Category Archives: Real Housewives

#RHOBH, Bravo TV, Psychology, public figures, Real Housewives, Television

#RHOBH Twitter is Crazy: Engage At Your Own Risk

Dave Quinn of People stated it earlier today. It’s getting vicious on Twitter when it comes to the on-camera dynamics between the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Unfortunately, I had a really horrific experience surrounding another Bravo show and its fanatical Twitter following. It began with me blogging about a show and then I found out things I wasn’t supposed to know about an individual….and it all went downhill. To make a long story short and to keep this post short too: it’s perfectly OK to stop interacting with someone who takes a reality show far from on-TV-reality, attacks your character or brings up personal details about you. Someone who cites your family members names when you have never mentioned their names on social media? Uncool. No, not just uncool, really psychotic.

Hitting the “Block” button is what started all the trouble for me personally last year. It is far easier to “mute” Twitter users instead. They won’t know they are muted, but by employing this option, you will not see their tweets…even when they are tagging you. This move will protect you, making it easier to resist writing back. After they are muted, don’t even glance at their timeline. Television is to be enjoyed, to form opinions adn not be viciously attacked for them. People go for the jugular and the deeply personal. I honestly don’t know how the reality stars do it. As Margaret Josephs and Emily Simpson have told me, you must have extremely tough skin to be on television. I and many others I know are way too sensitive and we would fail. I am candid about my sensitivity too, which makes me all the more vulnerable. But I digress…

There are unstable personalities out there and when we choose to get into it with them (especially about a silly show — sorry Bravo!), there is no telling where it may lead.

I realize that I’m being somewhat cryptic about how bad it can get, but some of you are familiar. To the others, you will just have to trust me on this one!

On a totally different note, what are your thoughts on the drama with Dorit not returning her puppy to Vanderpump Dogs? Do you think Lisa Vanderpump is carrying her grudge too far, or that she is absolutely justified in her treatment of Dorit?

Lisa has admitted that she probably should not have filmed the current season due to the personal stress of losing her brother to suicide. I think that next year, she should focus on the dogs and not the bitches (I’m paraphrasing LVP herself) and enjoy her matriarchal role on Vanderpump Rules. She’ll still be a power player on Bravo with a successful show that has her last name in it.

(Photo Source: Star Magazine)

Standard
Bigotry, Homophobia, Real Housewives, RHONJ, Uncategorized

#BravoTV Wants NOTHING to Do with Him, But It Needs to Be Said

If the old school adage uttered by Jennifer Aydin on Real Housewives of New Jersey (“The husband is the head, but the woman is the neck and the neck can swivel the head and have control over it”) has any merit, a certain neck of a RHONJ alumnus could swivel the egomaniacal head above it.

However, as I write this, I’ve gotten word that the obstinate “neck” is stiff and upright in defense of her husband and other “good christians” who spread the gospel of homophobia.

Ok, so the Bible has its passages, Jim points out, and he is entitled (wrongly) to be angry that there are gay people in this world. He doesn’t seem to grasp that we are all wired the way we are in terms of sexuality. He doesn’t seem to have kept up with the articles or listened to the excellent podcast Unerased. He thinks being gay is a lifestyle choice.

His wife has indicated she backs him up in the flawed logic that gayness is an urge to fight off and not succumb to.

I want to insert here that some of us are somewhere on the Kinsey scale. Bisexuality is a real thing for those wondering about the depiction of Freddie Mercury in the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic. The comedic duo of Ronna & Beverly used to have a bit about there being a spectrum: “a little bit gay, a little bit straight…our show is for everyone.” For those who got the humor, their ridiculous ramblings resonated and the podcast (now on indefinite hiatus) amassed a cult following, within the LGBTQ community and elsewhere.

Real Housewives of New Jersey‘s former fledgling cast member Jim Marchese (pictured, husband to former RHONJ Housewife Amber) doesn’t get it. The question is: Why use his platform to spew hatred about homosexuality? What is his PERSONAL issue with it? Why not comment on something that doesn’t affect him personally?

Some have suggested that those who lash out in this manner do so because of their own internal battles. Perhaps Jim is projecting onto the LGBTQ community because he’s wrestling with his own demons and indoctrinated guilt? Maybe he doesn’t believe he’s a good Christian. Or maybe this is just who he is, a person who chooses a group to lash out at in order to pass the time. It could be a publicity stunt to remain relevant…which will have many people mad at me for even writing about it.

Something to consider is that there was that domestic dispute between he and his wife years ago on an airplane. The result was that law enforcement got involved. Parlaying their “15 minutes” from RHONJ into more TV time, they appeared on the show Marriage Bootcamp to address their public dysfunctions and (presumably) to salvage their union.

Maybe his (highly erroneous) form of penance is speaking out on all things he thinks aren’t “right” in the world.

However, the way he’s going about it is all wrong. See how Twitter has reacted (I of course had to weigh in because of my passion for the LGBTQ community and my friends who are even more offended by JM’s intolerant views than I am –which is saying something. I wasted several tweets on the vile man yesterday.)

As for the Bravo network and the RHONJ production company Sirens Media, they want us to either forget Jim and Amber Marchese ever existed, or acknowledge how far they’ve come with casting better people.

Viewers have mixed opinions on the current cast, but are thankful that Jim Marchese is only currently starring on The Big Twitter Shit Show From New Jersey.

Hang in there: it’s about to lose audience members.

(Featured Photo Source: RADAR ONLINE)

Standard
Bravo TV, public figures, Real Housewives, Reality TV, RHOC, RHONJ, Women

#RealHousewives: The Question of When (and Why) To Walk Away

Real Housewives of Orange County‘s Kelly Dodd took to her Instagram as news of the upcoming RHOC reunion rocked social media. In the previews and articles, veteran Housewife Vicki Gunvalson makes the outlandish accusation that Kelly, 43, a divorced mother of Jolie (12) who she shares with ex husband Michael, uses cocaine.

Kelly has taken to her Instagram to deny the allegations and say that they are damaging to her daughter who is aware of what transpired.

Kelly has declared that she can no longer be around Vicki and that if the OG Housewife – of the first of the Real Housewives Bravo franchises – stays, she will not be back.

Fans are expressing their doubts because Evolution Media, the production company behind RHOC, seems to have an unspoken lifetime commitment to Vicki Gunvalson, and Kelly, now a single mom, would be walking away from some stellar pay (not that she’s hurting for cash. Her ex husband is the retired CEO of Leapfrog, the teaching tech device company that helped my toddlers learn their ABCs).

Speaking of Housewives walking away, Danielle Staub of Real Housewives of New Jersey was once the most epically notorious Housewife with a temper of Trumpian proportions (not fab for the presidency, but pretty riveting for reality television). After Danielle’s below the belt and bellicose response to Margaret agreeing to attend Dolores Catania’s hatchet throwing event, it was evident to most viewers that the demoted Danielle most likely held resentments about being a “friend of” for the second season in a row, rather than a full time cast member known as “Housewife”, her previous title. While I do NOT think Danielle’s strong-willed cast mates would ask for her to go, and she has Teresa on her side and currently as a real (off camera) friend, she seems quite disgruntled with the majority of the cast to observant RHONJ viewers.

An article on the website TooFab features new RHONJ cast member Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Goldschneider stating that she wasn’t given the warmest reception by Danielle. Jackie is also particularly close to Margaret, she states in the article, so that may have something to do with any prejudices on Danielle’s part.

Unlike with Kelly Dodd, I don’t see producers trying very hard to reason with the volatile “friend of.” Evolution Media and Bravo may very likely go out on a limb to placate Kelly, who is ratings gold and intriguing to many fans in her “full time” secured spot on RHOC. Producers will likely encourage these ladies to make up or pick up their drama next season for a storyline, but monetary offers demanding apologies will have to be a part of their strategy. Kelly Dodd has been declaring that her tween daughter is more important than any TV show and she is not one to mince words or refrain from making necessary demands. Sirens, the production company behind RHONJ, made Danielle a “friend of” for a reason, and with the new cast mates already getting into the overall drama mix, I see Danielle being phased out in a similar fashion to Kim D. (the villain who held an annual Posche boutique fashion show. Both Kim and Posche will be completely absent from the current season according to multiple reports and sources.)

It is my sense that Vicki will be doing some major backpedaling (we’ve seen her do it before), but that both she and Kelly will return next season and their terse interactions will be featured in the first few episodes.

I think Danielle is more likely to end up on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars next year. She has posted about suffering from arthritis, but being quite the determined ballroom dancer despite the aches and pains– and the petite former Housewife has some serious skills. I think she could make it far as one who inspires others dealing with chronic pain and has sashayed away from toxicity.

I predict she would make it much farther than Lisa Vanderpump did on DWTS and she’ll be happier than she would be feuding with the ladies.

…Suggest it to ABC. I will too.

Standard
Bravo TV, Psychology, Real Housewives, RHOC

#RHOC: Emily Simpson Triumphantly Claps Back at Tamra Judge on Social Media

“Where has THIS Emily been all season?!” one commenter in a Bravo-focused Facebook group wrote. His remark was in response to a social media argument that heated up between Real Housewives of Orange County cast mates Tamra Judge and Emily Simpson. The group consensus was that Emily had successfully told an aggressive Tamra off. “I’m wondering what transpired at the RHOC reunion,” another Facebook user replied, “Whatever it was had to be the catalyst for this angry back and forth.”

In many of our lines of work, we’ve learned it’s best not to address negativity. I witnessed a reporter from a top news magazine demonstrate that admirably the other day when a livid TV personality repeatedly lashed out at him on Twitter. It’s a lesson to note, but “restraint” rhymes with “saint” and many have deemed that non-coincidental. In addition, being on reality television negates many of those rules and restrictions. You’ve signed the contract and that entails speaking up for yourself.

In the interest of full disclosure, I socially met up with a small group that included Emily Simpson this past Sunday. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many other “Reality TV Personalities” over the years and I bristle at egos and get easily turned off by a lack of humility. Emily was down to earth, kind, sensitive and genuine. She was someone I clicked with, who I felt comfortable with despite badly needing a haircut and wearing my clunky glasses. She is someone to whom I wouldn’t hesitate to say: “Ok, you should really ignore your cast mates’ mean barbs.”

We sensitive folks (who the insensitive call “crazy” sometimes because of just how sensitive we can be. I’m not referring to Emily here as much as myself and others like me who are continually advised to “toughen your skin.”) consider that advice easier said than done. As an attorney, Emily has the right mix of sensitivity and no-nonsense toughness.

I think she handled Tamra properly and I hope she realizes that she effectively got the last word in their terse social media exchange (pictured above). I think she can spend today feeling content. From a production standpoint, and as one still rooting for the longevity of this franchise, Evolution Media can use the above exchanges in their opening footage sequence next season. As many viewers have opined on Twitter and Instagram, Emily has solidified that she’s earned the right to a spot as “Housewife” next season.

(Featured Photo Source: Reality Blurb)

Standard
#RHONY, Bachelor Nation, Bravo TV, Real Housewives, Reality TV

#RHONY & #TheBachelor Crossover? The Countess Once Hit on Nick Viall

ABC’s former Bachelor Nick Viall revealed some tantalizing information on the podcast Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald, released yesterday. Aside from tentatively dishing about some of the manipulative tactics by Bachelor production, he recounted a story of meeting Real Housewives of New York‘s Luann De Lesseps in Chicago. It was after his first stint on ABC’s The Bachelorette.

“I was out to dinner with friends…It was approximately 4 or 5 years ago. Someone in my entourage wanted to introduce me to…a duchess…or countess. I thought ‘Oh cool, a royal. I’ve never met a princess.’ She proceeded to enjoy the evening with some drinks. At some point, I had to get out of there. I had plans to go meet friends at a divey bar and I thought…for a moment…it would be really funny if I brought her. I don’t think she would have enjoyed that place. She leaned over and said ‘Where are you going? I do have a hotel and this hotel room.'”

Alas, there was no hookup because Viall went to meet his friends, and he hasn’t seen Luann De Lesseps since that evening. From the conversation with McDonald, it doesn’t sound like Viall follows any of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchises, but regarding the Countess, he added: “She was very nice, but it was before rehab and she was about 12 beers deep.”

Standard