"The Real Housewives of New York City," Episode 1: "Talk of the Town"
It may be springtime in the city, but on "The Real Housewives of New York City" fall is in full swing. As is the most contentious election in American history and if you think the ladies of the Big Apple are unaffected, you are wrong. It's not a great sign that some of the premiere's main tension revolves around Carole's obsession with the election and Bethenny's comical attempts to avoid it. The rest comes from carryover issues from the previous season. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the episode move a little slower than most Housewives premieres and while entertaining it doesn't quite measure up the to the high marks of last season.
Bethenny Frankel is the star of "The Real Housewives of New York City" and arguably, the franchise as a whole. Bethenny went from a struggling whole foods chef to a multi millionaire and appearing on the show helped with that. So, it's not a huge surprise that this first episode focuses a lot on her. It doesn't hurt that she is naturally funny and even when she is throwing shade at her co-stars it doesn't come off as entirely mean spirited. Bethenny is in the best place she's been since re-joining the show two years ago. Her contentious divorce with Jason Hoppy is finally done and she is ready to sell the apartment they lived in together. It's nice to see Bethenny content in her life after the past couple of seasons. It's also nice to see realtor extraordinaire, Fredrik Eklund from Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing: New York" show up to sell the apartment. In fact, Bethenny's scenes look like they were filmed for that show and then shoehorned into this premiere. So, long story short, after pressuring Fredrik into upping the price, Bethenny sells her apartment for $6.995 million, all cash in like a day. Ugh.
Bethenny's BFF, Carole Radziwill, is living with her boyfriend Adam, or shacking up or whatever. She tries to convince a visiting, Dorinda Medley, that it's not that serious, but Dorinda isn't convinced. Neither am I. I think they make an adorable couple especially as they continue to adopt or foster more pets. It was also great to see Dorinda and Carole rekindling their friendship after kind of growing apart last season. Dorinda and Carole share the loss of a husband and that bonds them more than anything that bonds the other women. It's a club with few members and I understand why you'd want to latch onto someone who shares that experience. I hope that Carole and Dorinda can keep it up.
Otherwise Carole is "down the rabbit hole" as Bethenny puts it. The election rabbit hole. It makes total sense for Carole to be so invested in this. As she says, she worked for ABC News for a number of years and I know people will give her shit for saying she's more informed than the average voter or Ramona, but isn't she? Carole is convinced Hillary is going to win in a landslide and every time she mentions it my stomach hurts. It's odd to see real-life intrude on what I use as an escape from said real-life, so I'm hoping the election hurries up and comes and goes so we can move away from it. It seems like Bethenny feels the same way.
The Lady Sonja Morgan spent her summer in France and now that her daughter is away at boarding school, she is starring in an Off-Broadway play called "Sex Tips for Straight Women From a Gay Man." Sonja is not surprised that she was asked to star in this because hello. She has a bawdy sense of humor. She is well-known for her caburlesque routines and for not wearing pants with Halloween costumes. Sonja is like the cringe comedy star of the Real Housewives franchise. I feel bad for laughing at her when she assumes the world is laughing with her. What else can you do when she is mocking jerking something off and disregarding the script entirely.
Then there is Bethenny's visit to the most infamous town home on the Upper East Side to pick up The Lady Morgan's donations to Bethenny's pet charity project, Dress for Success. What other reaction is there but laughter when you see what Sonja is donating? A jean pantsuit? Satin shorts? A sequined dress she wore when she was dating Albert of Monaco? What else can you do but laugh. And oh does Bethenny laugh. And laugh.
Someone who is not amused by Sonja's antics? Dorinda. It seems she is still upset that Sonja implied that Dorinda is a raging coke head at last year's reunion. According to Dorinda, Sonja has also been trashing her all around town but is pretty vague on the deets. A lot of it seems to stem from Dorinda not inviting Sonja to the worst Berkshires trip the region has ever seen. Or that Dorinda introduced Tom to Luann. It would be nice if these two kooky blondes could work it out, but Dorinda seems to be one to hold a grudge. Much like Sonja. Who knew?
Luann is still in her pre-wedding bliss bubble or delusion cloud depending on what side you fall on the should they/shouldn't they wedding debate. I'm firmly in the "should not" camp. Luann seems more happy to be living in Tom's admittedly amazing penthouse then to be actually getting married to the philandering douchebag. She claims the ladies general disdain for the marriage is why she has invited none of them aside from matchmaker Dorinda to the wedding, but I think Bethenny is correct when she claims that Tom's penis is the real reason none of the other ladies will be making the New Year's trek to Palm Beach. Luann is extra upset with Ramona Singer for continuing to butt her bug eyes into the Artist formerly known as The Countess' business. It seems Ramona is bound and determined to catch Tom's hand in the cookie jar and yes those are euphemisms for his penis and someone's vagina. She's even calling his ex-girlfriends to try and dig up dirt.
The ex-Mrs. Mario Singer is dealing with a different Mario, her contractor, as she re-models her apartment to reflect her new carefree single status. Ramona continually tells her contractor that Mario is her ex-husbands name making a mildly awkward situation supremely awkward. And to top it all off, she tries to get him to set her up with single friends he knows. Ramona continues to be the worst friend one can have when Dorinda shows up for lunch and finds Ramona not home, on a lunch date with someone else. Ramona obviously does not subscribe to bros before hos. Dorinda lets this slide, perhaps because Ramona is finally getting along with the sweatiest man in Housewives history, her boyfriend, John. Talk quickly turns to Luann and Tom. Ramona is upset that she was not invited to Luann's bridal shower. Only Ramona would talk shit all over town about a friends fiance and then be upset she wasn't invited to a celebration of the upcoming nuptials. Dorinda tries to explain this to the Singer Stinger but she is not having it. Ramona claims that Luann and Tom are in an open relationship and she heard from a friend of a friends mother that Tom hit on a 30-year-old. It's so confusing and I care so little about all of it.
So, Ramona and Luann's "tense" lunch didn't really do anything for me. Ramona acts like she has new dirt, but does she? There's more talk of the ex-girlfriend. Luann denies any open relationship rumors. Ramona basically calls Luann a fool, then they have a really fake toast to the upcoming marriage. Meh.
How did you guys feel about the premiere? Were you a tad disappointed? Do you think Lu and Tom's marriage will last? Does the election stuff bring up bad memories? Open fresh wounds? Are you excited to meet Tinsley Mortimer? Let me know in the comments.
Bethenny Frankel is the star of "The Real Housewives of New York City" and arguably, the franchise as a whole. Bethenny went from a struggling whole foods chef to a multi millionaire and appearing on the show helped with that. So, it's not a huge surprise that this first episode focuses a lot on her. It doesn't hurt that she is naturally funny and even when she is throwing shade at her co-stars it doesn't come off as entirely mean spirited. Bethenny is in the best place she's been since re-joining the show two years ago. Her contentious divorce with Jason Hoppy is finally done and she is ready to sell the apartment they lived in together. It's nice to see Bethenny content in her life after the past couple of seasons. It's also nice to see realtor extraordinaire, Fredrik Eklund from Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing: New York" show up to sell the apartment. In fact, Bethenny's scenes look like they were filmed for that show and then shoehorned into this premiere. So, long story short, after pressuring Fredrik into upping the price, Bethenny sells her apartment for $6.995 million, all cash in like a day. Ugh.
Bethenny's BFF, Carole Radziwill, is living with her boyfriend Adam, or shacking up or whatever. She tries to convince a visiting, Dorinda Medley, that it's not that serious, but Dorinda isn't convinced. Neither am I. I think they make an adorable couple especially as they continue to adopt or foster more pets. It was also great to see Dorinda and Carole rekindling their friendship after kind of growing apart last season. Dorinda and Carole share the loss of a husband and that bonds them more than anything that bonds the other women. It's a club with few members and I understand why you'd want to latch onto someone who shares that experience. I hope that Carole and Dorinda can keep it up.
Otherwise Carole is "down the rabbit hole" as Bethenny puts it. The election rabbit hole. It makes total sense for Carole to be so invested in this. As she says, she worked for ABC News for a number of years and I know people will give her shit for saying she's more informed than the average voter or Ramona, but isn't she? Carole is convinced Hillary is going to win in a landslide and every time she mentions it my stomach hurts. It's odd to see real-life intrude on what I use as an escape from said real-life, so I'm hoping the election hurries up and comes and goes so we can move away from it. It seems like Bethenny feels the same way.
The Lady Sonja Morgan spent her summer in France and now that her daughter is away at boarding school, she is starring in an Off-Broadway play called "Sex Tips for Straight Women From a Gay Man." Sonja is not surprised that she was asked to star in this because hello. She has a bawdy sense of humor. She is well-known for her caburlesque routines and for not wearing pants with Halloween costumes. Sonja is like the cringe comedy star of the Real Housewives franchise. I feel bad for laughing at her when she assumes the world is laughing with her. What else can you do when she is mocking jerking something off and disregarding the script entirely.
Then there is Bethenny's visit to the most infamous town home on the Upper East Side to pick up The Lady Morgan's donations to Bethenny's pet charity project, Dress for Success. What other reaction is there but laughter when you see what Sonja is donating? A jean pantsuit? Satin shorts? A sequined dress she wore when she was dating Albert of Monaco? What else can you do but laugh. And oh does Bethenny laugh. And laugh.
Someone who is not amused by Sonja's antics? Dorinda. It seems she is still upset that Sonja implied that Dorinda is a raging coke head at last year's reunion. According to Dorinda, Sonja has also been trashing her all around town but is pretty vague on the deets. A lot of it seems to stem from Dorinda not inviting Sonja to the worst Berkshires trip the region has ever seen. Or that Dorinda introduced Tom to Luann. It would be nice if these two kooky blondes could work it out, but Dorinda seems to be one to hold a grudge. Much like Sonja. Who knew?
Luann is still in her pre-wedding bliss bubble or delusion cloud depending on what side you fall on the should they/shouldn't they wedding debate. I'm firmly in the "should not" camp. Luann seems more happy to be living in Tom's admittedly amazing penthouse then to be actually getting married to the philandering douchebag. She claims the ladies general disdain for the marriage is why she has invited none of them aside from matchmaker Dorinda to the wedding, but I think Bethenny is correct when she claims that Tom's penis is the real reason none of the other ladies will be making the New Year's trek to Palm Beach. Luann is extra upset with Ramona Singer for continuing to butt her bug eyes into the Artist formerly known as The Countess' business. It seems Ramona is bound and determined to catch Tom's hand in the cookie jar and yes those are euphemisms for his penis and someone's vagina. She's even calling his ex-girlfriends to try and dig up dirt.
The ex-Mrs. Mario Singer is dealing with a different Mario, her contractor, as she re-models her apartment to reflect her new carefree single status. Ramona continually tells her contractor that Mario is her ex-husbands name making a mildly awkward situation supremely awkward. And to top it all off, she tries to get him to set her up with single friends he knows. Ramona continues to be the worst friend one can have when Dorinda shows up for lunch and finds Ramona not home, on a lunch date with someone else. Ramona obviously does not subscribe to bros before hos. Dorinda lets this slide, perhaps because Ramona is finally getting along with the sweatiest man in Housewives history, her boyfriend, John. Talk quickly turns to Luann and Tom. Ramona is upset that she was not invited to Luann's bridal shower. Only Ramona would talk shit all over town about a friends fiance and then be upset she wasn't invited to a celebration of the upcoming nuptials. Dorinda tries to explain this to the Singer Stinger but she is not having it. Ramona claims that Luann and Tom are in an open relationship and she heard from a friend of a friends mother that Tom hit on a 30-year-old. It's so confusing and I care so little about all of it.
So, Ramona and Luann's "tense" lunch didn't really do anything for me. Ramona acts like she has new dirt, but does she? There's more talk of the ex-girlfriend. Luann denies any open relationship rumors. Ramona basically calls Luann a fool, then they have a really fake toast to the upcoming marriage. Meh.
How did you guys feel about the premiere? Were you a tad disappointed? Do you think Lu and Tom's marriage will last? Does the election stuff bring up bad memories? Open fresh wounds? Are you excited to meet Tinsley Mortimer? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment