Promises of Drama to Come-Watch What Happens

I don't know about anyone else, but what I enjoyed the most about last night's episode, was that Melissa and Kathy were not featured in it very much.
Of course there was that scene with Joe Gorga selling his parents out, (and yeah, Teresa lets him have it for that in her blog), but other than that most of the episode revolved around the intense conversation between Jaqueline and Teresa.
Speaking-of the Bravo blogs, both Teresa's and Jaq.'s make us want to "watch what happens", because they both promise drama in up-coming episodes.

"I snap a little bit in next week’s episode. I felt rejected by Teresa. I felt like she was being so fake. I'm not proud of my behavior, but you will witness the "angry and hurt" me. I would like to call next episode my a--hole episode. We ALL have one. Enjoy!"-Jacqueline's Bravo Blog

From Teresa we get:

"You’ll see in the next episode that Melissa makes a surprising confession, and my brother and I come to an unexpected agreement. Giant shocker and small miracles, all in one."-Teresa's Bravo Blog

And Caroline blogs about Lauren's lap-band surgery that took place after Season 3 was finished, last September. But she mentions a "melt-down" that occurs during a camping trip. Will we get to see that?

"We spent the summer trying to boost her spirits and get her on the right track, but nothing seemed to work. She hated everyone, everything, and most heartbreaking of all, herself. She was in the hospital twice for panic attacks, and twice for extreme blood pressure levels. Lauren had a complete meltdown while we were camping in California that scared the hell out of us. Al and I decided that we needed to take drastic measures and we suggested to Lauren that she get lap band surgery."-Caroline's blog

Teresa's eleven-page blog clears-up a lot, and lets people in on some inside secrets like the fact that the same day that Jaq. and Ashlee's dad did the scene for Bravo where they Skype about how "awful" Ashlee is, what a loser etc., and they decide that Ashlee does not have a home to go to, well, Teresa clarifys by informing us that that was the very day that Ashlee's dad was arrested for his little arson charge.(Ouch!).
I know that I promised a "Part 2", or a separate blog to examine the phenomenon that Teresa has become, and just why she is so well-liked, (and it is coming), and Teresa, in my opinion is risking alienating some of her fan base by trying to help the Bravo viewers understand what really goes-on. In my opinion, the more that Teresa detaches from The Real Housewives of New Jersey, the better for her. Her blog was long, but it really is a masterpiece worth reading. She even talks-about wanting to write a book about her bankruptcy when she is legally allowed to do so.
Jaq.s blog on the other hand, is a confusing mess, and all over the place. I didn't care-for her little theory about Teresa wanting to "profit from people's pity"when she said it in the episode, so seeing it again in her blog didn't make me like that idea any better. Why does she care about that anyways? Jaquileine is so pretty and she can be so silly when she lets herself, but she has chosen to be Caroline's bitch. I guess it makes sense, because if Jaq. ever faced facts about how negatively Caroline has affected Jaq.'s life, it could be too much for her in my opinion. And mostly I'm talking about how Caroline set Ashlee up to be the black sheep, because no one was supposed to outshine princess Lauren.
Caroline also asks in her blog that people stop hating so much on Twitter and social media. Sorry Caroline-but she can stay-off the www all she wants. The haters are going to keep on hating.That's what the internet is for isn't it? She puts herself and her family on television, and we get to talk about them online.If she doesn't like that, well she knows what to do.
There has been some chatter about Watch What Happens Live, with Teresa and Joe Giudice last night, and the after-show that is posted online. I thought that the most interesting thing was when Teresa confessed that she would, "Leave the country"-(quote Teresa), rather than go to jail, which is exactly what I always suspected that Teresa and Joe have as "Plan B'. 

Yes Hunny, it IS "The Teresa Show"! (Part One)

June 13, 2012- So I watched part 2 of, "My Big Gay New Jersey/Mid-West Wedding", and the most interesting thing for me about this episode has been Teresa's Bravo blog.
Yes, the Civil Union, or Domestic-Partnership ceremony was touching and sincere. And the wedding-vow scene was about the only part of the episode that seemed REAL to me. Maybe because I've been to a wedding in Illinois in June, and I have to wonder if no air-conditioning is part of the Mid-West tradition when it comes to weddings?
The perspiration on the groom(s?) was/were noticeable. Is surviving the wedding and reception and having a good time in sweltering heat part of a successful marriage-omen for Mid-Westerners?
I also noticed Joe Giudice's product placement scene in this episode.(When the camera zoomed-in so that we viewers could see the brand-name of some kind-of sex-juice that we could buy the next time we're in the grocery store) I wonder if Joe get's a cut of the ad-revenue there?
More Carolyn Manzo giving dirty-looks, and complaining in her talking-heads about Teresa......OK Caroline, we get it! Even Teresa finally get's it! (um-she did know that Teresa would SEE all of this on television-right?)
So what does Teresa do? Well, she is starting to respond/fight-back if you could call it that. Starting with her appearance on The View last week where she insisted on a solo interview-
And here is where I'll comment on Melissa's Bravo blog. Where Melissa goes on and on about how The Real Housewives of New Jersey is "NOT" "The Teresa Show". Sorry Melissa, The Real Housewives of New Jersey IS all about Teresa.
There really isn't much about any of the other cast-members that is compelling or interesting in my opinion, and when I took some time-out from my day last week to tune-in to The View, I caught one glimpse of Melissa and Kathy slinked-down on the couch and I turned-OFF the television and went back to my day.
Separating herself from the pack in such a clear way, only proved to me further that Teresa is the only thing that The Real Housewives of New Jersey has going.
The only time that the other cast-members are relevant at this point, is when they are talking about Teresa, and even that is starting to get old.
The thing about Teresa's Bravo blog that caught my attention, was of-course her going in-depth to explain how FAKE and PHONY her cast-mates were being about the magazine pictures and stories. I had posted a blog last week, explaining how that works, (how magazines will pay for photos but not interviews), but to see Teresa expose some inside industry info. to her viewers, and then to give the viewers a heads-up that there is more "bad-acting" from her cast-members in up-coming episodes, well, I'm starting to get the opinion that Teresa has literally lost-the-plot. Or maybe she was not given a script, or she was given a different script than the one that everybody else has?
This is where the enigma that is a secret, that is a mystery, that is the entertainment that we call reality television gets confusing. Scripted? Reality? Fake. Real??? And don't forget the EDITING!
(uh-oh, I better stop here before I get started on FRANKEN-BYTES! but that's a whole other blog post)
 I am a reluctant convert myself to "The Teresa Show". I was forced to re-examine my conclusions about her when she started gaining momentum. There was MORE to this Jersey Girl than we 1st thought-isn't there? She could have played in the mud with her co-stars, but she didn't. I had to agree with Melissa, who gave her Sister-in-law credit for having the guts to be seen in public after the embarrassment of The Giudice's financial problems and her husband's legal problems became known.
Even-if some of the Tweets, and blog-comments, and book-sales, are shills, or fake to make it appear like a public person has fans, there was no denying that Teresa Giudice had some REAL FANS. I made it my business to find-out WHY would anyone admire Teresa when she apparently lacked common sense in my opinion.
I don't know if I would ever call myself a "fan" of Teresa Giudice, but I started gaining respect for her when she pulled a classic, "ANNIE"-move, and stuck-out her chin, and kept-on going despite her haters and her problems. This blog-post is getting a little long, so I think that I'll break it up.
I have studied Teresa, and her success in depth, and I think that it has a lot to do with why The Real Housewives of New Jersey has become, "The Teresa Show". But I think I'll have to save that for another blog.

Season 4--Deja' View all over again and again

Do they really expect the hard-core viewers and fans of The Real Housewives of New Jersey to be interested in arguments over magazine articles that came-out last year? Now we're re-hashing "How did Teresa's relatives get on the show?", on The View, and then in the blogs..wait-a-minute! I thought we covered all that at the beginning of LAST season, (Season 3), when we were first introduced to the Gorga's and Walkilies?
Haven't most people who follow the series already made our minds up about how we feel about that? So what is the point? And the stories circulating that the Gorga's made a video promising to destroy Teresa? I can't be the only one who remembers hearing this before. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who recalls seeing this video or still-photos of the supposed audition-video online or somewhere, yet now the existence of this video is being questioned. And no I cannot find it anywhere although I have looked, but from what I remember I distinctly recall seeing at least a still photo of the Gorgas wearing camouflage-gear, dressed like Rambo with ammo and machine guns, illustrating a story about how "desperate"-Melissa and Joe Gorga acted very Jersey-tough and parodied The Sopranos, and asked to be put on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.Maybe it was a Halloween costume? I don't know, but the "audition-video"-story is making its way around again, and if there is a season 5, maybe we will "officially" hear that story again then, or maybe IF there is a season 4 reunion, Andy Cohen will ask Melissa if there was an audition tape?
The only difference that I can see is that Teresa is starting to throw some zingers of her own towards her cast-mates. And although I can't blame her, I think that a great deal of Teresa's appeal and popularity has been because she has not made herself dirty by playing in the mud with her "frienimies" and family.
What Teresa did say on The View, that could be considered new, was confirmation that until she is watching the show, she really did not know about all the dirty-looks, and nasty comments that her co-stars, mainly the Manzo family, were directing towards her. Teresa told us several times on The View that seeing and learning all of this now is "hurtful". (and by several times, I mean using that exact word "hurtful", which I found strange in her delivery. She used the word verbatim, almost like she was afraid to deviate from the exact words that she had been scripted/ or coached to say. How hard would it be to change-up the words so it wouldn't sound so stiff?). Personally, I thought that it would sound much more natural for Teresa to say, "My feelings have been really hurt.", instead-of, "It is hurtful." Here's a paraphrased transcript of Teresa's interview from The View:

Barbara- "Would you do another season?"
Teresa- "Its been hurtful, Barbara."
Barbara -"how does it make you feel seeing what they say behind your back?"
Teresa- "It has been...hurtful."
Barbara-"So, if they offered you a chance to come back next season, would you do it? You're planning on coming back-right, you won't turn-down an offer-would you?"
Teresa-"It has been very, uh, its been hurtful?"

Another thing that feels as recycled as an episode of House, is the winning Bravo formula of "mean girls", and picking-on the underdog. Everybody loves an underdog-right? It worked for Bethenny, why won't the same thing work for Alexis on The Real Housewives of OC, or Teresa in New Jersey? And in another of the higher-rated plots, it didn't work-out so well for Danielle, but the viewers did tune-in to watch, so it worked-out for Bravo.
Well-for one very important reason, reality is not drama. You can't have it both ways-either a show is scripted or it is NOT.  Using the scripted drama House, as an example of a show that had some success using a formula that everyone expected and enjoyed, (patient has strange illness, House almost kills them, investigate the patient's home, House takes some pills and saves the day...),  well, having some predictable familiar gimmicks is fun for a reality show, but in reality, people have a way of not doing what we expect them to do. They go "off-script"-or, improvise. Things happen that we couldn't even imagine. THAT is one of the reasons that people like to watch reality television.
And that's why when I watch an episode of House or Law & Order, I anticipate the expected formula, but I feel cheated when its served-up in my reality favorites. Because "reality" is life, and life does not play-out the way we expect it to-does it? 
Another thing that has been bothering me this season so far is the complaining about magazine "stories" being sold. I did a great deal of investigation into celebrity and gossip magazine stories when I was looking into the strange story about the little girl who's mother supposedly gave her botox©. It turned-out that the mother of the girl claimed that she had simply sold PHOTOS, and in reality those photos were allegedly posed to make it appear that the child was having her face injected. And the pictures were indeed sold for an admitted $15,000, (Good Morning America, a NEWS organization was involved in this alleged hoax. "We do NOT pay for interviews, but we DO pay to use photos"-was GMA's quote as well).link to botox hoax story
I know that has nothing to do with this,but what I learned in that instance was that publications, and even television networks, DO NOT ever like to admit for paying for stories or interviews. They WILL admit to paying for photos. So, all of this talk about Teresa "selling" her story, selling her apology...they ALL know that it doesn't work like that. Its the pictures that are being paid for. Sometimes the photos are brokered through an agent, and sometimes interviews and quotes are given, but basically, Teresa can honestly say that she has NOT been paid to "sell stories". (I'm sure that they ALL have been paid for their photos ;)). And if the people who choose the cover-photos want Teresa instead-of Caroline, THAT is who they are going to pay.
But we, the viewers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey haven't learned a thing about how that all works from watching the show, although I find it very interesting. Instead, we are being jerked back and forth between what happened, on screen and in real life/real-time last year, and Season 3/Season 4, (which we are seeing now. And they are blogging-about now, but which actually happened last year...and then just to make it MORE confusing, who knows WHAT they are Tweeting-about!). OH-and one other interesting current piece of information that was disclosed on The View, is that Teresa has not seen her relatives since the Season 3 Re Union, which was recorded last September.
-So it does at least make some sense, that Bravo had the foresight to get almost all of Season 4 done, before whatever it is that happens at the end-of Season 4 at the fashion show, and the Season 3 reunion, because Bravo must have had an inkling that they would not be able to be friendly after all of it.
I'm watching a repeat of Rosie and Kathy discussing Rosie's homosexuality right now and Kathy says to her sister Rosie, "When you came-out to me.", and it almost sounds unscripted, but not quite. Who uses such politically correct phrases with their own sister? Even-if it is a touchy subject, I'd have to imagine IF someone were to have a conversation like that in real life, that it would sound more like, "remember the first time that we talked about you being gay?", or is homosexuality such a tricky topic that sisters and close family members talk like that? (But friends and acquaintances and co-workers like Joe Giudice are graphic, insulting and crude?) .
Maybe the title of the episode should have been, "How to/How not-to talk to gay friends and relatives"? The entire topic just feels a little forced, and again-scripted. The sexy married-lady in the hot-tub party, just made me wonder if the Wakilie's didn't really know how to behave at a party, but that they've visited a few orgies with their hookah-pipe?

Are we Being Fed a Big Fat Load of Lauren Manzo?

Did You see what I did here? YES! Its Smelly Melly's fatsuit!

This season's storyline for Lauren Manzo has been about her alleged weight-problem. I say alleged for a reason. I had my suspicions, especially since except for a few strategic camera close-ups, which were obviously done to make Lauren look as large as possible, I cannot, or do not see an obese person when I see Lauren on The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Yet Caroline Manzo goes on and on about it like its the great tragedy of the century. (Meanwhile, Caroline's estranged sister Dina, devotes time to children who are ill with cancer. No one needs to tell me why those two don't get along). So I did a little online research on Ms. Lauren Manzo, and it was her OWN message to a fan's question on Twitter, that convinced me that Lauren's "fat"-"problem", is nothing more than a BRANDING/MARKETING opportunity. Apparently, word is out that Lauren has allegedly lost some weight and she has been sighted out and about looking gorgeous and thin. Here's a photo from Wetpaint.com (article on Lauren link here) that they say was posted on Caroline's Facebook page. Notice the high-angle the photo was taken-from? And is Lauren following Jill Zarin's advice to wear THREE GIRDLES??? here? I'd hate to see the red-marks when she peels them off!

 From WetPaint "Weight Loss Alert"-story.

But as I said earlier, it was Lauren's own Tweet, that outed the marketing and branding plan. In the Tweet, Lauren alludes-to a deal being made.Someone had asked Lauren how she managed to lose weight, and Lauren replied that she cannot say yet because of "contracts". So she's waiting to get a deal to sell her , (alleged, supposed...), "weight-loss"/diet story to the highest bidder? Here's a screen-shot of the Tweet:

I know that I titled this post with a question mark, but I'm just going to come out and say that I think that the whole "Lauren is overweight", is a fake, phony LIE! I have to give them credit because usually we criticize the media for using Photo-Shop© and other tricks and smoke & mirrors to deceive us into believing that people are thinner, and/or prettier than they really are. This would be the 1st time that I can think-of, where the media attempts to fool the public by having us believe that someone is heavier. OH wait a minute! I just remembered those AWFUL super-close-up cover photos that The National Enquirer used many years ago, when they were feuding with Liz Taylor. But that is the only example that I can think-of, maybe there are more?
(THIS HAS BEEN A SMOKE-FREE BLOG)