Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Cat]

I finished watching the RHONY season finale and like many of you, I really loved it. It was warm, non-toxic, cheerful, and was a hark back to the RHONY we've been craving. Pinning the tail on Harry Dubin made me wish Aviva, Heather, Carole and Kristen could have all showed up just for this episode. Having the women play each other was genius -- Sonja as Bershan, Eboni as Luann and, of course, Ramona as Leah were spot-on. Also, and this will be an unpopular assertion, I believe that the OGs really do adore and bond with Leah.

So how to explain the Daily Mail article above and so many other articles showcasing the breakdown across the cast? I think this is pure self-preservation. The women must have sensed while filming that this was not greatness. That nagging fear mushroomed as the season aired, Twitter went buckwild and ratings plummeted. I think Luann, Ramona, Eboni and even Leah and Bershan started to brief against each other in the press. Nobody wanted to get the blame for this season. The charges that Bravo was forcing wokeness on the show definitely came from Ramona and Lu's respective camps, while the rumors that Ramona was being kicked off the show, I suspect, came from Eboni's side and possibly Leah's (and maybe even a disgruntled production source).

The fact is, after this week's episode, I would welcome them back next season with 2-3 additions. Let's just pretend that this season was the final two episodes and call it a mini-series.

[DaytimeFan]

That's exactly how I'd package it. Just call it a RHONY 'Very Special Two Episode Event: RHONY in Covid' and forget the other episodes ever happened.

Filming during 2020 was a mistake - had they waited till February and finished filming in July they'd have been in a production zone that wouldn't have felt like such an unholy mess. 

I really think they should be dropping any plans of a reunion. And if a reunion does air, it can only sustain one episode. And it needs to be a positive episode - like a Below Deck reunion. 

[Cat]

BH:

@NothinButAttitude @Antoyne @DaytimeFan ITA about Kyle. As Erika once said, she showed her f*cking ass! What a tremendous miscalculation on her part. The temptation to score easy points with the audience by setting up Sutton as the 'bully' hammering poor Erika proved too strong. BH has always been about egregiously currying favor with the audience and a race to become the most 'popular' HW with viewers. To the show's detriment, in my view. Kyle fell into her own trap she has been setting for others for over a decade.

This episode was called Dinner Party From Hell Part Two, and it was probably one of the best epis of the season. But it didn't quite reach the heights of the original DPFH for me. The OG party was unmoored, a dinner party that legitimately went off the rails, and which Camille was unable, and had no desire, to save. (It also had Faye Resnick, just saying).

THIS DPFH was carefully constructed from beginning to end. Props to Kathy for really going all-out and not just Old School, but Old WORLD, with her dinner party, the table, and Patrick the French Butler. "Zay are fighting cats and dogs!" 

Kathy revealed herself too this episode. We've been lulled by her quirks/wealth/doing her makeup at the table during a big fight. I do love Kathy Hilton, but she is not Daffy Duck. She is smart and almost as opportunistic as Kyle. That was clear at the mini luncheon when she tried to win Garcelle over to the dark side and pissed all over Sutton with "Nobody cares what you think." Kyle may have given Kathy the heads up about time to pick a side, and that side better be Erika's. 

Having said that, the look of barely-repressed annoyance on Kathy's face as Rinna ACK-ACKED all over the place and rang the butler's bell every 5 seconds was AMAZING. 

The dinner was a major Covenly Construct where Erika could do her melodramatic "Everybody is going after me" routine. Last episode she had already threatened Sutton with "I am going to take it to another level with you, I promise you that" so we know she needed a couple of days for Mikey, Rinna and Kyle to coach and prepare her. And of course, Kyle has been cultivating the Sutton friendship since last season, calling her up for cosy chit-chats about what she'll be wearing later -- straight out of the LVP Handbook.

Dorit was designated counter-voice, I believe, in order to lull Sutton into falsely thinking somebody else would speak up alongside her. But Sutton already has the measure of these b!tches and knew none of them would.

Crystal did f*ck all this episode except smirk during the mini-luncheon about Sutton being an awkward loser. Rinna, meanwhile, was f*cking hiding her face during Erika's tirade like the damn Cowardly Lion! What a clown.

Garcelle showed compassion and read the room well. That recoil from Erika when Garcelle tried to wipe her tears, and Garcelle refusing to take that and going to hold her underscored everything I already love about Garcelle's empathy and human side.

Erika crying... sigh. I would never wish this nightmare on my worst enemy. Having said that (and as @Chris B and @Taoboi mentioned) I think back to all the women targeted and brought to tears and worse by Erika and the Coven. Kathryn. Dorit. Terri DiMarco. LVP. Denise. Garcelle. Never once has Erika shown them a shred of empathy or humanity. Instead she sneered and jeered at them for being "weak" and "cry-babies." Not so nice to be on the other side of that, is it?

Edited September 2, 2021 by Cat

[Cat]

Preaching to the choir. If they'd just waited 4 months, they'd be in the sweet spot with talk of vaccines being rolled out and NYC reopening. hindsight is 20/20. of course, but it must have been clear early on -- possibly when Heather walked out of the FOH role -- that this was shaping up to be a tough shoot.

I wouldn't mind a one-off reunion on WWHL, with a cheering audience of tipsy fans and some fun drinking games. They can discuss Luann's 'sensual' love-life! The WWHL episode recently featuring Ramona was game-changing for her IMO. She was fun and answered all questions. I feel like all the rumors about Ramona being fired from RHONY literally disappeared into the ether after that.

[Taoboi]

BH

 

Oooooo...get her, Garcelle! hehe.

 

 

[FrenchBug82]

"Do you really? Gosh!"
This is Krista Allen level of acting that Rinna is doing now.

[Taoboi]

HAHAHA!!! 

 

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[Faulkner]

OMG. I know people are raving about this season, but I’m GAGGING over Lisa Rinna and not in a good way. She makes me wretch.

She and a few other ladies make the show unwatchable for me.

[Taoboi]

I openly admit that I thought this would be my first time hatewatching the show since I was not at all planning to watch after the Denise gangup BUT it's been shockingly good in getting back to the glamour, the scandal, and lives and 'lives' of the rich and the fake rich and the wannabes. Not to mentioning being with these ladies for so long that it's clear that they are playing a mean and vicious game of chess. 

 

I really want EricFake to get her comeuppance that's for sure. And Garcelle at least has been giving it to Ex Soap Opera Star so I can't say that I get tired of seeing it. It's the little bits of karma on the way to getting to the big ones....HOPEFULLY.

 

 

[Cat]

And some Karen-level trolling with that disingenuous "oh gosh, I'm sorry you feel that." I'd be seething if I were Garcelle but she played Rinna's game and kept it cool.

[Cat]

Another observation: Rinna hates Garcelle. That much is clear from this scene, especially in her VT.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Cat

[Soaplovers]

RHONY

Took them long enough to chill out and have fun.

RHOBH

Erika: your story, like your music career, is a lie.  I hope the witch is thrown in prison.  When even Dorit is feeling sorry for the victims, that should tell her something.

Crystal: After a promising start, she's now giving Teddi vibes.  She's just there....she should be thanking Sutton, but she's 2 faced like Kyle

Sutton, Garcelle, and Kathy deserve a raise.  Without them, it would have been a waste.

Kyle is probably the least interesting OG...she certainly is the less interesting and charismatic of her sisters.

[DRW50]

She's a pretty repulsive person. I think because she's the type of person who is awful in a very insidious way, yet keeps on chugging along. You are reminded that TV shows telling you someone gets comeuppance are never real. I just feel sick watching her. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by DRW50

[DaytimeFan]

Absolutely. Rinna hates her and totally resents her. Garcelle has exposed so much of Rinna's ugliness because she doesn't retreat. 

[Soaplovers]

Garcelle is worthy successor to Kim Richards.  Unlike Kim, rinna can't question Soberity...since Garcelle isn't an alcoholic