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Memory Lane: Seasons 1-5


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(edited)
12 hours ago, Hiyo said:

“Bethenny was so clearly intimidated by Kelly's looks and connections.”

I didn’t see it that way at all.

I recently rewatched S1-S3.  On a rewatch, I feel Kelly was right about Bethenny all along. She just didn't have the communication skills to articulate her feelings and beliefs successfully.

Kelly is laughing all the way to the bank...which I love:

https://nypost.com/2021/03/01/kelly-bensimon-has-sold-50m-in-nyc-real-estate-this-year/

Edited by Jextella
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I'm loving the irony of Ramona giving Alex holy hell for appearing topless in In Touch Weekly when she 

Spoiler

appears topless except for a red feather boa and bedazzled pasties in the Season 13 trailer!

 

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1 hour ago, RedDelicious said:

I'm loving the irony of Ramona giving Alex holy hell for appearing topless in In Touch Weekly 

I remember when she walked off stage during the reunion!

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On 5/3/2021 at 3:15 PM, Hiyo said:

“Bethenny was so clearly intimidated by Kelly's looks and connections.”

I didn’t see it that way at all.

This is what I find wonderful in these forums, it is a rare place where we can totally disagree but can all get along and respect each other’s perspective… this is the world I grew up in and want to come back.

Sorry, that was a huge digression …

To my broader point - we can agree to disagree but at the end of the day we still talk to each other.

My apologies- win, as usual, may or may be involved but I love these forums where everyone is allowed to have an opinion, not matter what, but we are all the better for it.

And if you have a sense of humor, snark is always welcome.

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1 hour ago, Stats Queen said:

This is what I find wonderful in these forums, it is a rare place where we can totally disagree but can all get along and respect each other’s perspective… this is the world I grew up in and want to come back.

Ditto: very refreshing!! Although I’ve always failed to understand the supposed charms/appeal of Kuckoo Kelly Bensimon...besides her pretentious ditz vibe, she looks like a dude to me.

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(edited)

Regarding Ramana and Alex....They actually grew close in S2 and S3.

Ramona said at one point that she really liked Alex.  She was even surprised.

Ramona dancing with Simon at the end of S2 (might be S3 but I think S2) was everything for me. The best scene given their progression across the franchise and of all time for my tastes.

Ramona has evolved ... so has Lu for that matter, but for Lu, I think she had to drop to the bottom first.

Edited by Jextella
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I'm on to Season 4 now where Cindy the hair removal queen has been added and Luann has kicked up her 'Countessness' into HIGH gear on their trip to Morocco! That was hard to watch with her sachaying around going," Daaaahling we don't do that!" and "Daaaahling we don't do this!" at everything imaginable.  Especially when we've seen how low she falls in later seasons.  I rewound and watched that camel trying to buck her off over and over! I'm almost wondering if the producers picked the youngest barely broken in camel for her-- to take her down a peg. 🤣 

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13 hours ago, stcroix said:

I'm on to Season 4 now where Cindy the hair removal queen has been added and Luann has kicked up her 'Countessness' into HIGH gear on their trip to Morocco! That was hard to watch with her sachaying around going," Daaaahling we don't do that!" and "Daaaahling we don't do this!" at everything imaginable.  Especially when we've seen how low she falls in later seasons.  I rewound and watched that camel trying to buck her off over and over! I'm almost wondering if the producers picked the youngest barely broken in camel for her-- to take her down a peg. 🤣 

image.gif.58a7bdb53d80fa3177cada38fec30e65.gif

😂😂😂

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(edited)

I guess tLu has her standards about which bushes are enough to drunkenly trip and fall into...

Edited by Hiyo
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Ya Ha BeeBee!  (groan)  Luann thought she was the sh#t in this season!  I realized what the Countess and Kelly have in common as I watched them both talking-- they overtalk whoever they're talking to.  It would be MADDENING to have a conversation with either one of them- especially if they didn't agree with you.  And watching Alex try to explain anything to them was extremely frustrating-- they just won't let her get a full sentence out.  Don't get me wrong-- Alex drove me crazy with her 'missions to defend' whoever she was defending in her own mind.  I mean, when the ladies were getting their henna tattoos on and she came clattering down the stairs all red and out of breath to announce Ramona was upset-- it was too odd.  I can see why it upset Luann.  I mean, who in Luann's world IS Alex? It was all too weird.  I'm glad I'm through with Season 4 and now on to Season 5.  Ya Ha Bee Bee!  🐫🐫(last time I want to hear those words 🤪)

PS-- Jill really proved she hasn't changed from last season. Whether you like her or hate her-- she claims she's nicer but she's not and just can't hide her jealousy at anyone getting either attention or success. She's no better or worse than Ramona or Luann but she hasn't changed. 

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1 minute ago, stcroix said:

 

PS-- Jill really proved she hasn't changed from last season. Whether you like her or hate her-- she claims she's nicer but she's not and just can't hide her jealousy at anyone getting either attention or success. She's no better or worse than Ramona or Luann but she hasn't changed. 

I think that was Jill's issue all along. She is too much of a competitor.  RH's are ensemble casts, but Jill has to be a winner. I don't think she's capable of being a co-star.

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2 hours ago, Jextella said:

I think that was Jill's issue all along. She is too much of a competitor.  RH's are ensemble casts, but Jill has to be a winner. I don't think she's capable of being a co-star.

I agree-- she considered herself to be the star, she's not capable of being a co-star.  When Bethenny suddenly became the breakout very successful star it drove her nuts.  I believe what Bethenny said about Jill asking,''Why not me?!" and "Why can't I host Good Morning America?!" (or whatever morning show Beth was asked to sit in on one morning as guest host).  If I'm remembering right, she thought it was going to be her who was also starring on Bethenny Gets Married and probably thought she'd be the housewife featured on Skating With the Stars.  I can hear her seriously asking,'' Why not MEEeeeee?!" about everything anyone else got to do. (well.. maybe with the exception of Alex's nude poses in the hotel hall!  There's not enough bleach to get that image out of my mind years later!) 😵

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(edited)
On 5/4/2021 at 8:54 PM, stcroix said:

I'm on to Season 4 now where Cindy the hair removal queen has been added and Luann has kicked up her 'Countessness' into HIGH gear on their trip to Morocco! That was hard to watch with her sachaying around going," Daaaahling we don't do that!" and "Daaaahling we don't do this!" at everything imaginable.  Especially when we've seen how low she falls in later seasons.  I rewound and watched that camel trying to buck her off over and over! I'm almost wondering if the producers picked the youngest barely broken in camel for her-- to take her down a peg. 🤣 

The episode where Sonja invited Cindy so she could school her on the "pecking order" will never fail to amuse me to a ridiculous degree.  

FWIW, I was always on Sonja's side about Cindy's behavior during the breakfast Sonja prepared for her was extremely rude.  I'd have probably thrown one of the plates at her when she told Sonja to "hold it down."  Rude, rude, rude, especially when Sonja had ensured she had gotten special foods knowing Cindy would like them.      

On another note, the striking resemblance to her brother's (Howie?) wife and Cindy creeped me the fuck out.  I couldn't even tell the two women apart the handful of times they were in the same scene.  

That was one bizarre family.  

On 5/5/2021 at 10:28 AM, Irate Panda said:

image.gif.58a7bdb53d80fa3177cada38fec30e65.gif

😂😂😂

And this unforgettable moment which was the prelude to "even Louis Vuitton makes mistakes":  

 

buffalo.gif

Edited by Persnickety1
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Just finished Season 5 and can't believe I forgot just how absolutely irritating Aviva (of the one leg) was! Gah was she revolting.  So loud and needing so much attention.  And that perverted old father of hers! When Sonja's turned off by a wealthy man's attentions you know something's off about him. 🤮 

I'm about to watch the reunion and I'm not sure I'll be able to get through even part 1 with Aviva's self righteous braying that I'm sure is about to commence. 

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16 hours ago, stcroix said:

Just finished Season 5 and can't believe I forgot just how absolutely irritating Aviva (of the one leg) was! Gah was she revolting.  So loud and needing so much attention.  And that perverted old father of hers! When Sonja's turned off by a wealthy man's attentions you know something's off about him. 🤮 

I'm about to watch the reunion and I'm not sure I'll be able to get through even part 1 with Aviva's self righteous braying that I'm sure is about to commence. 

One of my very favorite scenes with Aviva.  The audio is kind of wonky.

 

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@Ms Blue Jay - I know you already know this, about how the original premise and title for the show was Manhattan Moms. Jill even references "Moms" in the finale episode, so it had not yet flipped to the RHO concept by the time filming wrapped. The irony is that Bethenny didn't ever fit either concept; Moms (at the time) or Housewives, which is so weird to me, bc she's probably the most notorious. And yet this is my favorite franchise hands down and B is my least favorite character.

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1 minute ago, RedDelicious said:

@Ms Blue Jay - I know you already know this, about how the original premise and title for the show was Manhattan Moms. Jill even references "Moms" in the finale episode, so it had not yet flipped to the RHO concept by the time filming wrapped. The irony is that Bethenny didn't ever fit either concept; Moms (at the time) or Housewives, which is so weird to me, bc she's probably the most notorious. And yet this is my favorite franchise hands down and B is my least favorite character.

No, I didn't!  But thank you.

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1 minute ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

No, I didn't!  But thank you.

Oh! I could have sworn we talked about this before. But your comment in the other thread got me thinking again about who technically fit the category and who did not. 

13 years later and Ramona still isn't a housewife and still doesn't look her chronical age 😆

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I recently watched season 1 again and enjoyed how matter of fact Alexis and Simon were about their social climbing. And how oblivious about their children and their house. The snark of the others was hilarious.   The whole season was wonderful because it wasn't fueled by alcohol and they were all pretty naive about how they were going to look when editing got through with them.

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10 minutes ago, OlderThanDirt said:

I recently watched season 1 again and enjoyed how matter of fact Alexis and Simon were about their social climbing. And how oblivious about their children and their house. The snark of the others was hilarious.   The whole season was wonderful because it wasn't fueled by alcohol and they were all pretty naive about how they were going to look when editing got through with them.

I loved Ramona's over reaction to Alex showing up to the ladies night dinner at Jill's, Bethany going to Alex's kid birthday party, trying make her way over the broken floorboards...good times.

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1 hour ago, RedDelicious said:

Oh! I could have sworn we talked about this before. But your comment in the other thread got me thinking again about who technically fit the category and who did not. 

13 years later and Ramona still isn't a housewife and still doesn't look her chronical age 😆

I have a really bad memory.  So, it could have happened.  LOL.

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On 5/10/2021 at 3:44 PM, Hiyo said:

Great scene overall. I loved Carol’s comments.

Yes! And Sonja just rambling on and on about the dog and peeing in the bed and her daughter and her gay intern. Good times.

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So much great content in the early seasons! I'm glad we still have Ramona, Lu and Sonja.

One of the things I never understood. Jill actually had a nice figure. She wasn't model thin like Alex was (Alex was actually thinner than Bethenny, you could especially see it when they were wearing jeans), but she had a waist and was proportionate. I never understood why her casual clothing choices were so frumpy! She was always in those flowy tops. I guess maybe because she did have a large bust, but still. For all her Bea Bag and big diamond braying, you'd think her fashion game would be a little different.

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2 hours ago, RedDelicious said:

So much great content in the early seasons! I'm glad we still have Ramona, Lu and Sonja.

One of the things I never understood. Jill actually had a nice figure. She wasn't model thin like Alex was (Alex was actually thinner than Bethenny, you could especially see it when they were wearing jeans), but she had a waist and was proportionate. I never understood why her casual clothing choices were so frumpy! She was always in those flowy tops. I guess maybe because she did have a large bust, but still. For all her Bea Bag and big diamond braying, you'd think her fashion game would be a little different.

I was rather shocked the first time I saw Jill in a regular top, jacket and jeans.  I had thought she was much heavier but, nope, it was just the clothing she (or that assbag Brad) was choosing.  I was amazed by how relatively tiny she was.  

One of my favorite episode moments from season 2 (?) was when Alex thought she was going to become a supermodel and was bragging about her perceived great genes...and then going to a gathering later that night in full hair and makeup from the photo shoot.  She and Simon were both so lacking in self-awareness.  

That being said, I don't think they were bad people so I hope they're living their best lives along with those two hellions lovely children, who now must be well into their teenage years.  

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(edited)
30 minutes ago, Persnickety1 said:

One of my favorite episode moments from season 2 (?) was when Alex thought she was going to become a supermodel and was bragging about her perceived great genes...and then going to a gathering later that night in full hair and makeup from the photo shoot.  She and Simon were both so lacking in self-awareness.  

In Season 1/2 Alex & Simon were an absolute hoot. I love re-visiting them. Between the shopping in St. Barths, the opera, the modeling, the pre-school interview, the 21 burger, absolute comedic gold.

Where Alex lost me was when she started to make other peoples battles her own.  She & Bethenny became close (hilarious when you think about it) and she wielded that power to be nasty to Jill.  She did the same thing when Ramona had that brief argument with Luann in Morocco (?) stomping down the stairs to confront Luann, again about something that didn't involve her.  The worst was her hyperventilating on scary island when Jill showed up.  Why?  Such a drama queen, so happy when she left. 

5 hours ago, RedDelicious said:

And yet this is my favorite franchise hands down and B is my least favorite character.

Same.  I know we don't often agree on our favorites but in this case we're aligned.

Edited by snarts
fixed typos
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Apropos of our conversations in the current episode threads, I just started a rewatch of Season 3 and two episodes in Luann went full “I have a new girl” and “I have to teach her twice as much because Rosie did everything”. Aaaahh!!!! Then she asks Rosie how she looks and says you look good too, Rosie, you kept your weight off. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Le sigh. I’d forgotten how sweet on each other Bethenny and Jason were ☹️ Ramona must have a bungled word for clairvoyant. 

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On 5/13/2021 at 6:03 PM, snarts said:

the 21 burger

I keep thinking about this two weeks later and cracking up.

You know how crafty burgers of today are sometimes served with a knife holding everything together? I will not be able to look at them the same 😆

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(edited)

Quoting @izabellafrom the latest episode thread:

Quote

She had a golden opportunity to sign a marketing deal with some toaster oven manufacturer to slap her "Sonja with a sexy J" name on it and do exactly what she's doing with "her" lifestyle fashion brand,.  She could have had years of being a toaster oven madame, with "her" own cookbook and cute little aprons and oven mitts and things. 

Kristin's husband and Heather could have helped her and even tried,  and Ramona is no slouch at running whatever business helped her make bank, but Sonja never got a good therapist and is a mess so she couldn't take advantage of her opportunities.  She needs to get her act together because this show will end someday.

What happened with the whole toaster oven thing?  Can somebody remind me?

Edited by Ms Blue Jay
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8 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Quoting @izabellafrom the latest episode thread:

What happened with the whole toaster oven thing?  Can somebody remind me?

In a nutshell, Sonja was trying to capitalize on this concept of toaster oven cooking because she claimed she entertained out of her toaster oven on the yacht and even cooked for Winston Churchill I believe it was, which was probably along the lines of how she used to party with John John and Madonna. 

She had all these meetings to review the package design and insisted that the word mark with her name had to have a “Sexy J” ☺️ She also enlisted the help of Heather and Bethenny with their business lady expertise (to no avail).

Alas, the toaster oven and her toaster oven cookbook never made it to market. She was disorganized and lacked focus/direction. I definitely would have purchased the cookbook 😄

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27 minutes ago, RedDelicious said:

Alas, the toaster oven and her toaster oven cookbook never made it to market. She was disorganized and lacked focus/direction. I definitely would have purchased the cookbook 😄

Damn!  That's too bad.  Interesting.  I will definitely rewatch the series at some point.  Thanks for this.

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A good toaster oven is an awesome appliance to have.  Everyone from college students to single people to families can do all kinds of things with it.  If Sonja had been smart, she could have had a whole line of special sheet pans, muffin tins, and cookie sheets designed specifically to fit her oven, plus utensils like tongs and flippers, and other accessories.  Hey, Rachel Ray makes a mint off her stuff! 

Hire someone to create recipes, and she could have multiple cookbooks for baking, roasting, etc.  Hot hors d’oeuvres fresh from the oven on your yacht to eat with your skinnygirl cocktails!  Designer mini-cupcakes!  How to reheat the roast chicken you shoved in your bag and took home from someone's cookout party!

It could have worked, but, she did nothing but pose for the packaging while lying on her dining room table.

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It has occurred to me that I think I never watched seasons 3-6.  So, since the weather sucks and I am stuck inside today, I’m gonna spend my day off with these bags.  I’m on season 3, episode 1 and Bethenny is already wearing me out, she is the “poor” one and her and Jason are in Montauk not the Hamptons.  Plus she is SO in love with Jason.  😬.   Also, the Skinny Girl car has Jersey plates 🤔.  It’s gonna be a FUN day!  I might need a Ramona Pinot.

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29 minutes ago, geauxaway said:

It has occurred to me that I think I never watched seasons 3-6.  So, since the weather sucks and I am stuck inside today, I’m gonna spend my day off with these bags.  I’m on season 3, episode 1 and Bethenny is already wearing me out, she is the “poor” one and her and Jason are in Montauk not the Hamptons.  Plus she is SO in love with Jason.  😬.   Also, the Skinny Girl car has Jersey plates 🤔.  It’s gonna be a FUN day!  I might need a Ramona Pinot.

(as Maeby Funke would say:) Marry me!

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8 hours ago, geauxaway said:

It has occurred to me that I think I never watched seasons 3-6.  So, since the weather sucks and I am stuck inside today, I’m gonna spend my day off with these bags.  I’m on season 3, episode 1 and Bethenny is already wearing me out, she is the “poor” one and her and Jason are in Montauk not the Hamptons.  Plus she is SO in love with Jason.  😬.   Also, the Skinny Girl car has Jersey plates 🤔.  It’s gonna be a FUN day!  I might need a Ramona Pinot.

I wasn’t feeling good the past couple of days so I was watching the first seasons. Just started watching season 3. I watched the Bethenny spin-offs during my recovery from spine surgery. 

Bethenny was so in love with Jason and she was so happy (not sure I’ve seen her face every light up like before or after when she and Jason were dating). 

It is so fascinating to watch the shows 10 or so years after they happened. You know what happened to them later, divorces, dynamics, etc. 

I really appreciate the first few seasons because it was actually real, what you saw is what you got - these were people’s actual lives and no story line nor producer manipulation was required before a season began.

 

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1 hour ago, Stats Queen said:

Bethenny was so in love with Jason and she was so happy (not sure I’ve seen her face every light up like before or after when she and Jason were dating). 

Yes!  And I’m just starting the Scary Island trip episodes and she is prego and it actually kind of mellowed her (aside from flipping on Kelly, but OMG.  KELLY).   
 

I do feel like I have seen bits and pieces of this season because I remember Countess recording her song with the weird Albino looking guy and I also remember creepy Court.  I don’t remember Sonja’s intro AT ALL.  I can’t even remember why or how I stopped watching, I think I just fell out of it for a bit.

1 hour ago, Stats Queen said:

It is so fascinating to watch the shows 10 or so years after they happened. You know what happened to them later, divorces, dynamics, etc. 

It really is.  Some of it you can see coming from miles away and some of it I’m like wow how did that take such a turn and go so wrong (Sonja, looking at you).  Ugh and RIP Bobby.  😢

I should also note that I had a huge home project that was labor intensive that I worked on today while rigging up one of our extra TV’s so I could keep myself entertained through the pain.  It’s been a day. 😂

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27 minutes ago, geauxaway said:

I should also note that I had a huge home project that was labor intensive that I worked on today while rigging up one of our extra TV’s so I could keep myself entertained through the pain.  It’s been a day.

That sounds like a big day. Watching Real Housewives while working on labor intensive work seems like a good pain blocker 😜

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14 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

Bethenny was so in love with Jason and she was so happy (not sure I’ve seen her face every light up like before or after when she and Jason were dating). 

I loved seeing them together and so happy. Seeing how Bethenny looks/acts now, which was probably inevitable, it makes you wonder what she would be like if they'd worked it out and she didn't go so far in the other direction. But I did love those early episodes. 

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On 5/29/2021 at 12:06 PM, RedDelicious said:

In a nutshell, Sonja was trying to capitalize on this concept of toaster oven cooking because she claimed she entertained out of her toaster oven on the yacht and even cooked for Winston Churchill I believe it was, which was probably along the lines of how she used to party with John John and Madonna. 

I’m on this episode as we speak!  She cooked for the Churchill’s in St. Tropez out of her toaster oven (on her yacht).  🙄

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(edited)
On 5/29/2021 at 9:51 AM, Ms Blue Jay said:

Quoting @izabellafrom the latest episode thread:

What happened with the whole toaster oven thing?  Can somebody remind me?

 

On 5/29/2021 at 10:06 AM, RedDelicious said:

In a nutshell, Sonja was trying to capitalize on this concept of toaster oven cooking because she claimed she entertained out of her toaster oven on the yacht and even cooked for Winston Churchill I believe it was, which was probably along the lines of how she used to party with John John and Madonna. 

She had all these meetings to review the package design and insisted that the word mark with her name had to have a “Sexy J” ☺️ She also enlisted the help of Heather and Bethenny with their business lady expertise (to no avail).

Alas, the toaster oven and her toaster oven cookbook never made it to market. She was disorganized and lacked focus/direction. I definitely would have purchased the cookbook 😄

 

On 5/29/2021 at 10:37 AM, izabella said:

A good toaster oven is an awesome appliance to have.  Everyone from college students to single people to families can do all kinds of things with it.  If Sonja had been smart, she could have had a whole line of special sheet pans, muffin tins, and cookie sheets designed specifically to fit her oven, plus utensils like tongs and flippers, and other accessories.  Hey, Rachel Ray makes a mint off her stuff! 

Hire someone to create recipes, and she could have multiple cookbooks for baking, roasting, etc.  Hot hors d’oeuvres fresh from the oven on your yacht to eat with your skinnygirl cocktails!  Designer mini-cupcakes!  How to reheat the roast chicken you shoved in your bag and took home from someone's cookout party!

It could have worked, but, she did nothing but pose for the packaging while lying on her dining room table.

For those of you wondering about the toaster oven, I wanted to buy one, too, dammit.  

But according to this interview with Heather and Carole, that story line was apparently bullshit.  Poor naive (at the time) Heather honestly thought it was real and that's why she bent over backwards to help her so much.  

It's an interesting read but somewhat disappointing.  I had thought Bravo/Andy had a strict rule about housewives not creating fake story lines.  

Here's the article.  

https://realityblurb.com/2020/09/24/carole-radziwill-says-sonja-morgans-toaster-oven-was-a-fake-storyline-for-rhony-plus-she-dishes-on-which-costars-were-putting-on-a-show-for-cameras-and-live-viewing-thread/

Edited by Persnickety1
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