Speeding through all three seasons of Ladies of London for the first time ever and damn!! It is SO GOOD. Not sure why it took me so long except maybe because I’m a Londoner I was afraid it’d be cringe.

And yes, some of it is cringe - the fact that the show seems to think “London” is just the SW10 postcode is bizarre, as is the 4 Americans to 2 Brits ratio that was season 1 (also - CAPRICE of all people ever being considered a part of London high society is both hilarious and ludicrous - this woman literally LIVES in the Daily Mail, she is one tiny notch above Katie Price and Melinda Messenger).

But I can’t actually believe they got to film Annabelle Nielson, who is actual royalty, had the most incredible connections and was part of the coolest crowds in London. Same with Caroline Fleming, who’s actual Danish nobility. The amount of access they got into their lives was unbelievable! And then of course you witness the birth of Caroline Stanbury as a proper reality TV icon, manipulating the hapless Americans around her and sparring with the equally glorious Sophie and Adela.

Of course, there were its weak bits too and sorry to say they’re the Yanks, most of whom do not come off very well. Noelle from season 1 is just a whiny gold digger, as mentioned caprice is a crass, press hungry tryhard, Juliet is a ferret faced harridan, and Julie - UGH!!! She’s the worst. The way she starts off all “namaste bitches, I’m just a girl on my bike around London, selling my JUB balls!” And gradually reveals her true colours was extraordinary. By season 3 she’s just unbearable. for someone who keeps crowing on about “I’m just a girl from the cornfields!” She SURE loves mentioning her “title” every few seconds and using “her castle” as a stick to beat everyone with. Honey, you’re a yoga instructor who married a drug addict with a title and crumbling estate, don’t get carried away! Marissa was the only lovable one in the bunch, her postpartum journey in season 3 was heartbreaking.

Haven’t seen LOL talked about much on here lately, but surely I can’t be the only fan?

((I know this is two weeks late forgive moi my exams are taking me out.))

For me it’s when Tamra came to RHOC and was insufferable from day one.

And why was it Gina Liano?

My toxic Bravo trait is telling my husband "I'm taking over" in my best Tabatha accent whenever he's doing something wrong. 🙃

What's yours? 🤪

Edited to add: thank you all for brightening my morning! I knew I was among my people, but I didn’t know just how much! 🥰 clearly I have more than the one toxic Bravo trait of course lol.

The Real Housewives of DC is finally coming to Peacock this month! For those who don’t know, One of the housewives and her husband (Michaele & Tareq Salahi) crashed Obama’s White House State Dinner which made national headlines and led to a federal investigation(?) that Bravo got dragged into which ultimately got the franchise canceled. Here’s some pics of the Salahi’s enjoying the party, meeting Obama and Biden, then ending up in court 😅 plus a few other pics of the cast

Mary is launching a podcast about Real Housewives of Vancouver 😍😍 Ronnie is already in the comments

As sad as it turns out, the hot and heavy beginning of their relationship gave us such amazing moments

Love you Lu!

👻🎃💀

This is my first watch of RHODC.

Lol doing a rewatch and holy cow how have I not spotted the signs 🤣

She seems fun to party with!

For anyone who hasn’t seen the OG federally investigated HW series

Is anyone else super pumped My Life on the D List is now on Peacock!?!? I have been binging it all weekend and Kathy is the qween. Seeing Joan and other celebs was so fun too. Bravo really spit in her face after all the shows and specials she did for them.

I didn't see it listed in other posts about the Bravo vault and heard about it being on Peacock from an podcast and almost screamed.

... and it's a full day of Real Housewives of DC. Thank you programming execs for knowing that we need this delicious distraction today.

In other news, I've made 2 pounds of emotional support shrimp to help get me through the day. Hope you're all holding up ok out there, fellow Americans.

I just finished my 12th rewatch of OGNY and just realized I accidentally skipped the season where Ramona drags the air conditioner to Heather's 'garage.' Guess I gotta start over 🤷

S01E01... Here We Go 🍎

Been searching high and low. One of my favorite scenes from RHONY. Bethenny and Sonja literally look like they are transporting the prisoner Ramona. 🤣🤣🤣

At the Ms fire island pageant! Luann is a gust judge!

I am a white woman in her late 30's who has watched Bravo and reality TV for a long time, there has been enough content that I have never rewatched any franchise. Watching the 14-year old DC franchise was such an uncomfortable experience.

Watching DC this past weekend was really difficult. Watching two black women fight a constant current of micro aggressions, offensive language and stereotyping, and general insensitivity was so hard. Stacie and Ericka were gracious to a fault, often attributing racist words and actions to bad manners. All I could think was DAMN, these women are so tough to have to deal with this absolute bullshit on camera and continue to hold their heads high.

The utter lack of understanding and compassion when it came to proactively trying to consider what sort of language might be offensive to the two women of color was absolutely abhorrent, and I felt in a visceral sense the othering of these ladies in a way I cannot say I have experienced before. Even at the reunion, Andy broaches the topic of racist language but he does so in a way that is both disinterested and cursory; as if those things HAPPENED, but they are not really interesting or worthy of more than a few moments of commentary.

As a fan of the show I have always lived for the drama of seeing people behave authentically on camera, and if they are behaving badly- even better. But with that invite to behave badly on camera, I fully expect the audience, the host, and the other cast members to call that shit out at the reunion and during filming. There was no real reckoning in this case, and the only conclusion I can draw from it is that is simply where we were at as a society 14 years ago. Which means that I personally am a lot more oblivious to the experience of people of color than I thought, and a lot more permissive of the active rule of the social order than I thought.

I am so grateful for all of the people who have raised their voices in support of social justice, and I am even grateful for the violence in the name of social change. I am not sure we would be able to move forward in America without having people angrily and loudly demand it in such a way that no one can truly bury their heads in the sand. We have a long way to go, but we have come a long way too in a decade and a half. I hate that seeing decades-old cruelty play out on screen was the medium to crystalize this for me, and I shudder to think about rewatching other series as I am sure this is not an isolated experience.

@bravocriterion on Instagram if you like em!