(May 10, 2012) – Right off the bat I have one serious question: is Slade a dead beat or isn’t he? I ask this because people are regularly jailed for not paying child support. Is he just behind, while making regular payments? Or is California’s justice system just wack-a-doodle-do?
Seriously, I suspect there is something very fishy going on. It’s not like he’s hiding. He’s been filming a very popular, very public television show for years. If Slade hasn’t paid a dime to help raise his son, why isn’t he […]
(May 9, 20120) – Some people who read this blog know that I had a complete meltdown, hissy fit sometime last Autumn. For those who don’t, this is the story in a nutshell. My sister, who sort of loathes me, marched in here under a pseudonym and poked fun at me and it bugged me to such a degree that I unleashed my utter disgust on her privately by email, semi-outed her publicly (no names) here and decided I could no longer write this blog.
I returned something like two […]
(May 2, 2012) – Everybody knows there are a number of things you simply dare not discuss in front of the Real Housewives of Orange County‘s Victoria Wolfsmith Gunvalson. Number one, you must bite your tongue before you ever refer to a woman’s anatomy by its medically correct name. In seasons past, we learned “pink parts” is just about as much as this insurance mogul can stomach.
Number two, heaven help you if you witness someone – with questionable conversational skills – trying to be humorous anywhere near Vicki […]
(April 30, 2012) – You know Ashley Holmes is a mess, if I am starting to feel sorry for her. This is why. As the second episode of the Real Housewives New Jersey‘s fourth season begins, Jacqueline Laurita is saying goodbye to her daughter who does not want to leave New Jersey for her aunt and uncle’s house in Las Vegas. She’s throwing a mild temper tantrum about not having enough time to properly pack for the trip. Jac enlists Albie Manzo to drive her to the airport because she […]
(April 29, 2012) – On Friday I was paging through the New York Post and found an article about My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding, a new show that will debut tonight at 10 pm on TLC.
I was so intrigued by the idea of exploring the private world of gypsies and their customs that I did a little googling and discovered this show is actually a spin-off on an English Reality TV show that must have been a huge hit, judging from how many episodes of it that I […]
(April 27, 2012) – I admit it. Last night I tuned into Kim Zolciak’s Don’t Be Tardy for the Wedding purely to see if Kim would pull off her wig. Of course I knew she wouldn’t during the premiere episode of her new Reality TV show, but I had my hopes for purely childish reason.
What I discovered, in my voyeuristic anticipation, is that I like Kim. Actually I always have. But what surprised me is that she’s not trying to fluff up this show with BS, or at least […]
(April 24, 2012) – Unlike the casts of the other locations, the Real Housewives of Orange County are nearly obsessive about finding jobs and promoting their careers on Bravo. Personally I think this focus was established early on by Vicki Gunvalson – the last standing, original cast member – who practically hazed her underemployed colleagues, dismissing their every action and every thought with the screeching words, “you don’t even work!” when she had a disagreement with any of them. As a result tonight’s “Gretchen does Vegas” episode fixated on the […]
(April 24, 2012) – After watching the Season 4 premiere, I suspect the Real Housewives of New Jersey has a new director and/or film editor. I say that because the episode was so tightly organized with three cohesive acts, each of which served a clearly defined purpose.
Act one reminded us where we were when season 3 wrapped and gave us a taste of where we may be going this time around. Act two offered a symbolic transition between the seasons as the group headed down the Garden State Parkway […]
April 23, 2012 – I know I have been missing for quite some time and I do have lots to say about that. No surprise there because I am a yakker, but just to calm my stage fright, I am going to pretend I haven’t missed a beat in the world of Housewives. I hope you’ll bear with me while timidly, I dip my toes back into this water. :D
I used to really like Andy Cohen. I thought he was one of us: someone who genuinely likes women and […]
(March 27, 2012) – To a great extent the only reason I watch these Housewives shows is that when I first stumbled onto Orange County, during its first season, I was stunned in my tracks.
I am not sure if I ever said this here before now, though I must have, but to me the Coto de Cazes scene initially seemed like something straight out of National Geographic in that the people seemed so otherly to me that it was almost like they were from another species and I loved […]
(March 20, 2012) – I have no idea why, but I must begin on a side note. I suspect it’s because this is important to me, and in case you only read the first part of this post, I want to give this thought center stage.
At the risk of being overly dramatic, I have to say this matters, especially to women. And let’s face it, most of us who watch Housewives shows and read blogs about them are women. So I hope you will indulge me here in what […]
(March 18, 2012) – The time may have come when I just don’t care about Housewives anymore. I don’t know if the problem is mine or theirs. But more and more I find myself confused by own reaction to the ladies of Bravo. Of course, I will always watch because, for whatever reason, I am eternally interested in watching as a group of women, who are approximately my age, navigate this odd time in history. But once the tipping point flips and the shows become more negative than positive, I […]
(March 6, 2012) – I’m trying to figure out what Bravo has planned for the Kandi Factory. Is it a series? Is it a special? Is it a filler show for something else that is late in its debut? Was that episode after the Real Housewives of Atlanta a tester to see if fans tune in, in numbers great enough to order more episodes?
I worry about that last question because, and please correct me if I am wrong in wondering, where is the famous Bravo promotional muscle behind this […]
(March 5, 2012) – You know you’ve just seen an odd episode of the Real Housewives of Atlanta when you look back on it and begin to wonder if the unthinkable is possible: Was Cynthia Baily’s grumpy husband, Peter Thomas the most positive character on the screen last night?
I should have realized this where we were going, about halfway through Episode 15: From Motherland to Haterville, when it seemed obvious the entire hour would be a build up to a lunch at Kim Zolciak’s house, where “the smalls” and […]
(March 4, 2012) – Can you imagine how differently Dana Wilkey’s debut on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills would have been if she were introduced to the cast by someone like Lisa Vanderpump or Adrienne Maloof – rather than Taylor Armstrong?
That question has been buzzing through my brain ever since season two’s reunion aired and Andy Cohen gave her some time to better communicate who she is after a season when she was rarely on camera past the Game Night debacle.
Dana did as good a job as […]
(March 1, 2012) In a tersely worded statement released by her office, acclaimed television and film actress, Miss Piggy came out swinging early today in response to a recent episode of Real Housewives of Orange County during which cast member Slade Smiley, the show’s scoundrel, compared the iconic Muppets star’s appearance to Vicki Gunvalson, his arch enemy.
While stopping short of threatening a lawsuit, Miss Piggy bitterly complained about the comparison, noting that it was malicious, negligent and defamatory.
“I have been a major American star for decades,” Miss Piggy […]
(March 1, 2012) – Because I’ve temporarily lost all of my abilities to be serious on any level, I’ve spent the morning calling every nut I know and asking them to help me interpret more of those Bravo Housewives taglines as I did a few days ago when I focused on Orange County and Atlanta.
Only one of these people actually watches the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but the way I figure it, you don’t really have to tune in as often as I do to decode their meanings. […]
(February 28, 2012) – Call me kooky, but I love the opening theme music for the Real Housewives of Orange County. It has a voyeuristic sound that suggests something haunting lurks behind the gates of Coto de Cazes that’s not immediately obvious from its well-manicured surfaces. A few years ago I had to look it up and discovered the theme song was composed by Chuck Hammer, a guitarist who has worked with two of my favorite musicians: David Bowie and Lou Reed.
I mention the haunting, voyeuristic music because […]
(February 26, 2012) – I’ve had a characteristically nutty idea bouncing around my brain for months and today I finally decided it was okay to share this kooky idea for a blog post, because I think all blogs should be silly at times, especially those that deal with Housewives, who take themselves way too seriously. So here goes.
You know those opening tag lines Bravo uses at the beginning of each episode? The ones that each cast member utters as a way to encapsulate the essence of her character? Every […]
(February 25, 2012) – At least two people have questioned why I didn’t get the importance of the last two episodes of the Real Housewives of Atlanta. One is someone I have known for years who always has interesting observations about Bravo’s shows and often sees things that escape my notice. Another is a very smart commenter here who loved the second episode that focused on the trip to the orphanage and saw how the excursion positively impacted the cast and helped to show Cynthia in a new light. While […]
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Much like our friends at the Audobon Society, who observe and chronicle different species of birds, we are housewife-watchers, devoted to the scholarly study of the ladies of Bravo in their natural habitats.
And in the last five years, ... Read More »
