Cat

Thank you so much @Taoboi !

I thought you'd appreciate who Kris Jenner is throwing her support behind:

RHOP preview. Potomac giving us something meaty from these women's lives, in this case Ashley's.

BH Reunion looks. They didn't even try. Kyle's face is completely unrecognisable now, and I swear Sutton wore this exact same dress at a previous reunion. I'm ready to give Messy Mia a chance this year, given that last season was filmed at the height of Covid and curtailed everything. But what I don't want is Mia to turn out like Anila on M2M or Jen Shah on SLC -- just a little too knowing about how RHs works and just a little too inauthentic as a result of that. The good thing about Potomac is just how quick the cast is to spot fakery. If Mia cannot back up what comes out of her mouth, they will be on her like a ton of bricks. Even Robyn can be very astute in pointing out embarrassing lapses. The women are like a check-and-balance on BS.

Same.

I am scandalised, lol. Now, I know you watched last season because you were on here posting about it! And I believe you watched some of the reunion, correct? Did you watch the Nicki Minaj Question Time? I personally cannot wait for Potomac to start. I've missed it, for real.

SLC: After IMO a disastrous last season -- Jennie chasing Mary off the show while the rest of the cast (bar Meredith) pretended that Jen Shah's arrest didn't really happen -- I was about done with SLC. But.... I thought I'd give this S3 opener a try, and it was surprising how easy it was to get back into the SLC swing. Although I would have appreciated someone mentioning what Jennie had done, and why Mary was missing. The thing that worked in the episode's favor was the bait-and-switch with the friendships. Meredith hanging with Jen Shah and Lisa meeting with Heather was the unexpected opening twist I didn't know I needed. The friend chemistry between Meredith and Jen, in particular, was great. How come we never saw this level of friendship before? Was it because Jen was so focused on being Queen Bee first season that she forgot how to interact with everybody around her? Meredith has always been my girl on this show, and Jen was a delight (I can't believe I wrote that) - open about what's coming her way, humble, with the glam squad gone and closet downsizing. It was a relief to see her shed some of those silly RH trappings, without shedding the aura of OTT glamour that Jen enjoys cultivating around her. Also the prominence of Coach Shah this episode really helped. He was great. I was not feeling Heather last year, but here she rediscovered some of her lightness and jokey self-deprecation. At times I still want to shake her, like with her "Please like me!" attitude with Lisa Barlow. C'mon Heather Gay! You know you're better than that now. Lisa Barlow is just LOL still so superficial and empty-headed and narcissistic. What WAS that convo with Seth?? A convoluted tale involving Saintly Lisa supporting her sister and being super-busy and In a Bad Place Last Year. Then she had the nerve to say in her VT that she simply couldn't apologize anymore to people who wouldn't accept it and that, for her own mental wellbeing, she had to move on. What? You never even apologized in the first place, you deluded fantasist! Whitney, as ever, is just there for me, but she does look beautiful. No opinion yet on the newbie Angie.

In 'Rinna's Losing It' news, it's getting creepy: Well, go ahead and tell us, Rinna! We've been waiting all season long and we still don't [!@#$%^&*] know WTF KATHY ACTUALLY SAID. More threats and gaslighting. Reunion already filmed weeks ago: Thanks. I kind of felt for Kyle at the end when she sighed "f*** my life" as Kathy left. But she still stayed silent while Rinna tried to bulldoze Kathy. Kyle is going to have to decide if her Coven alliance is more important than keeping Kathy happy. And both are demanding mistresses. Oh well. She brought this on herself. She always wanted to dominate the show, and to do so she has had to throw at least one sibling (or friend) under the bus. Plus Kyle seems to love playing a victim. Honestly, that scene overall was suspenseful to watch, but SO WEIRD. It still feels like production and the cast have been banned from saying anything, but nevertheless Kathy had to pony up a vague apology because Rinna was threatening to leak details. So everyone seems to be talking around things, and both Rinna and Kathy are using their Lowkey Threatening Voices, like they have more to say, but won't unless the other 'forces' them to. I am so confused, and I have a horrible feeling Reunion won't be clearing the air on any of this.

So far, I've only seen the scene below, but I am struck by Kyle silently victim-performing while Rinna runs roughshod over yet another sister and throws out all manner of unverifiable inferences. Why is Kyle playing with her hair and allowing someone else to litigate the issues she has with Kathy? Can't she do it on her own? Why is she letting Rinna confront and gaslight yet another sister without so much as a peep? We all know Rinna doesn't care about Kyle Richards -- but she does care about bringing down Kathy Hilton. Even if we go with the rumor that Kathy threw out a slur, and Kyle felt that slur was a bridge too far to defend... wouldn't Kyle want to discuss with Kathy one-on-one and offer advice on how to make amends and have a Come to Jesus scene? Kind of like Erika's fake-ass intervention. This particular scene appears to be the opposite of that.

This is an actually amazing trailer/opener. Well done, editing team.

It sounds like Bravo has cut its departmental budgets big-time, and with it, its marketing staff. Because no way a fully-staffed department would produce zilch in the way of promotion. BH seems to get what little budget there is. I still cannot believe that the ATL cast set up and paid for their own promos, because that is just shocking and embarrassing for a franchise that was Bravo's biggest ratings pull for so long. And now you are telling me production cut the juiciest parts of reunion?? What is going on? Is Bravo trying to kill RHOA? Is this payback for Nene's lawsuit? ATL actually brings in the ad dollars, along with BH and NJ. I just do not understand it. Bravo needs to hire, because I'm betting there are some marketing creatives among the RH fanbase who would love to work for the network. Why do you think Bravo is self-sabotaging? Do you think this is an NBC Universal directive were they want everything on Peacock now?

Totally agree with this. I mean, the SLC trailer was pretty good in racking up tension. Heck, up until that trailer, I was pretty much decided that I would NOT be watching SLC this season. I didn't even finish last year's reunion. Follow-up has been nil. I had forgotten that tonight was premiere night. That's not good. Bravo needs to reinvest in promoting RHs because right now, this is still its ratings baby. Real Girlfriends in Paris has been a massive ratings flop (though I liked it). Southern Charm and Summer House aren't raking in the ad dollars. The Below Decks and some of the RH franchises are doing the heavy lifting. Including RHOA which, as @Gray Bunny and others have pointed out, had a ho-hum reunion. (Which is very unusual, because RHOA usually rescues a weak season with its fire reunions. But anyway -- I have hope for next season... which I hope will include Porsha). Recently I saw that the RHOBH get gifted with unofficial (but Bravo-approved) seasonal posters every year, possibly by a Bravo-employed or ex-Bravo graphic designer. The posters are pretty great actually, and they touch on the conceptual marketing you were talking about that Bravo used to do. They are very cinematic. Every season has a theme, whether it's the drama or a cast trip. Using that theme as a concept for promotion, like these posters do, would be a great stepping stone to a future marketing campaigns for all the Real Housewives franchises. Remember the RH Olympics?

Kyle always speaks adoringly of her mother, but I wonder if Big Kathy fostered an environment of acute competition between the sisters, pitting them against each other when it came to professional success. Now it seems they have zero trust in each other. My brother and I used to have fights when we were little kids, but when push came to shove (lol, literally), I knew then and know now that he has 100% my back and I have his. There is an element of trust built up over all those years. With Kyle/Kathy/Kim, they seem to live in fear of the other sister's imminent betrayal. And it's not just an idle fear. They really do seem to make choices where they end up betraying each other in petty ways, and big ones.

You are absolutely right about the non-reaction of other people being a giveaway. If Kathy had said an anti-gay slur in the club, there would have been outrage from the women (and rightly so). I mean, Dorit's best friend is Boy George and Erika's is Mikey. But everyone seemed pretty meh about Kathy's meltdown and treated it like someone having a tantrum. And Lisa Rinna unable to articulate any meaningful details apart from Kathy jumping up and down on her glasses hardly screams breakdown. Yeah it seems clear that a plan was put in motion by Rinna and Kyle to antagonize Kathy during the Aspen trip. They were so obvious in their trolling.

I appreciate you undoing the upgrade -- I was able to access the RH thread and others. I hear you about cost. Really appreciate you having looked into solutions so quickly, Errol. I know you do a lot of work on here to keep the forums going, technically and otherwise!

Yay! I can finally access this thread (for now)! The whole episode was just very weird and over-edited to me. Did it seem that way to anyone else? Crystal's Roaring 20s party had THE worst, most scripted acting I have ever seen. And on BH, that says a lot. BTW Kyle wasn't even there. Why not? It made Kathy showing up alone look so random. The whole editing/weird acting/talking around what happened off-screen makes it seem (and maybe this is what Rinna/production want the audience to think) like Kathy might have said that rumored slur, and that maybe she threatened to sue Bravo if they aired it. I don't know if that's true or not. There's been so many conspiracy theories about BH that have gone viral, and then never went anywhere. As you say, Rinna has been instrumental in 'implying' a lot of those rumors and then backtracking. So anyway, I don't know WTF is going on, but it's harking back to BH The Flop Years with this "we can't say what happened but IT'S VERY SUSPECT" bullsh!t. In fact, it straight up reminds me of the Munchhausen mess.

Hi Errol, thanks for letting me know. Any idea if the glitch will get ironed out? I'm still unable to access the thread.

For whatever reason, I click on the thread and get the following. Is it just me this is happening to? I am able to access other threads. This page isn’t working boards.soapoperanetwork.com is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500

The EXACT same thing struck me -- Radar Online, which broke the Dorit/Lucy Lucy Apple Juicy/kill shelter news, with an anonymous source using (purposely) English phrases so that everyone could accuse LVP of lying. I have long suspected that The Coven hammered out this plan in advance of S10. I think Rinna came up with it, it was agreed that Dorit would be the bait (twice, to really stick the knife in), Teddi the rat, and Kyle would do her JUS BE HONIS / WE CAN'T TRUS U fake-cry. IMO Rinna is the one who reached out to ROL and added the 'English accent' touch. Melanie Bromley of E! News interviewed LVP at the time and confirmed on-screen that the source was not LVP, but that as a journalist, she wasn't allowed to reveal ROL's protected source. What gets me is Rinna these days happily playing the villain on-screen, trolling the audience on social media and has done for years. Now she's boohooing and hating the backlash? And demanding $2 mil she knows she won't get? It's like shooting someone and having a tantrum when the police decides to arrest you.

Very obvious move by someone who has deluded herself into thinking she's the ultimate chess-player. They didn't fire me, they just couldn't afford me! Speaking of deluded, a 'source' whose name rhymes with Risa Linna ran to Radar Online and burped up this fantasy fiction: "At this point, Bravo needs Lisa more than Lisa needs Bravo. She was a star before Bravo and will be a star long after Bravo too.” https://radaronline.com/p/lisa-rinna-demanding-2-million-rhobh-real-housewives-season-13/

As one of probably 2 people watching Real Girlfriends in Paris (what can I say? Paris is so beautiful, I can't resist watching this show), I would be more than happy if they wanted to turn the new influencer RHONY into Real Girlfriends of New York. RGIP has a light, fun vibe that reminds me a littke of The Hills spin-off, The City. As for Legacy.... I think Bravo was too hasty cancelling the original RHONY. Yes, it was an absolutely horrific season. One bad season, though! BH once had about 3 bad seasons in a row and cancellation was never an option. RHONY's problem was Leah and Covid, in that order. I don't know whether it was Leah or production, but someone was out to poke and provoke Ramona into a barftastic Trumpian meltdown, which she eventually obliged. Anyway, I'm glad its returning to Bravo, and I'm glad they've got some RHONY stars of the past to rejoin. Personally, I would give Eboni and Bershan another chance (I know you're a Bershan fan, I know @Faulkner is most definitely NOT an Eboni fan, lol). I think Eboni has a nuanced perspective on her season (Carlos King did an interview with her not so long ago) and after hearing her thoughts, I'd be inclined to give her another chance in better circumstances. Also, I'd give anything to bring back Heather, Carole and Aviva! I really enjoyed those reboot seasons with them. Oh! I recent blind item i read: Carole and Bethenny ran into each other this summer (maybe with Dorinda's blessing because both are still friends with Do) and started hanging out again. Quietly rebuilding a new friendship. Could be fan fiction but anyway, thought I'd table it here.

I had forgotten about the Watch What Crappens boys! It's been a while since I listened to that podcast. Yesterday I jumped onto their latest BH recap and laughed so hard! The Lisa Rinna voice (with the crazy breathless, mirthless laugh). The Cru-Erika Deville voice! Their entire Kyle exposition was a tour-de-force. And "Hello, dis eez Mauricio of Dee Agency..." Very interesting assessment of Carlos King and his contribution to the RH world. My feeling is that he wielded a fair amount of power and, crucially, influence over the housewives. His years of running RHOA are standouts to me in terms of how deep the show got to go in these women's lives. More recent RHOA (not counting this season's intimist vibe) superficially glided the surface by contrast. Like, Apollo walked towards Phaedra wielding an electric saw, for God's sake! He was practically frog-marched to prison and the cameras were there, and he and the RHs were openly talking about it. There was an openness and a comfort level that no franchise has replicated since. EVERYTHING was up for discussion. And the show was also LOL funny. When Nene was on fire, she was the greatest RH of all time. I really believe CK was instrumental in establishing and maintaining all that, and that's probably because of how close and involved he got with the women.

RHOBH How sweet to see the Coven be given a dose of their own foul medicine and turn on each other. After the constant tag-teaming on Sutton and Garcelle, these two queens could finally sit back and enjoy the trashtastic spectacle. Kyle sobbing in her bathroom about Dorit taking Erika's side shows how f***ing terrified Kyle is of the FF4 icing her out and turning on her. Ironically, she was only trying to 'protect' Erika's trashed public image and was bending over backwards to offer her an out. Unfortunately, there is no out when you have a personality as ugly as Erika's. Dorit as usual straddling fences and playing all sides. I am waiting for viewers to wake up from the fantasy that Dorit is some kind of independent thinker/secret Garcelle ally. Diana filmed a new VT after scrolling through Housewives Twitter, and is suddenly feelin sad bout orphans and widows. Too little too late, BudgetGhislaine. $9.75 million?? I mean, obviously for a pleb like me, it's a nice space. But by BH standards, the place is small and it ain't all that. I guess it's all about location. Has he responded to Kandi's allegations yet? I find I can only take CK in small listening doses. I much prefer Danny Pellegrino's podcast which is warm, light-hearted and LOL funny at times.

I thought it was a good reunion too, and I'd welcome another season with open arms. IA that while Part 1 Brooks stole the limelight, Part 2 saw more of Ayan. I was also pleased that Nina got a chance to shine and speak in Part 2. I know some don't think Sara and Nina are 'strong' cast members, but I enjoy a little nuance with my HWs, lol. Reunion briefly touched on whether Nina manipulates behind the scenes or not, but we never got a straight answer. My feeling? Nina is not a sniper from the side. She may jump where the wind blows sometimes, and she's smart, but she's not a master manipulator. Overall, it was sad to think that Lesa & Nina, with a seven-year friendship, have fallen out. Maybe this is my own bias showing, but it's interesting that you saw 4 against 2 at the reunion. Yes, there is a definite 4:2 divide in the cast now. But honestly it seemed like Lesa & Ayan came out of the gate hot and it kind of shocked the other women and froze them. I mean, Brooks was prepared, and Caroline knew it was coming, but Sara and Nina seemed to pick their jaws off the floor. As a result, the '4' are a motley crew bound by circumstance and didn't strike me as an organised gang-up group. Personally, I thought Lesa and Ayan did not come off great at one or two points; Ayan saved it when talking so openly and honestly about FGM. And Lesa? Lesa earned her spot for season 2 for sure. I'd love to see all 6 back. Yes, that includes Stanbury who, with her own personal story, has also won me over.

Yep. I feel for Kandi because this wasn't 'just business.' I can see why she'd feel betrayed.