Melina22

I think what I like about CBB is that we get to see these people 24/7, and no one can be on 24/7. We see them asleep, getting up in the morning, without their makeup and hair done. We see them bored or anxious. Eating toast. Doing their laundry. I'm not even sure why this fascinates me so much. Maybe it's because one of my favourite things in life is to see behind the scenes of things. Here we get to see behind the scenes of a famous person's persona. I'm just disappointed that CBB can't ever get anyone who would even make the D list. Every season brings surprises, people who aren't what you expected at all I wonder who will surprise me this time?

Carrie's shiny ice blue dress is the one that astonished me the most. It was... architectural. I froze the scene a couple of times just to stare at it. So many of the dresses were astonishingly beautiful, but they all looked so incredibly uncomfortable. They'd show the women sitting ramrod straight at the dining table, and you had to wonder how they could manage to choke down more than a few bites with their midsection squeezed in a vice for hours at a time. You could tell it affected the way the actresses moved and held themselves. I'm not sure if it was exaggerated for the show, but we kept seeing women sitting around their own drawing rooms dressed like they were about to be presented to the queen, even though they were only going to kill some time embroidering before heading for bed. Imagine the incredible relief at bedtime to finally pull down your hair and take off your corset!! As beautiful and feminine as the gowns were, even among less affluent women, I have so much sympathy for how the women had to work all day draped in so much heavy fabric, plus the constricting corsets. And to think how much the modern women resents having to wear a bra! Last comment - how did women keep their hems from being endlessly filthy? I cringe watching them walk through dirty streets, their silk hems dragging in the dust. Were the dresses shorter than is usually shown?

Chris Kattan could be interesting. I have no clue who he is out of character. No one else sounds interesting to me so far, but that could change.

I know! I couldn't stop staring at it. I loved your picture of the shameful Mrs. Chamberlain. Imagine trying to fade into the background with that on your head! 😁😁 I noticed that too about Carrie's accent. Now that I think about it, it was just one more sign to the Old People that she was a New Person. She'd obviously grown up too poor or too ignorant to get the required elocution lessons. Disgusting! 😁 This topic sparked a conversation at my house. I live in a very old city in the Maritimes. We have so many stunning, priceless stone buildings, built in the 1800s to replace the wooden ones that burned in our Great Fire. It was horrifying when several of the most beautiful ones were torn down in the 70s and 80s to make room for soulless "modern" office buildings. Thank goodness that seems to have stopped. I loved the scenes of them building the Russell mansion, because it helped me imagine what it was like when so many of our lovely buildings were first erected. Only billionaires can afford to recreate them today.

I never enjoy athletes on CBB. I don't find them entertaining. It sounds like we're getting at least 3. One's probably Lamar Odem which sounds like a terrible idea. It sounds like they're going to have someone from SNL. That could be really fun. I wonder who? Who's the daughter of a rock star? I doubt they'd get Liv Tyler. Kelly Osbourne? No, also unlikely.

That Daily Mail article was a fun read. Some of the reviews were hilariously brutal, but also accurate. Others were just snooty and mean. (Dimestore Downton? Come on.) I wanted to cut and paste a few gems here but there's no way I can do it on my phone on that ridiculously crowded Daily Mail site. It's well worth a read, if you don't mind some of the snarkier comments about the show.

I've heard of these shows! I'll have to look for them.

Wowsers! That's a 6 season miniseries right there!! Why on earth did the show make him so extremely bland? And where's the giant red mustache? Why do we always think of people from "olden times" as repressed and innocent? They were us, only with stricter social rules and much more uncomfortable clothes.

Sadly, I have to agree. Overall, I found Louisa to be lacking charisma to a degree I found distracting at times, particularly in a lead role. Maybe she'll grow on me. I also found a lot of the writing to be very stilted. I realize people were generally more formal back then, but this is something more. I know how gifted so many of these actors are, so it has to be the writing. Many of the conversations just don't flow at all. Fortunately, there are so many other wonderful things to look at and think about that I'll keep watching. What did he do? There's nothing I like better than 140 year old gossip! 😁

This is great, thanks. Shan gives off such mixed signals. In some way, I don't feel like I have any more of a handle on her personality than I did when the season started. Ricard's interview confused me even more. She's a very complex person but I sense that her friendships don't last long. Sooner or later, she'll cut people off, or they'll back off.

I saw that. (Didn't watch yet.) I'd like to watch at least some of it after I watch Tiffany's which sounds like a lot of fun. I'm a little hesitant to dive into Shan's because she's so intense. I'm not sure if I'm up to it right now, so if anyone sees any of it, please let us know how trainwrecky it actually is.

I was obsessed with the gorgeous gowns in the episode, often pausing the scene to just look, especially at Carrie's astounding outfits. Some of her hats were... very strange. I remarked to my husband that I wondered what people of that time would make of us in quarantine, slouching on our couches in pj's and sweats. (Horrified? Jealous?) I always wonder how people then really talked. Somehow I always picture them as sounding more British than American. I wonder how accurate the accents are on this show. This is why I have to keep rewinding shows like this. There's so much to look at and think about, I keep forgetting to pay attention to the plot. 😁

Where did you see it?

Thanks. I honestly thought she was, but now I'm thinking about it, she must have been on a different reality show, something to do with her family. To me she did seem to fit the RH stereotype - extremely big, OTT personality, always in a flap about something or the centre of some drama. Thanks for reminding me of Kandi's name. She's the one I meant. Kandi didn't fit my mental stereotype of a Housewife at all. I remember her as very low key, reasonable and logical, always trying to make peace. I liked her, although I can understand how they couldn't make an entertaining RH show out of a bunch of Kandis. Then it would be PBS. 😁

I don't watch Real Housewives shows so my only exposure to them has been on CBB. Brandi Glanville, Tamar Braxton, and I feel like there was someone else. I've discovered I enjoy them if they're in a show with non-RHs, because they're forced to downplay the extreme behaviour and faked drama. They still add lots of intensity and emotion but it doesn't go off the rails, or come off as totally done for the cameras. So I'm happy if they include one or two RHs, but not more. Unless they fill the rest of the cast with people from similar scripted reality shows, used to manufacturing drama, which I'm not going to enjoy. I like some drama and tension on my reality TV obviously, but I don't like when it's mostly faked and overblown for the cameras. I got totally burned years ago, when I discovered that the shows I was watching (The Bachelor? Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? ) were 99% fake. I know all reality shows are somewhat manipulated behind the scenes, but this degree of phoniness was too much for me. No judgement for people who like this stuff - we like what we like. And I watch CBB so I'm not one to talk, but I want to see some real reality. I like when the celebrities masks slip, and we get a sense of who they really are.

Ack. That's right. After watching the episode and listening to the podcast, you'd think I'd remember the name Adam. Lori and Alex definitely had a weird relationship, if Alex's first wife is to be believed. The two of them were strange long before Chad entered the picture. The three of them together were like dynamite, a fuse, and fire all meeting.

Let me rephrase that. I only want to watch sociopathic or mentally ill or personality-disordered people if they're either extremely interesting, very funny or highly entertaining. I have my standards!

Yes, to hear this brother (Andrew? I can't believe I forget his name already!) tell it, here and in the podcast, their childhood was blissfully happy. Yet it seems odd that an idyllic childhood would produce Lori and Alex.

No clue. I don't recognize the names of half of these people. Definitely they're down to the G list if not lower.

Peach! Do you have inside contacts we don't know about? 😁 I enjoy messy houseguests, but a couple on this list make me uncomfortable. Like Tila Tequila. I don't think I've ever actually watched a reality show she was in, but over the years I've read so many items about her, accusing her of all kinds of awful things and behavior. I don't mind big personalities, even loud, obnoxious people, but I don't especially want to watch people who are mentally ill, or sociopaths.

This episode was very much taking the position that Lori is extremely mentally ill, in the sense of being completely delusional, and that Chad is the one who's just plain evil, while Alex bought into all Lori's delusions and carried them out. I don't really know what to think about anything of the above. I find Chad to be the most mystifying. Outwardly, he's so quiet and nerdy and his writing is so juvenile. Yet behind the harmless exterior, he saw himself as a god. He was perfectly fine with murdering his wife, and burying his girlfriends children in his yard, while never losing his humble, soft spoken demeanor. Utterly bizarre. So many people heard Lori say deeply delusional things long before the murders that she was clearly living in her own reality. Does it make it worse that her reality was so self-aggrandizing and always led to her getting exactly what she wanted? Maybe. It's so weird. As for Alex, all that was in it for him seemed to be the chance to commit murder and mayhem in the name of God. And also do standup. Honestly, I know why people are obsessed with this case. If it was a fictional movie, it would be trashed for being completely unbelievable. Up until now, I always thought the Russell Williams case was the prime example of this, but the Vallow case now takes the #1 spot in my mind. ETA I'm glad I watched if only because it led me to the podcast The Followers:Madness of Two. It's by far the best podcast I've heard on the subject. Actually, I'd love her to do more podcasts because she's so good and so easy to listen to.

I see that 20/20 has an interview tonight with Lori Vallow's brother. Obviously not Alex. I'm curious to see it. ETA Okay, so I'm almost finished watching. It's all new footage, with lots of interviews, and I personally found it fascinating. I know lots of people are tired of the case, but I'm still extremely interested. I noticed that Lori's mother comes off really badly in this one. She seems very enabling. No matter how often I hear the convoluted story, it never fails to shock and baffle me.

That's horrifying.

The Biggest Loser. Known for her total lack of empathy while screaming at crying, exercising overweight people. Reminds me of my high school gym teacher.

I've noticed over the past many seasons that being nice or self-sacrificing gets you exactly zero brownie points in Survivor. If anything it seems to put a target on your back. It's sad, but future players need to take note.