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He is, and when he warned Stacey not to let the hype get to her head, I thought it was for her own good, and the good of the show. Carlos King did the same. Stacey is the most fun addition to RHs in years, but if she continues to put on a performance, it will get one-note fast. Stacey calling Gizelle Tia's "master" was knock-out punch, and I love Tia. The reunion was a fun ride, though the Wendy/Eddie of it all was soft-pedaling. I am hoping that in Part 3 we are going to get tough questions like "Did you commit fraud?" and "How did you feel when you saw the photos wearing the jewellery you claimed were stolen and got an insurance pay-out for?" A girl can dream. Like @DaytimeFan I feel like Ashley has outlived her usefulness to an extent, but she read Wendy to rights when she told her "I only have one social security number." 🙌 Girl! Finally a comeback I can get behind. Wendy pretends she is above the nastiness but then immediately tells Ashley she has no accomplishments. I'm not sure the show needs Keiarna and Angel, but at least Angel came prepared and held her own with Gizelle. Karen went on 'Sherri' and I've seen a few clips of Sherri grilling her a little. It came across as a better interview than the official one. However, what is clear is that Karen has her script and is going to stick to it ("Let's talks about that" and then proceeds to talk around it). What is also clear is that the live audience love her.

You are so where I am right about now. I am living for some of these Winter Olympics, especially the figure skating. Couples free skate in an hour.

Carole and Aviva i would prefer to Kelly. As for Zarin, she is her own worst enemy.she spent Covid trying to pitch a tent at Mar-a-lago and has never recovered. Im just glad she didnt get the whole show cancelled because I really want to watch it. Better off without her.

Omg! I didn't even clock that it was fake! Thanks for pointing that out. Embarrassed to have posted that.

RHORI trailer I watched this without my glasses and was squinting the whole time like 'Is that Dolores with a new facelift? Ah no, it isn't.'

Ay Díos mío por favor. Said nobody ever about this break-up. It was clear Lisa was getting on the nerves of Mr. Snow Bunny last season. I just hope she and her children have a roof over their heads. Maybe they moved back into the Playboy Mansion.

Reminds me of the Golden Girls. And not to toot my own horn, but a year ago I was begging for a Real Housewives of Palm Beach featuring many of the OGs plus Tinsley and Jill Zarin as Special Guest Stars (sorry, I cannot handle Zarin as a full-time HW). Not sure I need to see Ramona or Kelly again, but you know what, small complaints. The OGs are back and I've been really missing (most of) them.

Rarely (outside of some Gen Z ex-colleagues) have I seen someone given every opportunity to show what she has to offer, and then fail to maximize that opportunity at every turn. I zeroed in on the word 'personality' in your post, and you are so right -- asked to describe Angel's personality, I really couldn't tell you anything. Even Keiarna has a personality, though it could be summed up as "sour puss." As for Ashley, she's always trying to poke other people's husband in order to deflect from either the Cryptkeeper or rumours that she's basically an escort. In SLC news: that was quick. 👀

Bronwyn is under the influence/protection racket of Bad Weather now. Heather was directing her in the finale and throughout reunion. Todd ate Bronwyn's cherry (!!!!) and according to Heather, that's a Huge Deal in a marriage! Bronwyn has listened to her and effectively chosen the show over her faltering marriage. So where does Bronwyn go from here? Without Todd's financial heft behind her, she's going to slip down the pecking order, and the rest of the cast will start treating her accordingly. Angie needs to find a personality trait that goes beyond 'Greek.' Whitney, stuck at the far end of that couch, was anxious to insert herself into everybody else's SL, as well as have her dramatique walk-off ("I need Justin!"). I was on the edge of my seat as to whether those two love bunnies would ever reconcile. I cannot believe Lisa was being talked over by Heather and Mary when she was trying to discuss her marriage. I wanted to know what was going on there. I honestly do not know whether Meredith got herself fired or has assured herself another year on the show.

Angel is that person who overseas 1-2 Airbnb units, but spun it to Production as a 'leisure & hospitality empire.'

Karen looks incredible. Apparently, the Karen sit-down with Andy is next Sunday.

This 'unaired fight' bullsh!t. What is Production doing? I would have much rather watched Lisa and Mary facing off about this than Bad Weather harping on about the plane. It's the same thing with the face-to-face between Gizelle and Monique on Potomac. They edited it down and it should have been extended over half the episode (complete with reference flashbacks) and marketed as such ("Sunday! The sit-down Potomac fans have been waiting for! Only on Bravo!"). Sometimes I like that Heather isn't a bimbo. She's erudite and smart and very strategic, but she says things to kiss up to the audience. She lies and then gets caught (Captain Jason), and she always paints herself as the moral center of the group. The latter is going to catch her out one day. And while Bad Weather are busy painting Meredith as an unstable pill-popper washing it down with Cabernet (and she may be that, I have no clue -- let's discuss) ... wasn't there a car crash possibly/allegedly involving Heather testing positive for Adderall?

SLC I was SO Team Meredith and Lisa until the final 5 minutes. That accusation came out of nowhere, and was clearly Meredith trying to boost her position with Andy and to get Brittani fired. Having said that.... I do think Brittani is being puppeted by the Dark Icicle herself, Heather Gay. Both Brittani and Bronwyn, I am sad to say, have become Heather's pawns, as she has somehow convinced them that they need to follow her advice in order of having any hope of staying on the show (which is ridiculous, of course). Brittani was Bad Weather's little attack dog this season to provoke Meredith into a rage. Which they could then say was enhanced by pills and/or alcohol. So while Meredith's accusation has backfired very badly against her, Brittani is not quite the innocent little fawn amid sharks. Just saying. Heather basically saying her beloved cuz Whitney was a piece of sh!t, all in order to illustrate her moral superiority ("I would never! Film one of the HWs against their will!") just confirms what Ive always thought about her. A manipulative hypocrite. The tiff between Mary and Lisa was unexpected, and I hope we find out more about what caused it next season. Bronwyn, Whitney and Angie contributed about 1% combined to the episode.

Real Housewives of London was pretty enjoyable! I'm not 100% sure about this trailer either @Chris B but Mark-Francis Vandelli is a London icon (and wealthy in his own right), Viscountess Emma of Longleat is properly aristocratic... The others, I don't know. The LA one is going to really annoy me, I can tell.

HR is flawlessly put together and paced, nothing feels dragged out or rushed, just a seemingly effortless handling of story and human chemistry, which actually takes an enormous amount of skill and effort to perfect. A story about lust and love and a lot more besides. Is it fanfic? Yes, but the best kind -- thrilling and life-affirming. Many years ago, on this very board, a bunch of us were bemoaning the fact that soaps no longer seemed to be able (or were unwilling) to write about that thrilling, slow-stomach-somersault moment when you fall in lust or in love with somebody. As if they were now embarrassed by the very virtues that made their shows magnificent. I can see reading this thread how Heated Rivalry has reawakened that 'remember when the soaps i loved made me feel the way HR does right now?' It certainly did for me watching it, and i haven't felt this electrified by a romantic drama in, possibly, decades. I cannot speak to what a show like this means to its gay male fandom. But it has reminded a few people I know IRL that, in these dystopian times, perhaps attraction, physical connection and romance between two humans is not just possible, but actually sublime.

I enjoyed the Greek tragedy (better writing than the last decade of Y&R, acted by the amateur mime society of Santorini). But good grief, talk about looking for tits on an ant. I still do not know what Heather, Little Hurl and Bronwyn are so bent out of shape about, but they've polluted the last 5 episodes whining about Meredith. Can't believe I'm saying this, but it has actually turned me into a Lisa Barlow fan. Ever since the Monica reveal two seasons' ago, SLC has been trying to recycle the same now-moldy script, right down to the windswept island locale and moody music. But the so-called drama was built on the flimsiest of material. Heather's (aka Production's Handmaiden) final chyron basically boiled down to her non-soiled mattress and how much she hates having her kids around.

I don't know any of these women -- but i DO know the erudite and elegant Mark-Francis Vandelli! Half-Russian, half-Italian, raised in the UK, he was a star on one of the UK's seminal scripted reality shows called Made in Chelsea. @DaytimeFan will know who he is also.

They have also dropped the ball on RHONJ and its replacement, RHORI. I am seeing literally nobody missing NJ, except perhaps Teresa and Melissa, who have conveniently 'reconciled' for Christmas. But similarly with RI, I have seen a scrap of a teaser about this show and it, too, has disappeared without a trace. And as you say, isn't RHOA meant to be around the corner? Aren't Shamea and Porsha meant to have had an altercation which Drew had to break up? Woohoo! I like London, but I am biased. It's a slow burn, just letting you know so I can cover my ass in case you find it a bore, LOL. Raquel was great, and she was honest. I felt like she was talking directly to the audience at times. Her realisation that Brynn was lying still gives me chills just thinking about it. I don't know why but I think Bravo did not want her back on nuRHONY in the re-re-re-revamp.

No idea what is going on with BravoCon this year. I heard little about the cast sit-downs, although what little I saw looked fun and potentially interesting! Their marketing and social media teams fell asleep on the job. The one thing I did pick up was the steady drum beat of gossip around reuniting the OG RHONYs with some of the NuRHONYs in order to relaunch that franchise and bring it full circle. IRL both members of those two casts have interacted with each other off-camera, in NYC and the Hamptons! But Bravo dropped the ball on that, too, with Andy having to categorically deny it was happening and then practically getting booed for it.

Bravo has done well to find some newbies who are relatably neurotic but also understand that showing your life, warts and all, wins viewers over. It harks back to the RHs of old. And is one reason BH sticks out like a sore thumb. While technically not a newbie this year, Bronwyn fills that criteria. Stacey was caught pulling a Walter last year but her disentangling herself from that epic lie has been entertainment in of itself. It's like she is winking at the audience, bringing them in on the joke, something Karen Huger also used to do. Stephanie on RHOMiami was a valiant effort to recast while Dr. Nicole stepped away from the limelight. Big shoes to fill, and I hope beyond hope that the classy Nicole returns next season. I also think there may be something a little suspect in Stephanie's 'multi-million dollar' business, and that she is not-so-secretly desperate to be accepted by Las Cubanas (not always a good sign -- see Julia). But I am interested to ses her return next season. As far as newbies are concerned, I'd like to give a Best Newbie nod to a new RH show: Real Housewives of London. IMO it captured the beauty, snobbishness and dynamism of this city, along with a couple of great casting choices. I also want to tip my hat at the Sophomores of the RH world, Potomac and especially SLC, the latter which seems to have entered its peak era, its golden period. After shaking off the dark, toxic Jen Shah cloud, SLC has gone from strength to strength without missing a beat, and is leaving some of its more experienced peers in the dust. Long may it thrive.

I agree -- there is something missing. Karen is an anchor on the show. Gizelle has been doing well this,season, but there is still something detached, cold, even slightly passive about her as an anchor. I also agree that Gizelle and Cookie have worked to reinforce the tie of Karen with this season. And of course, the Wendy-Karen breakdown, along with Wendy's jaw-dropping arrest on fraud charges, are both built-in SLs. I guess i was worried (needlessly) that the redirected RHOP might leave La Dame behind. I missed the BravoCon interaction, but Stacey mentioned in the interview that Karen Huger was her favourite, followed by Katie. Which I can totally see. Karen and Stacey share wit and a certain lightness of demeanor. Yes, the pretence is over, and Karen quietly served her time. I hope Karen knows she has nothing left to lose but to be herself.

I listened to this interview. It is one of the best Carlos has done, and it is thanks to a guest who is effortlessly entertaining. Some HWs out there have their reads already committed to memory, and you can tell. But some of the questions Stacey wasn't expecting. She still delivered. I thought Carlos's advice at the end, about not believing the hype, just enjoying it, because it will eventually all end, and to stay humble, was the best advice I've heard anyone give a HW. I know it's early days, but I'd go as far to say that Baby Kenya may even be better than the original. Because of her unbothered lightness. The way she QVCed that glass of lukewarm water! Kenya was bothered, even when she said she wasn't. With Stacey setting the scene, and Monique having dipped her toe back into RHOP, I am wondering how Karen's return is going to play out. I love Karen a lot, but in recent years, the fronting of an image that was crumbling before our eyes became hard to bear. She was unable to confront her problems onscreen, probably under legal advisement, but now I wonder how it will be for her with her dirty laundry now out there.... and with RHOP having changed in some way, will she fit in? Has she evolved too? How will she react up close with Wendy who felt Karen betrayed their friendship and now has legal problems of her own?