Cat

Hoping @Taoboi can now catch up on S5 of RHOM and post about it here

It's the most beautiful townhouse on its straight (with green leaves covering its brick facade), and I love love love how she decorated the interiors. Truly a dream property in London. A lot of this history would have been great if eventually discussed on the show (obviously Annabelle couldn't mention the R word). I had heard the gossip about Marissa's husband's clubs. However, even without these stories, I thought Ladies of London was a great show, and could stand on its own when it came to these ladies' interactions with each other. Like Marissa and Juliet's eroding friendship, or Caroline and Sophie's. But yeah, the LOL were incredibly well-connected.

Of all the people who deserve a fat payout like that, Larsa was not top of my list! She obviously has an ace lawyer and dedicated years to tending to Scottie Pippen, so yay for her I guess? You know she'll be throwing it in everybody's faces at reunion.

I'd be up for this scenario. Kim D added a touch of humor to the proceedings. She always has a wink for the audience, cuz she knows this is petty nonsense. Danielle Cabral disappointed for the reasons you pointed out. But now that she knows the shark pool she is swimming in, id give her a second season, to see if she can reorient. I read somewhere that she did not intend on returning, because of family and her husband viewing the exercise as way too intense. So you may get your wish. I'd love Drita as a FOH, or Danielle Staub!

Balance is key, between light and dark, and chemistry between the cast. That is what RHONJ has lost. It is back to being scorched earth over there. With Miami and OC, there is,a feeling of the women enjoying their lives and the interaction with each other.

You're probably right, although the family + husbands aspect extended the family aspect of the show and was a winning formula. Well, whatever Bravo decides, NJ needs a pause.

I 100% believe the Gorgas lied about Gia. They think she's 'fair game' because she's over 18 and out of college. And she put Zio Joe firmly in his place two seasons ago. So she's the enemy now. They knew accusing Gia would make Teresa spiral, and it did. She walked off upset, and the Gorgas smiled smugly and broadly. They said that only a 'monster' would lie on their niece like that, but given the Gorgas track record of throwing multiple family members under the bus for their TV fame, this is completely on trend for them. I also believe Frankie Jr, who with a cushy new job in a NYC brokerage, has no reason to lie about his past job experience with Luis. This is more than just politeness. He sounded like he didn't know why he'd been brought into this, and Dolores quite rightly nipped it in the bud for his sake. I was waiting for Marge to be exposed as much as you, but the problem is that Tre vs Gorgas has engulfed the show completely. Also Teresa is not S4 Teresa where she took on 4 women against her. Teresa is not a wordsmith, cannot lie convincingly, is easily poked and manipulated, and cannot clearly articulate the crux of her anger with her family, let alone go after Marge. This is why the reunion was a letdown for me. Teresa is unable to nail her enemies to the wall. Luis is skeevy and going to be a huge liability for her, but she won't see it until its too late, and certainly won't admit to it publicly. Because of her pride. I personally cannot stand to look at either Marge and Melissa, and would honestly be relieved if they never graced my screen again. Melissa has always been a copycat narcissist user, and Marge is vicious and completely unlikeable. She thinks she's a hoot with the lame scripted shtick and kooky/creepy Marleny of it all, but it's all so cringe to me. She has methodically hijacked this entire show by stealth, and I'm long over it. However, it is clear the cast mostly backs the Gorgas, or are ready to cross to that side. I think Teresa is islanded on this show. And that this show needs a long break. Maybe RHONJ needs Melissa, Marge and Teresa to all step away. I don't know anymore. I'm tired, lol.

I'm just relieved the season is over, because it was a slog. Reunion was a sh!t-show. With all the screeching over people, I couldn't make out a damn thing, and it rendered all these oh-so-important points meaningless. I really don't care who Bo Dietl is and who these other peripheral characters coming out of the woodwork on social media are. RHONJ always had these thirsty random people desperate to get on the show. Melissa & Joe's smug triumphant gaslighting remains a turn-off to me (they clearly practiced their performance and knew what buttons to push). However, Luis is also a shady, skeevy f*ck who tries to intimidate others with threats and false 'let's put it behind us' handshakes. Teresa is completely in his power. He saw the division in this family and took an opportunity to make that worse and shore up his own position. It was in Teresa's own personal interest to let him do that because the grievance between her and the Gorgas will always be insurmountable. I will say that I believe Gia, who remains adamant she never told Joe that he could do better than Melissa. I think Luis is muddying the waters and leaving his stepdaughter to carry the can. Such a winner, this one. Fuda stood his ground and that is commendable. His story is completely plausible. Still largely uninterested by his wife. Marge and Jennifer extending olive branches was 100% the right thing for the show to move forward. However, I'm not sure Marge is widely beloved by the audience, nor is Melissa, nor even is Jennifer. While it makes sense from a personal relationship perspective for the show to continue excluding Teresa who would be spun off to her own show.... the remainder of this cast may not be enough to carry the show. I'd go as far to say that Marge and Melissa are despised. Without Teresa, it looks like they triumphed with the help of Bravo. I also don’t think Teresa wants to leave anymore. She now considers RHONJ to be her show. RHOC Second episode was a pretty fun watch, and really feels like a return to form. It's funny how I didn't miss Gina at her boat party. In many ways, the welcome return of Taylor Armstrong felt a more organic fit with this group. Unlike nuJenn, Taylor was comfortable and not nervous. She wasn't 'on.' I loved seeing her again. Jenn had practiced her spiel about her adopted son (which is a nice part of her story), but Shannon cut that off -- IMO on purpose, to needle the new girl. That is always frustrating when that happens IRL but it's also funny in the context of RHOC. Petty drama here we come. I see Gina next week trying to put a wedge between Tamra and Jenn. Shannon is self-centered and self-obsessed, but Tamra was also doing A LOT. Tamra's sweet spot has always been a grievance or perceived injustice against her that she can then use to beat the other person with. I really enjoy Emily, and Shane too. Still not sure how Heather ducked being Tamra's focus of ire and Shannon didn't. I'm waiting to see how the Downtown cast do next month, and I'm willing to give it a fighting chance. I love the potential of a new RH show. But im also an OG RHONY fan and want their second chance to go somewhere. What on earth do we call the two RHONYs if or when that happens? As for Andy, he's the MC of the RH franchise, and I cannot see that changing anytime soon. Andy is who he is. He's said that he's a superficial social butterfly, and that is quite correct (although having Ben and Lucy may have grounded him a bit -- or at least tired him out somewhat). He's got his RH faves, for sure. He is not equipped to mediate family breakdown or difficult issues involving race, and he should no longer try to stick his oar there. I will always, selfishly, regret the implosion of his and Nene's relationship. Andy has biases, but he is also a fun ride, and there is no bigger champion of the RHs than he. This is his baby. If OG RHONY still has a second chance, I believe it is in large part due to his fondness for the cast and support behind the scenes. Same with Tamra's return to OC.

I will always remember Aviva being forced by production to take that flight to St Barts, and then promptly exploding at Ramonja ("You're both white trash, quite frankly") after getting to the villa.

This is giving me 'the boat in Colombia' vibes:

delete

Thanks for the trailer! But wow, that Yahoo review was disparaging. IA that reducing Rock Hudson's movie scenes to his sexuality alone takes away from his contribution to the golden era of movies. Pillow Talk is one of my fave romantic comedies ever, for example, and he's a force multiplier in that movie, as is Doris Day. (Another under-mentioned talent: Rock Hudson's tender chemistry with many of his female co-stars -- Jane Wyman, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, etc). By the same token, his was such a high-profile name when it was announced that he had AIDS and that he was, actually, gay, that I can understand why the director felt he should centered on his sexual identity. The temptation is there because a lot of his movies in the late 50s/early 60s overtly hinted at gossip about Rock's private life. Movie audiences were a little more attuned to all that than Hollywood gave them credit for. My mom was a RH fan growing up, but even she had heard the whispers, and said that when he married Henry Wilson's secretary, that was practically confirmation of a hasty arrangement of some kind.

Being only a very casual viewer of VPR, I, too, have found the clips from the reunion increasingly unpleasant. I wasn't sure whether to post anything here, given that I'm not a VPR regular. But I was confused at how increasingly unsympathetic I felt towards Ariana, and slightly sorry I felt for Raquel -- at odds with the Twitter echo chamber braying for Sandoval and Raquel's blood. The reunion (especially part 3) took me back to another VPR reunion years ago where Kristen Doute was the 'bad guy' and basically beaten to a pulp by everyone on the couches. I get that someone as angry and self-sabotaging as Doute turned off the audience. But I couldn't believe how Sandoval and Ariana, who were cheating on Kristen behind her back, were gaslighting her that she had it coming. The cast and audience went along with that narrative almost unquestioningly. As a result, I could never warm to 'Ariana is, like, so great!' pronouncements. Is she? She comes across like a blank-eyed stoner to me. I never liked Sandoval who has been a self-obsessed narcissist from Day One. There are deep toxic elements underpinning the show which are never going to change. One of them is that Hollywood is dirty, and these would-be actors are conditioned to sell their body and soul for stardom. BTW, I don't blame this cast for trying to cut a piece of the pie for themselves -- launching bars and sandwich eateries and music singles and podcasts. But they also carry with them a feeling of financial and emotional precariousness, of dependence. That can be a hard watch. The other toxic element, which you allude to, is a lot of drugs fuelling emotions and anger and wretched sexual decision-making. I don't think most of these kids can make it through the day without a bump of something or other to keep them going or calm them down. Or keep them thin. Re: reunion! Like most people in this world, I know how it feels to be betrayed by a significant other, and I'm sure we all could find common ground on that score. In theory, I should be Team Ariana, but I've ended up being Team Nobody. Her anger is relatable, of course, but also gross, as you say. It also feels performative at this point, because she had to hold on to that pain and wait a few months to 'let it all out' for the cameras. Anyway, she is leaning into this, and parlaying victimhood into endorsements. Obviously, people react differently to events. It's hard being cheated on. It's hard dealing with the humiliation and the grief and the anger. Sandoval, as mentioned, is a narcissist from mustache to toe, and toe-curlingly skeevy. That's all I've got. There is no fixing that. Raquel reminds me of a little pageant girl who is told how to pose, how to smile, how to look sad for the camera, and apes those poses, thinking that they represent her actual emotions. But they don't. She doesn't know how to feel, because she doesn't quite know who she is supposed to be -- or worse, who she is. It is sad to see someone empty and rather damaged. Tom Schwartz is also someone who does not know who he is, and who is completely spineless. No wonder Sandoval and Katie latched onto him, thinking they could manipulate him. Lala and James should have been removed from the room the moment Raquel came on and they started acting the fool. This isn't their story to tell. They are enjoying this bullying pile-up way too much. Given their chequered histories (to say the least!), they need to STFU and sit down.

Shinee's comeback @Cheap21 ! Catchy song.

Timing is everything. This show was likely pitched and greenlit for development before Scandoval. At that time, VPR was on the bubble in terms of renewal. Bravo/NBCU probably passed on Villas, thinking VPR wasn't going to make it. How things have changed. Plus a Below Deck-meets-VPR hybrid would have been a natural to premiere on Bravo. LOL, the Coven's WhatsApp chat must be lighting up right about now. American Woman who? Harry Loves Lisa who?

OC's first episode felt, to quote Mario Singer's love song to Ramona, "effortless" -- a hark back to RHOC's glory days when I didn't have to put in effort to be entertained. Production knowingly referenced RHOC's relatable touchstones (thankfully at the expense of any mandated focus on ostentation). A double-date in a bowling alley. Jenn the humble yoga instructor. Gina and Emily chauffeuring the kids to the local drive-thru. OC still looks great, it just also exists as a living, breathing entity. I always liked Tamra and Eddie's S8 house. It's the perfect size, nicely designed and full of light. A few years ago, Tamra said that the loss of the Bravo cheque hit the Judges financially. They downsized their spending, sold off larger properties, and focused on e-commerce as it was long clear that CUT Fitness was not going to make it. Tamra's common sense is rare in the RH world, but it still has a place on RHOC. The lesson is that you actually don't have to live like Heather Dubrow to contribute laughs and drama. And speaking of Heather.... I did not realize her and Terry were in LA permanently now. RHONJ: I wish I could dispute what you are saying about Teresa, but I can't. Tre is unable to nail the crux of her beef with the Gorgas. As a result, the hideous left couch is playing her like a fiddle (as is Luis). She actually could make salient points about the Gorgas gaslighting and using her for years -- but she is unfocused and incapable. Luis stalking around topless in some Law of the Jungle BS he stole from an MLM course is crazy. He manipulates & controls Teresa completely. (At least with Juicy, it was an equal meeting of the minds). I wouldn't like to think what Luis would do if he ever lost that control, but his desperation is IMO dangerous for all concerned. The most watchable part was the Nice Jewish Girls segment. Jenn Fessler's surgery looks great -- she is ready for her close-up next season. Jackie come across well, too. Poor Danielle is a deer in the headlights. She has convinced herself that she has no leverage without the patronage of an existing cast-member. That lack of confidence in herself is sad to see. Jennifer has exhausted her supply of pre-scripted soundbites. Dolores is completely over it all and, I must say, so am I.

I mean, the rolling see-through staircases on RHOA are still tripping me out. The whoosh! And Vicki with her hand on her hip, her head dipping to the side, and Donn, Michael and Brianna behind her! See, it's sh!t like this that I get attached to and don't like to see replaced. For a show like OC, especially, which is so unabashedly OC and not trying to be something else, it is worth keeping a few of the old quirks. Lol, not me, just a very clever RH fan on Twitter. You know Dorinda's face is doing that right now.

On the basis of taglines alone... it feels like I'm coming home to OG OC! Right down to the ubiquitously blonde newbie who looks like a Tamra-Gretchen-Peggy Tanous prototype. The music got a little kick, which I'm not sure was necessary. I'm already over the glittery special effects. Those flying oranges are like a Fanta ad. ETA: LOL

I'm inclined to believe him. Of all the people in her life, with the exception of her parents, I suspect Kevin has her best intentions at heart. This is the first time he has spoken out on this. It must be awful to see his mom in such a precarious and exploited state.

I've been rewatching early SATC (am mid-season 2), and am enjoying the mid-90s indie film vibe of the show at that time. It was a bit tougher and grittier but it also showed some of the growing wealth of the city at that time. SATC was always about pecking order and jostling for a better position, but on the romantic frontlines. I also enjoyed the Bad Dating SLs LOL. I understand why it went the fairytale-ish route. Part of this mirrored the evolution of the city itself, as Manhattan became more moneyed and, dare I say, unaffordable. It was a glamorous city that many aspired to live in and conquer against the odds. Part of it was also, as the show progressed, our own growing investment in the main cast and their SLs. Hence less standalone episodes and more a continuing soapy story of romantic relationships. IMO, this was a fairly organic evolution.

I see your point, but am also heartbroken that you don't like EiLegend Davidson anymore. It took a minute, but I still love her. Despite everything that happened on RHOBH, I believe Eileen is good people. (I love Garcelle, too, I must say). I thought I was the only one on earth who noticed that Bravo assigned her segments (and ONLY her segments) the farty saxophone! I really dislike Wigs n Cigs, but do I kind of want to see the implosion? Oui. I want to see the IRS ready to serve her a subpoena at her front door, Lynne Curtin's daughters-style. I want to see Kroy spilling the beans on who she cheated with (yes, he's already said she cheated). I've been waiting a long time for that televised comeuppance.

FTR: Kim Fields' season was a great season IMO. She was unsuspecting comic relief, and she still bested Kenya in every way -- including at reunion. Monyetta is a somewhat more erudite Carmon but remains Kandi's hired minion and mouthpiece. Courtney as a FOH is definitely no Kim Granatell. She's not even a Yovanna.

I love that people reacted against it and Sweetgreen acquiesced! So many big businesses now talk the talk of 'listening to our customers' but don't walk the walk. They basically want to force square pegs into round holes, as I've said before. Before I derail this tech thread completely, I just wanted to repeat a rumor regarding the vanishing of physical banks from main street -- there are whispers that the ECB wants to introduce a CBDC (central bank digital currency) later this year (October?), and the removal of banks' physical presence on the continent may be part of that. However, this could also be a conspiracy theory started by an irate bank customer.

RHOA has lost the humor that took it to the top of the RH franchises. The ones who understood comedy either got grumpy (Nene), fired (Phaedra) or left of their own accord (Porsha). Kenya and Kandi are not natural comedians. Sheree's comedy was her obliviousness. The shade is now about jabbing each other, not having a belly laugh. Editing is trying to fill the humor gap but failing. There is also no cohesion: everyone comes across as a work hire. I've been waiting for my streaming service to upload last week's AND yesterday's episode. It claims there is a 'technical issue' but has no problem uploading RHONJ, VPR and other Bravo content. I don't know what's going on, but it happened with last season's RHOA, too. It's symbolic of the way Bravo has checked out of this franchise. They need to bring back Nene, Porsha, Phaedra, Cynthia, even KZB (though I really don't like her). Just throw everything at this show, and if Kandi or Kenya are unhappy about those returns, welp...

100%. Companies want to block any criticism or duck accountability with regards to delivering a service. They sent two young kids to deal with hundreds of passengers, and they just repeated the mantra "Please go onto the website and rebook your journey." Not one executive or decision-maker was visible. To compound matters, I ended up catching Covid from the melée of passengers at the station, lol. This is what I mean about being let down by tech. A more personalized, human(e) service would have been more efficient in this situation. Within an hour, most passengers could have been quickly rebooked on trains that very day. But Eurostar just wants the algorithm deal with everything, and save some $$ and avoid either training humans or having to deal with human customers. Another example: the closure of physical retail bank spaces in the UK. They want everyone to do banking 'on the app.' This is isolating a sizeable portion of older or immigrant residents who prefer dealing in cash and checks and don't know how to use computers or fancy smartphones. How to take out cash or deposit checks? Where do you go when you notice fraud in your account or on your credit card? Sit on a phone for half-an-hour and go through the motions dictated by automated voicecall? Biden also recognises the alliance aspect of shared values under threat. But I will say that the Inflation Reduction Act was not well received in the EU -- it was seen as a competitive strike to attract European green business across the Atlantic to the US. Now the EU is trying to formulate meaningful green subsidies and incentives of its own. Fear of an invasion of Taiwan is also governing this decision. Will the US back the Pacific alliance of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea? Guess that depends on who is in the WH.