Last Night's #RHONY

Ok, so I'm dusting off this blog to give some "quick hits" on my thoughts on last night's RHONYC "Pop of Crazy" because it's a bit more than I can fit in a Twitter post.

One thing I have seen throughout the season is that it seems like all of the ladies are jostling to get screen time with Bethenny.  Anyone who follows blogs or commentary on reality TV but especially The Real Housewives knows that it all comes down to screen time and storyline.  There's always discussions of ladies manufacturing storylines to stay relevant on the show and who will film with who, etc.. If you ever followed Alex McCord's YouTube recaps of the shows (the names changed, I think it was last called The Real Deal), she talks about how important screentime is and how they set up special lunches or will talk about "fights/issues" to get screentime.  It's why there is a lot of "stirring the pot" on the show and why women set up one on one lunches, walks, shopping, etc...--for screentime!

I think that with Bethenny coming back and how heavily marketed it was, all the ladies knew that Bethenny was going to get a lot of screentime.  (She certainly was paid enough that I'm sure it was practically guaranteed.)  Bethenny doesn't need the show--ok, her brands probably wouldn't do as well without it--but the point is, the other ladies need it more.  Bethenny can likely pick and choose whether she will come back next season whereas the other ladies are eager to secure their spots on the roster.  That is why I think a lot of them want to engage with Bethenny as much as possible.

I see these attempts to get screentime with Bethenny happening in two ways--either forced friendship or fights.  I think with both Heather & Kristen they attempted the forced friendship and when that didn't wok they went for fighting.  I think Heather is a bit more skilled than Kristen and never really wanted the friendship but instead is trying to come across like she's trying to be nice and really pick fights with Bethenny and try to make Bethenny look like the bad guy.  Unfortunately for Heather, Bethenny is more skilled at the reality show game and despite losing a lot of fans, she still has more than Heather (and is regaining her fanbase through the show) and fans are taking Bethenny's side. Heather will keep engaging with Bethenny with either faux friendship or digs/fights in order to keep herself relevant and have a "frenemies" storyline with Bethenny.  I think Bethenny started to see through this and that is why staring at the dinner and further at AOA decided to shut it down, stop any feud and make amends with Heather.  We'll see how long this lasts or if Heather will keep trying to "poke the bear" to get more screentime.

Kristen I think tried to take a different route.  I think she legitimately wanted to be buddy, buddy with Bethenny but when Bethenny didn't click with her, she whined about being "left out" or "boxed out" and tried to play the "whoa is me, why doesn't Bethenny like me" card.  With attempts and friendship and sympathy not getting her time with Bethenny, she went the route of trying to confront her and fight her.  You see that Bethenny doesn't buy into this when she makes the comment "ok, so you're going to attack me for no reason, " she sees that Kristen pulled her aside  (to get screentime) and that she's going to try to pick a fight for screentime.  Bethenny knows she's getting screentime no matter what and doesn't want to play, so she walks away.  Kristen is baffled and doesn't know what to do.  That's why you see her stuttering and chasing after Bethenny.

Similarly, another example of why I think this is true is when LuAnn comes over to Bethenny to further rehash the Berkshires dinner at AOA with Bethenny.  When you hear Bethenny talking about how LuAnn is inserting herself for no reason and rehashing, I think it's partially her code for saying "she's getting into this which has nothing to do with her just to have a storyline."  LuAnn has been accused of not having much of a storyline and was demoted last season in part because of it. While I think that LuAnn has been really enjoyable this year and done a good job this season (although I do think the Adam feud with LuAnn & Carole has been blown out of proportion by both of them for screentime/storyline), I do think this was a clear attempt to get screentime with B.  You notice her a lot this season talking to Bethenny, talking about how the new girls feel "left out", etc...

P.S. Anytime that someone complains about feeling "left out" or that Bethenny doesn't want to "get to know them" it's really code for "doesn't want to film with us." They're not annoyed that Bethenny isn't coming to their events because they want to get to know her, they are annoyed because they're worried that if Bethenny doesn't show up to an event it will end up on the cutting room floor and won't air.  This is a TV show and a business and everyone is out for themselves.  Start inserting "wont' film with me" for "won't get to know me" or "won't make time to come to..." and you'll see what I mean.

This theory is further supported by the fact that there were rumors going around before the season premiered that lots of the ladies were annoyed that Bethenny wouldn't film with them and that she would only film with the established ladies (Ramona, LuAnn, and Sonja) and Carole (who she developed a fast friendship with).  The more I look at the season, the more that seems to be true.

There are two ways of looking at it--maybe Bethenny is this "demanding bitch" who only wants to film with who she wants to film with or maybe she only wants to spend time with the people who she genuinely likes/has a friendship with and doesn't want to get to know new people or have manufactured drama with people she doesn't know with everything else going on.  She does have limited time with her daughter & I see nothing wrong with only wanting to film when she doesn't have parenting time.

I kind of see both sides--on one hand it is a show and there is a cast and everyone should work/film together.  On the other hand, it is a reality show that is supposed to depict some semblance of reality.  The show is supposed to be on the premise that these are people who actually know each other and have real relationships.  The show has never felt more forced that in the first episode where everyone is talking about Bethenny and it is clear they don't know her (except for her fame) and that it's a cast and not a real group of friends.  Bethenny may be of the opinion that the show is better when going to it's routes and focuses on people that have at least some tangential connection/relationship--I know Andy Cohen says that is when the show is at it's best.

What are your thoughts?

Introducing the New Housewives...

The 5th season of The Real Housewives of New York City premiered on June 4, 2012 and introduces us to three new housewives after last summer's great housewife massacre.  The new housewives are Aviva Drescher, Carole Radziwill, and Heather Thomson.

We are first introduced to Aviva, whose ex-husband has dated both LuAnn and Sonja and the housewives waste no time pointing this out.  I think at her party, Sonja was a bit passive aggressive as she pointed out to Aviva that Harry, her ex, had called, reassured Aviva he was not showing up, but made a point to say that Harry is SO comfortable around her (Sonja) that even if he was at the party, he would be fine.  Never mind that we have already learned that Aviva and Harry get along without any problems.  Sonja claims she stirs the drink, not the pot, but there was a bit of pot stirring in her slight digs about Harry.

A bit later LuAnn tries to get into it with Ramona about the accusations Ramona made about her parenting during season 4 and at the reunion. Sonja interrupts the confrontation and reminds the ladies that they agreed to "rise above."  Clearly the remaining ladies are well aware that the great housewife massacre occurred because fans were frustrated by the catiness and excessively harsh fighting.  Sonja, LuAnn, and Ramona clearly made a deal to pull back on the fighting so that they don't end up like Jill, Alex, and Kelly.

Ramona tries to bond with new housewife, Heather over the fact that they are business women in fashion, Heather has her own line of shapewear called Yummy Tummie.  Heather feels as though she and Ramona do not bond and Ramona feels the opposite. Heather is further critical of Ramona for over sharing.  Even though Heather is happy to share the story of her son needing a liver transplant after his birth at the drop of a hat, she feels it is inappropriate for Ramona to thereafter share her difficulties with child birth.  Things get a little more tense as Mario and Ramona both criticize Heather for being a bad conversationalist--interrupting people and not listening to others.  Ironically, as Ramona is criticizing Heather for talking over others, interrupting, and not giving others a chance to speak, Ramona is doing the same thing.  These two may be a bit too alike which will definitely lead to them bumping heads.  Heather's inappropriate cocktail party etiquette and over sharing is also drawn into question as she repeatedly points out that "her father just died" in a casual manner as if sharing she just got her hair done.  Then again, we all grieve in our own way, who am I to judge?

Finally, the last new housewife is Carole Radizill, a widow who wrote a memoir about losing her husband to cancer.  However, it is five years later and she is trying to move on, but "people constantly want to talk about her book" and bring her back to the place of being a recent widow.  Did I mention Carole is a princess (clearly going to cause conflict with the Countess) and she has ties to the Kennedys.  Unlike the other housewives, Carole has some blue blood cred. However, overall thus far she has not left much of an impression.

At the end of the episode, LuAnn meets with all of the "newbies" to discuss the housewives recent time in the Hamptons and drops the bombshell that Ramona is blackmailing her with damning information about her daughter and then leaves.  Clearly, LuAnn who lost all of team brunette to the great housewife massacre is trying to recruit the new ladies to her side for the inevitable feuds that will occur.

What did you think of New York's newest housewives?