Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Taoboi]

Since it came up, while I think we all know my loathing of Andy Cohen, let me take the time to repeat myself over a point that was brought up above...

 

...Perhaps it was because back in the day, Andy held his bias better with some charm, charisma, or twinky homogenic traits, but other than in extreme cases (it seem clear how he felt about some of his OGs), it never came off as he was playing too favorite on anyone. That said, another factor might be also that the OGs were very much able to verbally smack down all haters to them back then...heck, how many times Teresa was her vs everybody? Even better, their haters were ALSO good at defending themselves back, making for some great reunions for sure. So all he really had to do was sit back, ask questions, and do his thing. Even some of today's Housewives easily can do verbal without 'help.'. Not all. SOME.

 

Many pages back, a lot of us pinpointed when this all really went to his head: HIS HOUSEWIVES PARTY with Ex Soap Opera Star saying 'dance monkeys dance' or something like that. 

 

Since then, the mask has dropped. And it has been behind the curtains for just about every viewer but the shallow or pick-mes who see how Andy is now. I've gone off at length about when I saw it myself...BELOW DECK SEASON 7 reunion. And since then to now, every reunion BUT last year's NY reunion, he has let it all hang out...even when he should keep his ego in check and JUST HOST. Even worse, he acts like HE the housewife and someone was messing with his man(s), distracting unnecessarily from what was being discussed, being tone deaf to the serious issues, or just being obnoxious when he is called out on that very truth tea. 

 

And now that ability to not be objective is hurting his shows. It was VERY telling at the POTOMAC reunion when he was trying to gaslight Monique. Production went behind his back to save her from his bias to save someone he seems to think is the face...and NO, she is not the face of POTOMAC. He just wants her to be. 

 

With that in mind, it does make me suspect that perhaps as payback at Nene, Andy could be sabotaging RHOA this year. To make it less than what it was since Nene has been calling him all the way out. He can't get to her, but he can get to the house she built. Why? Because he has now made it clear how he is now. Petty. Ratchet. Wh3ore. Cokehead. 

 

As for reality tv...yeah to an extent it really is not real anymore. Emphasis on anymore. The best drama on these shows HOWEVER have been when something not planned happened. Or when the producers allowed real life to enter. I immediately think of BH and Russell. The first few seasons of RHOA. NY was built on the friendships of the ladies and that is STILL going strong. And they STILL have moments to show real life...like Jill's husband's funeral. Will people self produced? As far back as NY Season 3, Camille in S2 of BH. Even Kenya from the moment she stepped into frame Season 5 of RHOA. However, there has been over the last year of consistently breaking the 4th Wall, revealing so much of what is going on behind the scenes, now viewers have to wonder what they ARE NOT seeing versus what they ARE SEEING. There is a reason the biggest drama on RHOA right now is the fact they edited out a lot that would give the whole disjointed season perspective. Compare that to Season 9. Dark or not, they showed EVERYTHING. So Production can and should DO BETTER. 

 

Until SOMEONE is telling them NOT TO.

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 And we can guess who would do that...regardless of claiming to no longer have any power.   And he has been called here the Brian Frons of reality TV and I believe that. 

 

And none of it is real...or even fun...if I have to question any of it to the point it can't be enjoyed...well what's the point of even watching...moreso now that there are plenty of other shows to watch out there? That is the dilemma Bravo has found itself in. If they don't inject some fun AND real back in, these shows might go the way of cancelled soaps.

 

Now...that's my 2 cents on that. 

 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

 

This. It would be pure karma given how they did Monique last year. 

 

However, I see the GEBs pulling another divide and conquer this year. I bet top dollar that Wendy and Candaice will be ripped at the seams with Candaice ending up on an island all alone before they drive her out too. And Karen better not come and save her either. Let Candaice drown seeing as she pushed the "let's ice Monique out" crap. Live by the sword, die by it.

[DaytimeFan]

RHOD

 

Danny Pellegrino was right. What a flop of a show. They should cancel this mess.

 

The only person I like is Cameron's husband Court because he can laugh at how short he is compared to his wife. 

 

The rest of them? Heinous people.

 

1. Especially Kary. Good lord. Evil. Dark. Nasty. She has a real mean streak to her. I don't want to watch someone like that at all.

 

2. And Brandi? What trash. The red wig suited her though. A sort of Morgan Brittany vibe to her. 

 

The way those two desecrated Southfork should be a cardinal sin for anyone who loves soaps. Don't they realize but for the pop culture juggernaut of Dallas nobody would give a solitary f*ck about that city?

 

3. D'Andra is incredibly dull without her incredibly entertaining mother, Miss Dee Simmons. 

 

4. Tiffany Moon...well...after reading all of TT's gossip...not sure about her. 

 

5. Stephanie did nothing this season. At least Travis admitted to watching Dallas. 

 

The end credits for each of the cast demonstrated that this entire season was about nothing and nothing but manufactured nonsense happened with a bunch of dumb, unlikeable, shallow, vulgar people. 

[NothinButAttitude]

@DaytimeFan, I gave up after they kept Brandi and fired Leeanne for the same crap; however, I don't give up on the show as a whole. This show is gonna have to do one of two things--bring back Leeanne to revive this show OR a massive overhaul a la Miami season 2. The personalities are there. I still think it was stupid that they didn't toss Claudia Jordan on the cast as she lives in Dallas, is cool with Cary Deuber, and was beefing with Kary Brittingham on Twitter. 

[Taoboi]

@NothinButAttitude sounds like the latter.

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  *sips tea*

[Cat]

RHOA:

 

You all know that I am not a Kenya fan. But honestly, I 100% see why she was aggrieved about Drew and Porsha. She carried all of Reunion Part 1. It's like Kenya and Kandi's massive contribution to the franchise is now being sidelined in order to protect Bravo's investment in Porsha and Drew Thirstora.

 

It relates to @Taoboi's point about Andy. I hate the blatant favoritism. It's been ongoing for some years, but it was somewhat in check and now it is out of control. Thanks god Potomac's production team snuck in those cuts to back up Monique's story. I wonder if that will ever happen again now that Andy knows they did that.

 

It is quite obvious that entire context and SLs are being curt from the show in order to prop certain people out there that Bravo considers their 'main stars.'

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 Gizelle and Porsha were tapped to do that Bravo Chat Room thing for this very reason. Bravo might also be nervous that Porsha's new agents may guide her away from the network. Gizelle, of course, isn't going anywhere.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Cat

[FrenchBug82]

I am not going to be launching into this debate since we all saw the same thing and yet some people continue to read the events differently. But since the relaunch of the Potomac season is getting people to apparently subtly repeat a rewritten version of what happened, I will stake my take one last time and move on.

The "cuts" that Bravo showed showed why Monique genuinely misread the situation the way she did. It does not actually show the sequence of events she had described in her defense. Things did not happen the way she thought they had. The cuts only show why she may have been confused in good faith, which is to their credit, but ultimately the violence was on her alone.

I can completely understand finding Gizelle annoying and detesting Candiace. But I still have trouble understanding the insistence that Monique didn't do anything wrong or make any bad choices and is only a victim of conniving castmates and shifty producers.
Hum. No. We all saw the footage. You can argue she had grounds to be angry. You can argue Candiace was definitely searching and baiting for it. You can argue that in the heat of the moment she misread what happened with the glass and the hair. You can argue the show is less interesting without her and that Candiace should have been punished too and that there are double-standards.
Fine, fine. I am not far from agreeing on some of those points.
But I have to put my foot down with the complete rewriting of history here. Enough with the Blame Gizelle or Blame Andy thing. Monique did this.
You can still like her btw. But she is not a victim.

[Taoboi]

RHOD

 

What fresh hell was that?

 

This was the first post-LeeAnne season. The first season where those harpies that hated her could say...See? We don't need you to be around to be a successful show!! Granted they were in a pandemic, but THAT was it? There were so many ways it could have gone...keeping Jen's cut scenes for some spice, adding Claudia Jordan who was in the area, showing something, getting rid of dead weight to add WEIGHT. Thankfully, LeeAndra, Tiffany, Kameron, and begrudgely Kary pulled their own weight. But this season started soooo good. It was so fun. It had momentum. But somewhere around the time news of Brandi quitting, that momentum...died.

 

Thankfully the two part reunion...regardless of people's attempts to not be put in the hot seat allegedly...look like it won't be boring.

 

And the running rumor is IF it comes back next season, expect some changes. 

 

Hm. Sounds like a good amount of the HW shows other than NJ, POTOMAC, and NY right now.

 

Other than the 80s nods and everything about DALLAS, BUT some of the ladies' lack of respect for it (and I'm not a big fan of DALLAS, but I know the pop culture history to respect it and will probably still watch the TNT seasons eventually), this finale was a...'wait, this is the finale?' Bad form.

 

LEEANDRA. I really should not be surprised. But coming into this season, I was not her biggest fan. Especially when she started to look more and more like LeeAnne. During LeeAnne vs D'Andra, while I could see they both had fault in how that went down, I was Team LeeAnne. So coming into this season, she had to do one heck of a redemptive arc for herself for me to like her. And...well...SHE DID. I said it once and I'll say it again, LeeAndra is what soap opera heroines are made of. The good. The bad. The ugly. She has been showing everything and has NEVER been boring. She was an fascinating enigma to me and gave a complete arc this year. And I cannot wait to see her dragging people at the reunion. I liked that she called Kary out about how when she drunk she did some stupid things in front of the group. Then I loved that she talked to her privately to be sure she was okay. See? She had finally started to remember how to be a friend...which for me was what I liked about her intro season when she was the good, but firm friend to LeeAnne. WINNER. 

 

TIFFANY. Still had LeeAndra's back during that call out on Kary in a nice respectful way. She also gave us so much this season. A new and fresh perspective. A nice family. And her arc concluded with her and her mother making amends, less work hours, and this group of folk. She did not do much otherwise this finale. And I wonder about what is going on in real life. Until then...WINNER.

 

KAMERON. Lord...she's been my comic relief all season. And that alone makes her a WINNER. And we know how much I love Court. They were such a great team this season (btw so was LeeAndra and Jeremy) and they were living life. And Kameron at least always kept it funny. I was happy her and Tiffany had been able to bury the hatchet. But we will see how I feel at reunion. 

 

STEPHANIE. Useless. Your friend destroy a piece of TV history and all you could do is gasp and not be like ready? Did she even do anything this season really? LOSER.

 

BRANDI. Shady Phae Phae did it better.

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 What do I mean? Not knowing that she was not preggers that whole time. In the baby was born in February, that means you got preggers back around the time filming started. So you seriously, seriously, SERIOUSLY expect anyone to not side-eye you with pina calada according to the mystery guy in this episode IN HAND? 'Oh, I don't know about DALLAS.' And? RESPECT THE HISTORY, BITCH. RME. Her attempt this season to paint the narrative that she was making amends for her video fell oh so flat with the majority of fans (I cannot even believe she has fans, but whatever) and it's time for that exit she deserves stage left. A season too late, but still...LOSER. 

 

KARY. Perhaps if she had tried to be honest (c) Kyle Richards, I would have more sympathy for her. She, like Brandi, thought she was just going to control the narrative this season by focusing on her kids to show a more human side to offset the fact that she is a sucky person. Well, all that did was make me like her kids and see through the glass. And unlike Kary, I didn't break it. And the fact that she STILL could not take any accountability...which sometimes means you have to see people say the same thing over and over and over again like they did at her at her call out...was telling to me. I will give her that her scene talking to LeeAndra about having to deal with her husband, being strong for her girls, dealing with Co-Vid felt real. That said, getting CoVid before the reunion...clearly she did not care about it too much. So...an act? Or just too little, waaaay too late for me. I can see where she brought drama this season, but never liked the bitca. And stage left for her. LOSER.

 

Uh...where did Jen go?

 

That said...ready for the reunion at least. 

 

ETA: @FrenchBug82but here's the thing...YOU were not here for Potomac to go through that discussion. Unless you were here under ANOTHER name. So how would you know what was said during that time. We went over that in full detail WITH RECIEPTS to back all of that up. And multiple points of view were discussed respectfully. 

 

So unless you are trying to troll like someone who was there at the time...who I honestly thought was Gizelle...this is all a moot point. And we all know where the blame was and it was not all on Monique.

 

No rewriting of history. Good try though. 

 

And we will have to agree to disagree. 

 

MEANWHILE...

 

POTOMAC CAST TRIP...in Virginia. 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Taoboi

[Cat]

 

I'm not talking about the fight between Candiace and Monique or any footage related to that. Production (to its credit) showed ALL the fight in one episode virtually uninterrupted. I thought it was very good they did that because there should be no room for doubt about the event as it transpired.

 

I was actually referring to a moment in the reunion (and I should have been more clear) when Chris Samuels wanted to talk about the rumors of Monique having an affair with the trainer. Andy, Gizelle, Candiace and Robyn basically shouted him down like "We already discussed that, CHRISSSS. Pipe down!" I personally felt like it was gaslighting the Samuels who had a solid case pointing the finger at Gizelle, Robyn, Charrisse, etc. Candiace even admitted there was a discussion about spreading a rumor about the parentage of baby Miles, and production supplemented that with unseen edits of Chris pointedly asking Gizelle if his son looks like him.

 

I do blame Andy for protecting Gizelle from the Samuels' questions throughout that reunion -- I think Gizelle can defend her own self, plus Robyn rides to her defence a lot of the time, too.

 

Monique is no victim, I agree. Both Giz and Monique give as good as they get. (I also think Monique is throwing a lot of money at this Bindertime Tales thing on YouTube when she really should have just stayed on RHOP and hashed out the binder there. It's starting to look like she regrets turning down that contract).

[Taoboi]

ALL OF THIS.

 

Especially the bold. 

[Chris B]

I’m glad Dallas is over. Idk how they got 16 episodes but New Jersey is only getting 13. I do think overall this season was decent, but it was too long. If they cut 3 episodes (and the entire Oklahoma trip) it would’ve been much stronger. It just felt like they were bending over backwards to stretch the material to fit the 16 episode order. On the other hand you have New York, which can get an entire interesting episode out of one day of filming. Ramona even said that despite Covid this season will have more episodes than last, which doesn’t surprise me. Those women know how to deliver. 
 

With that said, I am excited for the reunion. I thought that trailer was iconic and much better than the promo for RHOA. A good level of drama was shown and I love that they didn’t explain Brandi and Kary being on the tv screens which only made it more bizarre and hilarious. Brandi’s lighting made me SCREAM! That was better than I could’ve imagined and exactly how that miserable woman deserved to go out. 
 

I’m just happy New York is about to start. I’m ready for reliable and easy to watch housewives. 

[Cat]

 

I don't know how some of our posts got heated all of a sudden, but perhaps you, me and @FrenchBug82 misunderstood each other over the last day or so?

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 On Monday @FrenchBug82 posted about Andy Cohen basically agreeing with what lots of us have been saying. So maybe we all got the wrong end of the stick today. Hopefully my post re: Potomac reunion cleared some things up.

 

 

 

Happy to hear that about RHONY. Sounds like Ramona is a little more invested in participating this season and keeping the show fresh.

 

The shots of Tweddledumb and Tweedledumber at reunion made me laugh so hard. Brandi looks.... woah. Boozy ex-Vegas showgirl circa 1971. "I used ta date Frank Sinatra, you know."

 

 

 

"We're repainting the dining room, so I moved that portrait of your Great-Aunt Lucía onto the patio."

 

 

 

Nice social distancing... with a TV screen:

 

 

-------------------------

 

Dallas got 16 episodes but NJ got 13?? That's crazy! Having said that, NJ has been flying by fast this season. 

 

Sneak peek for RHONJ tonight. Joe Gorga how dare you go afta My Dolores you bootpolish-haired trick

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Cat

[FrenchBug82]

Very interesting choice to attack me for making my point. Certainly reinforces my impression of the unhealthy obsessiveness with which certain posters seem to approach a reality TV storyline.

As I said, I have no issue with liking Monique and I have no issue even with defending her actions.

But the reality-denying aggressive stanning is a bit much.

And the tone of your answer makes my case that this isn't coming from a fun place of being a fan of the show. Whatever is going on here, I am not impressed and I wanted to say so before moving on to the next season and whatever fake fights and controversies the show will serve us.
 

This on the other hand is engaging on the merits and siding with Monique the right way. I don't quite draw the same conclusion on balance and certain points seem weak to me (I still don't see the evidence of Andy "protecting" Giz beyond keeping things under a certain boundary) but plenty of decent points made. 
And indeed Monique made a mistake walking away. It may have felt good for her but I think she should have wanted to litigate stuff openly on the show. People indulging the story she was a victim of a plot (cough, cough) did NOT do her a favor. 
Bravo likes drama; they ate it up and made it worse. But noone forced her to handle things the way she did. She gave them the drama; they amped it up in whatever way served their purpose. Was no plot.
 

Neither I nor you got heated. The reason I wanted to give my take before the season started was simply because I was seeing a lot of vitriol in defense of Monique that I wasn't entirely comfortable with and that I found exaggerated. The fact it suddenly got directed at me when I disagreed vindicates my sense that it isn't entirely rational and coming from an ugly place.

Conversation is more interesting when people don't start taking what these women on REALITY TV say and do as Gospel or worthy of stanning. None of them are angels and not a single thing we see on these shows is completely truthful and balanced. It is a TV show. Duh.
For every thing we didn't see that is embarassing to Gizelle, guaranteed we haven't seen similar footage of any of the other ladies saying something nasty or doing something cringey or crossing a line of some sorts. Guaranteed that there is more Monique stuff that would also make her look terrible that Bravo didn't show. All of them mess up.
So I spoke up about the Monique sainthood narrative because I see people feeling unhealthily extreme about it and it makes me uncomfortable. As I said, like Monique, support Monique, defend Monique. No issue with me there and plenty of grounds to like her.
But the intensity and reality-rewriting and endless bile towards whoever is perceived as her enemies is just over-the-top and off-putting.
The show is enjoyable if you get that it is just a show. I won't argue on Monique because, truth be told, I don't feel that strongly one way or another but I thought it was important to bring the temperature down as for the hate directed at Gizelle and Candiace.
Otherwise our collective watching of the next season is going to be a drag if the viciousness isn't toned down.
That's my take and I wanted to share it. 

 

[Cat]

@FrenchBug82 You can certainly share your opinion, as is your right! I will share mine, by saying that IMO we all got defensive (and I'm sorry for my part in that), and even your post of today 'reads' to me as heated and annoyed -- even if you perhaps did not write it with that intention in your head. 

 

I must also defend @Taoboi with whom I have posted on this thread for a while. You really mischaracterise him -- he is not an aggressive stan, nor unhealthily obsessive. He is (as am I) an enthusiast of the Real Housewives. Even as fans, though, none of us take these franchises at their literal word. I think I speak for all posters here when saying that we enjoy these shows for what they are -- scripted-reality entertainment. We know we are being played by these HWs trying to monetise their platform. Even when getting into it amongst ourselves about a HW... honestly, it is just banter, and we're not taking it too seriously. It's a Housewives Show -- we know!

 

I should also point out that our opinions on Bravo and these HWs can (and do) change on a dime!

 

Potomac last season was dramatic and people had lots of opinions. I don't really want to hash that mess all over again, but Candiace herself confirmed the existence of 'a plot' by Gizelle, Charrisse and Robyn to bring up on the show whether Monique's baby was actually Chris Samuels' son. That idea went nowhere, but nevertheless, it turned many Potomac viewers off Gizelle.  

 

FWIW I don't think viewers feel Monique is a perfect saint either. We know she's done things behind the scenes to get dirt on a few of the HWs. Hence her binder. BTW No-one here is arguing that Monique didn't start that physical altercation.

 

I'm truly sorry you felt vitriol or personal attack here. This thread is a pretty enjoyable 'escape from reality' for me. I don't want it to end up a toxic place where someone posts an opinion about a HW and then it becomes a toxic back-and-forth because someone else disagrees with that opinion and cannot accept its existence. IA that we should agree to disagree -- it's just a TV show. We can debate our side of things (and enjoy the debate!) without devolving into accusations of delusions, lies, or rewriting history. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Cat

[Taoboi]

Perhaps I did. It sounds like I did. The post was after we had been talking about Andy and Production, something we had been doing for a while. And it sounded like 'how are you shocked when he's been like that forever.' My point being...No, He Hasn't. Now I thought about it for a day. And then I wrote my rebuttal and why I IMHO thought that was not true. Using examples from but not wanting to cover the same ground since as we know I've been beating that drum for what...two years now? And you are right. It is very blatant now. Now if I mistook the original post, I apologize. 

 

Now my issue is this:  The following day or today, we have the text about Monique. I actually went back to (and since it's at the top of this page (or page 2169 cuz this response will probably be long-ish. Early apologies), I believe I only mentioned POTOMAC once as the most clear and most watched example of what we were discussing...Andy and Production. I also cited other shows and when and where I felt the shift in question. Then I connected it to why we were discussing Production. re: RHOA and their current season and reunion. I am very well  aware where a discussion of POTOMAC and its last season can go. After all, I was there outside of what was mentioned at the reunion? That rebuttal and THAT was all that was taken from what I wrote?

 

I couldn't help but go back to last season when you Cat, me, and several others had long discussions about this. I believe it was mostly you Cat and I that was discussing with one poster the different things and angles about how it went down. Talking about our point of views. At the time, that poster had great feedback and perspective, but also seem to always want to turn the conversation into Karen vs Gizelle. They were mad obsessed about it at that. I thought it was just me...until around the reunion when another poster I believe it was Antoyne pointed out the same thing I had a few times before. And at that point, it seem like that poster was being what I believe is the definition of a troll. 

 

Given that before the other day post...I posted a few pages back I said one thing I did not want for this season was a repeat of last season for POTOMAC where yep...it was quite heated here...was potential trolling again. Since French's avatar is suspiciously like SOD's resident troll...I question a post about Monique and stanning for Gizelle after a post where I was ONLY discussing Andy and Production. And given I love French's comments over on the GH thread, yeah that was saddening if true. 

 

It occurred to me while I was work, that I probably sounded harsher than I meant to as well. So let me go ahead and say to @FrenchBug82 I apologize for how that sounded earlier. Going forward, we really are going to have to agree to disagree on last season. Like I said earlier and Cat said as well, everything was shown re: the fight. There are even replay in slow mo videos online now. So not discussing that again when there is videos and previous pages.  As for the reunion, there was plenty to digest. And like I said there are plenty of pages you either can go back and look at backing up all that has been said. And all TV shows have deleted scenes...reality tv included. Again...previous pages. :_

 

Thank you @Cat for having my back while I was at work.  And while I'm typing this I see.  

 

Stan? Hardly. Passionate? Definitely. Since you are throwing some light shade, I see you know you can hold your own. Which will be needed with the coming RHOP season. Cuz again...we are passionate. 

 

Now I said what I said. So in the interest of moving forward and keeping to the original post re: Andy and Production. DUST!!! to the rest of that.