Cat

Not just Kyle and Rinna. Erika has been instrumental in setting up Denise. She is positively seething in resentment. I dont know what happened after last year, when Erika was desperately up her ass ("just thinking about you and Aaron is my favourite porn!"). Her resentment is so weird too: is she enraged that Denise isn't like her character on Wild Things? That Denise seems to prioritize being a mom and her job? That she isn't encouraging everyone around her to snort coke off a hooker's backside? It bugs me so much that Erika sits there, not a word, but 5 f-ing months later in her confessionals rolls her shoulders trying to be the VT gangster (with the help of Mikey's props). She is definitely invested in bringing Denise down. Aaron seems to piss her off too, which I sort of understand given his kooky alternative-science and general bro vibe. Something about Aaron rubbed me the wrong way this week, esp when he talked to Denise under his breath at the end... I got the feeling that when Aaron doesn't get his way and women talk back to him, he isn't very nice. Having said that, I support his right to defend his wife in this conversation. I thought it was cowardly. I really, really hope it was because she somewhat cares for Denise and didn't want to be part of the gang-up --because I miss Rinna the human being. Remember back in the day when she and Eileen had each other's backs, come what may? There is something so icy and calculated about her now. I don't know if anyone noticed, but when she was in the car with Garcelle, she put some peer pressure on her, like, "Denise didn't tell Kyle she had been talking about her behind her back, I don't know why she didn't say anything," thereby setting up Garcelle to awkwardly bring up her issue with Kyle at her event when Kyle was ready and prepared to rumble this time. It was a masterclass in passive manipulation. I also wonder if Rinna wants to stay on Denise's good side for a little while longer, so that Denise keeps venting to and confiding in her. Rinna then picks up some nuggets to use against her.

One of the reasons Bethenny outside of RHONY impresses me is because she puts her brainpower to good use for causes she cares about. She is also, dare I say, damn-near-delightful on her Instagram with her daughter. Can't believe I wrote that!

Twitter dragging Erika for sitting there silent while filming and only coming up with nasty comebacks 5 months later in her confessionals. Aaron-speak translation: "It's just makeup. Let it go, let's move on." Even I got that. Denise not bringing her kids was boss and would definitely rile up the very women who use their children to win mommy points with the audience. Teddi thought she was being so tough mumbling under her breath like that? LMAO. Get her, Denise!

I re-watched and appreciated a few new things. -The way Ramona and Dorinda care for Leah. Leah acts out in order to get attention from these women. A part of her wants to be mothered and fussed over by them. It is such an unexpected dynamic to see, and even Elyse when confronting Leah was back-hugging her in a sort of sisterly way. -I am liking that Dorinda and Leah have this connection and understand each other. Dorinda was a lot better this week, something appears to have shifted. -Luann has taken very tumbles (in the Mexican bushes, and metaphorically. Hello, pirate! Hello, Palm Beach PD). All that backlash might have emotionally destroyed other people. But Luann keeps it moving. Even at her lowest, she searches for joy. Her yoga stretches that Newport morning are her way of affirming life. She can be strong and inspirational! -LOL, the way Lu told off Ramona and then went over to Dorinda, like, 'Can you believe this chick?' and Dorinda high-fived her... I was laughing so hard.

Eating some of my words to @Chris Blast week! It seems my timing in defending RHONY was perhaps off. I still love and stan for the show, but the Groundhog Day aspect has been well and truly reinforced. Part of the issue is Leah who I enjoy but who has been watching RHONY closely. She sees that getting sloppy drunk gets you places. And she is appealing to the weird maternal sides that both Ramona and Dorinda have for her. Unfortunately it is not progressing the show at the moment. Like @Taoboi there was a lot for me to appreciate though. Finally we seem to be turning a corner with Dorinds vs Tinsley. And I cannot get enough of Luann who is a voice of reason right now. I just love her energy. Oh, and Elyse is finally emerging from her shell. The hard drinking aspect must be confronted at some point, because the audience is now looking for resolution in these women's lives beyond the self-medicating with alcohol.

Wrong thread

[!@#$%^&*] DENISE RICHARDS is interviewed by Into The Gloss about her beauty regimen and other things. https://intothegloss.com/2020/05/denise-richards-beauty-routine/

She DID just sit there and eat her pine nuts! All the fat-finger pointing and outrage was in her VT! She takes her cues from equally weaksauce Kyle. Teddi is a damn coward!

I found BH exasperating to watch. This [!@#$%^&*] is Lucy Lucy Apple Juicy all over again. How long can we keep watching Denise explain and re-explain her totally valid motives for wanting to keep the sex bragging down around the kids? First somethig nice. Rinna looked 20 years younger and 20 times better without makeup and in her jammies making coffee. She seemed lighter too. And how good was it to see Denise at B&B with Thorsten and KKL?? Though I don't keep up with B&B anymore, this was the first show I watched from Day One. In its day, it was fantastic! Also, the sunset shots over Santa Barbara reminded me of the closing credits of SB (MY show as a kid) and that bombastic trumpet music which was so iconic. Can't believe I'm going to say this but Kyle was somewhat right when she said everyone was being passive aggressive and fake ass bitches and not talking about the real issue. By the same token, she was totally sitting back and letting it happen because it meant Denise was taking hits. Erika is so bloody obnoxious. The kids are probably already doing threesomes? Damn, what were your teenage years like? She thinks she is too cool for school but its all a ridiculous act. The sexualisation of those young girls absolutely must be brought up at reunion. The fact is, everyone wants Denise to be some wild, cynical young thing and she's not. They have perhaps heard the rumours that she started in Hollywood as an escort girl or something. Who cares? They just want an excuse to clutch their pearls and shame her. When they didn't get that, they pivoted and now it's "Ooo Denise is so prissy and such a hypocrite" because she's a decent mother who wants her kids to stay kids? Not one of them would want their kids talking threesomes or doing them! Not a one. Lipsa had a stroke at the merest thought of Sutton making a scene at her kids' borefest event. Teddi or Kyle want their little angels having multiple partners in ninth grade? No way! They are the hypocrites. Teddi's outrage in particular was ridiculous. Just burp out your third offspring and shut the f*ck up.

Woah! Controversial! No, j/k! You feel how you feel. And in some ways, IA that we are sometimes a little hasty in not giving one-and-done HWs second chances (Kathryn on BH / Jules on NYC come to mind). First of all, not to defend Ramona because she is only out for herself. But her texts sound like her way of getting Elyse out there. They are like a pep-talk. "The producers love you! Now get your ass over here!" She is trying to draw out Elyse, the friend she brought to the show. In a way, she is a little bit responsible for her and how she performs. The thing with Elyse, though -- and I stress this is entirely my opinion -- she doesn't pop onscreen. She doesn't radiate joy or humor. She lurks in the shadows, piping up every couple of hours with something that lands with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. For RHONY, you need to be a wordsmith. You need to cast a spell with your words. You need to be fast with the jokes (Bethenny). You need to decimate, (Dorinda), screw up the English language and invent your own (Ramona: "Let's not make a mountain out of a holemill"), flirt with the audience (Sonja). Elyse doesn't have that wordsmithery or that self-deprecation, it seems. Last week's party at Ramona's was Elyse's audition. And lord knows she tried. She tried to Be Seen. But nothing landed. Everything sounded self-scripted. Nothing jokey was actually funny. (As nervous and awkward as Jules got, her nerves were relatable and funny). It all felt a bit heavy-handed, and then got overshadowed by Dorinda and Ramona's screaming match and the DoRamonja kissing-fest. Poor Elyse was badly counselled or was just too nervous, but she didn't stand a chance against those 3. I wouldn't mind Jill back at all. She is part of the fabric (Zarin Fabrics!). RHONY is not a bust for me this season. But I can see that it has been Groundhog Daying the last five seasons. The problem is that the issues these women have are similar (transitioning from a great past life to a new one as single women). And the other problem is that the chemistry between the Core 4 is so good that Bravo is hesitant to mess it up. And I am glad they are hesitant, because it is impossible to recreate true chemistry by just casting a bunch of strangers to be 'friends' together.

LVP sliding into Kyle's Twitter comments like The rest of the comments are basically 'Sucks to be you making so many poor choices in friendship.'

I watched through to the Weinstein sighting, which was a shock. As much as Georgina Chapman may not have known the extent of his depravity, she certainly must have known of his cruelty to others and the way he leveraged (or, more accurately, bullied) stars into wearing Marchesa to high-profile events. And in a way, for Tinsley, this was also slumming it. From the Mortimers on the UES, where most people wear Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass and Ralph Lauren, to Harvey Weinstein and a PR event for lowly Marchesa.... She must have been desperate to relaunch her life after the divorce and took a gamble with the fame game. No wonder Dale is a fit to be tied and wants Tinsley back with Topper, pronto! Gossip Girl! That's it! I wondered what this show reminded me of, and all I could come up with was Whitney Port's ill-fated The Hills spin-off, The City. But yeah, Tinsley is definitely channelling Serena van der Woodsen in that intro.

@DaytimeFan Thank you for the link. The show looks trashily addictive and really takes you back to early 2000s reality TV. And Dale Mercer is ready for her close-up, honey! Re: RHOA. OTOH, we know the Remote Reunion can and does work. This bodes well for NY, BH, Potomac and SLC. OTO, Andy pointed out that setting this up required hours of technical rehearsals. And that's a little bit how I felt about reunion as a whole -- over-rehearsed. I felt unsatisfied with reunion, just as I felt somewhat unsatisfied with this season. Something does not feel right & tight with the group chemistry. Despite screaming at each other all season (and all through Zoomunion), Kenya and Nene still have not gotten to the bottom of their issues with each other. The fact is, both are very alike, both are jealous and threatened by each other's power over the show, and both cannot stand any other woman shining in their presence. I found it hard to warm to either of them during Reunion. Nene ducking out for the entire episode was a cowardly move, and then having the arrogance to call up Porsha and demand Andy speak to her on Speaker.... Does she not realise how precarious her position currently is RHOA? She costs Bravo a fortune per episode and I cannot see them wanting to pay her current fee going forward. She also looked totally guilty. Kenya... sigh. Can't warm to her after she dampened Cynthia's star this whole season. Yovanna came across very well. I was surprised and impressed. She argued her corner and the only time she came unstuck was when Kandi blew some holes in her defense. Kandi remains at the top of the heap. She is way smarter and more grounded than all these women and really is unofficial queen of the franchise. Like @NothinButAttitude said, Eva and Porsha were getting ridiculous with all the Oooooooos and drink-sipping and OTT face-pulling. I could do without seeing Eva's socially distant cleavage (thanks, Porsha) ever again. And Porsha definitely seemed more... heightened than usual.

The very fact that the others are couching their words when they bring this up with Dorinda really says something about how verbally abusive it must be to be on the receiving end of those tirades. Also, it must be difficult to point out Dorinda's drinking given their own dodgy relationships with alcohol. Nevertheless, IMO Dorinda acts like an alcoholic. It is a crutch, self-medication, and the moment she touches a drop, she becomes a different person. Her denial and brutal deflection of the problem only serve to highlight how important a crutch it is to her. The way Ramona of all people is so careful with her words around Dorinda and yet brings up the issue anyway does show how much she cares. Honestly, when she, D and Sonja talked of moving in together, all I could think was Golden Girls! I would be all in to watch that! The Russian spa looked great. We have (had?) a Russian baths in my town, I have wanted to go and get the eucalyptus detox beating for years. I love that Leah suggested it and the women showed up anyway. The HWs are really warming to Leah in an almost maternal way. Poor Tinsley doesn't seem to win their love so easily. I feel bad for the way Dorinda belittled and abused her. Having said that, I cannot handle her vocal fry. It's like baby girl voice meets the crackpipe. She needs to take some Strepsils. Elyse was being extra camera-hog-y with her self-scripted lines at Ramona's get-together. This dead-eyed ghoul was like a like a little raincloud hanging over the event.

Oh! And I thought Dorit's comment about how she would never cut tomatoes or greet guests (because she's from a creative design background, y'all) to be tacky. For nine seasons we saw LVP furnish restaurants from scratch, go most nights to greet guests, and oversee the menus. But that would be too much like menial work for world-class brain Dorit. In the current environment, people (often low paid) are actually preparing food and delivering to the doorsteps of those who cannot risk leaving the house. Seriously, give Dorit enough rope...

Robert Earl: I know this might sound strange to both of you, but this is a business. Dorit & PK: Ha ha ha. PK: Gotta speculate to accumulate, Robert. Robert Earl: Absolutely not. Nice shade on the dubious business practices of the Kemsleys, Robert Earl. I also noticed he was very careful to avoid getting drawn into the desperate LVP bashing. As if LVP would be threatened by Dorit 'designing' a room at a chain restaurant in the Valley. Also shady was the clip from last year of LVP asking Dorit why she would still want to be friends if she truly thought LVP went to the media about her? LVP exposed the whole thing as the fake setup it was. I have no problem with Garcelle and Denise pointing out what a fake, surface person Kyle is. Lyle (typo, and it stays) was being way too thirsty for attention at that dinner. Nice to see Harry and especially my fave Tom Girardi in the episode. I could listen to Tom's stories all night. Lisa Rinna's makeup in her VT is a horror show.

Dorit, emotionally sensitive tho? Lol. This is why I hate cancel culture. Ignore them. [Dru] Lint. [/Dru]

They really are. Kenya lost me when she brought the cookie lady around, and when Tanya rightly called her out on it at reunion, she just belittled her because she had no other comeback. And she's so Do As I Say, Not As I Do. She spreads 'tea' about someone else's relationship, but God forbid anyone talk about her and Marc. Similarly with her 'businesses', but Marlo can't launch hers in peace? Does it seem to you that Nene is on her last legs in this reunion and everybody knows it? Oh wow! Kenya def has Aquarian energy (my SIL is Aquarius and reminds me a bit of Kenya in how forensic she is about getting to the bottom of something). On BH, it blows my mind that Erika, Rinna, Dorit and Teddi are all Cancer. Garcelle, Dorinda and Sonja are all Sagittarians! I knew there was a reason I liked them!

Astrology hour

Ugh sorry. Damn geo-block! It's pandemic times! They could ease up on the viewing restrictions for once. I don't know if you can view this, but this was an interesting Bravo footnote to the events of S2:

Here is the last few minutes in the limo @DRW50. Starts @2.05, but the stuff before is worth watching as well.

It was totally raw and real. It's a shame Bravo did not add here the last 5-10 minutes of the episode where Taylor sobs uncontrollably in the limo, makes the driver pull over on the side of the road and chain-smokes his cigs like they are her last. We are literally watching Taylor come to the realisation that her husband is going to find out that she's the one who told the women about his abuse -- and for that transgression, he will very likely take his anger out on her. It was horribly chilling. She was literally staring at another beating (or worse). She also realised that she was going to have to decide whether to stay or leave him once and for all. There were a lot of complex issues happening. And in the finale episode, we saw the fading bruise on her eye where he had hit her after they were ejected from the White Party. He saw that nobody liked or trusted him, or would do business with him ever again, and he took it out on her. His house of cards had crumbled. It was real-life horrifying, but seeing Taylor's journey that year made S2 one of the best seasons I have ever watched tbh. I don't understand why Bravo were so hasty in getting rid of her in S3. Taylor still had a lot to offer, but Kyle threw her under the bus and the show was enamoured with Yolanda and her fridge, so... I think an elegant grifter and social-climber like TayShanna is needed on a franchise like BH. In the early days, the Haves and the Less-Haves were an important, watchable dynamic which powered the show. The power plays between the different women were fascinating. Now they have dropped all that for... glam squads.

Thank you for the mega compliment. I over-write and I hate that about my posting sometimes -- I envy everybody's posts on this thread which are always succinct and a breath of fresh air. I love coming on here and reading the viewpoints. Especially atm. This has been a necessary daily stopover in these tough times. Re: RHONY. I get it. Different strokes for different folks! Sometimes a rewatch allows us to appreciate an episode when we are finally in the mood to absorb it. Jules season was great! Bethenny and Carole were abhorrent, and Jules was gone too soon IMO. Omg Miami, that takes me back. If I remember correctly, S2, I disliked Joanna Krupa from the jump. I always loved Alexia. Always loved Mama Elsa. Liked the burgeoning Lea Black/plastic surgeon's wife relationship -- it was very mentor/mentee. Liked Karent a lot and hated that Las Cubanas took against her. Glad they got rid of that S1 Cristy creature (the world's most mediocre model) and the lost Kardashian sister (so deeply boring that Kris Jenner gave her up for adoption). Haven't watched S2 since it first aired!

For sure Kyle was playing the put-upon victim of Kim's addiction issues from the jump. In S1 Ep1, she also belittled Kim in the same ways she belittled Camille, Brandi, and Carlton. Kim's daughter Brooke mentioned she was going to spend the summer with her dad, and Kim was feeling sad about it. Kyle was mocking her for being overprotective and saying "Brooke, Kimberly and I have been talking about you" and acting like it was a big jokey bitch sesh between her and Kim's daughters. Kim's face fell, you could tell Kyle's words were hurtful. The irony was Kyle wasn't even hinting at Kim's addictions, she was just working Kim's daughters against her and making Kim feel like a bad mom. Very insidious (and insecure) behaviour from Kyle. It also makes you wonder what it must have been like growing up in Big Kathy's house. The irony is Kyle came into S1 thinking she would be the star, then turned on Camille worried that Camille would steal her 'crown.' All that time it was LVP getting all the audience accolades!

I'm actually shocked that Lois didn't do a double-take at Rinna! I imagine Rinna told her OTR that 'This is fake and scripted and I am playing a role.' I would like to think that, off camera, Lisa R is a warmer, more caring person? But on the show, yikes. She is so hard. It's like she is looking for any opportunity for her 'friends' to publicly fail.