Cat

Holy sh*t, that was Frankie?? He looked better before.

IA about Brandi, though I think the issue was more a case of Brandi not being part of the BH wealth bubble. As a result, she was in a position of weakness that Kyle and Kim used against her, and which Yolanda and (maybe) LVP exploited. (LVP once said the beginning of her breakdown in her friendship with Brandi came when Brandi wanted in on investing in PUMP and LVP/Ken turned her down, fearing perhaps that she didn't have the money and also that she would use the place as her personal wine cave). She became the lapdog for drama because that was ALL she had to bring to the table. No property porn, no fancy vacations, no crazy money on crazy cosmetic procedures, no hanging out with her kids even. NJ is a different animal -- the dynamic is complete toxicity with added 'fambly' dysfunction thrown in. Some of these women are wannabe tough-guys, so there's that 'Eye-talian' element which Bravo adores. Not to mention that Teresa was in the pokey and Juicy is there now! And Kim G is likely up to her neck in mafia money/coke/murder/allegations -- Posche seems like a front for something much dodgier. NJ is built around some really dark things. I find the look in Teresa's eyes very sad. Danielle's few moments in the trailer were IMO some of the least toxic parts. Speaking of Brandi, this was her outfit when she got booted from CBB. Yikes at all that flesh-colored netting.

That is some bullsh!t about Danielle not being a regular HW! For her 8 seconds of material in that teaser she should be! Kathy did less in 3 seasons!

She really was. SF once called Stephanie a tentpole character, holding up the show, and she was right. It is an amazing part (back when Dynasty/Dallas/Falcon Crest/Knots Landing had breathed life into amazing character roles for women over 40), and when you have a talented actress who gives the part authority, experience, backstory and nuance, you have a star-making turn. I literally cannot keep my eyes off her. When she talks to her children at the breakfast table, I am hanging on her every word just like they are. And ITA about the different relationships with her kids. It added to the layers of character that Susan Flannery and Bill Bell had already sketched onto Stephanie. The Forrester children had characteristics that Stephanie already possessed -- or wish she had. Ridge was essentially a surrogate husband -- she was drawn to his seductiveness as she had been with Eric -- but she also felt protective of Thorne's sweetness, too, fearing he might be trampled by Ridge's assertiveness (maybe as she had once been hurt by Eric's cheating). The dialogue lol is from another time. But I loved it and miss it sometimes. The formality and vocabulary reminds me of how my grandparents used to speak. Nobody speaks that way now, but at least nobody in this clip is mumbling their words or chewing end consonants or indulging in baby-speak ! I like that attention to elocution on the Bell shows. The dialogue was important and everybody treated those written words with kid gloves.

@DRW50 Watching that clip, I am impressed by Susan Flannery's game. She elevates everybody (and the show as a whole). Some of the dialogue is a little formal and stilted (Kristen's especially, but Thorne asking his dad how his romantic evening went was also a giant wtf!). However, SF is so natural in her delivery that she makes it all sound perfectly normal. She really flips the audience who go from hating her to loving her. Her command of this character is one of the best I have ever seen in soaps tbh. KKL was radiant. It's clear this is one reason she rose above the fray on B&B, because this show is mostly packed with glamorous blondes. (Love the ads -- TV advertising's last hurrah before the internet age threw a flame-thrower on all that)

Trump's ass could cause a solar eclipse.

I mean, what else can I add to a post which is pure PERFECTION ? I agree with absolutely everything you said! Your Rinna comment "...a toxic version of Brandi" -- that is some TRUTH right there! "Let's not pretend that her marriage to Tom was a worse idea than the Jason Hoppy mess." OMG THANK YOU. He always was a controlling, repressive jerk, and Skeletor was looking for a sperm-donor. As for LuTom, well, Luann has always had the most awful taste in men (perhaps with the exception of Jacques)! NEVER FORGET le grand mistake de St Barths! I love that you love Ramona so much. Because I do, too. IMO she is a staple of NY. A true character. S9 was her rock bottom, but I think she can rebound from here. I hope Dayyyyle can come back to NY (minus Tins) and befriend/counsel Ramona. "Kelly, I love you, but sometimes I think you are the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz."

She does, and don't forget how competitive she gets with LVP! One thing I will say for both Adrienne and Paul (I have a soft spot for Paul Massif!) -- when TayShana was dealing with abusive Russell and he was threatening to sue Camille, A&P took a stand at the white party. IMO it was the right stand, because it forced TayShana to finally seek a divorce, for her own and her daughter's safety. IA that it hasn't been the same since Carlton/Joyce season. The production values took a real fall that season, and everything looked and felt cheap and tacky. When Yolanda tried to pretend that Ken laid hands on her, that was a real low. Brandi especially brought the season down throughout. I guess this answers my question about whether she should come back! lol lol sorry! I was just thinking out loud. I am avoiding CBB because I can't bear to hear her defensive gutter mouth so I guess that speaks volumes. After s10?? I wouldn't mind if Bethenny doesn't come back after this season! It might bring Jill and Aviva back sooner! And I say this after having watched the first part of reunion. Bethenny seemed much better, calmer, more compassionate. I liked the overall feeling of the reunion thus far: it was non-toxic (the LuTom carnage apart) and I like the way these women enjoy and relate to each other. I read some comments on Reality Tea calling for Ramona to be fired. However, I really liked her this episode. I thought she was true to herself but also owned up to her faults (though I side-eyed the abuse excuse). Ramona and Bethenny are different sides of the same coin, which is why it seems so off for Skeletor to be attacking Ramona for the very things she does herself (says awful things to people, uses her bad childhood to deflect criticism, etc). The outfits were all over the place this reunion, but I do think Ramona and Skeletor have had fabulous facelifts, and Luann's face also looks sensational. Best hair has to go to Bethenny and Carole. Tinsley's look is awful, and Sonja looks a sloppy mess. I am so ready to FFed this 'insincere party' accusation from Sonja next week.

The lady who had to bring into work her copy of a business degree for a white coworker to "examine" ... The humiliation, the denigration! All so an insecure white dude can feel 'bigger' than her.

It's a general refusal of personal responsibility and accountability which seems to characterise these people. It's always somebody else's fault that their life is in the shitter and they beat their kids. Mexican illegals! Black peoples! Big Government! Never their own actions. I remember an analyst saying that the reason those same folks would go after Michelle Obama is because they would claim that her efforts to combat obesity with Let's Move! were targeted and aimed at 'humiliating' them. And they hated that this black female was telling them to take a walk and not shovel cancer-causing foods into their pie-hole. The horror! They are getting defensive because they know that their silent acceptance of this destructive regime gives it oxygen to live. It is exactly as Martin Luther King described almost 50 years ago:

"The problem is the PEOPLE." And we all know how Nazi Germany dealt with people who were 'problematic.' She totally outed herself before this point, but the mention of "choose to be straight" (by implication, others 'choose' to be gay!) tells me everything I need to know about this highly defensive person.

And @Nothin'ButAttitude ! Who is a longtime BH watcher. My thoughts? I am not sure Camille has it in her to be a total thoughtless bitch again. Or at the very least roll out Alison Dubois for another Dinner Party! So as usual, we will be relying on rumor-mongerer and proven liar Lisa Rinna to provide the fireworks. I feel like the current cast may be past their sell-by date. Just like many NY fans are baying for Ramona and/or Sonja to be cut from the show, so I wonder if LVP and Kyle should sign off. I love LVP and Kyle's family drama is the stuff dirty Hollywood secrets are made of, but I think LVP has lost her lustre since season 6, and Kyle should stick to nurturing her family. But hey, I'll still be watching. These women always surprise me somehow! This is random, but I would like to see Dorit and Erika to develop a friendship and both let their guards down. Is Brandi Glanville ready for a comeback on BH? Hmmm. Another random thought: Yolanda should have returned, if only to be exposed for her duplicity. She was a scheming piece of work. The more I think about her illness, the quickie divorce payout, the way she manages her two model girls (for what kind of life, I don't know)... something in the buttermilk ain't clean. David Foster brought her legitimacy, but she no longer has that to cover herself with. I would LOVE Kathryn back! Truly lovely, open person with a legit OJ Hollywood background. Gone too soon, sigh. I wonder if Erika and Eileen ousted her, because LVP and Kyle seemed to like her. Obviously I 100% agree with your words about Bethenny. This has been my bugbear with her the past two seasons. She has too much power, Andy abides by her every dictate, and this is no longer an ensemble. I crave the balance of seeing all these women equally and both their good and bad sides. Remember how we were allowed to make up our own minds about Jill? Silex? Ramona? Luann and the count? Instead, I feel like I'm being FORCED by production to love Bethenny (the so-called 'funny abrasive voice of reason b!tch') and hate Ramona (who has always been crazy, drunk, borderline Aspergers, and an affront to civilised behaviour -- why is this a shock only now?). This makes me stubbornly want to do the opposite actually. Plus, if they do get rid of Ramonja, who will be left? Bethenny going after Luann like Cujo? Dorinda trying to drunkenly mediate? Tinsley and Carole doing f*ck all? Don't get me wrong, I love that Tinsley found a genuinely wonderful man, and that Carole set her up with him. Carole did something kind because she actually likes Tinsley. Sadly, neither are remotely interesting enough for 19 episodes. (P.S.: However, getting rid of that whey-faced, mumble-mouthed, hipster manbun was a good move by Carole. She only dated him because he was young and this made her feel validated. I can understand, but honestly he wasn't all that and a bag of gluten-free vegan chips).

OK, I enjoyed the S2 opener -- and I previously vowed never to watch this show again! S1 Dallas was such an odd bird. It didn't seem to fit in the RH pantheon with the farting and dog sh!t stuff. And LeeAnne played up to camera way too much for my liking. Everybody else was just obliterated by her outsize personality. What I liked about this episode is it LOOKS like a RH show. It LOOKS expensive. Seeing the real estate porn, especially Kameron's house, reminded me of the good old days of BH with the swivelling camerawork of gorgeous interiors and walk-in closets. IA D'Andra and Kameron are good additions. I liked Kameron a bit more than I did in the teaser. but I hope this pink dog food story doesn't run the whole season. I'm not interested. D'Andra and her hot hubbie and FABULOUSSSSSSS mother who is seriously channeling some Tammy Faye Bakker are a WIN for me. As someone with a strong mother, I can recognise the dynamics, and it is interesting to watch -- if a little painful at times (like the way D'Andra suddenly turns on her lovely husband and his way of buttering his toast when she sees her mother side-eye it). Brandi's face looks like it is melting off and revealing the Cabbage Patch Doll underneath. When her highly disinterested husband Bryan showed up to bed and she was lying there like she'd just woken up in full coal-black eyeshadow and fake lashes, I was like . Last season, Bryan HATED her, and I find his newfound 'love' for her totally fake. I remember reading somewhere a theory that Bryan last season was in love with Travis (Stephanie's husband) and that's why he couldn't stand to touch his wife. Travis was oblivious to this. It makes me view the dynamic between the two couples in a whole new way lol. I would be for Brandi in this Stephanie-Brandi fight, except that she won't even tell Stephanie what the issue is?? That says to me that she doesn't want to repair the friendship but would rather drag out the fight for the cameras. BYE! I have always secretly liked Cary for being a full-blown beyotch who BJed her way to being a plastic surgeon's wife when he was already married. She is a shark-eyed gold-digger, but she is also sometimes the voice of reason on this show. I'm not sure if I miss Tiffany as a full HW, but I did 100% buy her friendship with LeeAnne was ride-or-die.

As someone who is currently watching Knot's Landing for the first time ever (I am on the season where Paige has shown up, Olivia is getting into cocaine and Evil Peter is making the moves on her!), I really hope OC builds and builds into some good interactions! Maybe I'm just being too mean and picky today. Sometimes as a soap fan I fall into a trap of being cynical about everything.

I can't either! It's not that I enjoy the fake, toxic stuff where they are thrown together all the time. IMO that was a problem with NYC this season. I do enjoy the organic stuff where they do their own thing. In fact, RHOC under Scott Dunlop's production excelled at this in the first six seasons of the show. We saw all the ladies dealing with work and families, and these were running stories through the season. Tamra and Simon Barney even screamed "DIVORCE!" on camera in the back of a limo! By contrast, this and the last episode felt like strictly filler for me. Vicki moving office is hardly scintillating. Is this the way it is going to be all the way through to episode 16 when they are finally forced together on a cast trip? Isolated and yet unable to do anything organically except incessantly b!tch about each other? Peggy, bless her, looks so confused because she barely knows these women and they barely care about getting to know her. It is all about V vs S/T.

@Nothin'ButAttitude OK, you are making me want to watch Dallas more than OC! OC is a chore. All the good stuff appears to be happening off camera (like Tamra's fight with Sidney, or that BJ allegation). The problem is also Vicki and Shannon/Tamra's refusal to film with one another. This leaves anyone not called "Shannon," "Tamra" or "Victoria" running between the two sides like minions. In fact, that is Kelly Dodd's actual job description this year. I'm not that keen on Vicki either at the moment. And of course Tamra is trash, but all she has to do is bring up her Chrishun Pasture and her chirrun, and she will have a certain segment of the audience eating out of her hand. Religion + motherhood = the great white-washer! I have no clue what Lydia and Peggy are supposed to be doing in all this. I've seen rocks act more excitingly. Not to agree with Shannon, but I sort of wish Heather was back instead of those two. Speaking of Shannon when you spoke about 'Meganeck,' for one awful second, I thought you were talking about Batgirl (above) ! I am over Meghan who has reverted back to her S10 "Scrappy Doo lectures everybody about charity and family and cancer" persona. She stays trying to bait and is hopelessly arrogant -- hopelessly because what has she got to be arrogant about? Yes, her baby is adorable, but Jimmy clearly cannot stand her flat ass.

omg you are savage lol

Yikes, sorry Cheap. I wasn't thinking and forgot to tag with my previous post. I think with Lay, the hope is that the THAAD issue with China will clear things up and allow cross promotions for EXO and Lay in both China and South Korea. Right now Lay gets a lot of hate in China for being part of a kpop group. I miss him as part of EXO. However, it hasn't heavily detracted from my enjoyment of The War which, as you say, is a more mature sound. I also love Love Me Love Me and think it is Winner's best song as a foursome. I am grateful that YG still needs them and allows them to compose and promote. I hear ya about kpop being dull, I almost checked out until this summer when it seems a lot of solid comebacks happened. And I love Taeyang's teaser! He (and your fangirling of him!) brought me into kpop back in 2014!

34% STILL APPROVE of him?? Should we just call that a ballpark figure of white supremacists in the US? I remember back in the 90s, the Oklahoma City bombing of a public building by white supremacist Timothy McVeigh and his ilk. He was called a terrorist and rightly so. Being a white supremacist alone was pretty much considered beyond the pale by most people. Now, with this presidency, it has been made viable, acceptable, with that false equivalency of "many sides."

PREACH. And she's so powerful BTS and so abrasive and Cujo-like that this isn't a 'fun rivalry' for the show, it becomes an absolute show killer. Like watching a bull terrier maul a chihuahua to death. lol at the end of S1, do you remember they invited all the HWs and kids together for dinner? Silex's little angels, Johan and François, terrorised Ramona and the adults with their screams, I suspect every NY HW now has a clause in their contract about this.

Yeah, there is material for 2 reunion episodes at best. I don't see why 3 has to be the norm for every show. I haven't watched the finale yet and I'm looking forward to it to an extent but... I am also a little relieved that this season is over. It did not grip me, though it wasn't for lack of fighting. Just that the fighting got repetitive. There have been fun moments but overall this show has been centered on one person's story with all the other HWs in supporting. It felt like the show was pushing an agenda with all the Bethenny-propping and that turned me off. I prefer to make up my own mind about the HWs, because my opinion of them usually changes on a dime, lol. I don't know if Bravo will hear POVs similar to mine, though, because Andy is so firmly up B's ass, and Ramona as the lone anti-B made an ass of herself all season.

Skeletor had a face lift and some more of her jawbone whittled down. Ramona' s face has settled. I don't know what is going on with Sonja's boobs, though.

Tamara Tattles added some further context, which is to say that while all this was going on on social media, Tamra and Eddie were actually in Aruba for a tourist-board-paid "vow renewal." Is OC still being filmed?? This sounds right up Bravo's alley. (That and vagina tightening procedures, which I never need to see ever again). Seems like Tamra was very busy on the internet while supposedly spending some QT with her beloved. It is also the kind of drama the OC should be bringing right now. Gretchen is so thirsty, man. That being said, she should totally have been made a HW or FOH instead of Peggy. This season is losing momentum. And I know Meghan is not nearly as insufferable as her first season, but she really does love to hear the sound of her voice. Coming back to Tamra, while I do think Sidney has valid points and has been consistent in pointing out what she doesn't want involved in her relationship with her mother (aka a Bravo camera!)... this does not mean I am automatically Team Simon. Based on watching OC, he was a highly controlling, bitter, manipulative man, and I don't blame Tamra for wanting a divorce. I do think he tried to do right by Ryan, though, back in the day, and keep him on the straight and narrow. Seeing the footage of Ryan then and now, I am shocked at how much he has changed in only 10 years. That hollow-eyed deadness... this isn't just age, right? Can we agree that Ryan has or currently is struggling with some kind of addiction issue?

The college comment is very telling of somebody who associates love with money. How much money you throw her way = how much love somebody is giving you -- or how much love they are entitled to receive from you. For me, it's the tone and the #brainwashed. She is so dismissive of this long post by her daughter. Bottom line: Sidney does not want to be part of the show, or even mentioned in any great detail. This is not an unreasonable request. It is practically a direct plea to her mother. But Tamra just gave her daughter zero validation. Moreover, with #brainwashed, she is now publicly calling into question her daughter's mental capacity. Kind of like she and Heather did with Shannon and later Kelly (#psychoticbreak).

She was spot on but I don't think her apologizing made her weaker. I think Dorinda is a kind person who realized that Bethenny needed validation. Bethenny is in such a position of power on this show. She hocks her margaritas and gets centre space in the line-up and has EP power BTS. She treats these women like employees and lords it over them. But she has no real friends and kind of wants them to embrace her in a weird way. Dorinda said things Bethenny has long suspected is true about herself but she couldn't handle it when truth was spoken to her. Perhaps she will realise one day that friendship requires a level playing field, and that in order for her relationship with them to be authentic, she might have to expose some of her vulnerabilities and 'come down' to their level in order to be truly accepted. Because right now they don't seem all that keen anymore to kowtow to her on everything.