Cat

I may be ranting right along with you!

Am watching The Fall with Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan. The latter actor surprised me with his creepy, restrained performance. Have finished S1 which was genuinely tense. Am getting into S2 and sensing that something is off in the writing/it's just not the same. Nevertheless, I do want to know what happens and these UK seasons are super short (6 episodes). The Crown S1 and 2 is next on my list.

NRA keeps pushing the line that we can ALL be law enforcement if we have a gun. "It's not guns that kill, it's individuals!" Sometimes it's like they want us to be living in the Wild West.

I am always excited for my RHONY! I loved seeing Heather -- which makes it all the more sad that she left filming and is DONE with Bravo and the whole show. 😥 Eboni looks like she is ready to get in. What really surprised me was no sign of the Ramona-Eboni friendship the tabloids were teasing during filming! People going after Luann having a boyfriend is a little harsh. Luann can't even exhale sometimes without Sonja or Ramona taking it wrong. I'm not getting a clear picture of the SLs this season, and that was the case with the past two years' RHONY trailers, too. 🤔 I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or Bravo tamping down on leaks, which apparently they have been doing more of in order to preserve an element of surprise.

The solution is simple and yet so difficult to achieve. Remove guns from daily life. Ban weapons. Unfortunately, we are hamstrung by the Constitution. And if legislation were ever passed (passed!) making it more difficult to purchase and carry weapons, I honestly think there would be war out there. NRA-loving gunowners would go apesh*t and it would be states-wide January 6th all over again -- but with military-grade automatic weaponry. And one side would definitely by armed to the max while the other side... not so much. So the US is being held hostage, once again, to the potential threat of violence.

@Gray Bunny I bow to your superior taste. FallON *is* the definitive spelling. One of these days, we've got to get Candiace spelled correctly. It's CandAICE. Or Candace. Or Candice. My phone now auto-spells it as Candiace though. ETA: 'Bethenny' ain't right either.

The gif isn't ready yet... but ask and ye shall receive a clip of the event! I am two episodes behind and I already cannot believe that FALYNN -- who barely made a PEEP on the Isle of Palms -- is doing her best Monique Samuels impression! And LaToya is channelling Candiace's DRAG ME MONIQUE !

Heck. If I was a 70-something/80-something Hollywood icon, the first thing I would do after my vaccine doses had settled would be to organise a singalong at Liza's swank Bel Air abode! Joan is so spry at 88. Look at her in her skinny trousers and (I presume) high heels bopping away.

I read a description that said: it was as if someone has put a coat hanger in Margaret's mouth to widen/stretch it. Now I cannot unsee! Jackie is totally milking this for EVERYTHING it is worth, and definitely production is a-ok with this rivalry as a SL. The amazing thing is how gleeful Teresa is. She is like BRING IT B!TCH. Even though she started it. I did feel bad for Jackie for a hot minute there, but it is clear to see that she is keeping this rumor alive to justify her place and be the Anti-Teresa. I am still LMAO about this tweet: Girl! GOWRL. My show???? You know that was done to play up the Rivalry. I have a fondness for Jennifer & Bill, I don't know why, I find them cute together? Also, Jennifer's disdain of Melissa never gets old.

This week was episode 10. I have to imagine we only have 2-3 more episodes until reunion. ATL was on episode 13 this week -- I'm guessing we got 3-4 more episodes of the actual season left? Agreed. Mama Dee seems eternally disappointed in D'Andra, mainly because she didn't turn out exactly like her. In fact, DAndra was on Danny Pellegrino's latest podcast and she explained that throughout her childhood, she was in and out of the hospital with health problems. So she was never as robust health-wise as Mama Dee (who seriously looks like she could be in her late 50s with that face lift). Maybe Mama Dee saw this as 'weakness.' D'Andra also mentioned that Glenn Simmons was the one constant parental figure in her life who would stay with her in hospital and drive her to school and hug her, so it doesn't sound like Mama Dee was always there for her. D'Andra seems to be searching for purpose, not very focused, not a business brain, and someone who needs a lot of nurturing, perhaps because her mom was not all that maternal growing up. I could see D'Andra doing well with Stephanie's lovely mom. In a way, it is nice that Mama Dee genuinely likes Tiffany. I imagine that when Mama Dee went in for her 5th face lift or something, Tiffany was there for her and kept her calm and upbeat. Procedures can be scary. And from there they bonded. I get a real kick out of Kameron and Court. He refers to himself as the hobbit! Re: the episode: Give Mama Dee a star already. She is the biggest pot-stirrer on earth and she knew D'Andra would lose it. I believe that D'Andra chose the name Simmons for both reasons -- because her bio dad was drinking heavily and not in her life, and she considered Glenn her dad. And also because Simmons the name would open doors. When you imagine that Glenn left his money to D'Andra over his other children, it really adds an extra layer, especially with Kam talking about Mama Dee being a bit of a gold-digger. Also, if Kary wants to get into party-planning, she might want to rethink that. A 'Moroccan-themed' party? Where? It was a bunch of balloons in a backyard! Mama Dee looked bored throughout, and she also looked at Brandi like she has her number. Especially when Brandi called D'Andra her "sister in Christ." I suspect Mama Dee wanted to give Brandi a lesson in the true art of starting drama.

IA -- no way will she be at reunion. It's almost as if -- *gasp* -- she knew this video was about to emerge when she decided to quit! My guess is she also didn't want to answer questions about that or the adoptions. Plus I'm assuming she pulls some more passive-aggressive sh*t on the show which she knows full well makes her look bad. I feel bad for her that Budget David Beador is checked out and screwing around -- never did like him -- but nevertheless I wish she'd put her big-girl boots, go to reunion and deal with some of these issues head-on. Reunion would be her opportunity to speak her side of things.

I agree with you for this very reason. I want people watching to have a similar reaction to the one I am having, asking questions of ourselves and how we might unconsciously act. Last week's episode showed so well (rather than told) what it must be like to be in Tiffany's shoes. I felt very keenly for her. Seeing this is a much more effective tool to illustrate microaggressions and passive racism. I also appreciate that Bravo is not hiding this footage or editing it a certain way to make it ambiguous.

I think the show flirted with a possible Christine & Michael pairing because CLB became a breakout fan fave (I admit, I was a fan too, I thought CLB and his character did great during those later Bell years) and because CLB and LLB had natural chemistry together. But I also agree with you that a romantic relationship was a couple bridges too far. We can talk eventual redemption of a character, or even Christine accepting that Michael might be repentant for hiding in her walls with the intent to rape and kill her. (A big ask). Joining his practice was a wrong move, but I also recognise that soap mores back then were very different, and rape was often used and twisted for story in a way that would not fly today.

OMG, I cannot wait to watch this! Even with all the criticism of Dallas I have at the moment regarding Brandi's inclusion and Tiffany forced to be the apologist for her behavior, I am weirdly compelled to watch the show? I actually enjoy it. I appreciate that Tiffany is such a bright light and bringing racism and microaggressions to light. I appreciate that she is exposing the other women. Honestly, Brandi and Stephanie (the package deal/lynchpin friendship Bravo pinned their hopes on) could be cut from the show after this episode and I wouldn't miss 'em. That's right. I'm ready for Stephanie to leave before Kary. Kary and Kameron can stay for now. The problem is that Dallas's ratings are not great and honestly, I think it might be on life support this season. I think that's a shame but I know I am largely alone in the RH viewership regarding that. First of all, that footage of BRYAN! This explains why Brandi got the hell out, hid behind some baloney religiosity and doesn't want to attend reunion! Was that footage featured on the episode? We been knew. The red-headed babies who look exactly like Brooklyn and Brinkley... lorrrrrrd. Secondly, I cannot wait for Mama Dee and LeeAndra's soapy face-off. You know I have been a fan of these two for a while. I really think they bring a lot of old-fashioned soapy goodness to the franchise. OK, I will watch later and post my thoughts. I also have to catch up on ATL! I want to see LaToya turn! Like @Antoyne I am one of those people who does not like Kenya. She is a polarizing figure -- the 'bad girl' on the show who says she just wants to be accepted and loved and all that. That sounds like a soap archetype, lol. And then she can't get out of her own way, or she goes after someone hardcore in order to bring them down so she can build herself up... I admit, her very presence brings the drama.

I rewatched the scenes just now. Back when they first aired, I remember, angrily, thinking how this felt less like character development for Paul and more like a shock-and-awe SL for Y&R, i.e.: Emmy bait. I was also watching GH at the time which was a Guza-penned celebration of angry mobsters and the doormats who love them. I did wonder if all the soaps -- certainly the ABC soaps, but also maybe some of the CBS soaps -- wanted to jump on the GH bandwagon and portray their male characters as tough guys who 'take matters into their own hands' on the regular. As a result, I hated Y&R's SL twist and I wasn't the only one. The outcry was such that Y&R had to swerve, and the show sort of pretended it didn't happen for a long time. I'm not sure but I feel like Paul and Christine went on the backburner/recurring from here on in. Now when I rewatch it? It is still coarse and violent and shocking in every way. However, I feel like it attempts to tackle the issue of 'grey-area rape.' IMO rape is rape, but how many instances do we hear or know about rape occurring in the home, the issue of consent being blurred, the idea that women might question whether it is 'really rape' if it is that nice guy you love? This debate is still being had, and I remember the debate raging on Y&R's official site which published viewers' e-mailed reactions to the show. So yeah... I still find it uncomfortable and the genesis of the story a little suspect, but I also appreciate what Y&R might have been trying to trigger as a conversation. And I give kudos to LLB for playing this unambiguously.

I love Upstairs Downstairs too -- Downton Abbey would likely not exist without this show! The cool thing about Upstairs Downstairs was how feeling it was about human beings, as life whirled around them in a tumult. You never got the impression that the writers did not care for every character. Also, the show operated with basically two sets -- the 'front entrance' and reception room of the wealthy family, and the kitchen operations where the staff congregated. And yet, I never felt hemmed in by those boundaries. The capabilities of the actors and storytellers to express life in multi-dimensional ways within those sets was A+. Yaphet Kotto! I remember him from Homicide: Life on the Streets and obviously the wannabe-blaxpolitation Bond film. Always felt like he and Laurence Fishburne should have played father and son in a movie.

Toya's financials are a SL again -- for Devilishly and Quad.

I've thought about how i might act if my husband was accused of having affairs and if (a) it was true and I wanted to hide it, and (b) it was false and I wanted his name cleared. Overall, I think l would act pretty similarly, which is angry AF. Having said that, the second birthday party for Evan is too much. He looked like he was not really feeling it, and she only did it to stick it to Teresa, which shows you how shook she was. The problem with Jackie is that she can be smugly insufferable, and its hard to root for her (except when she's talking with her lovely little brother). She is very focused on singlehandedly keeping this rivalry with Teresa going, and she referred to RHONJ as "my show" last week, I assume in a bid to trigger Teresa on social media. The irony is, other than Teresa beep-beep-beep-beeping all the way down Marge's driveway in Ep 1, I'm not sure she thinks about Jackie all that much, certainly not as much as Jackie thinks about her. That is a great article by Vice, by the way, thank you for posting it. Tiffany has been dropping hints for some weeks that she is not sure she would do a second season, and in this article does not diverge from that view. It would be a shame for me as a viewer because I think she has been a game changer for the franchise and she is one of my fave newbies. I don't usually warm to newbies this fast! She is smart, accomplished, self-deprecating, and not afraid to show her own vulnerability. In doing the latter, she has exposed some of the ugliest traits of her cast members, unfortunately. However, as a human being, I completely understand her wanting to step away from a toxic environment and prioritise her vocation which means a lot to her.

PK has a history of stabbing business associates and former friends in the back, so why is he so butthurt about LVP and Ken giving him the cold shoulder? He knows what he did to warrant that. Meanwhile, he stays trying to shop some PK-Mauricio 'project' that nobody asked for. As for Rinna, she rejoices in other people's misfortune, and that's an ugly quality (like hounding Kim on her sobriety for +5 years). LVP's financial problems and lawsuits are public knowledge, and PUMP has been closed since March 2020. I cannot think of one restaurant or bar in North America which hasn't taken a hit during the pandemic. LVP lost both her BH and VPR paychecks, but she worked to score new projects. Meanwhile, Rinna stays in her wig closet Instagramming. That Budget Hadids show she planted in the press prompted the swiftest denial from E!/NBC Universal I have ever seen. Even struggling E! wants no part of it.

RHOD: As high achieving as Tiffany is, I find her vulnerability and self-deprecation her best qualities as a HW. She is a little socially awkward (doing the robot to distract from her tears) and embarrassed by her emotional responses, but i find her reactions very relatable. She isn't arrogant or bitchy. I really like DTM and hate that Brandi was trying gaslight her. Even Stephanie was like 'That's enough going after the newbie.' Still have yet to hear any remorse from Brandi about how she may have hurt people, but she sure has an awful lot of self-pity for herself. D'Andra is winning me over with her whole attitude, and her friendship with Tiffany. Weirdly, I'm starting to like Kary a little, too.... she had compassion for Tiffany and listened to her. Mama Dee is a breath of fresh air (and that new face looks fresh too). Pointing out the stress DTM must be under trying to save lives, especially in these Covid times. The other women are so wrapped in themselves, it never actually occurred to them. I still think Dee should be a cast member. Shaman Darrin and his hair-extensions-grooming past was another welcome guest spot. RHOBH TBH I'm actually stunned any restaurant can pay taxes at the moment. This is no surprise given the yearlong pandemic, but LVP has scored 3 new shows (VPD, the dog judging show, and Overserved), so she is clearly trying to keep maximise revenue streams. I saw that on Page Six. Ramona seemed keen we all know about her new friendship. Actually they went shopping and looked like they were both having sone fun!

TRF is an institution that, for better or worse, symbolically represents the United Kingdom, so I am guessing that even moderate Brits will be, initially, defensive about the interview and towards Meghan specifically. Because they don't like being called racists, colonial, parochial, out of touch. They might take it personally, like how dare the Yanks lecture us with their race record? The British care what other people think of them and how they appear on the world stage. However, as with Diana, this may have a slow, drip-drip effect. Diana's interview with Martin Bashir did not bring down the monarchy overnight. But the bad press almost did over the period of the early-to-mid 90s. I'd be worried if I was in 'The Firm.' There is no other way of looking at it -- they have been deeply damaged by this. The specificity and detail of some of the things that happened to Meghan is shocking. It shows an institution which has only gone through the vaguest motions of change while staying inflexibly the same. Now that the Empire has gone, the Queen during her reign has been all about The Commonwealth -- a loose affiliation of countries which had been former colonies of Britain. TRF is always paying lip service to The Commonwealth because it paints a rosy glow over Britain's colonial past ("We gave them parliaments! The English language!") and makes the royals look good interacting with people of different ethnic backgrounds. Now that the H&M interview has exposed TRF on the racism front, how will their interactions with The Commonwealth be from here? What about with black Britons at home?

The fact that TRF and tabloid attack-dog press went hard on an intense, targeted, smear campaign last week illustrates your point exactly. If they had nothing to fear, why bother? But they knew some bombshells would be coming that would make them look bad, so they went hardcore with the 'deflection tactics.' Only problem was, it was all so obvious and proved H&M's point. It made TRF look even worse.

Oh, and @DRW50 : More and more people are demanding answers about Andrew, but he remains completely protected by the Queen. Moreover, the press is careful not to mention him too often (illustrating the also-toxic quid pro quo relationship between the BRF and the Murdoch/Dailly Mail tabloids). Andrew may no longer be a 'working royal' (which suits him to the ground, as I don't believe he was ever big on 'working') but he kept all his military titles -- which is more than Harry got. (Harry served in Afghanistan).

Both Bethenny and Dorinda truly over-played their hand. So foolish, too, before the interview had even aired! Looks like they were trying to appeal to a certain kind of 'fan' who views Meghan as overly woke and liberal -- it was a flop.

IA this does expose the BRF in a way they have not been exposed since Diana. Despite attempts to show that the institution has changed with the times, it really has not at all and may never. With the exception of the use of computers and cell phones, the 'Firm' is still run as it was back in the 1940s and 50s -- a shrouded, hierarchical institution protected from the great unwashed, run by the Men in Grey who prioritise pedantic protocol and extreme deference. The family itself grudgingly goes through well-paid motions of 'service' and is clearly dysfunctional but clings on because... all that wealth. However, will this interview kill off the institution? Too soon to say. Revolution is often a straw which breaks the camel's back. The BRF is embedded in English class culture, and people out there, moderate Brits but also white, nationalistic, alt-right Brits, view the institution as embedded in their history and identity, a symbol of when Britain lorded it over the world. They have a lot in common with the core Trump vote in terms of background, culture wars, and political POV. I've always thought parts of the US and UK are kissing cousins born of twin sisters. Watching clips of the M&H interview (it officially airs tonight on UK TV in Primetime), I realise that she represents such a clash with that nationalistic institution -- international, millennial, multicultural. Her self-management of her fame and 'brand' is of the now. She speaks a language that the old guard hate and reject. P.S.: Totally agree about W&K. Last November, at the height of a lockdown, they went on an expensive Royal Train tour of Britain, to breathe on cute kids and essential workers (neither W&K worse masks, for photograph purposes). It was, apparently, their way of 'thanking' the NHS. Well, it totally flopped as a PR exercise and was roundly criticised. Completely stupid and tone deaf.