Cat

@Cheap21 So RHONJ's cast trip didn't happen this season -- the house they were meant to go to had a fire. So the season may well have been cut down from its usual 14 to 10 or 11. I totally have been loving it... but im bummed to hear Fellner (the JFP of RHs) will be EPing. How does this guy keep failing upwards? He damn near ruined Potomac.

Ugh I have had such a fun time rewatching nuRHONY, I can't even tell you. It's underrated. It had a better first season than Dubai. That's not to say I don't love my OG RHONYs and want to see them back on my screen -- my love for Luann and Sonja alone knows no bounds. Throw in Kristen, Heather, Carole, and I'd be a happy camper for a new season of OG RHONY. What I would give for a couple to pop up on the revamp! We know that Sonja and Jessel hit it off during the Alexis Mabille Couture ad campaign, and apparently Ramona and Erin have met and hit it off (yes, you read that right -- the latter makes so much sense when you think about it). But back to nuRHONY! Wait til you get into reunion (which I am currently watching). It's a mess, but it sets up this coming season quite nicely, and I honestly cannot wait for the trailer. They're all coming back, including Jenna, and I'm pleased. The cast is a good one to start building around IMO, because they have actually forged friendships with one another. But yeah, Erin? As Jessel said at reunion (not to give anything away, but I'm going to drop this tiny nugget), the Circle of Trust was really just the Circle of 'let's b!tch about others behind their backs.' Trying to dress it up as some kind of Trust forum is ridiculous. Also Erin with "You're being aggressive" in Anguilla -- she can dish it out but cannot take it. That is going to cost her in S2 now that everybody knows she crumbles at the slightest pushback. With the help of Sai, she stirred up others against someone in the group (Jenna, Jessel), she thought she was being all cool and strategic, but when she got caught out on her own hypocrisy, she had a meltdown. Sai, too. But Sai is made of sterner stuff. I'm not sure Erin is. You are going to love Brynn during reunion, lol.

RHODubai A much tighter opening episode for S2 than the S1 opener. Chanel Ayan has become the force mutiplier [(c) Carlos King] of the show. Don't underestimate it. She has carefully centered herself to be the 'victim' of Sara's Daily Mail interview, and we all know what is coming down the pipe with Lesa. Lesa declared in her VT that Ayan was territorial of their friendship and didn't want to share her with others. But the impression I got was the other way around: Lesa was being 100% territorial of Ayan. She was doing the most to stir up Ayan against Sara, and is silently jealous of Stanbury and Ayan's new-found closeness. Stanbury telling Ayan and Sara to hash it out elsewhere because she wants to eat in peace was old-school Ladies of London Queen Stanbury. I almost applauded. Stanbury still has 'It' and everybody kisses up to her. I sensed this was also her way of slapping down Lesa, who was inflating the Sara-Ayan animosity. Sara is considered the weak link and therefore a target this season. Nevertheless, she has the backbone to stand her ground. What she said about Ayan wasn't wrong, and at least someone is pointing out the victim gamesmanship (a classic RH move, and Ayan is an assiduous viewer of the RH shows). Brooks remains an enigmatic but significant presence. She is unofficial kingmaker on this show. While Ayan/Stanbury/Lesa battle to be top dog, Brooks can afford to sit back, pick her battles and decide which horse to back. I also love that she has a real-life spa business and will be showing us that. It's been a while since we've seen a RH actual in-person business, and not just someone slapping their name on Shein gear.

Agree on the reunion episodes. There have been times when I have not completed a season but tuned into reunion to catch up (Drew singing her Ballad of Goodbye to Ralph, for example). Reunion can save a season. As for a hard reboot of RHONJ -- we are just 4 or 5 episodes into the current season, but NJ seasons are historically short, and Bravo must have finished editing and thought 'There is nothing here to save the show.' Personally, I would keep Dolores, who knows everybody and is a bridge between old-school NJ (not that I need the Manzos back) and current NJ. I would keep Danielle Cantin who has a sunniness about her that so much of the cast currently lack. I would give Teresa and her daughters a spin-off -- I believe the most watchable part of Teresa is her interaction with Gia, Gabriella, Milania and Audriana, who are stars in their own right. The rest can go. Jennifer is now up to her neck in toxic mire, as is Marge 'private detective on speed-dial' Josephs. I never want to see Joe Gorga drinking out of an inflatable doll's a-hole ever again. Melissa is inalterably tarnished by her longtime betrayals of her SIL. The Fudas are po-faced, humorless and contrived -- nothing about them says 'the future of NJ.' Thirsty Fessler can come back, though, lol. The shocking thing is that you are right -- RHONY didn't implode like this, although it did implode. Part of the RHONY problem was current events got the better of everybody. NYC's Covid lockdown was a major external negative factor (cast trip to Salem, anybody?). The message the HWs got from Bravo when they renewed the season with the entire cast intact was "You're doing great, sweetie/More of the same." These women really thought they were intrinsic to the show and could dictate cast selection. And it's not like NJ hasn't peered over that precipice before. Hello, Seasons 5 and 6. Let's hope the Potomac cast is smarter than that.

Yikes. That's a bargain. I imagine because the townhouse is in need of much renovation. That's the UES now -- everything is either renovated to shiny-but-soulless Dubai-glitz standards, or else it is considered old-fashioned/out-of-date. As long as Sonja is happy with the deal, that's the most important thing. End of an era! Please. Lisa may be many things -- a spoiled, insulated chihuahua, for example -- but she is also 90 pounds soaking wet. Lenny has a hefty, towering bear of a man in comparison. While I can imagine Lisa hitting Lenny in a fit of anger, I cannot imagine it would be considered abuse in the way most courts think of spousal abuse.

I'm telling you! Jessel really kept her cool. And Erin leaned into her Karenest Karen for that confrontation with Ubah. She got caught stirring the pot on everybody else. The episodes upon return to NYC may be illuminating for you with regards to how you might be feeling about Erin and Sai. LOL Brynn's dream is for Jenna to become her sugarmama.

delete

Just a final note on Stanbury's money -- I think she came from a family that was upper middle-class, connected and comfortably well-off. It wasn't crazy super-rich, but it was more than enough to pay for her private-school education, and it also paid for her socialite youth where she became a 90s It Girl. The real money came when she married Cem, who is Turkish and involved in the Azerbaijan energy sector -- in other words, oil money. In Ladies of London, they lived in a mansion in Surrey, possibly a gated community near Richmond where a lot of Russian oil oligarchs had homes. The fact that she and Cem moved to Dubai, the centre of the oil world, says to me that he traded in big money there, far bigger than what she grew up with. They divorced amicably, and she probably got child support, alimony and a settlement. But now she's married to Sergio Carallo, which is just Spanish Footballer money. I'm sure he made some, but he's not making any more. And the alimony from Cem has likely stopped as a result. So I think Stanbury is trying to carve out a life for herself in Dubai, the show is helping, but it's not Big Money. Big Money is Nina (who I will miss), Lesa, Sara (who has Family Money) and Brooks looks like she's making a good life for herself. Stanbury and Ayan are probably on similar socioeconomic levels below that. Totally agree with you on Ayan, for me it is the biggest turnoff when a HW tries to turn everybody against somebody else. Witness Sai and Erin on nuRHONY. Simone is SO thirsty and really doing the utmost to stay relevant. He is giving Joe Gorga a run for his money. I bet he tries to film with the new HW who is friends with Falynn, just to get some camera time.

Kenya is an alpha Acquarian to me so that's why I was surprised about Brynn. But yeah, now I see it. And Jenna too, after @Taoboi posted. Caroline Stanbury has some old money behind her, as @Taoboi said. She went to all the posh boarding schools, and those are expensive and difficult to get into without the right family connections. Your point about Ayan vs Lesa is very good. My worry for Lesa is that the person with the loudest bullhorn controls the narrative. Look at the discussion about Bethenny we've been having today ( @Gray Bunny ). Not so long ago, Bethenny's voice filled the entire void. No other voice could get a look-in. Kelly and Jill were psychos so she proved her point there. We all know what happened to Jules and Carole, though. It wasn't til OG RHONY was removed from the schedules that Bethenny had nothing to throw rocks at. The emperor has no clothes, and she unravelled. Her RH union flopped and now she's stuck trying to blackmail Chanel out of free purses. Her loudmouth dominated for a long time, and I worry Ayan will be able to do the same to Lesa because Bravo loves Ayan. Only if producers give Lesa room to express what went wrong will the audience have a true understanding of both sides. The good news is that the taglines suggest both momentum and personality, a certain tightness and cohesion.

The Sai villainy starts when they get to Anguilla, although there is a peep of it at the wreath-making event when she smirks at Erin walking out. I'll let you form your own opinion about everyone in Anguilla, just to say that I think producers told the cast to step it up on the trip. Because Erin and Sai seemed to be making issues with the other women. Sai even uttered "Just be straightforward" in one of her VTs, and I swear I got trauma-flashbacks to Kyle Vocal-Fry Richards "Just be honest," lol. Also I did that dumb astrology thing where I thought I could guess each cast member's astrology sign, but I got them all wrong! I could have sworn Brynn was a Gemini, but she's an Aquarius! Jenna, who I thought was straight-up Virgo, is actually the Gemini.

Let's hope Truly Original are actually filming when the breakdown in the Trick n Twirl 'friendship' occurs! They've missed so much thus far. Porsha and Kenya are oil and water; both are legends in their own mind, and often appear to be on different wavelengths. Will Kenya hold her tongue on the Simon-Porsha marriage? The Falynn and fake money of it all? Porsha's next sugar daddy? Will Porsha hold her's on Kenya's parade of TV-boyfriends-for-hire? Time will tell. @Taoboi You have inspired me to rewatch nuRHONY from last season. Is it perfect? No. Is it easy, breezy and relatively toxic-free? Yes. Still love Brynn! Erin is a spoiled princess but no less watchable for it. Jessel's ascension for me starts when she finally tells her mum about her IVF journey. From that moment, she finally feels comfortable showing her actual personality. Parvit is a star! Sai is starting to turn villainous. I find the rewatch a palate cleanser next to RHONJ which has entered its Point of No Return season. What I'm very much hoping is that nuRHONY S15, Dubai S2 and OC S67 get here soon. Bravo feels strangely underpowered after its RH-less Easter break. Meanwhile, on social media, Bethenny is trying to start a one-sided war against Chanel. Sigh. Good luck, Erin Brokovitch. This chick has lost the plot.

RHONJ It's hard to engage with the show when I don't like much of the cast. Dolores is wonderful, so is Bill, so is,Frank, so are Teresa's dorters, but I'm just not clicking with the rest of the cast. Too much Fuda. I don't care about the husband, and Rachel's bad plastic surgery is distracting. This is the new gen of Jersey? Marge is so unpleasant, that seeing Jen Fessler turn the tables on her is long overdue. But Fessler is playing her own game with Jackie as backup, and while that is interesting to watch, I'm not warming to her overly thirsty ways. She thinks she's smarter than she is, and I'd watch her back if I were her. The Gorgas are same-old. I don't really care about Melissa's extended family. This has to be the last season we get this interminable split in the cast... right? With Sonja, it's hard to know what's real and what's fantasy. I just hope she has sonewhere to land, allowing her to live her somewhat wonderful life. I hope she appears on the next season of RHONY.

Quad was begging for her spot back at reunion. Remember that scene with Jackie during the break?

I hope she can stay in Manhattan! I need her on the nuRHONY. I've missed Porsha's quick wit TBH!

That's a great idea, actually. There is no love lost for Phaedra in the M2M group, not really. She was tolerated last year because Bravo wanted it that way, but given how much work she put into The Traitors by comparison... This year, I suspect the gloves will be off, and Quad will and should be swarming her. Heavenly and Toya, too.

I can't believe Toya is in a car with Heavenly, Quad and Jackie and everything is easy breezy! But that is the beauty of M2M sometimes. Honestly, I think Quad will have a full-time role on the show. She's got an alliance with Heavenly, she and Jackie had some beef, she and Toya obviously, she and Sweet Tea... it would be foolish for production to cut ties with her completely.

I do know who Amanda de Cadenet is: a wild child It Girl who hosted a Friday night show called The Word in the mid-90s. Years before that, though, we apparently went to the same elementary school. And I've met her brother -- an LA artist who moved back to London. He's a good guy. Amanda reminded me (looks-wise) of a young Caroline Stanbury back in the day, and I bet they (and Caprice) knew each other in the 90s. She moved with John Taylor of Duran Duran fame to LA; he later married the founder of the brand Juicy Couture. ADC is still active in LA social circles where she has calmed down, gotten sober, and become a bit new-agey. I hope she still has some bite in her when it comes to Kyle. Eva LaRue is a firecracker, and still close with Kelly Ripa and Sarah Michelle Gellar from her AMC days. I think she'd be a great addition to BH. Eat your heart out, Rinna!

None of this is a surprise. The rumors in the US and UK indicate a separate marriage for some time. PK basically spent most of 2020 in London while she was in LA with the kids. He loves the night-life, casinos, bars, booze, wheeling-and-dealing, and especially gambling. I don't think Dorit enjoys the precarity of a life one step ahead of creditors, whoever runs Vegas these days, or the IRS. I had a feeling the Marriage Breakup SL was actually meant to be hers last season, until Kyle said "Hold my beer." So now Dorit can discuss it this season. The only problem is, Dorit lies like she breathes. Even I believe elements of Kyle's story about her marriage. I rarely believe something Dorit says, unless Jagger and Phoenix say it first.

1,000%. Don't forget she dumped her buddy Siggy Flicker once she got canned from the show and moved onto befriending Marge. Fessler is doing what's best for Fessler. On this show, it would be foolish to do otherwise.

Is this... the end?

Re: RHONJ, can't disagree with any of you. Like @Gray Bunny said, RHONJ is the Ultimate Survivor of Real Housewives. I'd go even further: RHOC is Ultimate Survivor; RHONJ is literal hand-to-hand gladiatorial combat with a cheering Roman coliseum baying for blood. And like @Gray Bunny, I get the stomach knots when I watch. Nevermind them hating each other -- I'm not sure I like many of them. Dolores has long been my girl on this show, thanks to her sensible nature, and I hope and trust that she will continue to rise above the fray. Jennifer and Teresa are openly involved in bringing the other team down these days. However, they aren't very good at retaining soldiers (Kim D, Jacqueline, Danielle Staub, Staten Island, associated Twitter pundits) and that spells badly for them. Jen Fessler is on another level from most of these women in terms of intelligence. So why does she want to get involved with their drama? I liked Fessy a lot last season, but I am curious how she handles her blatant allegiance-shifting. I'm also curious how Marge will handle it. The whiff of Hawaiian Tropic/red-hot heat of the tanning bed that emanates from Da Huzzbinds! Some of the steroid abuse is also crazy. One of them is literally growing moobs. Grandma Fuda was funny and, boy, she had some poker face referring to Jennifer as 'Nose Job' while Rachel Fuda's elongated, purpose-built ski-jump was right there.

Thank you @Gray Bunny ! That is a lot of strong flavors in one glass, but the beauty of a truly amazing cocktail is to be surprised by the fact that you can taste all the different ingredients in one gulp, and that they actual enhance one another. LVP has been in the bar game a long time, so she knows what she's doing. I imagine Checkmate Bitch contained exactly the kind of spicy kick that Adrienne, Rinna and Bland Spice (if you know, you know) got in the face whenever LVP walked into a room.

This is what I mean about every RHONJ-adjacent's grandmother and her cat trying to scare up some coin by joining the RH ecosystem. They become gossip bloggers or podcasters and trade in leaks and information passed from the HWs. I scroll past them on Twitter at this point, but Melissa's Old Nose was quite obviously Teresa/Jennifer's mouthpiece for years. Behind the Velvet Rope used to get dirt from Marge until they fell out. Now that podcast is pro Teresa. It's a whole ecosystem out there built to push different HW narratives, as you say. It really got going in Atlanta when early RHOA took off. I don't see what all the fuss is about, except that I'm finding it an increasing distraction from the actual shows. They need to be careful it doesn't take away from the franchise itself, because all the contrived stuff on the shows are starting to pale in comparison with the Twitter dirt and surprise announcements. This past season of RHOBH is a prime example where Kyle's PR team and Netflix spinoffs have totally stolen BH's thunder. ETA: your point about SLC is especially interesting, because while the whole reveal involved the fact that Monica was a SLC gossip bloggers, the drama was played out entirely on the show. Entirely! RH Twitter went nuts (in a good way) and it helped drive viewership to the show itself.

Seriously. In NJ? Marge needs to watch her back. She's going to threaten to spill on the wrong person one of these days. And I think that blackmailing/intimidatory nastiness has weighed on her. There's no joy in her RH game anymore. LVP looked absolutely glorious, that light, bubblegum pink complements her very well. Back in the early days of RHOBH, LVP was literally the physical cross of (at their peak) Liz Hurley, Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Bissett. Truly spectacular looks.