pasdetrois

WTF? Gregg is pursuing alternative treatment for Stage 3 cancer? After having a doctor tell him (on camera) that the chances of his cancer reoccurring are about 50%, and that alternative treatment doesn't work? And Gregg wants to help educate and inspire other cancer patients? Let's hope others don't follow his lead on this. He and NeNe stated several times that they're aware of how chemo ravages patients. Let's see how they feel about ravages if his cancer returns. And generally speaking, chemo protocols have improved. One of my friends had surgery, chemo and radiation (breast cancer) and commented that the hardest part was losing her hair. She does worry about the long-term effects of chemo and radiation on her longevity, but the cancer probably would have killed her much earlier. I wonder if NeNe and Gregg have health insurance. Oh great. Another vapid, relentlessly self-promoting housewife. She is unbelievably annoying. Can we just all agree that the housewives shows have become one long infomercial for their collective business pursuits? Have to give a shout out to neurochick. I also can't stand Kandi. I've always found her kind of weird; I get the sense that her public persona and her private one and life are two very different things. (But kudos to her for her successes.)

Jill and Bethenny can compete for Most Martyred Widow.

I think they are both gonna use this illness for ratings. They're doing it in this season. (Just because someone becomes deathly ill doesn't magically improve their character.) I haven't been following the story. Has either one of them stated specifically what kind of cancer Gregg has, and what stage it's at?

Dr. Oakley and her trip to monitor Swedish bears: You know how some humans claim they were captured and taken into a spaceship for experiments, then let go? I wonder if the Swedish bears ponder the same thing: "Last week some aliens grabbed me, flew me in a helicopter, did experiments, and then let me go."

It was startling to see the beautiful fresh-faced Danes next to these idiots with their troweled-on face plaster.

Every time a group of housewives takes a trip, I cringe and cover my eyes and ears at the impending stupidity and crass behavior.

My understanding is she dated the fabulously wealthy Russell Simmons for a long time. I don't think the men we see on the show are serious contenders, including Peter. I thought the marriage with Peter was more of a branding/marketing relationship. I think Cynthia is on the prowl for a benefactor with deep pockets. But then, that's true of others on these shows.

I'm completely with you Libertarian Slut on NeNe, Kandi and Cynthia. NeNe has been over Gregg for a long time, but sticks with him for practical reasons. Given the cancer, she stopped just short of big weary sighs and eye-rolling in her scenes with him. Cynthia is a vacuous narcissist; there's nuthin' going on upstairs except for the search for the next wallet. Riley has been complaining about Kandi's unavailability for several seasons now. Combined with Kandi's constant laments about how busy and tired she is, and Todd the Lazy, it's easy to see that Kandi is stretched too thin for mothering. Oh, except when Riley's private life is needed for screen time. SMH

Borrowing from the expression "lean in," Caroline's really leaning in to being the victim - she's obsessed with approval and hypersensitive to the vibes from snarky Kate and Josiah. No fun to watch on TV. Despite some snarking, Kate is handling it very well - accommodating Caroline's pain while giving her firm instructions on how to try to get better. Kind of boxing off the options. Chandler is beginning to obsess about Rhylee, to the point of losing any good judgment and emitting scary vibes. Also no fun to watch on TV. Hope they send him packing, but I worry the teaser scenes are about Caroline instead. So, no reactions so far to the "breast massage." Adrian is a creep; I have zero tolerance for that kind of thing and neither should Kate. Her "it's a compliment" set metoo back 10 years. Interesting that Ross protected his skin with scarves while they were out all day. Some of the others were quite sunburned. Have we ever seen Kate eat at the staff mess?

We've debated tiny houses at my house many times, most of us thinking that the majority of owners will grow tired of the limited space. Also, growing up as rural southerners, they look like very fancy trailers to us, in form and function. With family members who lost homes in Katrina and waited forever for the FEMA trailers and other resources, I'm attracted to the potential for rapid housing post-disaster, as well as for the homeless. Of course then you get into NIMBY. Speaking of which, my community is hotly debating accessory dwellings as well as Airbnb. I think modified tiny houses would be a great resource for people who need extra space for family, such as an aging parent, or for guests. I've always loved the guest houses one sees in California.

I knew I'd be disappointed and I was. The first season of the original series was lightning in a bottle - very organic and it showcased the real relationships between these friends and their families. By season 2 they added scripted hijinks. (Even though it was scripted, I belly-laughed hard when Pumps and her girlfriend went shopping and had trouble getting back into the car. It was either weather or demon alcohol that was to blame.) Now we have another design show. Jenn is too strident for me to enjoy her onscreen. Maybe she was overly nervous, sleep-exhausted, etc. for the first show and will calm down. Her two-fer talking heads with the blonde assistant are forced and not funny. Josh seems a bit beaten down; maybe I'm not used to seeing him without his glasses, but he looked tired. Pumps rolling in occasionally is not enough. The design looked like what we've seen on other design shows. Jenn is just giving the clients what they want, mirroring current trends, but it's boring. Oh well. It was good to see Tubbers.

Loved Shep - so cute watching his ears react when his name was spoken, or he heard his partner's voice. Interesting that so many people are now aware that there are Live PD cameras roaming around, and they do everything they can to stay off-camera when approached by the police. I didn't like the officers making the driver attempt the eye/pen test over and over. I think he may have had some innate cognitive difficulties and was unable to coordinate his head and eye movements. The alcohol made it worse, and the officers' behavior bordered on harassment. Why not just skip to the next test, without the pseudo-exasperation and eye-rolling to the cameras? I think I spotted the once-rare silver Labrador (resembles a Weimaraner) gallivanting in the street outside the bar (Rhode Island?). He looked well-fed so I hope his owners retrieved him from animal control. Typically Labrador, he thought the efforts to catch him were a silly game, which he improved upon by snatching up people's property as he danced around. We have one of these guys in our family and he is a knucklehead.

Yeah, why upgrade at the last minute, unless the first class and business class seats were booked, and then passengers failed to show up for those seats, opening the door for steerage passengers to try to upgrade? I fly a lot for work, and I agree the planes are jam-packed because the airlines can't afford to make half-filled flights available. I usually do not get my first choice of flight, even booking weeks in advance. (That is due in part to not wanting the middle seat on long flights.)

All of these women have behaved badly during the series. Which makes their claims to status and position, and finger-pointing, laughable.

I'm pretty sure Adrian prepared heavily for his TV chef gig. He knew where they were traveling and what the local resources would be. I assume he developed a smorgasbord of potential menu items in advance, to pull from once the charters started. Probably prepared them in practice runs as well, or adapted them from reliable standbys.

The thing about the custody system is that sometimes it essentially forces people to be aggressive in contentious cases. In my experience watching family members go through two different custody battles, if one parent is passive, accommodating, "turns the other cheek," is noble, etc., and the other parent is 180 degrees from that approach, the accommodating parent gets steamrolled. Money is a big factor and really puts any parent without it at risk. In addition to attorneys' fees, parents have to pay for the psychiatric evaluations and reports, during which the parents, siblings, and sometimes others are evaluated. There are parents who, directly and indirectly, pressure and manipulate the children to favor them over the other parent. And once you lose physical time with the children, the other parent pins a lot of future custody challenges to the fact that the children spend most of their time with that parent. It snowballs. I hope we continue to move toward joint custody, with judges instructing quarreling parents to settle down and behave. It would save a lot of money, time and most importantly reduce the damage to the children. I've always believed that Jason made an opportunistic marriage, and Bethenny just wanted a child. There was no way the marriage would last, and their lousy relationship primed the custody battle. I do think Bethenny is very damaged in ways that will harm Brynn long term, unless Bethenny works hard to overcome her weaknesses. Her choices in all her men are questionable.

Bingo. I think these assistants actually work, running errands, so we have the imperfect storm of sex in the workplace. I also think the tall blond "assistant" is literally out of Central Casting. She's an actor's wife and former client who wants to be on TV. Not sure how much the wretched Megan actually works. She's too busy trying to dethrone Jenni and brown nosing Jeff.

I wondered from the beginning if the baby is Bryan's natural child; there's something off about the adoption - the rush, the secrecy, supposedly Stephanie "found" the child and brought him to the Redmonds' attention. Not far fetched - I know of a long-ago political figure who pulled this off. Mama Dee has time on her hands now and is clearly angling for her own reality TV gig - perhaps a wacky cooking show? Agree that all of her storylines with D'Andra are to promote the re-branding of their merchandise. I laughed at her apoplectic reaction to having her big dramatic scene abruptly terminated when Cary lurched into view. Dee struggled not to break the 4th wall. That and Travis' crude comment about butt sex were the only real moments of the episode. I think the Denmark trip, the first class seats, the vow renewal, and the fights are completely scripted. I snicker at Cary's and Mark's awkward efforts to appear in a loving relationship in order to repair the damage to their "brand." The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders organization probably watches Brandi's antics with mouths dropped wide open. She personifies Kelli's and Judy's (coach, choreographer) worst unladylike nightmares. I would pay cash money to watch this. We own Labs, but I adore the chunky bulldogs and Frenchies. Stephanie's "I'm not worthy" schtick is fake. It's how she manipulates people into thinking she's a helpless little southern belle when in fact she's a crafty social climber.

I think one of the first participants on Survivor sued Mark Burnett, but I don't recall how that turned out. More recently my understanding is that Sue on Life Below Zero sued the production company because of a bad injury she suffered on a snowmobile. Don't know what the status is. And one of the Alaskan vets also claims to have been injured, but I don't know if she threatened litigation. I understand your point however. But I still think the "semen" was fake, simply because common sense dictates that strangers don't handle human body fluids.

I'm thinking Karo syrup, water, and clear dishwashing liquid. In fact, it had to be fake, otherwise one of the crew could sue for intentional exposure to bio-hazards. Surely Bravo's attorneys thought about that.

Understood. But when they DO show the captain, we don't see him studying and discussing all of the technical stuff on his big board of gizmos, or speaking on the phone with a harbormaster, or discussing engines or whatever. Probably because the REAL crew has to actually work off-camera to keep everyone safe. And Bravo doesn't want to pay more people. Anyway, the way we see him underscores that he's playing a role for TV. ETA: the stupid, obnoxious and nasty guests are not a good look for the consumer yachting experience.

See, I thought Kate and Jeremiah were being passive-aggressive and disingenuous. Kate has learned to pull back on her earlier, nastier bully personality, and to talk a good game when confronted. But the jokes, raised eyebrows, rolled eyes, sarcasm and so on when Caroline isn't around are mean (to me). Especially after Caroline explains that their behavior upsets her. Kate adores a clique and tries to wear the crown in all of her cliques. Hannah is the same way, but less skilled in hiding it.

One would assume that the "juicy condom" would be a bio-hazard in a typical workplace. I suppose hotel cleaning crews encounter this situation occasionally. I got the impression that the crew recognized production's involvement in this obnoxious stunt.

It's a foregone conclusion that production put Kate and her bunkmate together so that they would indulge their natural tendencies to meangirl. I wonder if Chandler is an introvert (yes I know he's seeking TV fame) whose psyche can't tolerate intense work while managing unruly staff under the scrutiny of a stern captain. He's always running off to take naps, which is how some introverts deal with stress. Many introverts are exhausted by group dynamics. I also think he may have coasted a bit professionally, with daddy as a yacht captain. Big fish in little pond. I'm sure Caroline's foot really hurts, but she's also needy and attention-seeking. Does Captain Lee really manage the yacht full-time? We never see him doing captain stuff, other than barking orders during departures and arrivals. He's usually shown just sitting somewhere, waiting for his scenes to begin. Why don't they show him doing other stuff?

Phillippe and Chevalier together, trading quips in courtly language, was the best thing about the series for me. I'm barely paying attention at this point because there's too much going on.