Cat

BH somehow has 'the hook' that compels you to keep watching each week with anticipation. BH also does great with its viral marketing -- the drip-drip of rumors months in advance, the constant social media presence of the cast throughout the season. They are expert at keeping fans engaged in the petty drama. Kyle's face when LVP's name was mentioned was akin to Gizelle's cracked-open look when Monique read out Jamal's number. Though Kyle said nothing at all, It was like she suddenly, briefly aged for a few seconds. I do salute the Garcelle-Kyle pot-stirring tag team on this episode, though. One Supreme may be falling while another rises, but I think it's also a case of game recognizing game. I think Kyle is debating a strategic alliance with G. That may not thrill Teddi and Rinna. Sutton was cool, calm and collected. She was the least frazzled out of all the ladies and did not seem worried at all about what Crystal might say (unlike Garcelle who had the same reaction I did). Crystal playing coy about what Sutton said was a bad look. I understand her argument that none of the ladies cared a jot about her feelings last season. But drop a giant hint like that, you either spit it out or it's like it didn't happen. Dollar Store Gabor! 🤭 I'm done. Like @Chris B said, she will be a one and done. I wonder if anyone will bring up the Epstein rumors dogging her on social media. Very sad about Lois, who seemed like a wonderful, life-affirming person.

Real Housewives of... Chicago?

OK, so Chanel Ayan is already winning me over before this show has even started! She already has the best tagline, and now this: Eagle-eyed viewers caught the passcode for the invite. Twitter sleuths have already breached the passcode perimeter, and it turns out it shows who is going -- the entire RHONJ cast, apparently. Including Margaret. And that probably means that Bravo cameras are going too. Never change, Ramona!

Both of them starting to be ultra parched if you ask me! (The dinosaur reference tho ).

I finally finished watching the Reunion. IA that Teresa was like a dog with a bone, and she could not let go of the Margaret thing. She definitely believes that Margaret has been briefing against her and Luis, that Margaret is out to get her (and get her off the show), and that Melissa & Joe are aligned with Margaret in order to do just that. My question is this: Is it not somewhat plausible that Margaret might have been digging dirt on Luis to get at Teresa and poke the bear? Is it not somewhat plausible that she might have built relationships with the tabloid press and fed them stuff? And is it not somewhat plausible that Melissa Gorga would be invested in having Marge lead the charge on this? You know me, I'm biased for Teresa a lot of the time, and that colors my perception of the show. I can def see Marge wanting to give Luis an out during filming to explain himself -- that whole explanation felt truthful to me. The problem is, that did not come across clearly in the episodes that actually aired. What did come across was Marge gossiping about Teresa's new guy, knowing that it would drive Teresa absolutely bananas. Teresa is not a nuanced individual, nor is she book-smart. She detests Margaret, views her as a threat to her position on the show and wants her gone. Just before reunion filmed, rumors on social media abounded that Teresa was isolated on RHONJ, that Bravo was going to fire Teresa and revamp the show around Marge, Melissa (!!), Jackie (!) and Jennifer. I believe that this lit a fire inside Teresa and she was like "HELL NO." And she went into Reunion guns blazing. Witness how often she reminded Andy of her top-dog position on the show. Andy very much acquiesced to Teresa, much to Marge's seething disgust. Luis was very understanding and forgiving of Margaret. Either he is a wonderfully self-realised individual. Or he is killing Margaret with kindness, and only pretending to forgive her. When he said that he had lost his job because of the rumors, I felt that this was a subtle guilt trip imposed on Margaret -- even though he said he didn't blame the cast. Luis plays his cards close to his chest and it is hard to get a read on him. His new job is 'managing' Teresa these days. In other news, the fact that Frank hates Dolores's new beau (and we heard New Beau on the phone with Andy) says to me that Dolores will be back next season. I wish Caroline and Dina would come back, too -- the original Unfinished Business of RHONJ. Given Dolores and Teresa's involvement with both sisters, it would be fascinating to see that dynamic again. As for Jennifer Aydin, Andy clearly cannot stand her. But her popularity is such that he views her as necessary for the show. For now.

So Lisa Rinna got into a little trouble overnight because she posted somebody's number on Instagram Ooops

OMG @Taoboi. Get out. I was just coming on here to post that very same Third King thread. It was a great analysis and really clarified so many things about Garcelle and Kyle's respective approaches. And the fact that they both represented Bravo at Upfronts a few weeks ago (alongside Karen, Gizelle, Teresa, Alexia and Kenya) says SO much. It's not just who is 'queen' of their show -- it is who is most valued and representative of the RH brand. This group is. And BH is top of the heap. Also, Terri's podcast is most interesting in that you can tell the Coven dislike Garcelle. But they also fear her. So they pull their punches and won't talk about the issue they have with her. As for this latest episode... The Kyle Backlash begins here, it seems. 13 long years it has been building. I have a theory: Kyle hits her low blows early in a season, because by mid-point, another crazier or more toxic storyline has pulled focus. And consequently, when reunion comes around, Kyle's petty BS is relegated to part 1 and she can duck accountability. When she brought in Brandi late in S10 to destroy Denise, I thought FOR SURE she would get savaged at reunion. But Covid and a virtual reunion meant that Teddi carried the can for the Brandi reveal. This year? We still have the Kathy stuff left to play out, and I'm not sure Kyle will be covering herself with glory there either. She's made some noises about leaving after this season -- do you believe it? One thing I will give Kyle -- her dogs are the cutest. Bambi eating Rinna's steak! And going for seconds on the kitchen counter! I was dying! Kyle's Doppelganger was at the store opening, and the producers barely gave her a line! Erika keeps trying to start something with Sutton, and Sutton keeps ignoring her. It's actually kind of amazing. I'm still not sure whether this is because Sutton has gotten good at handling the Coven, or if she's gotten lucky. What is clear is that she, Garcelle and possibly Crystal have compared notes about presenting a united front on how to deal with the Coven. Crystal really surprised me with her outburst because it felt like it came from an authentic place, and wasn't just an excuse to needle Kyle. Especially when Crystal talked about how she did not expect the evening to unfold as it had. For a second, I thought she was going to say she was leaving the group permanently. That car ride between Crystal and Diana. Yikes. Talk about awkward silences. These two have zero in common. There is something so icy cold about Diana. I know Yolanda was ruthless, too, but there were times when Yolanda displayed some heart and emotional life which I warmed to. This lady is giving me nothing. And neither is her glam squad. An entire team stick her hair in a messy bun and dressed her in a black tent? Damn. That is true wealth when you dress like you just don't care! Erika leaching onto Diana is creepy. It was like watching a gold-digger's mating call. Is Mikey and Erika's glam squad working pro bono? Rinna walking into Kyle's store and saying she loved.... the ceiling... made me LOL. Looks like Crystal next week is going to throw Sutton under a bus. Yikes.

Erika being her usual, empathetic, non-narcissist self And a sneak peek at RHODubai which... I was a little underwhelmed by. They all look stunningly gorgeous, of course, but I didn't quite get what they were beefing about.

Reading this, you realise just how massive a cast GH has. Wow!

On Potomac, I thought he did well with Candiace and her mother during their sessions back in S4. Maybe because that mother-daughter conflict was real? But here, he was awful. Ignoring the red flags of Ralph's outrageous responses. Gaslighting Drew with the sex 5 times stuff? That's when I wondered if the Drew and Ralph scene was legit and maybe this guy wasn't even trying because he knows? Or maybe he really is a terrible therapist who only cares about his TV profile. Bad therapists can be very damaging to your psyche/self-worth. The right therapist is trained to handle you professionally and with consideration.

Atlanta This has been the most mature and nuanced I have ever seen Kenya. And her reaction when the bondage people delivered Kandi's sorry, TODD's invitation -- LOL, I felt that on a deep level. Kenya has a knack for spotting property worth and adding value. She may even be better than Bethenny. B buys an already-fancy place for $6 million, redecorates it like a Marriott, then sells it for $6.5 million. Which is fine but it is basically moving the deckchairs around. Feels like a definite shift among the cast regarding Kandi. Not targeting her per se, but talking more openly about her. I like that Kandi shows us her legit marriage troubles (as opposed to Drew & Ralph which, I think, is a package-deal acting job). However, people pointing out the discrepancy of Kandi not wanting a mention of sexytime shenanigans... but then sending the bondage couple with sex toys to everybody's home. Also the great unspoken, raised by Sheree, of Kandi & Todd's open marriage. Porsha's words in S9 got lost in the dungeon-and-drugging allegations, but the Marvin story still has a ring of truth to it. I understand Todd wanting to accomplish something for himself and be acknowledged. OTOH, as Marlo said, he would not be accomplishing much without Kandi's money. Overall, Todd has a great life -- should he be biting the hand? I feel like Kandi and RALPH have chemistry and he is lowkey flirting with her. Forget Dr. Ken, aka Gizelle's onscreen therapist (didn't he also counsel Quad & Greg on M2M? Yikes!) --- Dr. Kenya held a mirror up to Drew & Ralph's marriage and threw in some common-sense advice.

Agreed. The lack of promotion has been startling. Is Bravo short-staffed at the moment?? Also, delays have plagued Atlanta's uploads on official streaming sites since the season started. Could it be linked to the lack of promotion? If they want something to promote, how about Sheree's recent reads? This is the original WHO GON CHECK ME BOO! I'm also wondering whether Porsha returned to the show, would Bravo feel more incentivized to promote the show. I did notice Kenya on The Wendy Williams Show with her old nemesis Michael Rapaport last week. I feel like Kenya has been dissatisfied by the lack of marketing from Bravo and taken on some of that promo in recent weeks, as has Marlo. You also nail it regarding the clowning of Drew. I was initially worried that this season would be all about Drew's 'husband drama' and we would be force-fed some po-faced, Lisa Nicole & Darren marriage moralising. Now it is clear that we, the cast and Bravo are in on the joke, and it has been so much lighter to watch! Drew has become entertaining despite herself. The only person who doesn't like it? Drew:

Erika's coldly dismissive comment about Dennis makes me wonder how Kyle would react to this? After all, Kyle and Bethenny once had a 20-year friendship. On Twitter, some posters questioned whether Kyle would be as (performatively) outraged at Erika's words as she was about Sutton not rending her hair/lacerating her arms/cancelling her life after Dorit's home invasion. If Kyle's answer to that is: "Well, Bethenny is no longer my friend and Erika now is," that really illustrates the kind of fairweather person many of us have long suspected about Kyle.

Diana looked like she wandered into the place searching for another party and a producer grabbed her shouting "Just go with it!" I guess I was expecting some extra fabulousness from her. She struck me as one of those starfucker people who impresses everyone with their famous air-kiss 'friends' and events, but that's about it. Yolanda, at least, you wanted to see what she would do next. She was a ruthless predator invested in making it to the Queen position on this show, and everyone (including Kyle and Rinna) was petrified of her. As soon as I heard Kyle on Terri's podcast say she liked Sutton, I knew there was a target on Sutton's back! And so it has come to pass. Kyle is bending over backwards to make Sutton look terrible for something or other. Kyle thinks she is the consummate producer, but when you can see all the creaky workings, that's not consummate. That's Kyle searching desperately for A Moment. Sutton ended Erika. And Erika trying to act too cool for school on WWHL looked like her bog-standard nasty self. She has never got over Bethenny pointing out how budget she is all those years ago. Bethenny took the high road in that tweet. I probably would have dropped some legit dirt, but I have no doubt Bethenny is saving that goodness for a rainy day. Anyone notice Harry's passive-aggressive bolognese mention to Garcelle? G was such a queen by just letting him babble.

I love that they are celebrating this, even if it is a behind the scenes event, as opposed to an onscreen special episode (which it absolutely should be -- but JG is obsessed with 24/7 Victoria TV, so it won't). Ashley and Traci's stories, which I watched growing up, always carried a level of emotional investment that some other SLs just didn't have. When awful things happened to these characters, I too would feel sucker-punched. These two characters touched my heart, for different reasons, and that is entirely credit to the actresses embodying them: Eileen Davidson and Beth Maitland (shout-out to Brenda Epperson too, I guess).

@Taoboi omg that was such a solid episode! Miami really earned its spurs that episode, and it totally changed how I saw Nicole. I realised she was a great find for the show. I love Alexia, but it was good that Nicole stood up to her and held her ground. None of these women are pushovers and that is good for us the audience.

Dubai looks super wealth -- I hope it doesn't lose sight of the women making up the show! A couple really stood out in that trailer. Will be watching. And yes @DemetriKane the confessionals look stunning!

She reminds me of early Porsha, in that whenever Porsha got bested verbally, she got frustrated and resorted to using her hands. And the other women refused to put up with that. I think you can see that most of the women never really trusted Porsha after that and the Kandi fiasco. So Drew should take note before she uses Dorinda's CLIP! on Sheree again. All because of what? Because Sheree told her her assistant was speaking out of turn on her and Ralph? Drew was looking for A Moment. Yea, I saw that she tried it with Sheree again on Twitter, and Sheree ended her in three concise tweets.

Kyle's face changes are really noticeable in that photo. Also, Andy looks like he's wearing Hugh Hefner's bathrobe + pajamas. 🤨

A perfect way of putting it. Drew looked like a little girl in Kenya's cast-off dress trying to have her moment with Sheree. And Sheree swatted her away like an annoying fly. I feel like Drew and Ralph have been doing the rounds of many networks trying to get their marriage picked up in reality TV land. It just feels contrived, and her trying to make it a thing with Sheree exposed that. Sheree wasn't even trying. As @DaytimeFan said, Drew just isn't bright. So she has to play the loser role amongst these women because verbally they are streets ahead. Never forget that Porsha had to up her shade game too and it took +3 seasons. I stand corrected! And I remember Josh Flagg from his insane but fun interview videos with Sonja Morgan. Oh I would love to see how Mary fits in with that group! I would watch that RHUGT Take New York with a vengeance. I'm curious to know how Kenya gets along with Gizelle and Karen.

The lovefest between Kenya and Teresa continues at the NBC upfronts! Gizelle and Karen seem to be good during these upfronts, too, and I rather love it! Kyle didn't want Garcelle getting all the BH glory by herself so she had to finagle her ass in there, sigh. P.S.: Some dude and a blonde girl are photo-bombing this pic.

And she did it on Twitter last night too: Meanwhile @Taoboi -- re: Lisa & Lenny, it's now been confirmed: The game was up when he was caught out and about with somebody else:

Not only are Alexia, Kenya and Teresa at upfronts in NYC, but so are Garcelle, Gizelle and La Dame. Forget RHUGT -- never have I wanted a RH group filmed by Bravo so bad! I want to see them having dinner together, I want them sharing suites at some glitzy hotel, I want them visiting Andy, Ben and Lucy at Andy's mega apartment! This group is literal 🔥 🔥 🔥.

I saw that! But then a few minutes later, as Dorit was telling her story, Rinna went to sit by Garcelle and hold her hand. She very much wanted the camera to capture that moment. That says to me that she is fearful of going after Garcelle directly this season -- she tried last season and it was a terrible flop. Which is probably why she is going after Sutton instead, whom she views as the weak link. But make no mistake. She is biding her time re: Garcelle. Kyle and Dorit on WWHL wanted LVP to appear mean and uncaring, and foolishly didn't think through the fact that she might screenshot the text she sent PK! Dumbasses.

My take is that Kyle doesn't miss the 'friendship' because she'd been trying to get LVP off the show since S2. And Camille off the show since the get-go. She succeeded in both. Kyle is ruthless when it comes to anybody perceived as more beloved than her. Unlike the rest of the Coven, who show their dislike of someone v quickly, Kyle gets close before striking the fatal blow. Always beware of Kyle bearng the gift of friendship! Listening to the Two Ts in a Pod podcast a few weeks ago, all the Coven + Terri were going in on Sutton -- except for Kyle, who insisted she likes Sutton and that she and her are close. All I could think was 'Oh, Sutton. You in danger, girl.' And that M.O. seems to extend to Kyle's sisters. Kyle grew up in the shadow of Kathy's wealth and Kim's fame and im guessing they were all competitive with each other. Now, her position on RHOBH allows her to finally wield leverage. BH to Kyle is like Paris Hilton to Kathy-- it means Megastardom for them, and in Hollywood, that is everything. Last season when Kathy was a FOH -- Kathy became Kyle's sidekick, not the other way around. But Kathy got crazy popular with fans and now, all of a sudden, she's in trouble this season? Quelle surprise. And once again Kyle is wielding the sword on that relationship, judging by the trailer. I can't believe Kyle is picking Rinna over both her sisters yet again, but on this show Kyle seems to repeat a lot of the same patterns. -‐---- As for the BH premiere, I thought it was one of the best RH openers in a long, long time! Perfectly judged and paced episode. Like @DaytimeFan I'm not sure whether the robbery was real or not (and @Cheap21 gave us a third theory of Storyline Scam, which sounds incredibly plausible). The shot at the end through the car door of Dorit sobbing seemed produced. But the way she and PK broke down when talking about what happened and what might have happened to their kids was raw and real. I dont think they would ever put their kids in danger. And they wouldn't have had this caught on camera either -- the potential for the scam to be unexpectedly exposed when police forensics go through the footage is just too great. Also the number of break-ins or murders in wealthy LA homes (as @j swiftpointed out) in the last 20 years has shot up. Organised gangs are able to glean from Instagram when an intended target is out of town, and they strike then. On a superficial note, Dorit looks beautiful with less glam. I honestly hope we get less OTT glam focus this year. Sutton came across as somewhat spiteful showing no empathy for Dorit, but I understand her not wanting to forgive her or Erika for last season. Sutton is showing a little vengeance and grit here, and I'm ok with that. Plus Kyle looked ridiculous with the boohooing. She wanted to make a point to camera about how extra 'nice' she is. It reminded me of when she invited Adrienne into LVP's party and they both pretended to cry over Adrienne's divorce. Garcelle totally caught Erika out with that question about when she was going to sue the LA Times for the 'lies' they had published, didn't she. Rinna is Rinna. I view her as the resident villain. Her daughter appears to have acquired yet another new face. Yikes. Crystal. I got nothing. Looking forward to meeting the newbies, Diana and Sheree. Kind of like Kim Z was 39 for about 7 years. Although too much plastic surgery can age you a good 15 years. Fact.