Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Liberty City]

Not as iconic as the last theme, but still better than most current RH openings.

[Cat]

It was a sweet show! I missed them. The lovely thing about Sonja especially is how she treats people the same, whether on RHONY or here. And she's a great sport and wants to connect with people peer-to-peer.

I thought it was divorce too, which is a shame because Rob comes off as a pretty nice husband. Hopefully they just want to move to a different neighbourhood.

Gives me Dubai vibes. Brynn's is the best tagline. Some of the others are knockoffs of other RH lines. 

[Michael]

Nothing about the new RHONY is blowing me away yet. It all looks... "fine." I'll certainly give the show itself a chance.

Welcome to Crappie Lake is delightful. I love seeing the women as their oblivious selves and yet also not looking down on the town or its people. There's a general kindness to the whole thing that I find endearing. Although Sonja seems DRUNK in every single scene...

[Soaplovers]

I wish the vacations on the housewife shows were more like the spin-off 'Welcome to Crappie Lake"... because when I watch the girls vacations on the franchises... I wonder to myself 'why would you consider these people your friends if all they do is cause drama and fight all the time'.

I think the shows should go back to the earlier seasons where there was one huge cast trip near the end of the season.. where you could have fun and air out some grievances that had been festering for the season.  Of course, the shows would need to do away with the contrived gatherings in every episode in order to build the anticipation and excitement.

[j swift]

I surprised at the sensitivity of Crappie Lake.  I expected a replay of The Simple Life, where small town residents are mocked for their lack of sophistication and rich women learn to respect people who struggle to make ends meet.  But, this show seems to have learned the lessons of why Paris and Nicole would not be celebrated in 2023 (not that they were that popular in the 2000s, given that Fox cancelled the show and sold it to cable within the first season), and it is a much more balanced and sweet show which was not what I imagined given the promotional materials. 

[Cheap21]

Guerdy started chemo and looks STUNNING!

[Gray Bunny]

Oy, it's been a whirlwind in life the past few weeks, but I'm all caught up here! A few random thoughts...

CRAPPIE LAKE: It's cute, fun, lighthearted, and I'm so glad there's no mean spiritedness at looking down at the common folks of middle America.  Especially after being so tone deaf in the last year of RHONY, they wisely made this show an innocent fish out of water experience. Luann and Sonja are a hoot, and it gives us old-school RHONY that we've been missing. 

OC: Yes, Taylor should definitely be a full-time Orange holder. She is giving us everything and makes it look effortless. I love her back in the thick of things. Meanwhile, Tamra is all over the place with her mess and I am here for it. I side eye Heather and Tamra being cool with one another when we know otherwise, but hopefully that'll play out as the season progresses and/or the reunion comes.

When I look at Tamra, Heather, and Shannon, I think of the infamous gif of the 3 Spidermans...

One thing they need to put a pin in (© Shannon Beador, who uses the phrase incorrectly) is Jennifer's marriage/separation/divorce, etc. They're going too hard too soon on her. Talk about an ambush (© Jill Zarin).  I do like what she's bringing to the show so far. If the Tamra/Jennifer friendship is going to fall apart, Tamra should've held off on attacking her until after Jen had built some foundation of friendships with the other women of the cast, otherwise it'll end up looking awkward with her sticking around, similar to Mia's friend on Potomac. But otherwise, I think there's roots for the new girl, more so than the last couple one-and-done one season wonders. 

 

RHOBH: 

To use another infamous gif...

I was NOT expecting this holiday surprise of the Umansky marriage imploding and another woman being involved.... with Kyle! 

I'm glad to hear the cameras are back up and filming Kyle's debacle. Real life drama is so much better than manufactured garbage. 

Rinna who? No need to bring the "savior" back. Maybe she go can tango with Peter Porte on DAYS again. For scale. 

 

RHONJ:

So the ENTIRE cast is returning? I... can't... There is SO much genuine hatred and manipulative backstabbing behind the scenes, not just between Teresa and Melissa, but nearly EVERYONE else (Margaret, Jennifer etc.). I don't know how they're going to make this next season work. 

 

New RHONY:

The graphics are cute for the opening. That's about all I got. I'm not really impressed or intrigued with the promos I've seen of the new cast, but I'll hate-watch the premiere and see if they catch on. 

 

ATLANTA:

The reunion of all the OG's (notable no-show: Nene) was... cute. But kinda pointless. They initially said they get together from time to time regularly because of their "sisterhood" or whatnot, yet we hear them catching up on their lives as if they haven't heard from each other in years (because that's the truth).  I didn't know (or maybe I did, but didn't care) DeShawn and her hubby divorced.  I knew about Lisa and her fine-ass ex Ed Hartwell splitting years ago (he's on my list of all-time hottest House Hubbys, but I digress...)

Kim & Kroy can make up and break up all they want, as long as it's off-camera. Nothing about this sounds genuine. 

[Cat]

 

She looks freaking amazing, and I hope the chemo is a rapid success.

[Gray Bunny]

RHOC: 

Heather came off looking pretty dumb on last night's show. I wasn't buying the fake jealousy of Tamra & Shannon's newfound closeness and Bravo using flashbacks of the Montana trip to show tiny moments of Heather "not included."  So feeling iced out was her personal low point of the trip. Nice try, but yawn. 

Meanwhile, she still seems dismissive of Taylor and insensitive to Gina. Granted, Gina's constant trigger meltdowns due to Jenn's infidelity is over the top. Like, take it down a notch, even if you're being serious. 

Fun show otherwise. This is definitely an upswing year. I'm glad they didn't try to fake us and say they slept outside all night. I sure as fukk wouldn't have either. 

[Cheap21]

Heather being jealous of Tamra and Shannon was so ridiculous. She looked stupid

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LOL...at Tamra's presence making it clear that she's not the queen anymore. 

[j swift]

Variety's review of the first three episodes of RHoNY (ouch)

Its first three episodes struck this viewer as outlet-store fare — a flashy garment with amateurish tailoring.

This viewer had long since walked away from the show, as its depiction of substance use in particular had gone from “Grey Gardens” kooky to Aronofsky-movie dark. 

Time will tell if this franchise has the juice to go the 13 seasons like “RHONY” did before its reboot, or if it only has a couple of years left

Edited July 14, 2023 by j swift

[Cat]

 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

[Cat]

Lord. I'm getting desperate RHONJ S5 vibes here with these hangers-on thinking theyve got a chance on the show.

Yikes. And I don't disagree with the writer's view on where RHONY went wrong. But yeah, I can't shake the feeling that it might be a whole lot of style over substance. I'll give it a shot though.

[Gray Bunny]

Yeah. I think of that and I think of the fact that all these newbies try to come in to recreate what Kenya and Porsha were able to do in their premiere season of RHOA (also S5). 

Let's see what new nicknames Candiace comes up with.... lol