

Totally. And for some us “young’uns” under 50 too. I mean, I still watch, so I can’t act all high and mighty. And time slot wise, it’s the easiest show to make time for (lunch time for me at least). And the show has a lot of familiar faces who aren’t really doing much of anything (like trotting out MTS to be imperious but having zero story of her own). I suppose that’s comforting. I think Y&R has a lot of structural advantages that other shows don’t (one being a TPIR lead-in in many markets). But it’s sad to see the show vibrating at such a low frequency without any hope of change (what huge incentive do they have to make any when the show’s doing pretty well?). There’s actually potential here and money left on the table: we all see interesting stories that they could’ve done but didn’t do.

And yet the show seems to be rating “well,” or at least keeping its head above water, even in the demos? I guess people were enthralled by the Summer/Tara/Kyle “intrigue” and the Mariah kidnapping stories? Maybe there’s a silent offline majority who feels like the show is decent?

Not a lot to talk about tbh. But I’m assuming that if speculation comes true… …we’ll see a short-lived spike in chatter. But in general, no. B&B is comparable, but a half-hour show. It’s sad.

I wonder what antics we’ll see from the NY cast in the off-season to secure their places.

Ave, a trainer 🇺🇸

Stuntman Yoshi Sudarso 🇺🇸

Paris was such a fresh character, but she’s simply grist for the Forrester mill.

I wonder where this leaves them for next season. Sounds like a lot of changes are afoot. Kate Aurthur filed this for Variety, saying “more to come” on this story:

Go for it!

The RHONY reunion is cancelled.

Ah yes. I forgot that she was on vacay. Thanks, y’all.