Bravo's Bethenny Frankel Sells Skinnygirl to Beam Global for $120 Million

I learned last night on Watch What Happens Live that Bethenny Frankel sold her Skinnygirl concoction to the Jim Beam distillery people.

At Andy's prodding, Bethenny said she was contractually forbidden to say how much she was paid for Skinnygirl.

Andy Cohen said the rumor was the amount was in the $120-150 million range.

Googling for info about Bethenny's Skinnygirl sale I found multiple articles about it, including mention made about the sale in Wikipedia's article about Bethenny Frankel.

From Wikipedia...

In April 2011, Frankel sold her Skinnygirl cocktail line to Fortune Brands' Beam Global for an estimated $120 million.

WWHL had a clip from this season's finale of Bethenny Ever After, in which Bethenny's husband, Jason Hoppy, informs a tearful Bethenny that she is now a very rich woman.

Take that Jill Zarin.

When The Real Housewives of New York City started up, several years ago, was the first time I met Bethenny Frankel. She was a perplexing housewife, due to not being married. When the series started Bethenny was a bit forlorn. Unhappy about her love life. Wondering if she'd ever get married and have kids. Worrying if she'd ever get past struggling to make a living.

We saw the progression of Bethenny's Skinnygirl empire, first with hit best sellers like Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, followed by The SkinnyGirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life followed by an exercise DVD called Body by Bethenny, followed by an audio book called The Skinnygirl Rules.

And while publishing a lot of material, Bethenny was working on and marketting her Skinnygirl line of ready-made cocktails, retailing for $14 to $15 a bottle, leading to sales over 100,000 cases a year.

It is rather impressive that in such a short time we have gotten to watch Bethenny pretty much get everything she wanted, career success, a husband and a baby. And millions of dollars.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta: NeNe Terrorizes Kim On Bus Tour From Hell

The 3rd Season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta started with NeNe screaming like a Mad Banshee at Dwight at a party. Totally inappropriate behavior.

We are nearing the end of Season 3 and on the latest episode of RHOA NeNe was back in full Moose on a Rampage mode.

Except for a few moments spent with Phaedra and a few moments spent with Cynthia and her supposed husband to be, Peter, mixed in with a little Sheree, most of this episode was spent on Kim and Kandi's Bus Tour.

Kim is getting on every one's nerves. The constant need to smoke, the constant screaming for Sweetie, just the constant Kim apparently is very nerve wearing.

And then for some unfathomable reason Kim invited NeNe to join the Bus Gang in Orlando, to watch Kim perform before a packed arena, I mean strip mall bar, and then ride with the gang to Miami.

Kandi knew it was not going to go well having NeNe on board. Particularly after Sweetie managed to connect a laptop to NeNe's little "news" segment where NeNe used Kim to get her interviewee to open up by asking if Kim, at 32, was too old to be a pop star. And what the interviewee thought of Kim's Tardy for the Party song.

Kim took umbrage at NeNe mentioning her in this manner in her interview. But, the initial appearance of NeNe went fairly well in Orlando. NeNe went to the show. Made snide remarks to the camera. Was fairly civil to Kim. And drank a lot of wine.

After getting drunk, that night, NeNe made some disparaging remarks directed towards Kim, but Kim did not take umbrage. Directly.

And then, the next morning, back on the bus, on the way to Miami. I don't know what set if off, but soon NeNe was spewing all sorts of mean vitriol at Kim, belittling Kim's easily belittled "singing career." Among other things. NeNe even spouted out that Kim treated Sweetie like a slave. Sweetie took umbrage at that remark.

Kim snapped back a few times, which only made NeNe louder and more aggressive. Mostly Kim was in a defensive posture with a look of terror on her face, like you see in the above screenshot.

Finally NeNe went totally ballistic and lunged at Kim, which caused Kandi and the manager, I think his name is Don Juan, to restrain NeNe.

Kandi's sorta of bemused disgust at it all is sort of amusing to watch.

Another thing I learned on the bus is us White Folk often go about barefoot. This apparently is a well known fact. Which I type, as I sit here barefooted.

I don't remember any Phaedra gems of wisdom this episode. I do remember Phaedra's baby throwing up on Sheree. I think the baby watches the show.

And then there is Peter. Run Cynthia. Run fast. Don't marry this jerk. You invest a fortune in his restaurant. It starts to fail. He closes it without telling you. And then, when you are justifiably a bit upset at your misfortune, Peter tells you he no longer will tell you anything, because you get upset. Did I already say this guy is a jerk?

I don't get how a nice gal like Cynthia hooked up with that fuzzy gray bearded geezer.

NeNe was on the episode of Watch What Happens Live that followed the latest episode of RHOA. The woman has no self awareness. Seems not in the slightest embarrassed. And continues to demonize that easy target of Kim. Apparently the reunion show was filmed last week, where Kim and NeNe went at it some more and was the first they'd seen each other since the Battle on the Bus and the follow up Battle in Miami, which we saw a glimpse of in the previews for next week.

Is next week the last episode of the season? I don't know, for sure, but I am guessing it is, because The Real Housewives of New York City starts up real soon, with Sonja Morgan now bankrupt and morphed into being a thug in a cocktail dress.

And no Bethenny Frankel. And they have kept the obviously mentally ill Kelly Bensimon as one of the housewives. Who isn't married.

Skating With The Stars: I Know Who 66% of Them Are Including Bethenny Frankel, Jonny Moseley and Sean Young

Last night on the Dancing with the Stars Results Show which saw Maks & Brandy sent home by Mark & Bristol, there was an ad for an upcoming new ABC show, Skating with the Stars.

I somehow do not think ABC is going to have the same success this skating show as they have with their dancing show.

However, I actually recognized a higher percentage of the skater's names than I did the dancer's names when the most recent list of Dancing with the Stars dancer's names was released.

I know Jonny Moseley is an Olympic skier. And that Sean Young is an actress who has, at times, fallen on hard times. And Vince Neil is a rocker who also has fallen on hard times and has shown up on at least one other Reality TV show that I have watched. Was it Celebrity Fit Club or The Surreal Life? Or both?

And then there is the skater whom the ad promo described as a Reality TV Show Superstar. I can not argue with that description. Because of the little group of 6 skaters, Bethenny Frankel is the one who I feel like I know the best. As in know real well, due to her star turns on The Real Housewives of New York City and her spin-off show, also on Bravo, Bethenny's Getting Married?

I believe we have seen Bethenny ice skate on RHONYC. Or am I confusing Bethenny her extremely annoying ex-friend, Jill Zarin? Will Bethenny's amusing brand of sarcastic wit be able to shine through the ice on this show?

The other two skaters, whom I'd never heard of are yet one more Disney Channel star, a guy named Brandon Mychal Smith, who plays Nico Harris on a sitcom called Sonny With A Chance. And Rebecca Budig, who is on ABC's All My Children, playing a character named Greenlee Smythe.

How long can this show run with only 6 skaters? I don't know if I will be interested enough to watch beyond the premiere, which happens Monday, November 22, 9/8C on ABC.

Bethenny Getting Married? With Bethenny's St. Barts Boob Baring

Last week we saw Bethenny Frankel marry Jason Hoppy on Bethenny's Getting Married? making Bethenny Mrs. Hoppy and the title of her show no longer making sense.

This week we saw Bethenny and Jason on their honeymoon on St. Barts.

I've heard the term "St. Barts" over and over again, not knowing much about it except for knowing it was somewhere in the Caribbean.

So, I had to look it up. Named after a French guy named Saint Bartholomew, the French usually shorten the name of the islands to Saint-Barth, while the Americans call it St. Barts. St. Barts is one of 4 territories in the Leeward Islands in the northeastern part of the Caribbean Sea that make up the French West Indies along with Saint Martin, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Apparently it is a popular playground for rich people. Which explains why I was unfamiliar with it.

Now, back to the show.

So, Bethenny and Jason arrive in St. Barts. A French lady leads them to their ultra-deluxe accommodations, complete with private pool and an in-house iguana.

Jason is quite thrilled at how private their place is, including the pool. Now, I'm thinking to myself, is there not a camera aimed at you?

Then Jason can't wait to go swimming. Jumps in the private pool. Bethenny soon follows. But not before she takes off her top to jump in the pool topless.

Now, Bravo politely slightly fuzzied Bethenny's boobies. Why? I do not know. To me that bit of censorship just makes the boobies look weird, you can still tell you are looking at naked boobies.

So, Bethenny jumps in the pool. Jason takes off his swimming suit, then Bethenny loses her bottom. Jason them remarks again about how private the place is, that it is so private they can make love in the pool.

Again, I'm thinking, is there not a camera aimed at them? Or two?

After an indeterminate amount of time was spent romping in the pool the pair gets out, naked, but we don't really see that. But, I'm sure the cameraman/men/woman/women/persons did.

So, with Jason we have gone from first meeting him when he was a bit offput at Bethenny baring it all for PETA to now Jason has become quite the free-spirited boy.

After the skinny-dipping they went to a beach. Jason windsurfed while Bethenny had an emotional crisis. Jason handled that well. Then it was off to a food foraging expedition. Then dinner, alone, out on an island in a pool. Seems like we'd just arrived at St. Barts and they were already talking about this being the end of their honeymoon, time to go back to the New York City rat race and we were only half way through the episode.

Well, I was a bit bored, so I decided I'd watch the second half later, if I remember.

Oh, I forgot to mention the reality TV first on this episode. We had drama over random iguana feces appearing on the floor of their luxury accommodations. Then there was a lot of hunting for the rogue iguana invader. And a lot of yelling at Jason over his iguana feces disposal method.

Did their deluxe luxury accommodations not come with a toilet, I could not help but wonder?

Bethenny Got Married After Peeing in a Bucket With Jill Zarin Going Crazier

That is Bethenny Frankel in her wedding dress, with one person helping her get off her underwear and her wedding planner, Buster Bluth, helping hold up the dress so that Bethenny could urinate in a bucket.

It was only minutes to go before her wedding. No modern facilities were available, hence the bucket.

After an awful lot of fussing by perfectionist Bethenny, in the end, the wedding planner did his job well and to Bethenny's grateful satisfaction. Actually doing anything to make the wedding come off, including helping facilitate the makeshift restroom.

And coming through with the Red Velvet cake, which was the thing that seemed to be worrying Bethenny the most.

I can't remember the actual name of the Buster Bluth lookalike. I'm thinking he is funny enough to have his own Bravo show.

I am not a big fan of watching a wedding, either in person or on TV. But, Bethenny's wedding was funny and touching.

Of Bethenny's fellow Real New York Housewives, only Ramona and Alex and their husbands were at the wedding. When the cake got cut Simon shouted out something that I didn't understand. Bethenny said he was wasted.

The new Mrs. Jason Hoppy was worried that some of Jason's fratboy friends might act up. She strictly forbade anyone getting in the pool. Of course, a couple boys did. Bethenny pretended to be upset, but said she was not in reality, saying something like how can she get uppity about boys in the pool when just minutes ago she'd been peeing in a bucket.

Gossip in the Internet forums has Jill Zarin spiraling deeper into madness, distraught over the mess she has made of her reputation, jealous of Bethenny's continued success, including the highest rated Bravo premiere ever.

Supposedly Jill is so unsettled that her inept advice book, Secrets of a Jewish Mother, is not selling, that she had husband Bobby buy a huge number of the books from Amazon, shipped to Zarin Fabrics, where Jill then tries to re-sell them as autographed copies.

With no one buying them.

Rumor has Jill then buying her own books, autographing them and mailing them. To whom? It's all become very Norma Desmondesque.

Has Jill caused Zarin Fabrics to hit the skids? The Zarin's sold their Hamptons house and their apartment is for sale. One rumor has them living in the attic above their store.

I wonder if there is any advice in Jill's book about how to say I'm sorry? And mean it.

The Real Housewives of New York City: The Kelly Bensimon Problem & Jill Zarin's Continuing Madness

The just completed 3rd season of The Real Housewives of New York City is a gift that just keeps giving. Kelly Bensimon continues to cluelessly cement her crazy girl reputation in a variety of ways. With one being Kelly's Twitter Tweets. Or, what she calls "sound bites."

On the 3rd hour of the reunion Kelly's tweets came up, to which Jill reacted with an "oh no, not Kelly's tweets." Andy Cohen inquired as to the why of Jill's "oh no." To which Jill replied something like "Kelly's tweets make no sense, I can't understand them."

In the past week Kelly twittered a series of tweets that when compiled together in a sort of paragraph seem to be saying she is working with Bravo to find new housewives.

This is what Kelly said....

"I am def coming back if they change the cast. Dynasty with no money or power is over ah? No. Its called bored with filming with fake "reality stars," ahh hello. Are we not watching the same show! I am helping them find real Yorkers who inspire, not made for tv "faux celebs." Whats wrong with life being rainbows and jellybeans? thats the best kind of life to live. We cant all be bitter and materialistic."

Regarding Bravo and who will be a New York City Housewife one viewer opined with the following...

"Well, it's gonna be interesting to see how the negotiations go and who returns. I suspect they will all be asked back except for maybe Kelly. I'm not sure bravo wants that liability on their hands, but than again I'm sure they will weigh the negative against the possible ratings bonanza and decide. It seems to me that if it was as bad in St. John as they say, and bravo chose not to air a lot of the footage, they must know they've got a problem they may not be able to handle and will choose to cut Kelly loose.

I'm kind of on the fence about Luann. I'm not sure she brings a lot to the table, but they may keep her so Jill will have a sidekick since Jen didn't seem to work out. But, who knows, Bravo might give Jen another shot. I think they may be trying to figure out who to keep, Jen or Luann.

Jill will definitely be back. I think she'd do it for free if they asked her. She's on a mission to rehabilitate herself and win back her once adoring fans. They know Jill is ratings gold.

I think Alex has secured her spot and they know Jill and Alex on the same show will be what everybody wants to see.

Sonja has become very popular in a short period of time. She's a shoe in.

I think Bethenny has an open spot if she decides to return. I'm sure bravo is trying to shore up some kind of deal with her as well.

I left out Ramona. Of course she'll be back, that's a given."

Now, I agree with the above viewer about Kelly Bensimon. And, near as I can tell, most viewers agree. It was entertaining watching a person gradually make obvious that they are mentally ill or suffer from some serious psychological disorder. But, after this turned, well, borderline tragic, in St. John, well, at that point it turned into uncomfortable viewing.

With the uncomfortable viewing continuing through the reunion shows.

I don't see how Bravo can continue to film Kelly Bensimon, unless it is in a new show where we see her getting therapy from Dr. Phil or Dr. Drew. Or some other doctor. It is not an option to continue to film and display Kelly's serious disconnect from reality. Which really is ironic, it being a reality show, afterall.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Change of subject to Jill. This is another housewife in dire need of therapy. Perhaps Jill should also be removed from RHONY. Maybe Jill and Kelly could do a show together. Jill & Kelly Get Help! That'd be a catchy title.

Jill Zarin is currently in full pit bull attack mode against sweet, totally non-toxic Alex McCord. Remember when Jill had her lunch with Bethenny and told Bethenny that Alex was toxic, and that Bethenny had not seen the toxic side of Alex.

Remember that all Alex really did was shove some reality in Jill's homely mug, telling Jill that she was in high school and a mean girl.

So, what does Jill, who wakes up each day trying to be a better person, do? Jill now directs her mean girl, high school act directly at Alex. Once more Jill is totally miscalculating and is only digging herself deeper into the Reality TV Star Hall of Infamous Villains.

One viewer characterized the Jill problem rather succinctly...

"Nothing can be Jill's fault. She can't attack Bethenny, since that didn't work for her.

Alex and Bethenny hang out. Alex was welcome at the hospital after the birth. Alex gave Bethenny a baby shower. Alex is on Bethenny's show. Alex attended Bethenny's wedding. Alex is getting air time. Alex, Ramona, and Bethenny continue to call each other and hang out together.

Jill is jealous and furious that she isn't getting the Bethenny-glow fall out and extra TV time, and that Alex is.

Also? Alex stood up to her, called her a mean girl in high school, and told her to shut up, she was speaking.

As usual, Jill's evil plans are backfiring, because her feud with Alex is making Alex MORE valuable to Bravo.

I think Jill's a hater. She has to have someone to blame for whatever isn't her way or anything else under the sun.

Jill's probably done it her whole life. She probably learned it from her mother, Gloria. Jill never stopped hating - she just transferred the hate from Bethenny to Alex.

I think Jill thrives on negative energy, instead of positive energy. Many people do. She should see a doctor and take Kelly with her."

Okay, that's all for now about Kelly Bensimon and Jill Zarin and their depraved, demented, disgusting dealings.

Bethenny Getting Married? Buster Bluth Wedding Planner

I am not 2 episodes in to Bethenny Getting Married? and I am surprised I am finding it way more entertaining and amusing than I thought I likely would.

I thought that maybe too much Bethenny might be, well, too much.

Instead, it seems Bethenny manages to remain amusing and interesting for an entire hour.

Somewhere I read someone opine that Bethenny is sort of a young, female Woody Allen. That sounds right to me.

Bethenny has a lot of neurotic issues, handled with Woody Allenish humor. And by visiting a therapist.

I like how Bethenny and husband to be, Jason, get along. Or don't get along. They have their conflicts, but they handle them well. Sort of not in a Jill Zarin conflict type mode, or a Crazy Kelly Bensimon insane conflict type mode. Instead, Bethenny and Jason reasonably talk out their conflicts.

Jason is a people person, he wants a lot of friends and family at his wedding. Bethenny has no family. I think she'd prefer to elope.

Bethenny reluctantly agrees to a housewarming party, because it's important to Jason. But, Jason gets snowbound and can't make it back to New York City, leaving Bethenny to do the dreaded entertaining alone.

The guests arrive, including Simon and Alex from RHONY. Bethenny makes a couple of slightly snarky comments about Simon and Alex, that she likely later regretted. Alex told Bethenny she wants to give her a shower of some sort, bridal, baby, or both.

I forget when we met the Wedding Planner, Buster Bluth from Arrested Development. He seemed competent at first.

But, by episode 2 Buster can't seem to remember that Bethenny has no family, and wants to have her wedding at the 4 Seasons, or some similar place in downtown New York, not out in the boonies in an empty warehouse.

In the first episode Bethenny hired an assistant, a young male named Max. Jason was not happily onboard with Bethenny having a young, straight, male assistant, due, supposedly, to Bethenny's tendency to wander around in states of undress.

But, Jason soon came to accept Max. In the 2nd episode we saw Max learning to be an assistant. At one point, during wedding planning, the subject of the wedding dance came up. Max asked Bethenny if her generation grinds. I don't think Bethenny was sure what this meant, nor did I, with both of us feeling the generation gap.

At another point Max and Bethenny are at a book signing cocktail type party, somewhere in New Jersey, I think. Max did not do his assisting job too well, failing to summon the driver, making Bethenny stand outside in a mingling type situation she prefers to avoid. However, it was amusing. Which is what truly mattters.

As for Max. He seems to be a nice guy. But he is so tiny. Bethenny seems to tower over him. And I know Bethenny is not a very tall girl.

Buster the Wedding Planner is already worried about Bethenny doing ball damage to him. With good reason. How can this guy be successful at this wedding planning thing? I think he's simply comic fodder.

I forgot to mention, while Jason was snowbound, his mom and dad showed up to stay with Bethenny. Ma Hoppy is real happy to finally have a daughter. Pa Hoppy seems like a real nice guy. Ma Hoppy was really happy to go with Bethenny on the wedding dress shopping ordeal. And, I think Bethenny is being real happy to be part of a happy Hoppy family for the first time in her life.

Bethenny Getting Married? was the top-rated premiere in Bravo history. Helped, I'm sure, by following Part 3 of the highly watched Real Housewives of New York City Reunion. But, I suspect Bethenny Getting Married? will continue to have a lot of viewers.

I think I'll keep watching to see what happens.

The Real Housewives of New York City Reunion Part 3: More Crazy Kelly, Bethenny Hugs Jill

Part 3 of The Real Housewives of New York City Reunion Show was almost a Part too many. It seemed like more of the same. Two hours of it were great. The third hour, not so much.

Listening to Kelly's incoherent babble is frustrating after awhile. It makes me want it to be a courtroom where the judge orders her to answer the question.

At the end of Part 2 Kelly stormed off the set. At the start of Part 3 the girls talk about how demented Kelly is and how hopeless it is to try and make sense of the Kelly mess.

And then Kelly returns as if nothing really happened. And then more Kooky Kelly talk starts up.

And Andy Cohen lends way too much credence to Kelly's inane insane mind ramblings, as if he is trying to re-interpret her convoluted, contradictory gibberish into something that makes sense.

If only Andy Cohen had gone after Kelly's weirdness with the intensity he went after Countess LuAnn regarding her ex-husband, the Count's, possible anti-semite attitudes.

Sonja put on display, again, why viewers have readily adopted her as a favorite. Sonja is a well-spoken, self-deprecating, self-aware, intelligent, funny voice of reason. Sort of the total opposite of Kelly.

In the last segment Andy asked each of the housewives if they'd return for another season. Alex and Sonja were enthusiastic. LuAnn sort of enthusiastic, as was Ramona. Kelly, as usual, made no sense, but she'd love to come back. And Bethenny and Jill have doubts about returning.

And then, the predictable end. After a couple tearful exchanges, Jill asked Bethenny if she could give her a hug. Bethenny nodded her assent. Jill then clumsily wobbled over to Bethenny on those ridiculous neon green high heel hooker shoes that have become a real eyesore after 3 hours.

And then Andy wrapped it up, saying it was ending happy, just like it liked to end things.

It did not seem all that happy to me. A happy ending would have been Kelly being physically removed, wrapped in a straight jacket.

Bethenny Getting Married? Again?

Tonight, after the Real Housewives of New York City Reunion Show airs its fireworks, Bethenny Frankel's new solo show Bethenny Getting Married? airs its first episode.

This morning I was surprised to learn that Bethenny Getting Married? should be more properly titled Bethenny Getting Married Again?

That's right, Bethenny has been previously married. The previous engagements we knew about, but not mention had been made on RHONY of a previous marriage.

It was way back in 1996 that Bethenny married a guy named Peter Sussman. That's the husband that pre-dated new husband, Jason Hoppy, in the picture, next to Bethenny.

Bethenny and Peter had been best friends for 5 years before becoming husband and wife. Peter persistently tried to be more than friends with Bethenny, which led to the pair dating for 2 years before Bethenny agreed to become Mrs. Sussman.

Apparently getting married, the first time, made Bethenny feel real secure, but, according to Bethenny, the marriage was totally lacking in passion. Bethenny is quoted as saying "You can't go to bed with a piece of 8 by 10 paper."

Regarding being married to Peter, Bethenny said, "I felt like, 'This is really it? This is the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with?'"

And so Bethenny's first marriage came to an end after 8 months.

Let's hope Bethenny's latest marriage lasts a lifetime.

Jill Zarin & Her Equally Disturbing Mother Gloria Kamen

That is Jill Zarin on the left and her mother, Gloria Kamen, next to her.

This is a very flattering picture. It appears to me, when you see Gloria in all her glory on the TV screen, that she was enamored of the work of Leona Helmsley's plastic surgeon and so engaged his services. To equally disturbing results.

Most viewers of The Real Housewives of New York City have been appalled and disgusted by the over the top mean girl behavior of Jill Zarin, who's sense of entitlement is so out of bounds with reality that in many ways she is more of a mentally ill train wreck than that sad case of paranoid hysteria known as Kelly Bensimon.

Jill Zarin managed a reality TV show wonder this season, going from being a fan favorite to being one of the all time despised villains.

Jill's mother also saw her previous positive image reversed, as we saw Jill's real mom, Gloria, for the first time, as the overbearing, mean-spirited, bitter shrew of an old lady, that she actually is.

The idea that Jill, Gloria and sister Lisa thought they had the credentials to write a book of advice is real revealing. It's like Elizabeth Taylor writing a book about how to have a long term marriage. Or Hillary Clinton writing a book about how to keep your husband faithful. Or Rush Limbaugh writing a book about how to be reasonable and fair-minded.

Well, you get the drift.

Jill is so obviously damaged by that a shrew of a mother who raised her. Jill is still seeking Gloria's approval. Like arranging that pathetic glamorous book cover photo shoot, hoping to make mommy happy, instead Gloria complained that "Mother is not HAPPY," and "That fan is making my breasts cold."

I assume, by fan, Gloria meant a device blowing wind and not one of her legion of viewer critics.

It seems clear that the "fan" attention that Jill got from the first 2 seasons of RHONY totally warped her. She convinced herself she was the star of the show. This set her up to be really upset when it became clear who the real star was. As in, Bethenny Frankel.

And then for Jill to see herself greatly eclipsed by Alex and Ramona and Sonja, now all fan favorites, while Jill has been stuck in the TV Doghouse, well, it's quite an appropriate comeuppance.

Jill Zarin has so many firestorm disasters she tries to put out. Her book got slammed on Amazon with bad reviews. So, Jill logged in as Sharon Saunders and wrote a fake positive review. It was quickly obvious due to various identifiers that Sharon was Jill. This brought much followup humiliation.

A non-Jill fan in Chicago, Lynn, has an anti-Jill website where she recently encouraged her readers to flood Jill with snail mail letting Jill know what they think of her. Jill countered by claiming she'd involved the police and post office inspectors to stop this assault.

Jill's Facebook and Twitter pages are flooded with fans giving her the bad girl bitch slapping she so richly deserves. Jill. or a rumored paid lackey, delete the comments as quickly as they can.

I have read various analyses of the bizarre Jill behavior we have witnessed. Some simply say she is a classic case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Maybe so.

I think that Alex and others got it right. Jill did not have a good time in high school. She was not one of the popular girls, due to both her mean-spirit selfishness and being a rather homely little plump girl. Jill learned to make mean girl snarky comments to overcompensate for her raging insecurity.

And then Jill becomes a Real New York City Housewife. For the first time ever she is one of the "popular" girls. Or so she thinks. But then Jill sees the real "popular" RHONY girls get that special treatment she has always been denied, Jill flips, and the totally mean, totally wrong, totally pathetic high school version of Jill comes to the foreground.

And that is the Jill Zarin we saw this season. The real Jill.

I really don't think Jill Zarin can recover. I'm thinking it'd likely be best for her to retire from the show, concentrate on Zarin Fabrics and greatly limit contact with her extremely toxic mother, Gloria Kamen.

And say I'm sorry to Bethenny Frankel and Alex McCord every opportunity she gets. Til she learns to mean it.

The Real Housewives of New York City's Kelly Bensimon's Insane Craziness

I have not watched, yet, the latest episode of The Real Housewives of New York City. I did see, this morning, that people were Googling various variations of "Kelly Bensimon Insane."

Up til last week's episode I'd been sort of slightly liking Kelly, this season. She seemed to be somewhat redeeming herself from last season's bizarre senseless confrontations with fan favorite, Bethenny Frankel.

And then we get last week's episode, aboard a yacht named Olga, where Kelly reverted to crazy, even crazier than any of the crazy Kelly behavior we'd seen before.

It started when Kelly tried to shut the other women down when the subject of the other mentally ill housewife, Jill Zarin, came up. Kelly said they were making lemonade out of lemons, and, with that bit of nonsense, Kelly got up and crashed into a glass door, spewing more nonsense on her way.

A short time later Kelly returns, references her timeout, seems to be acting normal. Now, me sitting there watching, thought to myself, what did she do? Leave the ladies so that she could take some medication because she had detected she'd slipped into a psychotic episode?

Later, after it appeared too much alcohol had been consumed, Kelly, stone cold sober Bethenny and my new favorite housewife, Sonja Morgan, sat talking. Ramona and Alex had escaped to the Hooters Yacht. Bethenny and Sonja were having a perfectly normal conversation when suddenly Kelly turned in to a Psycho Bitch again.

Kelly heaped all sorts of mean things on newly pregnant, newly fatherless, Bethenny, topping it off with the extremely strange assertion that Bethenny is a cook, not a chef.

In the week since her most recent humiliation, Kelly wrote, on her Bravo blog, that she was embarrassed, but did not elaborate. However, despite her alleged embarrassment, this week, on her Twitter account, Kelly has been Tweeting more insanity.

Now, I agree with Bethenny that this is one stupid broad. She seems befuddled by the simplest of things. I mean, it has been a year and she still does not understand Bethenny's Madonna remark or the Kelly comes from a place of no remark, blowing the remarks way way out of proportion.

We have now seen enough of Kelly's psychotic behavior to see how it is she came to assault her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Stefanov.

Now, while I find watching a train wreck like Kelly Bensimon to be entertaining, I'm also thinking that this is a much more serious case of mental illness than we are watching with Jill Zarin. I think Kelly is in dire need of serious help, while I think Jill is in dire need of a spanking, a time out and a bitch slapping, more harshly delivered than those administered by Alex.

I am looking forward, sort of, to seeing how demented Kelly behaved this week. I know that accusing Bethenny of trying to kill her is part of it. And fellow mentally ill housewife, Jill, shows up briefly, likely amping up the insanity.

The reunion show for this season should deliver. Unless Kelly is thoroughly sedated.

The Real Housewives of New York City: Was Bethenny Frankel Drinking While Pregnant?

At the end of the first episode of Season 3 of my favorite of the Bravo Real Housewives franchises, after a lot of good drama and stupid fighting, we saw previews of some of the good stuff from the rest of this year of the Real Housewives of New York City.

One of the preview scenes showed Bethenny checking one of those home pregnancy test things. It appeared to be positive.

No big deal, Bethenny's got herself a boyfriend, she thinks she's going to marry, so she gets pregnant out of the preferred, historically speaking, sequence. It's the modern way.

On Bravo's Real Housewives of New York City website the various Housewives and husbands have blogs. These blogs are almost as funny as the show.

In Bethenny's latest blog she reveals the following...

"I was pregnant the entire season, so it put everything in perspective."

Okay now, Bethenny was pregnant the entire season? How much alcohol did we watch pregnant Bethenny consume on that first episode? Bethenny was drinking to endure that bizarre meeting for drinks with deluded LuAnn.

Was she drinking, to steal her nerves, to get naked on a New York City roof top? Wasn't there some drinking going on when Bethenny and the boyfriend were in a restaurant in that pretentious The Hamptons zone?

Okay, maybe at the point Bethenny was knocking back the booze, she did not yet know she was knocked up. However, on her blog, Bethenny clearly says she was pregnant all season.

Now, I am no prude, but knowing what booze can do to an womb-bound baby, well, it's just a big No-No.

I'm thinking Bethenny has some explaining to do. So far, near as I can tell, via the comments on her blog, no one has called Bethenny out on the drinking while incubating a fetus problem.

The Real Housewives Of New York City Season 3: Bethenny Gets Naked For PETA Kelly Gets Naked for Playboy

Well, the first episode of Season 3 of The Real Housewives of New York City did not disappoint.

We opened with 50 something Ramona Singer on a yacht, awaiting the arrival of Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Jill Zarin and Alex McCord, sans Simon.

Ramona was wearing a midriff baring bikini like thing that Jill let be known she thought inappropriate for someone of Ramona's advanced age. Of course, Jill did not share this opinion with Ramona, just with the audience, so Ramona got to hear it with the rest of us, obvious future fight fodder at the reunion show.

These girls really hold on to grudges. LuAnn seems to be oozing with issues. On the boat she confronted Ramona about Ramona's husband Mario's remark at some photo shoot, where the photographer asked for the Countess, to which Mario said something like "you mean Countless?"

This did not seem to me to be something worth taking umbrage over, it was sort of funny. But LuAnn was all sorts of hurt over it. Jill opined in. Pretty soon Ramona went into drunken Ramona brittle mode and we had the first fight of the new season.

Previous to that we learned, from Jill, that she and Bethenny were no long BFF's, due to Bethenny committing the unpardonable horror of suggesting, on the phone, that Jill get a hobby.

These people really need some real problems.

Then we saw Bethenny get naked on a New York City rooftop, posing for PETA's I'd Rather Be Naked Than Wear Fur campaign. We pretty much saw Bethenny's bare butt, which later upset the latest love of her life, I think the name was Jason. He seemed normal. How is he going to fit in with these nutcases?

We first saw Crazy Kelly Bensimon when LuAnn and Jill showed up for drinks at Kelly's invitation. Kelly seems to have been re-invented as a chastised ex-boy friend beating chagrined ex-convict. There was some dissing of Bethenny. Well, a lot of dissing. By this time we'd heard Bethenny's version of the problem with Jill. Per the norm, Bethenny's version seems far more elevated and sensible than Jill's.

Then we saw Bethenny and boyfriend out in, I think, the Hamptons, then the boyfriend dropping Bethenny off for a drink meet with LuAnn. Bethenny had driven 2 hours for this drink meet. LuAnn started it off awkward by asking for it to be made clear who was paying for the drinks. Bethenny had a totally appropriate WTF expression on her face. She may also have said the words represented by WTF.

Like I said, LuAnn can hold a grudge. Apparently Bethenny had invited LuAnn to go take surfing lessons, years ago. Bethenny got hit with the bill. Bethenny remarked to the camera how is it that I, the poorest of these people, always gets hit with the bill?

Apparently LuAnn did not see the humor, held onto this, and then hit Bethenny with it at the drink encounter. It was bizarre. I agree with those who say LuAnn really needs to read an etiquette book. Etiquette Rule #1 is always make people feel comfortable. I've been on the receiving end of LuAnn sorts. They are very difficult to deal with.

Funniest part was Bethenny promising never to say bad stuff behind LuAnn's back and then cut to talking to the audience, ending whatever Bethenny was saying with "You nutcase Drag Queen" or something like that. Drag Queen was part of it, I don't exactly remember the preceding phrase. I suspect the Drag Queen remark will be heard again.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things. Oh, Jill's husband went through a cancer episode. Bethenny did not show sufficient concern. LuAnn's divorce was troubling. Bethenny did not show sufficient concern.

Previews showed a lot of good fighting, including the scene you see in the picture at the top, of Kelly's face looking in pain, with Bethenny yelling at her. Can't wait.

In the meantime I learned last night that I need to see the March issue of Playboy. I was channel chasing and came upon the Joy Behar Show on one of the cable news stations, CNN, FOX or MSNBC. I suspect it was the latter.

Anyway, new best friends, Jill, LuAnn and Kelly were getting grilled by Joy. During this grilling is when I learned that Kelly has taken her clothes off for Playboy and was on the cover. Kelly's ex-husband, Gilles Bensimon, took the photos.

Joy asked, what about the children, how can you forget about the children? Kelly responded that she talked it over with her kids for their input about mommy getting naked for a magazine. The kids were fine with it and very proud that Hugh Hefner wanted to see their 40 something mommy naked.

What struck me as odd, among many odd things striking me, was last season, on Halloween, we saw Kelly walking the streets of New York in her skimpy Jane outfit, next to Max being Tarzan. Kelly remarked that she was costumed conservatively, due to, you know, she has kids.

And, now, a short time later, the kids can take mommy to show and tell at school to show off her magazine spread. A couple weeks ago Bart Simpson went through similar humiliation when his mom, Marge, posed scantily for a charity calendar. But, not as skimpily as Kelly in Playboy.

Looking forward to next week's fights on The Real Housewives of New York City. I wonder how Ramona is going to react to Kelly getting naked in Playboy?

Bethenny Frankel Would Rather Be Naked Than Wear Fur

I find Bethenny Frankel the funniest of the housewives on The Real Housewives of New York City. Even though she is not married and not a housewife.

Bethenny has a trademark or brand or whatever you call it, called Skinny Girl. Like Skinny Girl Martinis and Skinny Girl other things. She has a New York Times best seller cookbook that I think has Skinny Girl somewhere in the title.

Bethenny is one of my legions of Twitter Followers. So, naturally I follow Bethenny. In the past few days Bethenny has been doing some tweeting (I'm learning the lingo) about posing for a photo shoot in New York City on some building's rooftop.

Yesterday Bethenny tweeted, "was at a rooftop ALL day shooting my PETA campaign - i'd rather go naked than wear fur."

This afternoon one of my other followers tweeted "My fave Real Housewife @Bethenny gets real naked, you know I wouldn’t tease you: http://ow.ly/nXJu."

When you go to the link above you will see the full version of the photo at the top. Yes, that is Skinny Girl Bethenny in all her glory.

I wonder if Ramona got asked to go naked for the anti-fur campaign? She would need to let Alex know she'd done so, prior to Alex finding out about in the tabloids, or a big brouhaha would likely ensue. Or not.

Bethenny Frankel Disses Her Fellow Housewives on Fancast.com

I must apologize to any of you who use this blog for your primary source of information about The Real Housewives of New York City. I'm sure your numbers are legion.

For a week or more I've been getting emails from Caitlin Settlemoir asking if I'd be interested in sharing the information, with my readers, that Bethenny Frankel would be chatting live Wednesday, May 20, at, I think, 2pm Eastern.

I didn't get around to informing any readers, that I might have, that this chat would be taking place today. Well, the chat is now over and I got another email from Caitlin asking if I'd be interested in sharing this information.

I decided that I was interested in sharing this information. Caitlin had me with the following...

Fans asked Bethenny about her thoughts on the other housewives, if she was still dating New York Yankee third-baseman, Alex Rodriguez and, who, out of all the husbands on the program, she would marry.

And don’t miss what Bethenny had to say about Ramona’s crazy appearance on the housewives reunion show:

Question: Ramona appeared "crazed" on the finale, I was actually scared of her - thoughts???

Bethenny Frankel: I think she either took too many or too little of her meds.

Check out the full chat. Click to go to the website and then scroll down and hit the video play button to listen to some good Bethenny dissing.

The Real Houswives of New York City: Bethenny & Alex Rodriquez

On The Real Housewives of New York City Bethenny seems to have a bit of a slight Madonna fixation. There was that big brouhaha with deranged Kelly who took extreme umbrage to Bethenny saying that it appeared that Kelly thought she was Madonna.

And then Bethenny went to a Madonna concert.

And now Bethenny has been seeing Madonna's former boytoy, Alex Rodriquez, aka A-Rod.

Bethenny and A-Rod were spotted having dinner at a Miami restaurant, with the baseball player later dropping Bethenny off at the Fountainbleau Hotel.

A source, I'm sure reliable, told something called "The News' Gatecrasher" column that "Bethenny and A-Rod hooked up 3 months ago," but that, "after quickly rounding the bases," A-Rod cut it off.

Poor Bethenny. Always so unlucky in love.

Bethenny laughed off the gossip, telling an interviewer: "We're madly in love; we're engaged. I fly to Miami every weekend. I'm in the front row when they're playing. I never felt this way."

Then she claimed she'd never ever even been in the same room with Madonna's ex-boyfriend, lamenting, "Can it be George Clooney? Can't it just be the celebrity I want to be aligned with?"

And now to add rumor to rumor, another one of those always reliable sources claims that A-Rod had been intrigued by the reports of his Bethenny Affair and proceeded to get in touch with her.

I'm sure we'll be seeing Alex and Bethenny together on the next season of The Real Housewives of New York City. Or not.