Thursday, October 27, 2011

Its a Joke-Right? Or Why Andy got The Bitch-Edit at the Re-Union

I don't know why Andy got the bitch-edit. At the end of part 2 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season III Re-Union, Andy did admit that he too had an issue with Teresa Giudice. The thing is that Andy chastised Teresa for something that she didn't do.
In case you missed that part, Andy went pretty hard on Teresa for Joe Giudice's never-ending use of the word, "faggot" while the camera's were rolling.
Andy made a point of highlighting the fact that the word has been used in instances of bullying, and worse, (hate-crimes, and violence), but as usual, Andy's personal offense was wrapped in an enigma of irony, sandwiched in hypocrisy, frosted with BLING.
Cohen's defense was no excuse for what viewers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey Re-Union Part 1, and 2, witnessed.  I really think they could have named this finale' The Bloodbath in Redbank.
Teresa made sure that her star would shine the brightest by wearing a giant BLING-badge on her dress. Maybe it was in her contract that she alone would have the biggest BLING-for-the bang, but it turned-out to be a booby-prize in my opinion.
When we were first introduced to Caroline Manzo's son Christopher in Season 1, he came attached to the "joke" that he aspired to running a car-wash that featured strippers.
In Season 2, we even got to see the hilarity come true. It was clearly the intent of Caroline, Christopher, and Bravo, that this stripper/car-wash idea was supposed to be a cute, funny, joke.
In Season 3, when Teresa mentions the gimmick in her cook-book, all of a sudden, the "joke"-is fighting words?
And speaking-of bitches, when did Caroline Manzo become the The Queen of Mean? The Re-Union editing in general was very "choppy" in my opinion, but they certainly didn't delete the eye-rolls, grimaces, sneering, evil-eyes, (or as they say, "ma-loinx" in Italian), and just-plain rotten-dirty-looks that Caroline directed towards Teresa.
Caroline's body-language was as over-the-top as a Gorga/Giudice Christening party, and it wasn't pretty.
Neither was what she said.
Caroline has said some pretty nasty things about her step-niece Ashley, Danielle's young daughter's, and even her own daughter, but she saved the worst for Teresa's daughter Gia.
In commenting on Gia's performance of a song that Teresa's daughter wrote and sang at her sister's birthday party, Caroline shouted at Teresa that it was "A DISGRACE!"
I went-back to watch the scene again on Bravo.com, and Bravo made a point to caption Caroline whispering to her husband Albert that Gia's song was "stupid". In other commentary of Gia's sad-song, Caroline refers to it as, "tragic".
The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 3 - Singing in the Pain, pt.5 - Video - Bravo TV Official Site
After Part 1 of the re-union, I noticed that some online commenters were wondering if Teresa had been sedated. I hadn't considered that myself, but at the conclusion of Part 2,  after the entire ambush ended and the worst they got-out of our body-slammin', table-throwing Teresa was "Go Scratch!", the tranquilizer idea made sense to me.
I was particularly offended by the criticism of Gia. How could Bravo have even allowed those remarks to stay, when as I mentioned above, the whole production was so heavily-edited?
For one thing, Gia's number was cute. And it was a perfect demonstration of what most normal 10 or 11 year-olds would come up with. It wasn't real entertaining, but it was what it was, and it was short, and very sweet.
Caroline had no right to make those pronouncements on that child. Gia's little a' Capella Birthday performance might not have been the kind-of thing that makes the charts, but we all can see that that little girl is one hard-working trouper when it comes to talent.
Caroline's scorn might be something that the grown-ups like Kim G., and Danielle, in  Jersey,Franklin Lakes, New have to learn how to avoid the hard-way, but we don't allow that old skool Spirit-crushing to go on here any more when it comes to children.
That's why your widdle Cwitofer was allowed to get-away with his, "cute joke" about the strippers and the the car-wash for too long honey.
Yet it was Caroline who's eyes almost popped-out in her overly-dramatic display-of frustration with what she wanted us to think was Teresa's lack-of-insight.
It was all just too much, and yes they got their ratings but at the expense of disgusting the viewers in a way that cannot be justified no-matter how many sock-puppet comments they pay to pollute the www with.
But it wasn't just Caroline who grind-ed her ax on Teresa, Andy made sure to mock, highlight, and dwell-on in a mean-girl-way every mis-pronunciation, and misunderstanding that Teresa made.
Teresa's confusion with the English language is part of what makes her unique and interesting. Somehow this season, her quirks were presented  as ignorance and a lack of intellect. Its never a fair-fight when you take-advantage of someone who is weaker-than you. Isn't that the definition of a bully?
The fact that Teresa grew-up in a home where English was not spoken, did not go un-noticed by the audience when we paused to wonder how Teresa changed from being charming into being "un ucated".
We may not all have an Italian heritage, but everyone who is not a Native American has ancestors who immigrated here at one time or another. Teresa's husband may be a serial-offender at using the word, "faggot", and I think that Andy may have got his message across to some die-hards, but I'm not aware-of when it became politically correct to insult immigrants either.
Or-for the host of a panel to join-in on a "slam-session" against an individual.
Melissa Gorga tried to get-away with sitting-pretty, but her contributions to Teresa's interrogation did not go un-noticed. Was it really necessary for Melissa to correct Teresa when Teresa was trying to make the point that she had scaled-back on over-spending? Of course it wasn't. And if Melissa had not piped-up and informed everyone that Gia did indeed have an I-phone, then Teresa would not have had to explain that yes, Gia does have the I-phone now, but she did not receive both that, and another very expensive gift at Christmas-time.
Melissa also demonstrated her acting-ability, which wasn't much better than Caroline's in my opinion, when she used the phrase, "Its all public-record?(isn't it)." to telegraph to the audience, "We all saw the public-records of the horrendous legal and financial problems that your family has."
Real subtle Mellisa-not.
Melissa even came with her own electronic shit-list of her complaints with Teresa, in case they ran-out of material. She did admit that she's a double-talker when she owned the remark, "at least we pay our bills", and confessed that what she really meant was that Teresa and Joe are deadbeats.
Kathy made-out "OK", but she didn't bother to try and defend Teresa, or if she did that was edited-out.
Speaking-of editing, for all that was shown on the Re-Union, the audience doesn't know what was left-out, or how "real" what we saw was. But we did see Teresa saying, "This is me, this is real."
What kind-of "real" mother would allow a blow-hard like Manzo, get-away with calling their child a "disgrace", on national television no less? Yet Teresa posted a message to Twitter that the only reason that she wasn't promoting the Re-Union along-with her cast-mates, was because she was busy working-on the set of Celebrity Apprentice. She also Tweeted that she did not have a chance to see the edited version of the Re-Union part 2, before it aired, but hey she was there.
Most-of Gia Giudice's 10 and 11 year-old peer-group are old enough to know better, to know that little Gia is not a "disgrace", as Bravo allowed Caroline to proclaim. But by not having a disclaimer to point-to Bravo has left Gia, (and other child reality cast-members) to her own devices when it comes-to explaining things to their friends.

We already know that Season 4 has mostly been recorded, and rumor is that Caroline drops-out somewhere during Season 4, we really don't know how much longer Caroline Manzo will be part of the cast.
Since Bravo took the unusual route of mixing-up the timeline by doing the Re-Union to Season 3 while Season 4 was being made, the audience lost the choice to speak-out on our casting wishes for Season 4.
The only choice that Bravo has left the viewers is to "Watch what happens", or not.
I'm leaning-towards "not" at this point.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Sickening Truth About Reality-Television and My Theory about the Dina Fued

On the Today Show, yesterday morning,(October 17), Giuliana Rancic had an announcement to make. When she revealed that she has breast cancer, reality-viewers were stunned because the Rancics have allowed the public to follow their quest to make a baby on their reality show on the Style network, Giuliana and Bill.
Just five days ago, US Weekly published an interview with Bill Rancic, that could not have possibly been true. (link to US Weekly October 15 interview) That interview was picked-up by Radar Online, and other major media-outlets, and quoted widely online. Here is a snip with some of the quotes:
"the E! Host and hubby Bill are in the midst of giving in vitro fertilization yet another try. We're not opposed to adoption, but at this point we're going down the IVF path," Bill, 40, told Us Weekly Thursday at the Nivea New Year's Eve preview in NYC. ...

But in the middle of their third IVF treatment, Giuliana, 37, and Bill are hopeful. "If [our doctor says] after this cycle, 'I don't think this is going to happen for you naturally. You're going to have to look at more options,' then we will," she told Us. "But if someone is telling you, 'I can get you pregnant,' then we're trying it."-(Bill Rancic to US Oct. 15)
Compare those words with what the same publication, US, said yesterday (link here):
"...Instead of a happy pregnancy announcement, Rancic, 37, told Ann Curry: "I have early stage breast cancer." The E! News host and Giuliana and Bill star made the frightening discovery back in August, as she was preparing for her third attempt to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization.
Rancic explained that her doctor sternly insisted that she get a mammogram before going through with the third IVF treatment. (The pregnancy hormones could "accelerate the cancer," Rancic recalled her doctor as saying.)
The star, who said she has no family history of breast cancer,..."-(Giuliana Rancic quoted by US October 17)

Am I heartless? Obviously, this couple deserves some privacy and their personal medical information is none of my, or the public's business-right? Not really. Not when you put yourself and your very personal medical problem in the spotlight of reality-television, and ask us to believe that what you are telling us is "real". Starting-with the premise that Rancic is dealing-with "infertility". At 37, her inability to become pregnant is not considered infertility, it is merely a fact-of-life, and quite normal for someone her age.

The pregnancy hormones could "accelerate the cancer," Rancic recalled her doctor as saying.-Pregnancy hormones? WHAT? 
Oh-I get it, since they added "recalled her doctor as saying", the accuracy of medical information "doesn't count"? I have never been treated for cancer myself, or fertility, and I certainly am not a doctor, but I can tell you that this information is incorrect and misleading. What she is calling, "pregnancy hormones", and implying that the hormones that her own body would produce in the event of a successful pregnancy, are really the fertility drugs, that she has already, obviously, taken too much-of.(link)
67 "Pregnancy Hormones" shots a month?!!


YES-it is sad, and it is her and her family's private sorrow, but when you share personal medical information with the public and call it, "reality"-you have an obligation to the public to GET IT RIGHT.

Rancic says that she wants to urge women to get mammograms. In her case, that may have saved her life at this point, but if she is claiming that she wants to better inform women in general, about the dangers of fertility-treatments and cancer, then in my opinion, she should be advising women who take ANY kind-of hormone, (be it fertility-related like egg-donors, infertility, birth-control, for menopausal-symptoms, menstrual-cycle symptom relief...), the thing that would prevent women from having to deal with the risk, is a simple test to find-out if it is safe for them to take hormones in the first place.
(link)Apparently, some women are genetically not able to metabolize some drugs, so those drugs become toxic in their bodies and can produce cancer. The link at http://ivfbreastcancer.com/, is an extensive resource created by a woman who is recovering from breast cancer and the treatment for breast cancer. The author also underwent IVF, and because she ultimately used a surrogate, and an egg-donor to produce her children, (causing those women to submit to an unnatural use of hormone treatments), in her quest to have a family, she unwittingly exposed herself and at least two other women to something that was more risky than it could have been. (if they had been tested before-hand, that risk would have been known and possibly mitigated, or avoided).
People who take certain statin-drugs for heart disease are now required to have such a test before beginning statin-therapy. The pharmaceutical industry will lose some customers and sales when this type-of genetic-testing is required for all prescriptions, but it will protect people from accidentally harming themselves with drugs.
I sincerely hope that Giuliana makes it through her cancer-treatment, and survives to tell the story. The true story. I honestly cannot hold Giuliana and Bill responsible themselves, for what I see as a tremendous violation of the public's right to receive accurate health information. It is just too-big, and too much of a responsibility to place on someone who's only, "crime", (yep-I put the quotes there to mean "not"), is to be a bit of a famewhore who wanted to have a baby or two. We are all responsible for our own health decisions when it comes down to it-but WHO is responsible, when not only are we not given the correct information, but we are given outright lies? There have obviously been lies told, and omissions of the truth, since at least August, when the couple heard the bad news. Was it because the news of Giulianna's diagnoses would have coincided, and disrupted the timeline of Giulianna and Bill , which was airing the IVF-treatment episodes at that time? We may never know the answer to that because no-matter what kind-of contract a person signs with reality-television, HIPPA-laws protect a person's medical privacy at any stage in the game, and even famewhore/reality characters have rights to their own private matters.
In situations like this, the viewers have no choice but to allow Giuliana to reclaim as-much of herself as she needs from the public stage of reality television.
Rancic has also announced that she intends to follow a pretty standard recommended treatment for her type of breast-cancer, which is what most people who want to save their lives would do. Chemo, and radiation, and although I personally hate cancer, and what chemo does to people, especially people who do the treatment and end-up dying from the chemotherapy treatment.......but unfortunately following the treatment that our doctors recommend, is usually the best option. Which brings me to The Real Housewives of New Jersey and the snake-oil that they have been hawking on Season 3. In interviews and elsewhere, they have propagated the myth that their drink was invented by sisters from Canada who cured their own mother of Breast Cancer.  Although I feel very sorry that Giulianna Rancic is looking-forward to really bad sickness caused by her treatment, at least she is not being mislead  to drink (read the reviews if you want to avoid this;))
BLK Water, at $55. a case instead-of taking what her doctors are offering. I was astounded to see what Jackie said about this product that she and her husband have invested-in on her Bravo-blog (link).
"Since the launch of BLK, we have received letter after letter about how it has helped many people with many different conditions, ailments, and diseases including people and children with AIDS, cancer, MS, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, autism, etc. It has often been said that it helps cure a hang over."-(Jaq.'s Blog)
I was shocked to see this in print on Bravo's website. I am not in favor of with-holding alternative medicine from anyone. But making a health-claim for ANY product, UNLESS it has been through the rigorous-testing  that is required for products that make health-claims, (essentially drugs and medicines), is dangerous and there may be some kind of loop-hole that allows them to get-away with it, but I don't think so. Maybe there are some good treatments for ailments and diseases that deserve to be made available, but there clearly has been NO MEDICAL RESEARCH AT ALL done on this product. Therefore-they simply cannot make ANY claims whatsoever. Furthermore, I don't even believe that she had received so many letters since the product was hardly available when she posted the blog.I have searched high and low for the name of one person, including the two women who appeared on The Real Housewives of New Jersey,(and I could NOT find their names anywhere) who are claiming to have "cured their mother's breast cancer" with this stuff-and there is not one single iota of research or evidence of the claims that the people who are selling it are making.
As a consumer, I was interested in the novelty idea and marketing of this product, and most importantly I wanted to be sure that consuming a little bit would be safe. I can see by the crazy, sneaky way that they are trying to promote this as some kind-of, "cure-all", that they are more interested in selling this to desperate sick people than as a fun beverage experience.
Maybe the whole Dina vs Caroline "feud", has  less to do with Teresa, than it does with Dina, not-wanting to be seen endorsing this product? Besides what Jackie has posted at Bravo.com, health claims have been made by Albie Manzo, among others involved, but Albie's comments are particularly grievous because he claims to have sent this concoction to a mother who wanted to give it to her child. Dina's work with Project Ladybug would make any association with this product an ethical dilemma at best.
Anyone who has been reading my Real Housewives blogs for awhile, knows that it particularly irks me to see certain issues portrayed, like Ramona's bizarre pregnancy-scare at age 53, and other inaccurate plot-devices disguised-as real-life events. I don't blame reality-television for Rancic's breast cancer, but I do blame reality television for what happens, (or doesn't happen), to viewers who mistakenly make their own health and life decisions, based-on what they think that they have learned by seeing other people's real-life experiences.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Project Ladybug Online Financals are Updated!

(see video at the end of this post for more)
This is the most recent report, copied from the State of NJ website. The report date is listed, "2009", but it was not posted until recently due to an extension being filed on Project Ladybug's part, and clerical issues with the State's website. *I may update this information later with comparison to the 2008 information that was posted online. And/or more details about what Project Ladybug has been up-to since they were previously mentioned. I don't know if this report covers ALL of the Ladybug branches. They have been very active in Chicago with fundraising, and in supporting the children and families at the Comer Children's Hospital, (part of The University of Chicago), who are dealing with childhood cancer.Project Ladybug in Chicago (link here) is not listed on the, "honor roll" of donors to UofC, but the hospital has not updated their list since before Ladybug really got started there. I was corresponding by email and telephone with the donation department because they did have a statement and phone number listed inviting people with questions to contact them, but after waiting months, (literally), the only info. that they would give me regarding any monetary figures was to call Project Ladybug and ask them.
I'm also posting a 3 min. YouTube video called, "How Atia's Project Ladybug Funds are Used" following the data. The video was posted this September, it describes some of the things that PL has done in Chicago at an acceptance speech for a fifty-thousand dollar (!) donation to the fund. The audio is a little tricky, but it is worth listening-to if you want to get an idea of how the funds are being used. Personally, I'm impressed by the diverse amount of worthwhile spending activities that they have done to help families and children so far.
PROJECT LADYBUG
705 EWING AVE, FRANKLIN LAKES NJ, 07417
Phone: 201-320-0132
Income
Expenses
Direct Public Contributions:$128,476.00
Program Expenses:$70,000.00
Indirect Public Contributions:0.00
Management Expenses:$10,025.00
Government Grants:0.00
Fund Raising:$47,917.00
Program Service Revenue:0.00
Payments to Affiliates:0.00
Other Support:0.00
Total Expenses:$127,942.00
Total Revenue:$128,476.00



Registration Number: CH3177400
Report in File: 12/31/09
Here is the glossary of terms used copied from the State of NJ website:

Glossary of Terms
  • Fund-Raising Expenses - The dollars that are spent raising money to enable the charity to continue to exist.
  • Management & General Expenses - The dollars that are spent running the organization such as salaries, office expenses, etc.
  • Net Assets - Sometimes called "net worth", net assets equal a charity's assets minus its liabilities.
  • Payments to Affiliates - The dollars that are spent by national charities to the local or state chapters; conversely, some local chapters pay dues to national offices.
  • Program Expenses - The dollars that are spent on the activities or programs for which the charity was founded.
  • Total Gross Revenue - The total of direct public contributions, indirect public contributions, government grants and any other support.
  • Total Expenses - The sum of the expenses categories . 

Monday, October 3, 2011

What's in a Name?

 "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
 By any other name would smell as sweet."
                         -Romeo and Juliet (II, ii,1-2 (link)

 Once again, drama with The Real Housewives of New Jersey has reached Shakespearean heights, so its time to pull-out the references.  We've been hearing a lot of sniping from the main-players, but lurking in the background, some familiar names keep popping-up like weeds.
I was hanging-out on Twitter recently, (@housewifehater), Tweeting, and reading Tweets, and I had an (other-oops!)occasion to be corrected. This time though, the kind correction was for an intentional mistake. Everybody knows that there's only ONE boutique in North Jersey named, POSCHE, (pronounced "posh") right? And we all know that POSCHE is mis-spelled pretentiously, maybe to try and give "Posh" some extra Panache? (or so I thought!)). Well I have a personal-policy about "made-up", or what I think are pretentious, spellings, I just won't be bothered.
But when Mr. Walter Newkirk, aka, "The Rutgers Boy", (on Twitter. Link here) , sent me a polite correction, I took notice. Being corrected by Walter Newkirk, is, as we sometimes say in New Jersey, is an honor and a privilege. Newkirk has ties to the legitimate origins of Reality TV, (through the documentary, "Grey Gardens", and the Mother of Reality TV herself, Pat Loud). He also had a professional relation with Kim G., for about five minutes, which is where I first learned-about Newkirk. Walter Newkirk's history, and the history of, (most-of ha ha), his clientele, was so fascinating to me that I blogged about him, (here).
So I had to wonder why the spelling of a silly name for a boutique, would matter to such a distinguished person? What was he trying to tell me? Persons like Newkirk are above public displays of grammar-naziism, so I knew that it wasn't a personal attack. It had to be a hint!
Its not like anyone would get confused about which POSH.........Oh my. Not only are there too many Joes, and too many Kims, it turns-out that there are, (at least) TWO boutiques. And not only that, they both have connections to The Real Housewives of New Jersey.  It also doesn't help that Kim Depaola, (Kim "D"), has two different Facebook pages, Here, and Here where the topics are mostly the same. And just like Teresa Giudice, (who is on Kim D's side-I think), has copy-cat sister-in-law, Melissa Giudice, it appears that Kim D has her very own "Bunny boiler" and imitator. Or maybe more than one?
The REAL POSCHE? Uh-Oh
That's right. There is another Posh. Only it's called, "Posh". The Montville Patch has a full write-up (linked), on the other Posh. The title and sub-title, give an idea of how closely-related BOTH Posh and Posche are linked with The Real Housewives of New Jersey.(copied)

Posh Boutique Owner Promotes Reality Stars

Jairo Arias works with cast members from 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey,' 'Jerseylicious' and 'Jersey Shore.'
Katie Marinello is a local Montville writer who keeps-up with many of the Bravolebrities in the area for her readers. Posh has a FaceBook page too. They recently changed their avatar to an invitation to a fashion-event, starring none-other than Melissa Gorga.
Google Map says that the stores are about 5.9 miles apart.
The "other" Posh in addition to heavily promoting Melissa on its FaceBook, has some familiar faces as models on its website http://www.poshboutiquenj.com/ (HeRE) including these Real Housewives of New Jersey:
There's more. Much more, including a recent, "mean Tweet" sent-out by Danielle Staub, calling for a boycott of Kim D's boutique. Danielle might have a problem if she plans on taking her business to the "other" Posh. That one's website specifically says that it caters to people in the age range of 18-40. Kim D is a professional businesswoman and she knows better than turn away customers. To add to the confusion, Kim D is currently promoting a different event, with Jaquilene Laurita's name included!
Kim D. has been taking a lot of heat lately for her latest fashion fight, I mean show, and her public support of Teresa Giudice. And lines are being drawn between glam-camps of Public Relation peeps, stylists, salons,Real  Housewives and their entourages. Will any of this rivalry appear in Season 4?
As I mentioned, there was quite a bit of "more" to this saga. Pasted below are a few more clips that I found while researching this, you can click to enlarge. I'll post them at the "end" of this post, but I have a feeling that Posh vs Posche, (and I really hoped that I spelled it right!), isn't over yet.
From Kim D's FaceBook(s) linked above      


From Danielle's Twitter-That wasn't very nice!


Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Real Housewives of New Jersey have Lost the Plot and Ruined the Re-Union


(Link to A Wrinkle in Time HeRE)

The viewers are currently seeing season 3 play-out. One more episode to go, and then the re-union.
But back in "real", "real-life", the cast and crew. have been busy taping Season 4.
The most recent trouble began when Season 3, ran right into Season 4.

A back-to-back taping schedule, where the notorious annual Poshe (yes-I spell it however I want, Kim did right?) fashion show, was taping scenes for Season 4, on Tuesday night, followed-by the re-union taping for season 3, the next day, before anyone had a chance to recover and dissect the events of the night before, caused EVERYTHING to explode online and on Twitter.

Although people have mostly been commenting and observing the events of Season 3,there have-been some details about Season 4 leaked, tweeted, and talked-about online.

  • One very strong rumor is that Caroline Manzo, quit, or was fired, somewhere in Season 4.
  • We also heard that Teresa and Melissa took a cross-country car trip with the cousins sometime this Summer.(Season 4)
  • And that a marriage-vow-renewal between Joe and Teresa took place somewhere on the East Coast (Season 4), while the rest of the cast was squirreled-away in secrecy in the Pacific-North-West (Season 4).
  • Ashley's Step-mom and her Dad were charged in Texas with insurance fraud and arson, (Season 4).
  • Ashley moved to LA, (Season 4).
Whatever happened at Poshe, (Season 4), was so traumatic, that it caused a shake-up, that caused Jacqueline to take to her Twitter to say that she had had enough. The current rumor is that Jaqueline refused to attend the re-union, (Season 3) taping- that will air in a couple weeks. We can be sure that the events of Season 4, were heavy on the minds of everyone during this Season 3 reunion. The standard Bravo "gag-order", that prevents the cast from revealing events before they are aired  stopped the cast from discussing what was really on their minds.

I seem to remember Jaqueline sending-out, "I quit" messages before, so the latest barrage doesn't do much for me, although I am interested in whether or not she appears on-the-couch, for the re-union. (season 3).

And isn't that the whole point of the re-union show? A chance to see the cast, in the, "here and now", to wrap-up all of those unanswered questions, and catch-up with what has happened to the cast since the taping of the current, (Season 3) taping? A "gag-order" pretty much ruins the reunion-doesn't it?

In retrospect, it has become obvious that taping Season 4, before the re-union for season 3 is taped, was a bad idea.

And now we all know what went-down at that fashion show, because Melissa Gorga finally fessed-up, and posted a statement on her web-page. Melissa was confronted while the cameras were rolling, with the fact that she once worked in what she calls a "bikini bar". She can call it whatever she likes, but the fact is that "Lookers", advertises lap-dances, (gross), and "private rooms available"-(double disgusting ick), on their FaceBook page.
Yet-a certain other person who would like to be called, a fixer-of-rumors, tried to spin the whole story as Teresa, hiring some random "male-stripper", (when it has been confirmed that it was Melissa's pimp, I mean co-worker), to make this whole story up. Nice try Lynn.
At this point, it looks-like Teresa and Joe Gorga haven't got a friend in the cast and they have all turned against them, including the family-members who were brought-on in Season 3.
Speaking-of online and people who comment online, at one point during the fracas on Twitter, Joe Gorga publicly accused an innocent Tweeter, of being on Teresa's payroll. That detail didn't escape me because it appears that "Team Gorga', has an army of "sock-puppets", (fake, or paid commenters who post propaganda online).
There is currently a push to blame Teresa for embarrassing Melissa with this information. Really? I wish that Bravo would come-clean on that for Teresa's sake.
Maybe the whole thing is fake? Maybe the drama is like wrestling, and Teresa, Joe, the children...are all characters like Hulk Hogan? Maybe they are all best-friends, or neutral in real, "real life"? That would be great if ALL of the "hate" was fake, or "scripted", but that wouldn't be fair to the viewers-would it?
Fake or real, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and the entire franchise, is in trouble. Who wants to watch a show where people hurt, or pretend-to hurt people, for the most stupid of reasons?
At this point, the only intriguing thing about the whole hot mess, is the license to snoop into the character's "real", "real lives", that we are given by Bravo's continued insistence that it is real.
I have an idea. Why not show us something real, or be honest and post that disclaimer that I keep nagging-for? And now that I'm making a wish-list, I wish that they would delete the whole bunch.
Maybe Bravo is one-step ahead of me here and they already have that planned? There has to be some reason for why they already have Season 4 almost finished. Is Bravo almost finished with these characters, like the New York City gals?
We know that Bravo has a "back-up" family just waiting to take their place, The Marinos of South Jersey. And even-though only the pilot episode of Thicker Than Water-The Marinos has been aired, they left viewers wanting more, and wanting to see what happens next.
The Marinos seemed pretty "real" to me, but that was only one episode. Yes, the therapy-scene had to be a set-up, but it was a funny/cute set-up. The sad evolution of Housewives, usually hit the cast-members in their second season. After they get a little taste of the fame and the money. (and I will excuse one Sonja Morgan here, but she did do a lot of nutty stuff for her Sophomore year)
Would I want to see the cast-members from The Marino family try to hurt each other just for drama and screen-time?-No. Would they fall-prey to plastic-surgery, and all that seems to go-along with wearing the false-eyelashes and being a Real Housewife?
I guess that time will tell? OH-and speaking-of The Marinos, I posted this the other day on Twitter, (You can follow me there @HousewifeHater if you want to see my updates and Real Housewife Trivia), I happened to notice that the very first episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey's title, as listed in Wikipedia is, "Thicker than Water"-the name of The Marino's show.-Co-incidence or not?