mandymax

Melissa carrying a GUCCI bag???? Does Chanel know? I know it wasn't the healthiest state for him to be in, but Bill being that drunk had me laughing out loud for several minutes - from the guys carrying him out of the car and knocking his head on the car door to Jennifer exclaiming, "What is this, a fraternity?!" I'm sorry, but it's moments like this - however physically toxic - that are clearly organic and unscripted/undirected are why I keep watching reality shows.

I thought Gia looked absolutely beautiful. Nonno kind of cracks me up. And it was touching how he cried when he saw Gia come down the stairs. I guess I have a soft spot for him (when he's not boiling octopi first thing in the morning) because I remember the beach scene after Teresa's mom passed away and Joe went off to prison, when he told Teresa, "Now you have me. I'll take care of you," or something to that effect. That's something my 76-year-old dad would tell me to this day, and it makes me tear up a little. David was more excited to see the decorator who kept telling him to get rid of his beloved bachelor furniture than he was to see the woman who is supposedly his significant other who he's "committed to." Danielle actually looked better than she has in awhile. The only thing worse than all the Chanel was the shiny blue pants. Dear God.

I believe she did. I remember thinking, "Well, THAT should shut people up" when Jackie talked about how the party was what the boys had wanted.

The latest Chanel location: Jennifer's phone case. By this time, "Spot The Chanel" has become my own personal entertainment. And oh, dear God, the octopus. I was so not expecting to see an octopus carcass being lowered into a pot of boiling water while I caught up on the episode over breakfast. That was sort of an appetite-killer.

Oh, dear God, the Chanel. Not that I buy a lot of designer stuff, but I will now NEVER buy anything Chanel thanks to the over saturation of it this season. I've had more than enough of it rammed down my throat to last me the rest of my life. Teresa doing yoga on the beach - I'd wondered what happened to her yoga obsession. I remember she supposedly became a certified yoga instructor. I've recently gotten into yoga practice, and my studio provides instructor training courses. Considering everything they have to learn - all the anatomy and physiology, all the different types of yoga practice, how to modify poses based upon the ages and abilities of their students, how to prepare for an emergency should someone seriously injure themselves during a class - I find it incredibly hard to believe that Teresa has the mental capacity to actually learn all of that in the first place and then regurgitate it correctly during certification testing. Jackie handled herself really well during Jennifer's interrogation and accusations. I actually thought she did embody "class" in that situation. Jennifer . . . just WOW.

And Chanel shows up AGAIN, this time as Teresa's shoes at the nail salon. We never saw this much of one designer brand popping up on ALL the housewives EVERYWHERE before this and last season, did we? WTF? The girls cooking Mother's Day breakfast for Teresa was touching. But what's with all the name necklaces? I don't know that I'd wear a necklace that says my name, like a name tag. I know my own name. The flowers at Margaret's party were GORGEOUS!!! Did Melissa's suitcase really say "On Display"??? First Dolores' "RHONJ" purse and now this. These two examples are the first time I've ever seen product placement WITHIN the actual product itself. Between this and all the Chanel, I can't roll my eyes any harder.

My thoughts this week: 1) The Chanel window dressing is spreading. Earrings, necklaces, purses, belts, shirts, shoes - and now a wall hanging in Jackie's bedroom. 2) Although I think I prefer that over the clutch Delores was carrying that actually had "RHONJ" on the flap. 3) I burst out laughing when Melissa declared that if Teresa caused trouble at the fashion show, she was going to have sprinkle cookies sent to her house every day for a year and Melissa was going to make her eat them. That was actually legitimately funny. 4) And I have to admit that when they showed the preview of the girls seeing Joe for the first time since prison, I got a little choked up. Call me a sap, but that touched me.

Scratching my head over why, when Marge started pouring and dumping and shaking that bottle of water on top of Danielle, Danielle just stood there and let her do it instead of stepping out of the stream.

In situations like this, I see all the expensive jewelry and furniture and whatnot as window dressing. These are still real people, and as the above post points out, Joe, who committed so many crimes in order to have wealth, will no longer have access to any of it. And as the saying goes, you can't take it with you. Did Joe and Teresa deserve to be convicted? Absolutely. Is Joe getting what he deserves to get for failing to become a citizen on top of breaking the law? Absolutely. Is Teresa in total denial of these facts? Absolutely. Does she drive me nuts? Absolutely. But they all still have feelings, especially the kids. Gia and Gabriella likely understand all the ins and outs of the entire situation and why everything is happening as it is, but he's still their dad, and they love him, as they should. Gia may be 18 and in college now, but she's still young - while she's at that age where she thinks she knows everything (and didn't we ALL know everything at 18?? I know I did! LOL), she's still emotionally a kid, and she's hurting. All of them are. It doesn't matter who was at fault for what - they're kids, and they miss their dad, and I think on some level, Teresa and Joe do feel bad that the girls are having to go through it. It doesn't matter how wealthy you are or what material possessions you own - this kind of thing is painful, no matter what. I'm 48, and I have everything I need, and I'd still be heartbroken if that was my dad.

Is Chanel a sponsor?

I've been wanting to put them on disc just for myself so I don't lose them! The best part of them, though, is actually the commercials. Especially the computer ads. These tapes are like time capsules! I've been working on getting them transferred to another format for awhile so I don't lose them - I need to figure this out before the tapes won't play anymore!

Finding this forum has inspired me to dust off all my VHS tapes. I recorded every single season from the very first season - original New York - through Key West, all except for the first half of Philadelphia. And Boston - I never did see the Boston season. I still have a working VCR. I think I need to rewatch them all.

This season's reunion was painful and uncomfortable to watch, in that there was so much hurt and so many bad feelings swirling throughout. I agree that this season wasn't as entertaining as some in the past, and I think it's because this season was the most REAL it's ever been - true colors came out left and right, and they weren't the least bit pretty. Shep's elitism, Austen's nastiness, Cameran really having no true worries in life, Katherine's self-centeredness - I think these were all things that they had been hiding all this time, and once they hit season 6 and were comfortable with each other and the cameras, they either forgot or no longer felt the need to cover them up. As a result, what we got was the cast at their most authentic, and we saw that these aren't very likable people. Landon annoyed the crap out of me, and Ashley was all flustered, blustery anger, and the two of them caused some damage - but this season was different. These people both meant to hurt each other and didn't care whether they did or not, and that's a whole different kind of damage. That's only half of them, though. I absolutely adore Chelsea, I believe 100% that Craig does have a good heart, I think Eliza also means well but is too young to understand that people don't necessarily appreciate or see things as she does, Naomie has her own agenda in life (and that's fine - she's not hurting anyone by it), and Danni . . . I suspect Danni has a whole mess of some kind going on outside the show that we know nothing about but is affecting her physically and emotionally, so I can't judge her for that. I hope that those who need to watched themselves this season and realized that they have a lot of growing up to do.

I was pleased to see that Eliza did indeed turn out to be quite harmless and genuine. She's young, and it shows, but in a good way - she hasn't yet experienced enough of life to become jaded and cynical, and therefore seems a bit childish and naive when it comes to catty people. I don't mind her. I'm concerned for Danni's health - at one point, while she was talking with Madison outside, her face appeared gaunt, almost skeletal. All of them are tiny, but where Chelsea, for example, appears fit and trim, Danni doesn't. Shep reminds me of a high school jock who has always had his athletic talent to rely upon for acceptance and as a lifestyle, and who, upon reaching middle age, discovers people are no longer impressed and has nothing else to fall back on. He was always the good-time guy, and that was fine when he was younger, but the younger generation didn't know him as such - they just see a crotchety old man who never grew up, and that's not "cool." Meanwhile, his aging body can't keep up, but he doesn't know what else to do with himself. Hence the hostility. Part of me feels sorry for him. As frustrated as I get with Craig, I've said before and I say again - he clearly has a sensitivity when it comes to treating people with respect. Every time, when it comes down to it, he winds up expressing regret, and approaches people in distress with compassion - Austen, Ashley, Katherine. I truly don't think his "What does it cost you to go see if Katherine's okay?" challenge to Whitney was producer-driven - I really believe it was genuine, because it was in line with the way we've seen him approach such situations before. I think he has a severe attachment still to Naomi which is troubling, but I do like the side of him who ultimately knows how to treat people with dignity. Along those lines, I absolutely loved that Katherine came right out and told him to his face that he was a dick for joining Shep in bringing the video women to the party. I think maybe that was the tipping point for Craig when he fully realized he'd done something very not nice. I adore Chelsea. Someone mentioned in another thread that she's just comfortable with who she is no matter the situation, and I admire that. She has to be the most authentic of them all. And she's Tyson's mom, which makes her even better. I think Cameran is at that age where she's torn between who she used to be and who she is now. Sometimes it's a hard thing to realize you've grown up and everything you loved about your younger life no longer fits. I can't give her a hard time for that. Call me crazy, but I actually wouldn't mind having both Ashley AND Landon on next season at the same time. Both of them drove me nuts but were fun to love to hate.

During the scene with Whitney and Kathryn in the restaurant, I could have sworn that was Craig's former "life coach" sitting in the booth behind Whitney - the woman with the short blonde hair.

Ashley - wow. I - eh - I mean, I just - uhh . . . *sigh* Wow. That was . . . wow. The abrupt, whiplash-inducing changes of tone and intentions every ten seconds were truly disturbing. I've never seen that. It was like two completely different personalities taking turns talking, and neither was aware of what the other had just said.

I loved that we had three different shots of Craig continually brushing his hair, and then he came out into the living room wearing a hat.

You're right. I've noticed more than once - most recently during last season's reunion with Ashley - that he has a way of asking pointed questions pertaining to a person's well-being, and he does it in such a way that it's non-confrontational, non-accusatory, and shows genuine concern. He does have that gift.

I've never really understood why people were so quick to defend Craig, as he's been shown to be one of the laziest people I've ever seen in "action." For someone who has had such incredible opportunities handed to him as a result of this show, he certainly doesn't seem to grasp how fortunate he is and instead is wasting it all with no foresight to recognize that one day, all of this will go away, and he'll then be left to his own devices. However, even I was cringing at how horribly Shep and Whitney treated him while he was trying to build the fire and cook for everyone. I felt sorry for him, and admired how well he controlled himself. I didn't blame him in the least for retreating to the motorhome to get away from them, and was impressed that he didn't lower himself to their levels in retaliation. He certainly would have been within his rights to do so. Patricia cracks me up with her fast-food love. And Tyson needs his own show. Maybe the cat from the sporting goods store could costar. I was so hoping one of the guys would ask the store clerk about it!

Tyson trotting into the house carrying that massive chew toy that Grandpa bought him was one of the happiest dogs I have ever seen! 😊🐾♥️

First time posting here! (although this is the first place I come first thing in the morning after a new episode airs) Eliza really rubbed me the wrong way in the first episode, but after seeing the second one as well as all the articles and comments about her since last week, I find myself softening a little. She's just a kid. She doesn't see herself. I'm in my late 40s, and I've reached the age where I look back at some of the things I said and did (and wore!) right out of college, and I absolutely cringe. Everyone else on the show is so much older than she is (chronologically speaking, at least, maybe not always in maturity), and they can see what she's doing wrong from their vantage points, but she's not there yet, so of course she doesn't recognize it. Sure, she should definitely know her manners by this point, but I can see her trying too hard for the cameras due that innate insecurity that comes with knowing you're out of your comfort zone and way out of your league. That can make you behave badly without fully realizing it. So I'm inclined to give her a break. Hopefully what she says is true, and that she gets better as the season goes on. If not, if she's back next season, this one will be a good lesson for her. Just my two cents.