Money Can't Buy You Class

Gemma and Phoebe are joined by New Yorker staff writer Naomi Fry to discuss motherhood, Judaism, Kyle Richards, what it means to be an outsider, feeling comforted by recognition, the pleasure of reality television crossovers, and false feminism.

Gemma and Phoebe dissect the second season of Peacock’s Ultimate Girls Trip, focussing on the various elements of haunting (at Bluestone Manor and beyond), how the Housewives franchise could perhaps be characterized as a man, the exacting-yet-subtle humor which makes a perfect housewife, and touch upon how Kim’s SKIMS has moved beyond skin. 

Gemma and Phoebe return to talk about why recapping is the most boring version of discussing reality television, the drama of misspeaking on the current season of Beverly Hills, and the focus on professionalization and sisterly differentiation on season one of The Kardashians.

Gemma and Phoebe discuss the first five episodes of Hulu’s The Kardashians and the first episode of Season 12 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, touching on performed suffering, the creation of the individual, and how doubles are cringe.

Gemma and Phoebe discuss NeNe Leakes suing Bravo, the dreaded-yet-dreamy Selling Sunset Reunion, the anti-future of Vanderpump Rules, and, of course, G-Flip.

Gemma and Phoebe discuss the intertwinement of fantasy and reality on the hit Netflix reality show, Selling Sunset.

Gemma and Phoebe are joined by friend of the pod Mia Antezzo to discuss the nationalist tactics of love, the relationship between imagination and disappointment, and approximations of reality on ABC’s The Bachelor and Netflix’s Love is Blind.

Gemma and Phoebe discuss Jerry Oppenheimer’s unauthorized Hilton family biography, House of Hilton, and its relationship to Paris Hilton’s vibe shift.

Gemma and Phoebe are joined by writer and scholar Daniel Neofetou to discuss interiority and the relationship between objecthood and objectification in Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Gemma and Phoebe discuss the Vanderpump Rules Season 9 Reunion, the end of James and Raquel and the possible end of Vanderpump Rules, what “high school” means on reality television, and the firing of Jennie Nguyen. Also Gemma saw Kim Kardashian in the flesh at an art opening. 

Gemma and Phoebe are joined by poet Ry Dunn to take a deep dive into The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City through the lens of conspiracy: Did Jen really do it? Is Meredith’s business a CIA front? Why does Whitney know so much about money laundering? How might the conspiratorial ethos of QAnon be refracted into SLC’s Season 2 plot line and production?

Gemma and Phoebe are joined by writer and LA socialite Gracie Hadland to discuss celebrity closet-tombs, vagina tunnels, and the notion of empty desire in Architectural Digest’s Open Door series.

READINGS:

Gemma and Phoebe talk about Hulu’s The D’Amelio Show, if they are precursors to or successors of the Kardashians, and their situation as Gen Z arbiters of Boomer teenage tropes.

Readings: 

Gemma and Phoebe contemplate the ending of The Real Housewives of New York City, close read COME TO LIFE from Kanye’s new album, DONDA, and psychoanalyze their waning and waxing obsession with the trivialities of older women.

Readings: 

Gemma & Phoebe recap the penultimate episode of The Bachelorette, discussing Milton’s Paradise Lost, the purgatorial affect of middles, and the choice of the camera over true love.

Read/Watch:

Gemma & Phoebe are joined by Eloise Hess & our first Gen Z-er, Tobias Hess, to discuss the fragile & confounding world of The Bachelorette. We focus on the Season 17, Episode 3 trauma episode, the compulsion to share stories, and the enforcement of intimacy.

Song of the week:

Greatest Lover - Katie Thurston by Connor B. From Nashville 

Gemma & Phoebe struggle to convey the emotional minutia & toll of their night out at Lisa Vanderpump’s supposedly acclaimed West Hollywood restaurants, Sur & Pump. Gemma tries the Goat Cheese Balls, Phoebe reviews the bathrooms, and both revel in the vulnerability of fandom.

Bravo Song of the Week:

Raise your glass - Memoir featuring Dena Deadly

Gemma and Phoebe are joined by the infinity-obsessed Emmett Mathison to discuss holograms, resurrection, and the possibility that Kim Kardashian will never die.

Gemma and Phoebe get lost in the inarticulate void of the future of reality television.

Gemma & Phoebe are joined by our favorite Adorno scholar Becca Teich to discuss Vanderpump Rules’ stakes in the culture industry and fascist propaganda.

Buy Becca’s Caffeine Chronicles from Portable Press here: