Cat

That's disappointing, because it's a fun watch. I don't think RHOD was helped this year by a VERY poor season trailer. That trailer almost turned me off watching -- and you know I love my neurotic D"Andra and Mama Dee! It was so dull! First episode was a little wispy, content-wise, and we barely saw Kameron. Ep2 was much better, and next week, we are already heading out on a cast trip! That villa in Cayeres reminds me of Melbourne's cast trip to Mexico last year, and that was a doozy. So I'm looking forward to it. Hope Dallas builds an audience over the coming weeks on word of mouth. Not feeling Leeanne so far. She is complaining too much about whatever BS happened last year: "Ah was so hurrrrt." Also I thought her words to D'Andra, about how Leeanne doesn't need to keep in touch with her mom because she doesn't rely on her for financial support, were shockingly cold. I honestly do not know how D'Andra didn't deck her then and there.

I heartily preferred Katie over Charrisse, partly because she doesn't quite realise how much fun she can be to watch. Shes kind of oblivious and un-self-conscious, and that's quite watchable on a reality show Charrisse was so envious of Karen and Gizelle! But I think I really disliked her when she sold her friendship with Monique and Chris down the river for some airtime and relevancy. Preach. Karen was a delight this season, and much more down to earth than in previous years. I have always loved her but this season has confirmed what great taste I have. Lol! I kid. It confirms what a fundamentally lovely, gracious, funny person Karen can be. I think the financial troubles and the death of her parents really changed her perspective and made her more reflective and aware of the people around her.

No disrespect to Wes Kenney, who showcased some of Y&R's more luxurious sets, but that moody lighting is EVERYTHING. It is like something out of film noir, and so is the music. It creates such an atmosphere! It's like the subtext behind the characters' secret motivations, deepest desires, and most tortured fears. Bill Bell was in advertising before he got into soaps, and advertising at the time was extremely taken by psychology and psychiatry as a marketing tool. Especially the helpfully-visual Freudian theories. You can really see the Freudian and the psychological underpinning Bell's writing, as well as production's lighting, directing and musical choices. Like many other people on this thread, I was thinking about how I would love some soaps (certainly Y&R!) to return to this kind of... way of being. Not just the almost claustrophobic focus on telling the story, playing all the beats, the focus on people and families (and not just cyphers), but the music, the lighting, doing so much with (relatively) little. I can just imagine how a SL like Jennifer's mastectomy might be pitched to -- and rejected by -- the networks today. Because on paper it might seem boring or heavy. But back in the day, CBS gave Bell total control (network honchos were just there to make sure the scripts did not mention the word "breast"). They trusted in his writing to make the story not just about a mastectomy, but about Jennifer's fraught relationship with her family, her husband, her lover, her own body. I loved how the episode touched on her attractiveness, her need for affirmation and love. And we have the production crew underscoring all those themes with their skill in close-ups, lighting and music. We would need the people who wield power over the soaps to rethink story-telling, such as it is today. That the so-called mundane can be lifted up and become as tense and as thrilling as any mob hit. It requires an investment in writers and crew who care to do a great job, who care about the characters and world they are going to write. It requires stepping back from overt interference. I was definitely taken by how beautiful all the women were, their glossy hair, their soft, almost identically-striped lounge suits (how well those 70s fashions have aged, the men's less so). One close-up of Trish playing Chris was honestly so breath-taking. I love that Giorgio's of Beverly Hills mention bringing instant glamour to the soap genre, too. Aesthetically pleasing, but the story-lining is so strong, their lovely looks folded into that of their characters, that it is never a distraction.

Right? And it was a blessed relief to watch. Nothing to detract you from watching the wonderful, nuanced acting (although I am kind of obsessed by all the Brooks sisters' gorgeous, wavy hair), the time taken so that ALL the beats of the SL get played out without being rushed, the complex relationship between the characters. Also, the skill of production to use clever, moody lighting and meaningful close-ups to accentuate the intensity of the SL. And possibly to play down a relatively nondescript set. Although I did enjoy Stuart Brooks' walk from the front porch with his morning newspaper, through the dark, wooded, roomy entrance hall, into a living room so dark, it's like he hasn't yet gotten around to opening the curtains (the darkness a metaphor for how worried and down they all feel about Jennifer?). It was such a solid opening 10 seconds (helped by the signature dreamy music) to establish place and feel.

I loved Potomac's last 5 mins with all the stuff happening to the women off season. Real life does not wait for the Bravo shooting schedule! Just goes to show that the show is rooted in authentic events. Gizelle was awful, as usual. Why people invite her to their events, I will never know. She's an embarrassment.

I loved the siren music which had a touch of the classic 70s GH opening to it! I also liked the fact they SAID the names, and didn't sing them. The sudden singing is like.... LOL. RIP the old opening which made Quad look like a demented poodle. I always loved that they shaded her with her old face & wig year after year after year.

In some ways, I am proud my plucky Potomac managed to get where it is today on word of mouth. It shows that it is the real deal. But IA with you about BH getting the bulk of the promotion and favoritism on Bravo. Early on this past season, Rinna bragged on Twitter about how BH surpassed ATL in viewership, and I just saw red. How can this show, which is at a complete creative nadir, attract even more viewers?? I really do feel the tide is turning, however. Viewers gave BH a chance this year but their patience has run thin. Meanwhile, Potomac is getting a lot of attention on social media and in the ratings. People are really feeling it this season, and I suspect reunion will see more people tuning in (partly because Michael will be showing up). Potomac is taking off, and Dallas is on its way up IMO. I think BH is in big trouble, and ATL has gone through a bad patch, but if NJ can regenerate itself after the wilderness years (dont judge, I loved it the last two years), so can any franchise. Oh, and totally agree about M2M, which is putting most of the RH shows to shame. I love the way it focuses on marriage and relationships. These people shine in all their multi-faceted, contradictory glory. Even Quad. Agree with so much of this. Sometimes I just adore Leeanne, but sometimes she lays it on so thick that I just cannot deal. Case in point was her victimhood this episode. Either you can forgive, or you can't, so just say you can't and move on. I think it's so interesting the way D'Andra and Leeanne's tortured relationship with their mothers led them to each other. It dictates a lot of how they interact with females, specifically their need for constant validation from women.

This year AND last year. Potomac has been battimg 2 for 2. It is the best show of all the franchises, on a par with NY for me. Finally caught up on the last episode and I'm so glad I did. Katen came into her own this epi. This was not La Grande Dame, this was *Karen* being real with Ashley, and also very empathetic regarding Katie's smarts and vulnerability. Even Robyn backed her up. Gizelle tried to paint it like Karen didnt care about Katie's whereabouts, but she was completely exposed by production as a fool. It is exhausting watching Gizelle and her heavy-handedness. With Karen, it feels effortless.

Ahhh I'm enjoying the RH franchises lately (especially Queen Potomac which I don't want to end). Its almost like not enough time to watch everything! I'm excited for NJ to come back, though. Dallas So I think that D'Andra had quite a lot of work done (though I merely speculate). Besides fillers and botox, it looks like she got a facelift. Her jawline is that of a teenager! Her mouth got plumped up, subtly. And she got a nose job. I think she looks good but like others here, I prefer both Leeanne and D'Andra as brunettes. As far as SL, her codependent, toxic relationship with her mother continues to make for compelling TV. It is what makes her so prickly, needy and unconfident. D'Andra is desperate for people's approval. Viewers may hate that, but i really like that we get to see this character study. Also, the Lee-D frenemyship is always watchable. I still kind of root for them to make amends. Stephanie and Travis are such a solid couple. Their complicity and connection jumps off the screen. D'Andra is not the only one to have a facelift: Brandi got a tiiiiight one and then tried to cover it up under her white kabuki makeup. Ugh. I am least interested in watching Brandi on this show. I was ready to FF the new Kary as I love the OG Cary and wish she hadn't been demoted. But guess what, I love New Kary. She's a fireball of energy, funny, interesting background and family.... looking forward to seeing how she fits into the cast. Absolutely! Vicki did her usual "I know her secrets, if she doesn't want me to spill them, she better not piss me off!" Tamra was the one who said train, then she pretended Vicki had said it and Shannon passively backed her up. Hope Vicki and Kelly nail their asses to the wall.

Even though it seems like a new production company is doing RHOC this year, it felt like old OC with the Emily- Shane and Braunwyn-Betsey Johnson scenes. I thought it was the most solid episode in a long while. Shane clearly cannot stand his wife. I know Mormons are shy about public displays of affection (which is why this sexy Vegas dance thing is such a bad idea), but he seems utterly disgusted at the idea of touching his wife. I like Emily; he is awful. No, Braunwyn's Selfish Mom. Tamra is not a good friend calling Braunwyn to account. She is gaslighting her. Tamra and Shannon feed on each other's viciousness. Shannon redeemed herself a bit by being kind to Gina, but Tamra set up the Kelly thing and then ganged up on Braunwyn. Kelly is clearly the target this year, but I hope Tamra is the one who gets called out at Reunion. Nice Lizzie mention! And FYI a train is not 'sex'. It is rape. Why has no-one mentioned this?? Looks to me like Bravo was playing hardball and left Erika off the S10 roster when negotiating with her. Erika quickly signed up for the season because glam squads dont pay themselves! In a way I am glad she's back. She is one of the four witches I hope get called out for all their [!@#$%^&*] next season. Here's hoping.

Joan is the face of Charlotte Tilbury's new foundation campaign! https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/head/article/45714/1/joan-collins-shines-in-new-charlotte-tilbury-foundation-campaign

A lasting image of Kathryn that stays with me is her empathy towards Kim, a woman she did not even know. When she told Kim she was rooting for her at S6 reunion, Kim blew her a kiss and Kathryn blew one back. I thought it was the mark of a good soul. Yep. The Erika Jayne persona totally overtook her and she became imprisoned behind that facade.

THIS. She had amazing potential but started believing her own hype. The last two seasons especially, her attitude was so stank. ("Leave that." "Miss Crybaby.") She could barely tolerate the other women. Weirdly, the way she fawned over Denise kind of highlighted her own lack of authenticity. Yeah, I miss Kathryn and Eileen too. Kathryn was given zero chance, and I'm guessing one or more of the other HWs vetoed her. I for one loved her. She spoke before thinking, and bottled it when it came to confronting the Morally Corrupt Faye Resnick. But I thought this underscored how human she was (as opposed to a hard, emotionally cold wall of surface image). She was kind, too, and that kindness is sorely needed on BH. Absolutely. Erika tried to turn BH into a bootleg Kardashian show, with hours of footage of having her hair and makeup done. Dorit and the others started doing the same, and S8 became a clusterfuck of everybody in their clown outfits. Made me wish they'd bring back Pam to clown them with her sunglasses.

It's always been Kyle's show. She has had a producer credit since day one and has long been chirping in Andy's ear about castings. Kyle refused to film with Carlton and later Brandi, and that's why they got booted. Apparently she refused to film with Camille this season and that's why Camille wasnt asked back. Don't forget she tried to destroy Camille's rep in season 1, and we all know about her underhand efforts to get LVP in seasons 2, 4, and 9.

IA. I hope she gets help for (what I suspect are) depression / bi-polar issues. These need to be treated properly -- right now she appears to be self-medicating with the bad stuff. But even with all that going on, what I liked about Katie the last few episodes was that there was no mask. She responded to Ashley genuinely and truthfully. I found her clarity about her feelings refreshing. Honestly, my heart goes out to her. I would love her to return as a regular HW when she is in a better space mentally. By contrast, Ashley's every contrived move feels highly strategic (and I include her 'search' for her father in that category). We all know the reason she went after Katie -- because she didn't want to confront badly-needed ally Gizelle who has been FEASTING on this scandal, and she figured Katie was an easy target. Chris Samuels is the sweetest, cuddliest, funniest HW hubby ever. I love him. I love how Monique and his kids are his world. He and Mo seem like they are on the same wavelength. Speaking of Monique, I hope she drags Gizelle by her dried-out split-ends at reunion!

I expected better of Kandi. This is the kind of stunt Kim Zolciak and her do-nothing brood would pull. Some of the tweets in response were SO good and put Riley firmly in her place, but I still think Riley should have done more. Instead of a $500 lucky draw (which, for all we know, could be made up of the $$$ people already cashapped to her), Riley should have publicly returned ALL the money people was foolish enough to send her. Then she should have donated a further large lump sum of her own money to a local charity helping disadvantaged school kids or families. Potomac Finally caught up on another great episode. I really like and feel for Katie. Even struggling with issues, she defended herself quite lucidly. I am also glad that most of the other women took a step back and put a stop to the argument and tried to look out for Katie. She should have never have been the target of Ashley's ire. In addition I liked how Robyn handled everybody fairly this episode. She kind of came out of Gizelle's shadow and into her own.

Dorit will be the first and Kyle will be the second. Dorit will probably drone on about Garcelle picking the wrong utensil to eat caviar or something. Kyle will revert to default victim mode about Garcelle being 'intimidating' when she calls Kyle out on her sneaky ways. Judging by her official statement, Garcelle seems like a firecracker and I am HERE for it. I've seen her in a few movies, she is stunning and has definite chops. Someone like her is long overdue on BH. I hope she cracks that Kyle-Rinna-Erika vipers' nest wide open. No pressure, Garcelle! Lol.

I never made it through an episode of Bethenny Ever After because *her voice* for one hour straight is... woah. She alwsys seemed to be complaining a lot. Also, unlike S3 RHONY where there seemed to be some love between the two, there no longer seemed any connection between her and Hoppy after Bryn was born. This is going to sound weird but watching Hoppy on RHONY, I felt like he had this soft, calm voice, but behind the eyes.... I don't know, it's not really proof one way or another of what kind of person he is, it was just a feeling. Someone very tightly wound, perfectionist, who was a few messily-folded towels away from snapping. Both he and Bethenny seem extremely controlling, which is a recipe for disaster.

Damn, i cant keep up with this never ending divorce WHY are these two toxic, enraged, vengeful people still locked in matrimony together?? That's a recipe for tragedy and disaster. Just divorce and be done with it. Must say that I thought something was off about Hoppy from the moment he showed up on S3. If you do get a chance to stream S4, please do! I thought it was a very watchable, fast-paced season and thoroughly enjoyed the fact that Pettifleur is no longer hogging precious airtime. I enjoyed it more than S3, actually. Yes, Giner [(c)Lydia] was on the outs with over half the cast, but nothing that can't be repaired IMO. It wasnt like what they happened to LVP where you could cut the hate with a knife. I still pretty much like most of the Melbourne cast after watching, lol.

Re: Melbourne -- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7152653/The-Real-Housewives-Melbourne-set-return-major-cast-shakeup.html. I think it's still going! It is Sydney which got cancelled. Auckland was unfairly cancelled because it was a JEWEL of show. I laughed so hard watching Auckland, it really balanced the drama with the humor, and the locales were legit glamorous. I think the racism drama, and the fact that Angela Stone was so derided by the home audience, meant that S2 was a no-go. We didn't even get a reunion. I would have loved to see Angela's French intern at reunion, spilling the tea, with cat lady Anne translating her comments. Bethenny's divorce was official July 2016. It's the custody case for her daughter which is still ongoing.

Wait -- what? Bethenny's MARRIED?? She must really be in love with this guy! Too bad we don't get to see it all go down, but I guess that's how you know it's the real deal. #VowRenewalsByBravo. I hope he's a good 'un because god knows her picker is faulty with some of those dead-eyed, cold, preppy dudes she has dated. Andy and Bravo must be hopping mad!! Unless Andy was invited to the wedding. @Chris B Australia S12 would be an awesome idea! I am ok with Jill possibly coming back on board, I guess, but a friend of Tinsley's is the best they could do? Double snore. Just give the apple to Dale Mercer! Or failing that... AVIVA.

I thought RHONY was the #4 among the RH shows (behind Atlanta, BH and OC) but above Southern Charm? However, I dont know where to find the ratings so I could well be wrong. OC Nice scene between Braunwyn and Shannon. Shannon and Tamea are bending over backwards to make her the new Tres Amiga, it's cringeworthy to watch because it is so transparent. Anybody but Vicki! Speaking of Vicki, the show is badly missing her manic energy IMO. That's why they keep trotting her out for the last 15 minutes of the show.

Everything I love about Ramona is in that interview! Sure, you could construe her comments as bitterness. But I thought she was pretty even-handed in her response, and almost... loving of RHONY? Ramona recognises that she and Bethenny have a kinship. The RHONY fan in me would love Bethenny to invite all the ladies for a big Last Supper (Ponte Vecchio in Brooklyn. Make it happen, Rino of NJ fame!). There is a sisterhood there. Unfortunately, I don't think that will happen. Bethenny moves on with lightening speed and leaves everybody behind. Just when people get close and cozy with her, she runs from the unpredictable emotion because she would rather 'control the narrative' in every aspect of her life. I am shocked -- her departure is a blow to the show. If this were S8 or S9, I'd say "Bye Felicia!" She was such a bitch those seasons. I still can't warm to S9, which was an extended trailer for that godawful Bethenny & Fredrik show, and everybody else got shafted to supporting. More recently, I have warmed up to the fact that she creates genuine conflict and does share in a very intimate way. Having said that, RHONY *IS* in a better spot after S11 than after S4. Bethenny is not the only shining star on this cast -- IMO Ramona, Luann, Sonja and Dorinda are the Core Four now. So I don't begrudge Bethenny for moving onwards and upwards. I wouldn't mind if Jill, Aviva or even Carole drifted back onto the scene. The ratings will take a bit of a hit, though. And I think this announcement caught Bravo and Andy Cohen completely off-guard. OK, so going by memory: Season 4, Moroc-cohhhhhhh -- the episode where Luann gets bucked off a camel. The HWs went to eat in a tent in the desert, then went round the table to share deep & meaningful stuff. Cindy had a hissy fit because nobody was listening to her so she stormed out. Ramona followed her outside and told her that she sensed Cindy was upset because she is a very kind and sensitive person. That's when Jill did her epic eye-roll.

That is solid work by the LALATE reporter! I just wanted to point out that our very own @DaytimeFan told us yesterday that the Adlon lot was small and in no way a $7 million location. I'm glad the news is getting out there and hope thrse fake-ass RENTERS get exposed. For the life of me, I don't understand why Bravo missed a trick when it came to exposing the Kemsleys. All this money wasted, just to show off on Instagram! I will never understand why people do this.