amarante

Gia is a senior at Rutgers and evidently has an internship at an immigration firm - Martinez Immigration The attorney resembles a real housewife so it's a good fit - check out the employee page where they are all dressed in hot pink including what seems to be the only male employee. https://www.martinezimmigration.net

My understanding is that "friends" are only paid if they appear in an episode that is aired. I guess since they were on the fence about Jackie this season, she was invited to all of the large events. Evidently what she did (or more accurately DIDN'T do) eliminated her a a full time housewife. Yesterday's episode was truly free money for her as they edited her in doing absolutely nothing at all. At least in the last few episodes she attempted to do something worthy of screen time. I think she should just step away. I wouldn't be surprised if her eating disorder therapists had suggested that she keep the process private to help her with recovery. I think the new housewives are a great fit. Danielle reminds me of the early seasons when it was frothy. Like a less dark Teresa who was just a fun slightly addled woman that first season although her flashing of the cash to purchase furniture and her tasteless home was always a bit suspicious. My DVR picks up the previous week's episode with a few not shown scenes. Last night had a scene in which the Teresa's girls talked about the great relationship they had in the summer before Louie came into their mother's life. Evidently they all spent a lot of time with each other at the shore and the girls said how much they enjoyed that time. I wouldn't be surprised if Louie - the Teresa whisperer - deliberately manipulated her into feuding with her brother again to have better control of her.

A few more thoughts. I wish the show went back to its original premise - e.g. having dignified WOC who travelled in the elite upper class world of Jack & Jill. Instead the show has sunk to lowest common denominators by casting lying strippers like Mia. Mia's life style isn't even aspirational. I find Karen's pretensions of La Grand Dame of Potomac to be funny - especially in the first season when she was all about the etiquette. She wasn't born into the elite class of Jack & Jill but at least when she got there, she comported herself with a certain grace and dignity for the most part. Robyn really showed her awful colors this season. I really had no particular problem with whatever her relationship with was with Juan. If she was fine with living with essentially a friend with benefits who wasn't exclusive but was the father of her children, who cares if it worked for her. But then to monetize it after the reunion has been shot ad make lame excuses thst sue didn’t have to talk about it because it didn’t happen during the shooting. I can’t imagine the producers aren’t going to punish her in some way for this becaus3 it sets an awful precedent. It is as bad as not showing up for the reunion which has gotten housewives fired Gizelle exposed her hypocrisy completely when she justified condemning Monique's attack but not Mia's attack on Wendy by baldy stating - WITHOUT SHAME - that she was justified because she didn't *like* Wendy. Who does that? I understand one might have petty thoughts about someone you don't like but who states on national television that the reason you acted as a hypocrite was because you WERE a hypocrite. I also think it is very sad that Gizelle, Ashley and Mia have had such negative experiences with men that it is impossible for them to conceive that they can inhabit the same space with a man and not have a sexual experience. While there are documented benefits of being beautiful (as well as being fair skinned in the specific world of POC) it must be emotionally exhausting to think in one's deepest heart that one's value is only as a sexual creature because any man who comes within six feet of you given the opportunity is going to lust for you and possibly even attempt to seduce you or worse.

Candiace didn't "rant" regarding the insidious nature of Gizelle's intentional mission to destroy Chris's character by continuially stating that he *did* something. Did is an active verb which any person would reaonably interpret as someone actually "doing" something beyond merely being in a space. Harvey Weinstein *did* something. Of course I also have been in rooms with males with whom I have had platonic relationships - e.g. co-workers on business trips which that essentially was and never was in fear of something inappropriate happening just because we inhabited the same space in a room with an unlocked door FFS. This is like something out of a Victorian novel. Also Candiace's point at the end is that when women like Gizelle essentially claim sexual harassment when none exists it delegitimizes reports of actual sexual harassment or worse.

Maybe I wasn't observant but it appears that they had the football player under general anesthesia during the operation. My experience with orthopedic surgery on the legs and hips is that one is given a spinal block and some kind of IV which puts renders one oblivious to the world for the duration of the surgery. General is much riskier and no need for knee surgery. This would be especially true for someone who is 320 pounds as they are at greater risk

I also was not taken by Montana bride and the ridiculousness of shlepping from Montana to New York along with her two shlubby friends. I don't understand why anyone who didn't want to appear on the show would travel any significant distance to Kleinfelds - even if you are in Podunkville, there are major cities closer to wherever you are located. Montana evidently has a somewhat thriving destination wedding industry. You can rent the location "ranch" used for the Yellowstone series for weddings, other events or just to stay there. I have seen a few shows in which brides were shown pants. I think one of the issues was that they couldn't even have her try on the pants because the woman was a bit large. You can squeeze someone into a dress that is a bit small but you couldn't squeeze her into jumpsuits or pants because there is no way to do what the sales associates do with too small dresses. I don't think she would have been able to fit into a blazer or jacket either.

Who knows where they will ultimately settle. I think she was very excited by being able to live in London. Who wouldn’t be as it is a completely different experience than merely visiting Europe. I am nit sure you get a visa immediately on marriage so it might have involved a lot of bureaucracy. It would probably be easier to marry in London if they truly wanted to be married and then decide where they wanted to settle. It didn’t appear that family was a factor for her as she wasn’t native to Los Angeles. Sometimes the HHI really need to make the painful decision regarding where they are going to raise their family and which spouse’s family they will live proximate to.

I don't think it was luck. I am sure they had a "regular" show ready to go and just put this one on. I just finished watching it and it really shows how quickly it was put together. It resembled a 2 hour news story more than any kind of analysis that added anything beyond superficial headlines. At some point they will probably do a more analytic show although frankly I don't see how they could do anything more than the ones from HBO and the more recent Netflix. Both of those were far more interesting than anything else I have seen and could easily be updated with an additional episode dealing with the trial, the verdict and what has happened since the sentencing. FWIW the Dateline episode which aired last night is much better as it doesn’t have the same feel of being just hastily edited press videos. It might be a repeat though

I probably did watch it on Tubi. I had googled some housewives franchises and then downloaded the App to stream. The viewing experience was fine on Tubi except of course for the commercials as I am spoiled with DVR and streaming services without ads. The show about the black women in New York is called Blood Sweat and Heels.I think there were two seasons

If you get Peacock there is an old show called Gallery Girls which captured a certain New York City gestalt. From the same era, there is a show about five Black women in New York City called Blood, Sweat and Heels. They were younger than the housewives and it was from an era when the shows were not as formulaic. I really like that one and the story of Daisy, one of the women, was really heartbreaking.

Vancouver is beyond belief. The women are so psychotic that it is a train wreck your eyes can't turn away from. There is some real estate that is awesome beyond belief although I believe several years after airing the money was found to be illicit - but what else is new? Melbourne was enjoyable as well. I haven't seen Sydney or Toronto but I have read they are pretty awesome as well.

My point is that Candiace has a viable future earning a living. Certainly someone with an MBA as well as investment properties is going to be more likely to be able to support herself and family comfortably even without the bravo paycheck or if her entertainment career doesn’t take off. Most people with her background and credentials do just fine Contrast that with Ashley who has no means of support other than BRAVO and child support

Yes she will get child support so she won't be destitute for the next 20 years but she also won't be living the kind of high life she thinks she is entitled to based solely on child support. So she gets $20,000 per month - that isn't a whole lot in the scheme of things. There are plenty of women who go broke after the child support runs out. While I don't see Candiace in a standard job, my point is that she has the education and resume to be employed at high level very well paying positions. There are all kinds of organizations which need people with business acumen plus high profile. These are the kinds of people who are run foundations or other stuff. Also business agents put together deals and most of them have business degrees. Entirely possible to take her business/education smarts and combine them with her high profile entertainment background and make a lot of money.

Candiace also has an MBA which translates into her being able to get a high level "regular" job if it came to that. And presumably she also learned stuff which would help her manage her own business and economic interests. Ashley has literally nothing when the BRAVO check ends except social media or the ability to get another sugar daddy and Michael's checks. Somewhat morbid but when Candiace's parents die she and her sibling (not sure if she has more than a sister) will inherit their parents' wealth. I don't know what each of the housewives homes cost but based on a $13,000 mortgage payment, Ashley's home is at least $2,500,000 which is more than twice as much as Candiace's home.

I don't think Ashley is entitled to that much in terms of a settlement agreement for Ashley OR spousal support. Spousal support is almost never given especially when the spouse seeking support is working and so can support themselves. Shannon Beador on OC had been married for many years and her husband had some amount of money. She walked away with only $1 million or so. However she did receive very generous child support payments - as I recall they added up to about $250,000 per year. Of course they end at a certain point - generally 18 but more affluent people receive child support through college for the kids since college is assumed to be part of normal expectations. However, I do agree that Ashley is being deliberately vague about exactly how much money Michael is going to be paying her. Where Ashley is not really understanding the concept of generational wealth is that you accumulate assets instead of debts. In other words, you do NOT buy a house with a $13,000 mortgage payment plus high taxes and high maintenance expenses. You buy a modest home and then invest as much as possible.

Yes that one was particularly egregious as it was SOOOO drawn out and filled with people being interviewed and saying the same thing over and over again. I finally just forwarded to the end to confirm what was obvious - the "model" and her boyfriend killed the crazy shrink.

You can definitely start with four since it really doesn't depend on following the past histories of the housewives. On the other hand, Seasons 1 - 3 have definite charm. Marysol's mother is iconic - may she Rest In Peace. You can fast forward through some of the more boring housewives like the dentist but Marysol and Alexia were enjoyable and you could see her loathsome older son who was arrested at the time for soliciting homeless people to film videos for a small payment.

I have on insight into Gizelle's specific finances but she would have been getting presumably a relatively amount of child support for her three children. There would be enough money from the church for her ex to be on the hook for a good amount since Gizelle had sole custody.

I don't think that Ashley is revealing exactly what is going on in terms of the divorce finances. I think the issue of home ownership doesn't really matter because I suspect that there is an agreement that Michael will have to pay for the home until at least the youngest child is a certain age because he is on the hook for major child support and the children will receive child support commensurate with his income. Her talking about the mortgage is just a form of humble bragging because she isn't going to be financially responsible for making sure the house is paid for - taxes are paid - utilities etc. for at least the next 20 years. That is why Michael effectively owns the new house through an LLC. If they had lived in a more traditional single family home like many married couples, it would not be odd for the wife to continue living in the home with the husband retaining some form of ownership in the home. On Family Karma there is a woman in this situation as her divorce settlement from her wealthy husband evidently provided for her being able to live in the large house until their daughter was graduated from college. And so when that time came she was forced to vacate during this season. Obviously Michael Darby's wealth could be a fake but he is the principal and founder of Monument Realty which from its web page appears to be a profitable major company.

Regarding Ashley's tasteless outfit, I don't know if you have seen the dresses worn by the Miami women for their reunion. They are sexy as hell without being blatantly vulgar like Ashley's. I also feel that way about the ridiculous cat suits that just remind me of cheap Halloween costumes when people dress as black cats. This link contains closeups of all of the dresses. https://www.allabouttrh.com/2023/02/03/photos-rhom-season-5-reunion-looks/ Yes some of these dresses are revealing but they are all have some element of style unlike the Potomac dresses which really were uniformly ugly. I don't "love" all of the Miami dresses but Kiki's dress on the far left is certainly a far more interesting and less vulgar "advertisement" for the wares as is Guerdy's dress which is third from the right. Guerdy's dress With Mia she lies so incessantly that it is impossible to distinguish the lies from the truth because sometimes she will actually make a direct statement that is true - like finally admitting in the reunion that she had used open sex to entice Gordon and she still did it to keep him interested. I thought it was telling that it wasn't that she herself "enjoyed" the "swinging" lifestyle necessarily but it was just a tool in her repertoire like any other. I am reminded of the cliche about lying - How do you know when Mia is lying - her mouth is moving. True for the most part.

She fled to Chicago and essentially disavowed the bigots of her family when she left whatever Bigot City they live in. He had mentioned that she was a huge support to him and I assume that he came out to her before anyone else in the family. I suspect that she knew he was gay before he did since I can't imagine her friend circle in Chicago didn't include a significant number of gays.

I don't disagree with your post at all. I didn't mean to imply that POC had just recently even *thought* of generational wealth as being desirable. I won't iterate your excellent summary of complex factors resulting in the huge divide between home ownership between POC and white folks because for most *ordinary* people home ownership is the biggest asset. Essentially it boils down to racism permeating every aspect organization with redlining of certain areas by banks in terms of even providing mortgages. There was a very recent case in which a black couple owned a very desirable home in the San Francisco area and it was appraised for a figure well below fair market value. They then "purged" the home of anything that might indicate that POC owned the home and had a white friend there for the appraisal and the home was appraised for two or three hundred THOUSAND dollars more. There is a really wonderful book by Isabel Wilkerson called The Warmth of Other Suns which chronicles the migration of Southern Blacks to the North from 1915 and 1970 and how things might have been a great deal differently if racism in the North - of the de facto kind - hadn't been endemic. Recommend it as it is the kind of non-fiction that reads like a novel. What I meant is that I think that there is an educational movement occurring in institutions like black churches in which people are being taught educated as to the importance of basics like home ownership in terms of generational wealth and how that can provide a more stable future for their family and children. I watch House Hunters and many of the POC on the show talk specifically about generational wealth and what buying a home means to them. Mia and Gordon are pretty much the antithesis of generation wealth. 😂😂 Last season Mia was bragging about renting their home and spending $65,000 to renovate it. Who in their right economic mind would spend that amount to renovate a rental.

On a shallow note, I generally think the Potomac women are among the most beautiful of all the franchises and most of them looked beautiful when they were young and so don’t have that awful over plasticized look of some of the women in the other franchises. Except of course for Mia whose facial surgery is just scary. However they all looked really bad in terms of makeup and hair for the most part. Normally Ashley, Gizelle and Robyn look good in terms of face and even hair for the most part but they all looked ghastly. It is obviously a subjective judgment but the platinum hair on Karen looked silly and nit flattering or elegant. And the clothing. Why do you want to appear half naked like Ashley or with yiur boobs squeezed and sticking out like some of the others. The dress Gizelle was working was worse than her generally awful style choices. I kind of liked Candiace’s ridiculous over the top feathered number and I do think she was winking at the audience knowing she was going to get some Sesame Streer memes out of it as she said on the show. They are really angry at Robyn for the Juan stunt as I can’t recall when they have so completely savaged a housewife like this. The editing of the WWHL footage underscored how ridiculous her explanations and excuses were. I think Candiace is one of the smartest of the housewives on any of the franchises. Getting an internship at the Obama White House couldn’t have been easy. I just never understood why she was working at the restaurant given that with her resume and intelligence she could have been in a position that is more typical of an upwardly mobil professional women. For example, she would have made a great lobbyist for example with her brains, beauty, wit and charm especially when the Democrats were in the White House

Thanks for clarifying regarding why Candiace was working at the restaurant as it I don’t remember it being explained in her first season. I just never saw a problem with her mother helping her financially because in my experience it is common for parents to help so long as the kids are doing something productive in terms of attempting to be self sufficient by either working or going to school.

Almost everyone I know INCLUDING my parents got help from their parents for the down payment and most of them aren't in low paying jobs either. It is almost impossible for someone to save money for a down payment even with a relatively good job. My parents weren't wealthy but they were careful with their money and so they gave my brother and I the same amount to help with down payments. Their rationale was that they were going to be leaving money to us anyway so why not use some of it to help with stuff that could help in the present time. Some of my extremely wealthy friends have just bought their children homes outright - cash and why not? I think Candiace was perfectly correct in terms of talking about generational wealth. It's only become a relatively recent goal for POC to think about building generational wealth. If Candiace's mother has enough money to help her kids then why not? It isn't as if she raised a wastrel - Candiace graduated college and seems to have been raised with a good bit of drive. I am not sure why she was being a hostess at the restaurant instead of a more standard corporate position since she obviously had the credentials for it. Maybe she was doing it like many people who want to be in the acting profession because they need flexible hours in order to do auditions. That is extremely common in New York and Los Angeles. Also I am really not understanding a value system in which it is better to get your "lifestyle" by marrying a rich old man versus being lucky enough to have parents who are able to help out financially.