Cat

RHOA midseason trailer.

The BH cast is SO careful about protecting their images at all times that it's hard to tell if this is a SL or not. There has been a careful trail-of-breadcrumbs on social media with Kyle not posting much of Mauricio over the past year -- but posting an awful lot of her + her new BFF. Ironic if this rumored affair is true -- JustBeHonest went after married Denise to expose her alleged affair with a woman. Talk about Rinna, Kyle and Erika getting karmic payback since then. The announcement to People was as definitive as it gets. The article was written by a BH-friendly Bravo blogger and author of 'Diamonds & Rosé,' which Bravo officially sanctioned. Big PR firms usually pick People and a holiday long weekend to bury uncomfortable news about their clients, but in this era of round-the-clock social media this seems like an outdated strategy. I think that Kyle & Mauricio did plan to quietly announce their separation, but the reaction (perhaps at home as well as on social media) prompted them to backtrack. Maybe Bravo gave them grief because they didn't save the fallout for the cameras. Also the need to protect the Umansky brand which has now extended to Netflix and become a family business. BTW Mauricio made a big show of family unity yesterday on Instagram:

Wait, what?? Plot twst: Kyle & Mauricio deny they are divorcing: I'm actually glad, because I do not wish them ill [(c) Alison Dubois]. They genuinely seemed like a love match. Kyle went against her family's dictats to marry him, a relative unknown in her mother's mind. Something about this statement, though, screams crisis management, perhaps for the sake of Portia who is still a child and in school. Also, how to untangle the Umansky finances in a divorce? What has been purchased with RHOBH money, and with Agency money? The gorgeous Father of the Bride house they live in? The chalet in Aspen? Kim's Goddamn House in Palm Desert? Mexico? All this is as dramatic and twist-turny as any great soap. Bravo and the RHOBH crew need to be ON IT because otherwise the season which just filmed will be completely overshadowed by this news. P.S.: The evil part of me cackled when I saw this:

And during Denise's takedown season, there was Mo hitting the bong big-time and partying with his Agency staff at the house while she was shooting Halloween 55. Some woman off camera was calling to him "Mauricio" while he was on the phone to her in the middle of that party. It was such a random scene. I was like, who is that woman? PK might want to watch out too. ETA: * SCREAMS * Not even a July 4th drop could sweep this under the rug

Exactly. This is the Scandoval BH has been waiting for. And I need a camera on Rinna to see the smile evaporate from her face. You know she was banking on a boring season to be able to return to the show in triumph. Kyle's announcement has put paid to that now.

She crucified her that season for that joke.

For the first time ever, I am intrigued to hear how Journalist Teddi is going to handle this on her podcast. "The thing is this, you guys...."

He better!

Bravo hastily recutting the season as I type. We meed Andy and a camera STAT She's doing it for us fans! Lol

Love has died. Officially.

Holy sh!t, People?? And of course, all our collectiv minds right now are going straight back to S1 and Alison Dubois... Lol its that drip-drip viral marketing three months away from a trailer being dropped.

If Larsa thinks she's going to get half of another player's retirement portfolio, she's got another thing coming. As soon as Michael Jordan heard she was suing Pippen for 50%, he likely got Marcus's money locked in trusts. He understands exactly who and what he is dealing with. @Taoboi I don't know if you've heard the BH gossip which has emerged recently on Twitter. And nope, its not Mauricio & Dorit. Now, I personally believe this is all wishful thinking on the part of a BH fan which somehow went viral. But eagle-eyed Insta followers noticed that Kyle hasnt posted lovey-dovey Mauricio content in some time. Instead, she has been posting a lot of pics of a new best friend -- Morgan Wade. Who looks a lot like Teddi with tattoos. The speculation is that Kyle and MW are an item and that the Umansky marriage is quietly no more. Unfortunately, BH finished filming some time ago, and the fact that we have heard zzipabout the season leads me to believe that this rumor doing the rounds will not be featuring. Shame! An escándalo as big as this would already have been leaked by a Bravo producer, IMO. Nevertheless, I am enjoying the fanfic vibe and the TIkTok Jessica Fletchers of it all.

RHOC How was Taylor not made into a full-time HW? We got her bisexuality reveal (a secret well kept all these years) and she has strongly activated Heather to lean into her most performatively outraged. Just like Kyle with her (totally unfounded) martyr complex, outrage is Heather's happy place. Last year, her arguing skills were sorely under-utilized, but Taylor has brought back Prosecutor Dubrow's golden tongue. That, plus the amazing amount of flashbacks in the episode, solidifies my feeling that OC is harking back to its glory years. I am loving it, even if the ratings are meh. Meanwhile, Jenn continues to change her story on philandering Ryan (how is this guy getting the chicks? I honestly do not understand it. He is no Frankie Catania Jr), and Tamra continues to throw friend and foe under the bus every chance she gets. Like I said, this is classic OC, and an added bonus, it's not painfully dark.

@Taoboi Trailer for Dune Part 2 is now out!

Good point. And ITA that without having meaningfully resolved S5 and Monique's banishment (by the EP as well as the GEBs), RHOP has been in a long rut and cannot move forward properly. The only stumbling blocks to her return has got to be Candiace, and Gizelle's corrosive jealousy. ETA: Speaking of Gizelle.... I kind of feel for her here, not going to lie.

I feel like Monique is the missing piece that RHOP's core cast does not want, but needs, to acknowledge. But as Cheap pointed out, this may not be the right time for her personally to enter that gladiatorial arena.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was only thinking about the entertainment value of having Monique back on Potomac, but I would imagine that the last thing on earth she wants to do right now is dip her toe in that nest of vipers. She'd have literally one person (Karen) in her corner, and the GEBs would be cackling over her divorce and spreading cheating rumors. So, yes, establishing a new co-parenting system for her 3 kids and adjusting to a new life must be her priority now. I would love her on RHUGT. Monique can be prickly and puts up a wall to get to know her, but once the wall comes down, it could engender some cross-RH friendships. I know little about the NBA. I do wonder if the budget KKW bot will feature Marcus a lot this season. She's been hiding him the last two seasons, and neither he nor his family seem to want him anywhere near a RH franchise.

@Taoboi I am so glad you are back! I was worried you had stopped watching the RHs, but I can see you've been catching up with RHOA and last season's RHOC. And probably working non-stop like I have! I hope you start watching this season's OC eventually because so far it is a return to form. Emily is currently my fave. I still have to catch up on this week's RHOA. Kenya better be giving me more than 'I'm going to get Marc's spermcicles for Baby #2" because there is NO WAY on God's green earth that Marc is going to give her one of his nose-ringed sperm. NO WAY! He hates her too much and wants to see her grovel. And pay. As in, give him alimony. And while we are on the subject of RHOA... OMG Sanya is 100% the Terri Melon Hump of RHOA! And this non-baby SL for a second straight season is for the birds. Re: RHOM -- I've been hooked to Twitter this weekend watching the RHOM Mexico City images come through. Ever feel like you are watching a RH show in real time? That's how I feel with this RHOM trip. And just enough details to whet our appetites without giving everything away. You know I stan Adriana, especially with her Dark Hair. She's my OG. But I enjoy all of them TBH. Probably Larsa the least because I'm not as invested in the Budget Kardashian fembot as I am in the others. Re: RHOP -- sad for Monique and Chris but wow, what I would give to have Monique back on RHOP. I mean, if perennial singletons Gizelle, Robyn (yes, she is single, we all know it), Ashley and Charrisse can eat up the show, then Monique can be on there. Housewife can mean divorced.

Yep. Sooner or later, VP will exact revenge. See Berezhovsky, Litvinienko, (almost) Navalny, among many others. No matter where they are in the world. I just don't understand why Prigozhin called it all off, knowing VP's modus operandi. VP is ruthless and vengeful, and will want payback for being humiliated on the world stage. If this coup is even legit.

And now apparently Putin's buffoonish puppet in Belarus has brokered peace between Wagner and VP? Lukashenko has invited Prigozhin to stay there, and the Kremlin says it won't be prosecuting anyone in the Wagner Group -- which would be a first, to say the least. The more I read, the more this whole mess reads fishy and manufactured. For what ends, though? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/25/wagner-boss-to-leave-russia-as-reports-say-us-spy-agencies-picked-up-signs-of-planned-uprising-days-ago

I agree that this season has all the makings of another good one. We have connected with these women's personal histories and heart-breaks, and also the bond between many of them seems strong and genuine. These ladies are not just co-workers. I'd go further and say its Surrogate Time. No way Larsa wants to distort her body again after all that money Scottie paid for it. She also realises that having a kid with these dumb, rich dudes literally secures the bag. Michael Jordan Sr is probably already talking to a lawyer after seeing that headline.

The idea that this guy might be easier to negotiate with than Putin, if not a 'better' leader for Russia going forward... absolutely ludicrous. He has exposed himself as no better than Chechen psycho Ramzan Kadyrov, only with delusions of controlling a massive country encompassimg 8 time zones. He is as nasty, grasping as RK, and (as this foolish attempt to take power from the Godfather shows) just as dumb and ridiculous. I saw your post earlier, but when I came to posting, I wanted to link to it but couldn't find it! Your observation is very astute, as always. For years, VP famously employed a propaganda strategist who had originated in Moscow's theatre of the absurd. The point was to go through the motions of 'democracy' with fake, useless presidential candidates who ended up never winning, while blanketing Russia in opaque or false information to keep the people unknowing and on their toes (about 80-90% reportedly get their news from state television, and only state television). The falsehood of democracy became like a TV show, a sort of Russian Idol, where 'votes have been counted' and which eroded democracy with each passing election. Russia has never experienced democracy, certainly not a functioning one, and after the traumatic, violent, poverty-stricken, mafia state of the 1990s , democratic institutions had been completely tarnished as weak and highly ineffective.

I still wonder if all this is an act of grandiose political theatre, allowing Putin to suspend a paper-thin constitution and rubber-stamp legislature, become supreme leader, clear out the 'weaklings' in the Kremlim and military, give Prighozyn command of the military to go full scorched earth in Ukraine, and disseminate the false impression in the West that Russia may be about to topple. Ukraine does not have command of the skies over Ukraine. Russian air force does. Air forces can also deploy nuclear missiles. I'm worried certainly about where this will lead. Even if it is a genuine coup.... this mercenary group is highly brutal, bloodthirsty and psychotic. As they showed in Bucha and countless other Ukrainian towns.

RHOC Newbie Jenn's story of her affair, but then backpedalling to imply it somehow wasn't physical, was a classic newbie mistake which will cost her dear. Tamra has been itching to discuss this affair on-screen, and all the other women hopped onto the story which will now be a main topic for much of the season. Gina definitely wants to ride Jenn's affair for her own SL so she's leaned into some good old-fashioned performative outrage. Taylor and Heather doing that Hallmark movies script-read was hilarious but they were also kind of good? It's amazing to me that Taylor has a deep-cable acting career no-one has ever heard of. And Heather is deeply miffed about it. Shannon does not trust Tamra further than she can throw her. RHOA Marlo is twisting the story of her nephew so that it somehow involves Kandi? That is weird and she'sdoing too much. Marlo is the producers plaything, and I think they want Marlo to segue into the recent incident at OLG, the one Kandi and Todd refused to talk about in episode 1. Sanya thinks she can play both sides, have her cake and eat it, too. She can't. Even the notoriously slippery Phaedra Parks couldn't do that. Anyway, in Kenya's eyes, she is now the weak link, and she'll be coming after Sanya. 40-something Drew gyrating and trying to launch a singing career. I shouldn't enjoy watching what is inevitably going to flop, but I do.

Poor Guerdy. I hope she's OK and doing well with her treatment. A day after she collapsed, RHOM fans spotted the cast out for Adriana's event, and Guerdy was there. Hopefully it was just the heat that got to her the day before. The RHOM went to a cathedral in the city yesterday, and approached the altar in what appears to have been an understandably emotional moment for Kiki, Julia, Guerdy in particular.