Cat

More 'Joss Whedon is problematic' news: https://dlisted.com/2020/07/01/ray-fisher-called-out-joss-whedon-on-twitter-for-being-gross-and-unprofessional-on-the-set-of-justice-league/

OMG the way Camille blew that out of the water and made Brandi look like a try-hard liar was *chef's kiss*

They all look amazing but Monique looks ESPECIALLY fabulous in this still photo! Her hair style is amazing. And I think she might be wearing Tom Ford? Potomac makes pennies look like a million dollars. The cherry blossoms, the music is always on point and unique to Potomac, and sometimes the fashions are a miss (hello, last Reunion?!)... However, here they look SPECTACULAR. Even Robyn's stylist did her good here. And of course the women really bring it. Like, I can't stand Gizelle but I can recognise that she is an expert manipulator. Also, her tagline made me LOL. Anointed how, Giz? Dallas S3 and S4 is slow getting off the ground. It gets into a groove eventually but, yeah, I found S3 a slower watch than S4, because all it was was Leeanne vs D'Andra. And D'Andra was a damp squid about it. Ooo what was the speculation? Seemed like Dina felt that Caroline and Jacqueline loved the attention too much and started playing up for the cameras. Dina, of course, was about ready to drop out. I don't think she could deal with the pressure and negative comments from fans. Of course, it could well be that the marriage with Tommy was already going south and Caroline and Jacqueline picked the Manzo side, so Dina gave them the cold shoulder. I think Albert Manzo might have guessed something was up but hopefully he didn't know it involved assault of his sister-in-law, because that would really be just too cruel! I think he probably merely turned a blind eye because he knew this was a mobster and didn't want to f*ck with that whatsoever. Yeah, the Tommy rumor has been around since S1 of NJ! I remember her moving to NYC and thinking it was the perfect place for Dina. But at S6 reunion, she made it clear that she wouldn't be returning for S7, and that she regretted coming back. For what reason, Dina did not specify. But she did make it clear that her relationship with Caroline, Jaq and possibly Chris Laurita was finished and could never be repaired. Now I am wondering if she went to California for safety reasons. All this must have been incredibly scary. LOL, I'm thinking Jaqueline moved to Vegas to get away from BLK WATER creditors and possibly to get some mental help.

Holy [!@#$%^&*]. Can you imagine if Dina and Caroline were on the show and this played out in real time?? This is unexpected because the rumor was that Tommy was gay and the marriage between he and Dina was one of mutual convenience. Watching S6 reunion, though, it was clear the divorce was an emotionally hard one for Dina. One big factor why she and Caroline never talked since, maybe. How much did Albert know? He's the other owner of the Brownstone. Surely giving a mobster a highly-discounted wedding party there would have raised some questions with Tommy as to why? Did Caroline ever suspect Tommy of being behind the assault? By all accounts, it was a vicious and violent one. It also could have gone so much worse! Clearly, Dina and Caroline's family will never reconcile after this. Must say, neither show idea is appealing to me. Heather dispensing marriage advice? 😀 The premise seems to be: get plastic surgery to look hotter and your hubby will love you again. Yikes. As for Nene's Makeup Wars show, I just do not understand this insistence that Nene is some kind of fashion/beauty maven! Am I missing something? She tried this pretence with Fashion Police and it was a bust!

I will take any tagines at this point. RHONY, welcoming you back with open everything!

Wow. I am actually stunned. I didn't expect those ratings. For a foreign import on a Friday with mo promo, that is amazing! And S4 was solid, I thought. Better than S3, which I found a little slow. If you get a chance to download Ep 1 S1 of Melbourne, it sets the scene really well. Gina utters this line "I parent the traditional Italian way, which is through guilt, and fear." A STAR!! Sydney had some good elements but when the wheels came off the Athena X bus, I found it hard to care for any of them. Also there were perhaps 2 too many HWs. Frankly, I didn't need to see the ex-pop star attempt a comeback or the medi-spa one. Lisa and bitchy Victoria were probably the ones that Andy would worship if they were on US franchises. BTW, there were rumours that Sydney was preparing to film S2 when the pandemic hit. I think it was suggested that Victoria, Krissy, Lisa and possibly Athena X were returning to the show. I'd be willing to give them a second chance!

I realise that Melbourne wouldn't get the ratings of even a boring BH repeat. I realise some viewers might recoil in horror at anything involving 'accents.' Nevertheless, as a way of keeping the RH brand going during the hiatus, I believe Melbourne's first ever episode is super easy to get into. Gina literally leaps off the screen as a star. Andrea is horrifically smug. Lydia is a sexed-up dumbass. What is there not to understand? And it's LOL funny! We need some funny in our lives. Sydney is not a patch on Melbourne and it had its issues (not least Lisa Oldfield herself), but lord, Lisa was by far the smartest b!tch in the room. Loved how she exposed all of them here!

July 8th? This is why I am watching Real Housewives of Melbourne S1 in the meantime. Bravo would have done well to put that on a few episodes a week over the 4 week hiatus, but seems to have a real bias against the foreign RH (English speaking, mind you) brands. If Mo'Nique were to join ATL, I'd be like

Perhaps Posche has moved online while the pandemic is still around and rents are so high. Would never count out Kim D, or her ability to rile Teresa and Melissa with another Posche Fashion Show (staged in a Best Western conference room).

Damn, Tamra. Every day you release a new statement about how crap the current RHs are and how [insert franchise] needs you to liven things up! She's got hustle, that's for sure. Tamra has rightly guessed that RHONY is due for an overall. But OMG has she ever watched the show? Dorinda, Ramona and Luann would eat her for breakfast! These women aren't dumbass Gretchen Rossi! As @Faulkner said, watching Tamra get annihilated might be fun for a moment. Also: are she and Eddie planning to move CUT Fitness to Manhattan? Will Ryan make the move from MAGA country to enemy lines? Tamra is made for the OC. She is by far the smartest at manipulating those bimbos. I still think RHOC will bring her back in the upcoming season to liven things up. After all, who on earth is Kelly Dodd going to blame for her bad behavior? Failing that, she could go to Dallas and help that franchise out. I was also going to suggest NJ, but I suspect Dolores and Marge have Tamra's number also. Yikes. Even I wouldn't wish BH on poor Tamra! Can you imagine Tamra getting glam-squadded 4 times an episode or have to lie about how 'rich' she is? She would be so bored. One thing about Tamra is that she doesn't pretend to be some uber-wealthy maven, thankfully.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2020/jun/22/novak-djokovic-has-learned-he-cannot-hide-from-coronavirus-in-his-own-bubble

@Taoboi I don't completely disagree with your remarks about Andy. But when I was talking about Bravo, I was thinking of all the top execs who make day-to-day decisions about the shows. Andy does have power, but it's not at their level of power. The CEO, for example, is rumoured to be a huge fan of Nene. IMO Andy is at a point where he couldn't care less if Nene left. But the CEO and exec team have more power than him so they stay writing Nene's cheques. I also think that since he became a father, Andy has mellowed. But yes, he loves to stir and encourage his WWHL guests to do outrageous things. I'm sure some stuff about Andy will eventually come out. I just don't know the specifics of what that stuff is and whether it's enough to send him on his way. More than any RH, Andy *IS* Mr Bravo and closely associated with the brand. Full disclosure: I do enjoy Andy doing WWHL and hosting the reunions, as problematic as he can be. It's funny, I've only ever watched like two episodes of Below Deck, and one was from this season, with the chef and the chief stew? Something about that relationship made me feel uncomfortable, and now I know why. Dont get upset about RHOD! I can agree with you on Leeanne being ignorant as opposed to having full-on hatred for all Mexicans. However, the Julio Iglesias quote, the doubling-down.... Leeanne needed a break from TV for a moment. She is made for reality TV, but it became her world, her everything (in a way that it isn't for someone like Stephanie who could probably carry on with her normal life without the cameras more easily). TV is always trying to take something from you. Also, the lines between what was authentic and what was fake (like her TV wedding) became very evident. I feel bad because Leeanne is so wounded. She felt loved by her fans. To have that love turn to approbation must be incredibly hard to handle. On the other hand, if I were her, I would sit tight. I don't think Leeanne is completely gone from the show. And I think karma will have a reckoning for Kary and D'Andra this year. Brandi isn't fired?? I thought for sure she was gone! I am really shocked. Her social media stuff was outright racism against Asians. I love me some Cary Deuber, but why is she stuck ushering Chuckie off the show? I'm halfway through Family Karma! I like. Glad to hear the ratings solidified.

@Faulkner @chrisml @Taoboi Thanks for the article and for the debate about where Bravo goes from here. First, the article was good, though I did hesitate on one thing. Yes, we know Ramona flirted with a Rep congressman who hates feminism, but is that quite on a par with with what Stassi and Kristen did to Faith on VPR? Certain Bravolebrities have done racist and homophobic things for years and it's only now that Bravo wants to do something about it? We've talked about these things on this very thread; it's not like the definition of racism recently changed and that's why Bravo is suddenly jumping into action over stuff it OKed in 2018. I feel like Bravo is hoping that the VPR firings will be the fall guy for the network, and that this will save management and other shows (minus VPR probably and Southern Charm, which is horrifically toxic in its rapey, racist bro culture). Although there does seem to be a push currently from one Ms. Tamra Judge to fire Kelly Dodd for racist, nasty stuff she says. Why did/do I enjoy the RH shows? For a while during the last two decades, a lot of TV felt very CSI/Les Moonves-esque. I didn't see a lot of female representation outside of compliant, baby-voiced The Bachelor contestants -- the patriarchy's way of telling us what sort of women we are expected to be, lol. The RH showed women of all ages and backgrounds, and they were the stars. They weren't one dimensional representations of womanhood. We were seeing the good with the bad, and it provoked lots of debate. However, while I still enjoy the shows and the HWs, change is long overdue and needs to be implemented immediately. One problem, which a lot of us have flagged here over the years, is the segregation. Andy not wanting WOC on shows outside of Atlanta or Potomac. Naomi Campbell saying she would love to be on BH and Andy whining why can't she move to Atlanta? That stuck in my craw. Naomi is a Superstar and can go wherever she wants! The other problem is management, which I imagine is largely white. ATL had an egregious example. Carlos King, the black show runner, was fired and replaced by a largely white crew from Tardy for the Party, who were hired to focus on lazy waste-of-silicon Kim Z. It got so bad that Kandi refused to film unless a black producer was at least present on set. Change has to happen on all levels, including the top brass and writers room. (You can tell on Potomac there is a mixed or mostly AA crew which some of the HWs felt compelled to defend against the Darbys last year). Look at Garcelle, for example, who has grabbed a sliver of a chance on BH this year and is running with it. Bravo needs to run with this, too. This is no longer the time for baby steps. RH women can be problematic, but like @chrisml pointed out, at least RHOD confronted us with their racism. I certainly had to confront my own complicity in watching the show. Leann was rightly held to account and fired. We can all agree that Leeann and Brandi needed to go, though we might also dislike the manipulative, blinkered and coddled Kary. If RHOD wants some interesting Mexican-Americans in the mix, there was a Bravo show that nobody watched called Texicanas, set in San Antonio, which I loved. But again, Bravo did that segregate thing because Bravo is obsessed with clans, cliques, tribes, microcosms. Same with Family Karma (fab show featuring Indian-Americans in Miami) which nobody apparently watched either. Maybe we should also question the role of powerful advertisers on TV which, up until the pandemic, largely wanted to target certain demos. Those demos were usually 20-something white females.

Is Private Practice worth watching? Now I'm intrigued! BTW Audra MacDonald, who according to Wikipedia played Naomi in Private Practice, is also in an absolutely great show I am binge-watching at the moment -- The Good Fight.

If the backlash came from other African-Americans, including prominent ones, then I would wager that is what forced Bravo's hand. That and Nene's refusal to apologize. I long felt that Nene was needed on RHOA as a counterweight to Kenya's alpha personality, and that Kenya vs Nene was the rivalry to go with. However, I am now at a point where I am exhausted by Nene and her arrogance. I don't need to see Kenya vs Nene anymore, it is just too toxic. She treats everybody reprehensibly. Honestly, after laying hands on the crew, that should have been it. Physical assault cannot be tolerated. Instead, the crew member and the showrunner that season were obliged to resign. Nene seems to resent being on RHOA as much as she wants to keep collecting the paycheck. She is always in a foul mood. IA that she is probably consulting lawyers right now about unfair/racist dismissal.

@chrisml I believe B Scott is a pretty accurate blogger; he is Atlanta based and has a lot of good sources within the cast itself (possibly Kenya and Cynthia). I am shocked by this news, mainly because TT, who is also Atlanta based, has not mentioned this at all and was swearing up and down this week that Nene has a contract. Not just that she has a contract, but that she is RHOA's biggest draw and no way would Bravo be getting rid of her. I'm not sure what Nene did, whether it was comparing her pampered self to George Floyd, or declaring war on Andy Cohen recently... But for Bravo to fire one of their most recognizable black stars (if not THE most recognizable), at this particular point in time, too it must have been SOMETHING. Did Nene get serious public backlash from her most recent Tweets?

I would agree with that. After S3, Buffy lost its sparkle, and it became a lot darker and depressing (if you can believe it). SMG's weight loss was noticeable and she just seemed unhappy. I didn't know that about SMG and Marsters... they seemed to have a nice friendship going. Marsters talked about how he was filming long hours on Angel (the show) at one time, and SMG, despite pulling long hours herself, showed up on set with food for Angel cast and crew. I feel like if Buffy (the show) had been allowed to evolve the way Angel (the show) had, or even if Buffy the character had transferred to Angel (the show) in an extended story arc, SMG might have been happier. IA that BTVS ran too long. I did enjoy S4 actually (unpopular as it was). I never re-watched S5-7 after they were first screened.

I remember the Vanity Fair article from which this photo is taken. Nobody wanted Teri Hatcher in the centre of the picture, and Marcia Cross was especially aggrieved about this (she apparently stopped the photoshoot mid-session and screamed at their handler "MOVE HER! DO YOUR [!@#$%^&*] JOB!" So I wondered if Marcia Cross was the one with the problem. That being said, the crew apparently disliked Teri Hatcher also. Unlike the rest of the cast, she did not give them goodbye gifts when the show finally ended. They say SMG was a rather reserved person onset and that could be taken as standoffsihness. I am speculating, but a part of me feels she was harshly judged because she wasn't super touchy friendly and because she didn't overly kiss Joss Whedon's ass. Wheedon, for example, would host dinners at his family home where cast members he favored would get invited and perform scenes from Shakespeare or play improv games. I think Charisma Carpenter might have been the same -- she was friendly and on good terms with the Angel cast, but was never invited to the Wheedon family home for fun game night. And I suspect that Joss finally got bored with writing for both Buffy and Cordelia. With Cordelia, he was very angry CC got pregnant and basically wrote her character out saying that it had run its course. With Buffy, he couldn't say that because the show was called BTVS! So he soldiered on, but it became clear in the last few seasons that he was not interested in exploring the layers of Buffy as a person. It was around that time that SMG looked like she wanted to move on too, because the show was no longer giving her interesting material.

I was devastated by yesterday's RHONY episode. What am I going to do without Dale?! She loves the camera and the camera loves her! I loved the way Sonja greeted her at Tinsley's. Honestly, the episode did not feel like goodbye but a 'see you later.' After watching, I am convinced that Bravo is planning a Real Housewives of Chicago with Tinsley as the 'in.' Naturally, the pandemic has likely messed up scheduling of interviews of potential Chicago HWs, but nevertheless I think it's coming. Seeing Tinsley pack up was bittersweet. I had high hopes for her, but despite a fascinating backstory, I never quite warmed to her. Like the pieces were not quite the sum of their parts. She talked about moving some of her things to her places in Palm Beach and Newport. I wish we had got a chance to see more of her real life other than being holed up in a midtown hotel. The show put a nice chapter closure on her RHONY life though.

Ahmahghah. RHONY mid-season trailer!

I'm surprised they didn't leave RHONY going for four weeks and then when BH came back, put Rhony on hiatus for a few weeks. Or switch them out, 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there. IA! I love this thread. Will continue to check it for gossip and other observations! I still have to watch the Dale and Tinsley Gossip Girl knock-off you recommended (I put Dale first because IMO she is the real star, lol). Also, my Hulu (it's called Hayu here) account is recommending I get into Family Karma and the Real Housewives of Vancouver S1. It knows me too well. IA with you that Bravo could do a lot worse than screening all seasons of Melbourne over the next four weeks. LVP stans would be more than happy with a Gina fix. Also, a side dish of Auckland, which is a jewel of a one-hit season. It has RH's weirdest, kookiest, creepiest anti-heroine in Angela Stone (and one of its nastiest HWs in Julia).

Yeah, I don't think it is a conspiracy either. For one thing, Bravo cannot keep a secret to save its life. The network leaks like crazy. So if it was for a secret reason, we would soon know about it. It must be simply stretching content during these Covid times. And you of course highlight the technical aspect of not being able to go to a place of work to sift through content and piece it all together (though some great film editors in Hollywood's golden era did have editing booths built at home!). I credit Bravo's editors as unsung heroes. They have an eye for the tiniest detail and clearly a great sense of humor. The gentleman who recently passed who edited RHONY was especially talented. Four weeks is a long hiatus, but I guess I can catch up on other shows in the interim. Guys, what are we going to talk about on this thread though? Like, I check this thread every day!

Melbourne would be a good place to start. Auckland, Sydney, Vancouver.....

Thank you both for clarifying. All the 9pm slots this week have "New" next to it -- naughty, naughty, Bravo! False advertising! I'm so pleased to hear that RHONY will show a new episode at least. Can I just say how lovely Dorinda & Lu were with each other least week? And Dorinda leaving the restaurant early to go watch Ghost Hunters. I understand Bravo wanting to spread out the goodies. I am really looking forward to Potomac -- but ready to be patient and fully appreciate 1 or 2 RH shows at a time instead of watching the usual 3 or 4 in a rush. In answer to the rhetorical question posed in that Tweet: Andy Cohen, clearly, because he was very open about glazing over whenever Joyce talked at reunion. I don't think Andy gets Latinas. I noticed it with the Miami women too (except Mama Elsa). Joyce was doubly unlucky because S4 was a wretched season and Bravo got backlash for it. Carlton and Joyce took the fall because Bravo did not want to get rid of Brandi, Yolanda and Kyle. (All the excuses were pretty much "Oh, that's just Brandi being Brandi!") What I liked about Joyce is that she stayed true to herself and did not let anybody steamroll her, even when they belittled her. Quite honestly, the way Yolanda and Brandi spoke down to Joyce at Reunion was really belittling -- at one point Yolanda wouldn't even address her directly ("Oh my God, did you hear what she just said?"). They had a tone with her which would not pass muster nowadays.

On the Bravo website it is saying a new episode of BH tomorrow...? And of RHONY too. https://www.bravotv.com/schedule