Vanderpump Rules 2.0

Five episodes have aired, and I've watched them all. I guess it's a kind of habit--the show is still on our recording list. That's not the only reason. I wanted to check it out to see if it would work. 

Based on what I've seen so far, no.

These people are messy, but they're not funny. They are petty and whiny. That could be okay if any of them were funny or had a modicum of charm. None of them are nice. I had hopes for one of the women, but she blew it in episode five. 

Will I watch again? Maybe. Probably. I'd probably be better off watching the original. 

The End of the Road for Vanderpump Rules 1.0

I read about the end of Vanderpump Rules and discuss its reboot here.

It's time for a retrospective. 

A big reason for the show's initial success is that five of the original six cast members were already friends and co-workers (Stassi, Jax, Kristen, Tom Sandoval, and Katie.) The new girl Scheana was the exception

Cast members were (relatively) real--they weren't trying to put on airs and pretend to be more than they were. They were waitstaff and bartenders with dreams of acting, music, and writing. Main storylines focused of three best friends (Stassi, Katie, and Kristen) dating three best friends.(Jax, Tom Schwartz, and Tom Sandoval.)

Their fights were ridiculously, stupidly funny. 

Kristen getting mad at Tom because she ran into someone (on a modeling job) that Tom slept with before they met. 

Jax and Stassi's breakups and their rebound flings with other SURvers Laura Leigh and Frank. 

Jax crashing Stassi's Las Vegas birthday party where a chunky sweater was torn off before a fight and a beer was poured on someone's head. Abandoned by her best friends, Stassi hosted a brunch of her second tier friends the next day.

They were messy and ridiculous and genuinely funny.

Over eleven seasons friendships shifted, and romances heated up and burned out. Cast members were spending less and less time at SUR and with Lisa Vanderpump; they were making money elsewhere. Some cast members quit or are fired. Some new cast members came aboard.

Onto Season 10 and Scandoval. The scandal broke just as the season started airing. Fans could watch the affair unfold on the air, looking for clues.

I suddenly became interested in social media posts and stories about the VPR cast. When production was rushed for Season 11, I learned more about the show from these stories than from the episodes themselves. That upended the normal viewing process and made it less enjoyable, though I still kept watching.

Over the last few weeks, I've been rewatching the early episodes--the first season and a few episodes of the second. The show is still messy fun, but I am beginning to see patterns in relationships that will manifest themselves over the next several seasons. I'll keep up my re-watch. 

As for VPR 2.0? I'll definitely give it a try.  

Tuesday Topics

I started yesterday feeling good about where I was in my pre-Thanksgiving cleaning. Then I drove Jeff to an acupuncture appointment.at 10 that was supposed to have been re-scheduled. The doctor was out of town all week. I guess I never recovered from that. Later I did run some errands, but barely started work in the kitchen.

Today, after I cared for the birds, I finished cleaning the kitchen, started cleaning the second bedroom, and picked up our Thanksgiving meal and a few fruits and veggies. I'm back to feeling good about my progress. 

I'm surprised at how many houses are already decorated for Christmas. I even saw a decorated Christmas tree in a window the other night. Maybe it's because Thanksgiving is so late this year. It's still too early for me to decorate for Christmas.

I actually found myself thinking about getting pine cones for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. I blame the New York Times.

Vanderpump Rules, as we know it. is gone. The show will be recast with all new people. I shouldn't be surprised, but I really am. I expected a mini-season at least. I just read that Schwartz & Sandy's is closing, so it's been in my thoughts. Maybe a final VPR post?

Two days until Thanksgiving.

Late Thursday Thoughts

I've been meaning to write a version of a post for the past few days. But I've been in a prolonged writing slump. I've written only two posts this month. I haven't journaled since we were in Sea Isle City--about six weeks ago. Needless to say, I haven't done any serious writing. At least, I've been thinking more about writing, but that is obviously not enough.

Jeff and I have been dealing with various health issues and doctors' appointments over the last week-and-a-half including my colonoscopy on Monday morning. There were two days last week when I felt so bad, I could barely walk Jace and throw some meals together. I hope the colonoscopy resolves what's been wrong with me.

I don't think the Mets are going to make the playoffs. Today they lost a series to the Oakland As. At the beginning of the month, they lost a series to the Angels. The Mets are currently two games behind Atlanta for the last playoff spot. They have a three-game series against the Marlins--who are lousy against every team except the Mets. Then they play the Orioles, Padres, and Diamondbacks. It doesn't look good. New York Mets, please prove me wrong.

I found a Vanderpump Rules marathon on tv today--the season that ended with Scandoval. I watched around doing the laundry, walking Jace, taking Jeff to the doctor's. It reminded me that I never wrote a post about the latest VPR season. Maybe that will help me break out of this writer's block.

Update: Vanderpump Rules Season 10 Scandoval

I thought of titling this Final Thoughts, but who knows? I may write another post. I never expected Scandoval to get the attention it did; I never expected to still be hearing about it at this time. I don't remember seeing so much coverage of reality TV filming dates and times. 

I'll start by saying that I still believe Scandoval is real. Yes, some things were enhanced, others minimized, but overall the story is true. 

Ariana was savvy to tell producers what was going on as soon as she learned about the affair between Sandoval and Raquel. She cut him off at the knees at his attempt to spin the story. I remember her telling Sandoval that she loved him when he had nothing. Now he had a bar and a little money: she described Raquel as a woman who takes identity from a man. Ariana asked if that was who he wanted around? I don't remember his response, but he didn't actually answer the question.

This is a typical Sandoval move. It happened when former girlfriend Kristen asked if he told Ariana he and Kristen were breaking up (after Ariana reported he had said that to her.) Tom's "denial" was another word salad. Similarly, Raquel questioned whether he and Ariana had been intimate as Ariana said during the reunion. Again, his answer did not include a response to the question.

Sandoval also has a pattern of casting his soon-to-be-exes as sexless and crazy.

He complained that he and Kristen rarely had sex, Then Kristen gave him a gift by sleeping with Tom's friend Jax. Tom could break up with Kristen and still be the good guy. Kristen's later quest to prove Tom cheated on Ariana with "Miami Girl" cemented her role as the crazy-ex.

Back to Raquel and Sandoval: Sandoval is more to blame for the affair than Raquel. He was the one who was in a relationship, regardless of how healthy that relationship was. Did Sandoval take advantage of Raquel? Yes, but she was 27-28 at the time, not 17-18. At one point, she said something to the effect that she had to take into account how her actions effected others. Most people learn that in childhood. Remember Katie asking Raquel, "Who raised you?" There have been mentions of her weird family behavior/setup. Is that why Raquel has no empathy for others? 

Recently Raquel did some podcast with Bethenny Frankel. She insisted that she and Ariana weren't friends. I did get annoyed when everyone and their brother called Ariana and Raquel best friends. Scheana was always described as Ariana's BFF pre-Scandoval. Of course a BFF status made the scandal worse.

When VPR first aired, it was unique in that most of the cast were already friends and hung out together. I don't claim to know the current status of friendships among the cast, but they seemed to be work friends at least. Maybe Raquel thinks she should get a pass on her crappy behavior because she and Ariana weren't as close as depicted. She didn't do herself any favors in this interview.

Ariana seems to be thriving post-Scandoval. When the news broke, friends gathered to support her, while Sandoval whined that no one called to check on him. She's gotten numerous opportunities and marketing deals--Glamour magazine cover, Dancing with the Stars contestant, commercials for Bic shavers and Uber Eats. But Ariana's gotten some pushback too. A recent online article listed reasons people didn't like her. Castmate Lala and former castmate Stassi were discussing why she got more sympathy than they did when they were cheated on. 

Ariana's success may be the best revenge.

Vanderpump Rules Scandoval: Rachel as Eve

It dawned on me as I was washing the dishes last night that Raquel (Rachel) Leviss one of the principal Scandoval participants has a similar arc to that of Eve in the 1950 film All About Eve. 

All About Eve follows Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) as she worms her way into the life of the great theater actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis.) Eve haunts the theater of Margo's latest smash play, until she is invited to meet the star. Soon she is working as Margo's assistant. Eve is seemingly sweet and innocent. Only Margo's maid Birdie (Thelma Ritter) sees through her act. Eve tries to steal Margo's fiancé Bill (Gary Merrill) and plots with Margo's best friend Karen (Celeste Holm) to make Margo miss a performance. Understudy Eve takes her place to rave reviews. Later Eve almost breaks up Karen's marriage. 

Then there's Raquel. She begins dating James Kennedy and first appears on Vanderpump Rules in Season Five. (The show is currently in Season Ten.) She volunteered at Vanderpump Dogs and became more involved with the cast. She starts working at SUR and becomes a series regular in Season Nine.

Becoming a cast member by dating one is nothing new. Exhibit one is Tom Schwartz. James apparently admitted that he dated Kristen to get more time on the show. Then Brittany Cartwright dated Jax Taylor and became a series regular, and Beau Clark dated Stassi Schroeder and became a series regular. 

Maybe Raquel realized that James wasn't the right choice. She tells of a horrible Thanksgiving; after James trashes her parents, she predicts spending holidays choosing between her family and James. He was definitely verbally abusive to her at times. It apparently continued after he quit drinking.

Or maybe Raquel had another idea. James' rages threatened to keep him out of cast trips and parties, and even dj jobs. A series regular gig can end at any time or be edited out. Raquel had to do something to keep her job. 

Did Raquel pull an Eve and go after Sandoval after seeming to befriend Ariana and study her like a book (a la Eve)?  Sandoval is vain enough to fall for something like that. Even if Raquel is a femme fatale, Sandoval doesn't get a pass on this. In All About Eve, Margo's fiance Bill rejects Eve's advances; Sandoval didn't (if he didn't initiate things himself.)

It's been surreal to watch Vanderpump Rules episodes filmed months ago, knowing what we do now. I wonder if Tom and Raquel realize how horrible they appear to us: Tom smirking as he lies about Raquel, Raquel pretending to care about Ariana, while probing into her sex life, the whole Tom Schwartz/Raquel "hook-up" at Scheana Shay's and Brock Davies's wedding.

This is what can happen if a peacock thinks more of his brand than his partner.

Scandoval: The Vanderpump Rules Cheating Scandal

I read about the Tom Sandoval/Ariana Madix breakup on a Google feed last weekend. I was surprised by the news; I expected to see another story or two on TMZ and/or Jezebel, and comments on Primetimer.com. Instead, stories exploded all over the internet; The New York Times ran a story, and it was on the main page of CNN.

I didn't plan to write about it, but if the Times deems it worthy of a story, I'll share my thoughts.

Vanderpump Rules just entered its 10th season. Cheating has been part of its storylines starting with Scheana's affair with Eddie Cibrian (married to Brandy of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills at the time.) 

Later there were cheating stories about Jax and Kristen, Stassi and Frank, Jax and Faith, the Toms and miscellaneous Vegas/Miami women, James and Kristen, James and Lala, James and miscellaneous Sur staff members. I don't know the length of the Scheana/Eddie liaison, but the others were short-term--one (or two) night stands.

In contrast, the current affair between Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss has been going on for several months. They allegedly want to be together. Lisa Vanderpump's theory is that they were waiting until after the reunion to reveal their relationship, giving Ariana and the others a chance to get used to the idea before the show started filming again. 

Tom and Ariana were the longest term couple in the cast after Katie and Tom Schwartz divorced. They bought a house together. They probably would have been married except for Ariana's reluctance. 

I'm mad about it because I liked Tom Sandoval. Let me explain. When I say I like a reality show character, I mean the person is entertaining and makes good TV. I think all the cast members are pretentious assholes who I couldn't stand in real-life situations. Sandoval was over the top in his clothing choices--he loved any excuse to wear a costume and in his plans (ironically he helped finance Rachella when James proposed to Raquel.) While Sandoval was always an asshole by definition, he got worse in recent years: a nasty, middle-of-the-night email to Stassi, a ridiculous band in which he pays the other bandmembers, his stupidity--along with Schwartz--in opening their second bar/restaurant without understanding the business.

I'm also mad that Raquel fooled me. I even thought of defending her when Lala said she would win if she and Raquel were in competition for a man. I thought Raquel was the nice person Brittany pretended to be. No. Raquel was fooling around with Tom Sandoval while pretending to be a close friend of Arianna. She may have used Tom Schwartz as a decoy (or he may have been a willing beard) which also hurt Tom's ex  Katie.

So, here we are a week later. Everyone on the cast is pro-Ariana except possibly for Schwartz. Raquel has taken legal action against her cast members. The story has been called Shakespearean. 

I'll keep watching.

This is Why I Watch...

...Vanderpump Rules.

I spent most of Sunday wrapping presents and packing things up for our visit to relatives. After eating dinner and washing the dishes, Jeff and I watched Outlander.

The latest episode wasn't light or sentimental Christmas fare. It was a relief to turn to a special Sunday night Vanderpump Rules afterward.

After we learn that Jax and his fiancee Brittany want to start a beer cheese company, we were treated to this talking head/interview with Jax Taylor:

Jax: "I know what it takes to run a business."

Interviewer: "So what does it take to runs a business?"

Jax: "I mean, after saying that, I really don't know."

Next scene Jax googles "how to sell food."

I laughed out loud: needed that bit of humor.

What I'm Watching

New Seasons:

Outlander: I liked the first two episodes, but the next two were lackluster. I want to know more about the skull with silver filings (when will that be explained) but I don't particularly care about Jamie's son. Now I'm afraid Brianna will end up on the ship with the pirate that abused and robbed her parents.

Vanderpump Rules: This is my guilty pleasure but they didn't bring it in the first two episodes: Jax and Brittany got engaged; James is an asshole. Whatever.

Top Chef: enjoying the first two episodes though it's too early to know the individual chefs.

On Netflix: we liked the second season of Jessica Jones, and got through about half of The Last Kingdom's second season. We now have Hulu and watched a few episodes of The Handmaid's Tale. Chilling.

A new limited series we're watching is Escape from Dannemora. I had read about it beforehand and wanted to watch it particularly for Patricia Arquette. Saturday I watched a two-hour documentary on the escape--interesting to compare the two.

Saturday night we caught the film, The Death of Stalin, although we'd never heard of it before. Once I got over the idea of Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev, I enjoyed it. Simon Russell Beale, who played Lavrenti Beria, looked more like Khrushchev. It reminded me of the casting of Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII. Buscemi is more believable as Khrushchev than Rhys Meyers is as Henry. I couldn't accept Rhys Meyers' Henry.

Yesterday I half-watched The Best Years of Our Lives and It Happened One Night as I cleaned. Best Years is a classic that I never get tired of. It Happened One Night is a fun screwball comedy. Let's just forget the line, "What she needs is a guy that'd take a sock her once a day, whether it's coming to her or not," per IMDB. I like Colbert, but wonder what Bette Davis would have done with the part.

A Lazy Summer Saturday Morning

We didn't have anything scheduled for today until a dinner with my mother at five. So Jeff and I just relaxed this morning. I got up around 8, went out front to pick up my New York Times: I couldn't wait to get my word game. I've gotten quite good at it: I regularly achieve genius status in just a few hours. For today's puzzle, I'm at genius level but still struggling to find the word that uses all seven letters.

When I got the paper, I also got a surprise: a package from Plated. The contents were still cold: two good dinners of seared steak with potatoes and tomato vinaigrette and salmon poke with seaweed salad.

I lingered over my puzzle, journal, email, newspaper and breakfast. I made the bed and did the dishes from last night's dinner.

I only felt slightly guilty.

One Life to Live Online: Season One

First, I want to say how nice it is to be able to see One Life to Live again.  I wrote about my first impressions here.

I'm still not used to watching shows on my laptop. It makes it harder to do other things while watching, especially on the laptop itself. The other problem I've had is the scheduling. First, it was four new shows each day (Monday through Thursday) with More Life to Live on Friday. More showed highlights, previews, cast interviews and  miscellaneous things such as fashion shows. Next, two new episodes appeared each Monday. There were occasional gaps in filming, and I would forget the schedule. I'd end up watching One Life marathons.

The show seemed slow to get started: setting up the new club setting Shelter, establishing new actors playing Matthew and Destiny and a new character Jeffrey. Natalie didn't do much, but according to TWoP, it was because of problems involving General Hospital actors on contract. (I say good riddance to John McBain; I always hated that character.) I missed Dorian, but apparently Robin Strasser was ill; she's back now.

As the first season ended, we learned more about the mysterious organization that targeted Todd, Victor and the rest of the Lords/Mannings. We saw a memorable gala with most of the characters attending in gowns and tuxes (old school soap event) with a shocking/embarrassing moment.

The final scene of Season One was a real cliffhanger. How long before the second season begins?

A Second Life: The Resurrection of One Life to Live

I wrote an earlier post about the end of One Life to Live. ABC dumped it and All My Children, but there was a plan to migrate both shows to the Internet after their broadcasts ended.

I don't know why the original plan failed (and don't care enough to research it.) But ultimately, both shows began their Internet runs on Monday.

Each week consists of four 30-minute programs (including commercials.) A fifth episode is is a beyond-the-scenes look at the show.

I've watched most of all five OLTL episodes. I'm not sure what to make of it yet. It has my favorite characters: Blair, Dorian and Natalie. It also has my second tier of favorite characters: David, Bo, Nora, Clint and Viki. The first episode focuses on the opening of a new club, Shelter that Blair owns, and Dani overdosing at the club. Dani (and her mother Tea) are among my least favorite characters. New actors portray Matthew (the previous actor was one of the best teen actors) and Destiny (a short, chubby girl is now tall and willowy.) It's a little disconcerting, but I'll keep watching.

As for All My Children, I only watched the first episode. It's set five years after the last broadcast episode, so there's a lot of exposition required to catch viewers up and account for the sorased children/teenagers. It was hard for me to figure out all the characters and their relationships: I had given up on AMC long before it ended. I may watch more episodes because one of my favorite characters, Dr. David Hayward, is featured (upon his release from prison.)

Now,  I'm more optimistic about OLTL's future.

Requim for One Life to Live

The last show of One Life to Live was broadcast two months ago today. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. But I miss what it was at its best.

Now that OLTL is gone, no daytime soaps are filmed in New York. For years, a group of actors balanced work in soaps, Broadway shows and other TV shows filmed in NYC (such as Law &  Order.) No more. That is a shame.

I've written about soaps before as a guilty pleasure.

To borrow a cliche, truth is stranger than fiction. I can think of many bizarre things that really happened to people I know that rival some soap stories. I think the problem with soaps is that these bizarre things happen to the same people. (Robert Woods joked about this in a Soapnet promo--he said something like things happen to the same 15 people while everyone in the background stands around eating pound cake.) Almost all of the main characters have had secret children. For example, Viki--the main character on OLTL--has given birth to not one, but two daughters she knew nothing about. One forgotten daughter was attributed to Viki's dissociative identity disorder (DID.) I didn't watch in the Viki's DID heyday, but apparently Erika Slezak was incredible. Unfortunately, when I watched later iterations of her alter Niki, they were over-the-top caricatures.

And that is another problem with daytime soaps. Most soaps run for one hour daily, five days a week with very few reruns. It's hard to fill up so much time, so writers repeat stories. That problem is exacerbated because of the soap industry habit of exchanging failed writers.

Imagine a writer who could avoid the temptation of another who's the daddy story. In the olden days before DNA testing, there would be some obscure genetic anomaly to prove fatherhood. If I remember correctly--the Bombay phenotype determined that Alan and not Rick was the father of Monica's baby on General Hospital. Today's DNA testing would seem to determine paternity, but somehow those damn DNA labs have no security; everyone and his brother can alter paternity results.

Other problems:

Hiring actors, especially young actors on their looks--ignoring acting ability. I have seen incredible acting on soaps and some actors can grow on the job, but at a bare minimum, don't drop limited actors in the middle of an intense story.

SORASing--Soap Opera Rapidly Aging Syndrome: Too many soap fans accept this as a necessity. Most soap children exist to be babies of uncertain parentage or victims of obscure diseases or kidnapping. I know there are employment issues with young actors. But SORASing makes the writers look lazy. It creates a problem when the children are too old to match with their parents. The most egregious example is Duke on OLTL.

Death--In recent years, death has lost all meaning on soaps because anybody could return from the dead. (In the final days of the other canceled ABC soap, All My Children, almost everyone did.)

Despite my litany of soap opera problems why did I watch?

Incredible acting--My OLTL favorite was Kassie DePaiva with Robin Strasser a close second; they were brilliant. Eddie Alderson started off slow but grew into the best teen actor on the show.

Familiarity--Spending five hours a week with these characters have made them a part of my life. Sometimes I spent more time with OLTL characters than my own family.

Time to tell a story--Five hours a week provided time to delve into stories. In most one hour TV shows, all kinds of traumas are resolved in approximately 42 minutes.

By listing that last strength of soaps, I think I found one of the major reasons for their downfall. Soaps had the time to tell long-term stories but chose to try the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am style of storytelling.  Another OLTL example: Matthew's story of being crippled in a car accident and suing for emancipation when his parents would not consent to a risky surgery, could have led to a long term story of estrangement from his parents. Instead the drama potential was lost by having Matthew quickly forgive them when the surgery was successful.

In the ideal OLTL, Dorian would be back in town; Todd would be cleared of killing his brother Victor and would be back with Blair, raising Sam and straightening out Jack. Kyle and Oliver would return, married and raising Sierra with Roxy as main babysitter. Jessie would discover that her son Ryder was Brody's son and they would reunite. All the characters played by bad actors would have left town. We would never have a who's the daddy story or rape-is-love storyline again.

If only. Then soaps would be better.

Guilty Pleasures: Soap Operas

I've had a love/hate relationship with soaps for over 40 years.

Like many, I started watching the soaps that my mother watched. I remember coming home from school and going down to the basement to say hello. That's where my mother set up her sewing machine and a small black and white TV. I watched Days of Our Lives and General Hospital with her.

My mother. however, wasn't much of a soap fan. She watched soaps because they were the only option in those days--at least until late afternoon when talk shows with Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas aired. We'd laugh about the bizarre coincidences and outlandish plots of soaps.

But then I came back from a family vacation to learn that a friend had discovered that the man who had raised her was not her biological father. Her mother had altered her birth certificate by adding her stepfather's name. My friend only found the truth when her biological father came to claim her after her mother's death.

At that point, I figured that maybe soaps weren't that outlandish after all.

Guilty Pleasures Revisited

I've written about my embarrassing love for Jersey Shore here http://lynnecoll.blogspot.com/2010/05/guilty-pleasures.html and here http://lynnecoll.blogspot.com/2010/08/jersey-shore-season-two.html.

But I've had other reality guilty pleasures. Here is my story.

In started in 2007, when I broke my second ankle. I am prone to foot injuries. But let me tell you, feet injuries are easy compared to ankle injuries. Thanks to wireless, I could do most of my work at home, going into the office only occasionally. I spent a lot of my recovery time home in bed.

During my recovery, I watched a lot of TV. One Sunday afternoon, I came across my introduction to the Flavoverse (term courtesy of Television Without Pity) a marathon of Charm School: Flavor of Love Girls with Monique. I got sucked in pretty quickly. I tried to cut my losses by not turning into the heavily promoted Rock of Love.

But my defenses were eventually worn down. I watched episodes of Rock of Love, Real Chance of Love, Daisy of Love, Entertainer of Love: A Basement Affair, and Megan Wants a Millionaire. As VH1 expanded its dating shows, the objects of desire became more and more removed from "prizes." Real, Chance and Frank were losers on I Love New York, and New York was a loser on two seasons of Flavor of Love. How many degrees of separation are these contestants from the original prize? Are the originals really prizes themselves? Hoopz, the winner of Flavor of Love, joked on I Love Money that she could kiss anyone; after all she had kissed Flav.

What I like about the dating shows is that for all the talk of love and being there for the right reason, the interesting relationships that develop are between the competitors such as Farrah and Ashley from Rock of Love Bus. The relationship between the prize and the winner rarely survives to the reunion show.

Once people are cast on I Love Money--the pretense of being there for Brett, Flav, Daisy, Megan, etc. is cast aside. They're all there for the money--hey it's in the name of the show.

VH1 has quietly resurrected I Love Money 4. It had to shelve Megan Wants A Millionaire after a few episodes and I Love Money 3 completely because one of the contestants on both shows, Ryan Jenkins allegedly killed his wife Jasmine Fiore. While VH1 needs to strengthen its screening process of contestants, I must admit that I'm happy to see I Love Money again.

Is there a 12 step program for reality show addicts?