VoR
Take it or leave it
So last night it finally happened... I cracked and watched Season 1, Episode 1 of Beverley Hills. 
I know everybody says I should do Melbourne or Auckland first, but I kind of feel like I've seen all the best bits of those shows anyway thanks to extensive clips and dear departed wurst's incredible write-ups. Also I'm a sucker for a fucked up family dynamic so i was kind of intrigued by the whole Richards sisters angle.
ANYWAY I'm not sure how long I'll persevere but here are my initial thoughts.
Lisa VanDerPump
I gather she's one of the true breakout stars of the franchise. In this episode she didn't have loads to do but they were clearly setting her up as sort of the matriarch of the group. She certainly seems the most stable so far, and I enjoy the fact that she has a LIVE-IN GAY who is clearly shamelessly sponging off her wealth and success.
Adrienne Malouf
Appears to be being set up as the connective tissue between the women, and the obligatory one who actually somewhat works for a living. Her Republican husband is bad vibes, she herself didn't give me loads but I enjoyed the random scene where she demonstrates her martial arts skills by violently HURLING her teenage son(?) over her shoulder and onto the floor.
Taylor Armstrong
Lots of red flags with this one. Grew up poor and clearly married into wealth through sheer desperation, getting unnecessary (and HORRIFYING) face work in her second ever scene, openly admitting it's because she fears being left by her gross middle-aged husband who appears to despise/ignore her. I can't see this ending well for her.
Camille Grammar
Loved how she quite clearly had NO connection with the other women and was purely cast because of her famous husband.
Does she even live in the same neighbourhood? UNCLEAR. "Do you know Camille Grammar?" 'No but of course I know OF HER..." 
I'm going to predict that Kelsey's grumpy contractually obligated cameo this first episode is more or less the last we'll see of him? Also her poor children! FOUR NANNIES? I presume by now they have all grown up to be complete sociopaths.
All that aside, she seems quite fun. I liked the deeply uncomfortable moment when they were all lightly making fun of Lisa VanDerPump's English accent and out of nowhere she awkwardly blurted out "DON'T GET YER RAT OUT!"
Kyle & Kim Richards
Obviously I go into this knowing that many fans consider Kyle to be the living embodiment of pure evil, so maybe that's colouring my initial perception, but she does not come out of this first episode particularly well. I gather Kim's demons are going to become much more apparent over time, but in this episode she seems like a rather sad but ultimately harmless figure who just needs a friend. I can totally relate to the need to warm up to people before I'm comfortable in a social situation, especially when surrounded by so many TYPE A's. Kyle inviting her to the basketball game and then sitting as far away from her as possible really smacked of doing the absolute bare minimum / production telling her they wanted her sister on the cast so she reluctantly plays along.
I will say that they seem like they probably had a super fucked-up childhood / a monstrous stage mother, which probably left significant scars on them both. So I'm open to seeing a softer side of Kyle, but not particularly holding my breath based on the group consensus.
Anyway those are my thoughts. If I stick with it I might add more.
*cut to 3 months from now and I'm midway through my definitive top 100 Housewives of all time countdown thread

I know everybody says I should do Melbourne or Auckland first, but I kind of feel like I've seen all the best bits of those shows anyway thanks to extensive clips and dear departed wurst's incredible write-ups. Also I'm a sucker for a fucked up family dynamic so i was kind of intrigued by the whole Richards sisters angle.
ANYWAY I'm not sure how long I'll persevere but here are my initial thoughts.
Lisa VanDerPump
I gather she's one of the true breakout stars of the franchise. In this episode she didn't have loads to do but they were clearly setting her up as sort of the matriarch of the group. She certainly seems the most stable so far, and I enjoy the fact that she has a LIVE-IN GAY who is clearly shamelessly sponging off her wealth and success.

Adrienne Malouf
Appears to be being set up as the connective tissue between the women, and the obligatory one who actually somewhat works for a living. Her Republican husband is bad vibes, she herself didn't give me loads but I enjoyed the random scene where she demonstrates her martial arts skills by violently HURLING her teenage son(?) over her shoulder and onto the floor.
Taylor Armstrong
Lots of red flags with this one. Grew up poor and clearly married into wealth through sheer desperation, getting unnecessary (and HORRIFYING) face work in her second ever scene, openly admitting it's because she fears being left by her gross middle-aged husband who appears to despise/ignore her. I can't see this ending well for her.
Camille Grammar
Loved how she quite clearly had NO connection with the other women and was purely cast because of her famous husband.


I'm going to predict that Kelsey's grumpy contractually obligated cameo this first episode is more or less the last we'll see of him? Also her poor children! FOUR NANNIES? I presume by now they have all grown up to be complete sociopaths.
All that aside, she seems quite fun. I liked the deeply uncomfortable moment when they were all lightly making fun of Lisa VanDerPump's English accent and out of nowhere she awkwardly blurted out "DON'T GET YER RAT OUT!"

Kyle & Kim Richards
Obviously I go into this knowing that many fans consider Kyle to be the living embodiment of pure evil, so maybe that's colouring my initial perception, but she does not come out of this first episode particularly well. I gather Kim's demons are going to become much more apparent over time, but in this episode she seems like a rather sad but ultimately harmless figure who just needs a friend. I can totally relate to the need to warm up to people before I'm comfortable in a social situation, especially when surrounded by so many TYPE A's. Kyle inviting her to the basketball game and then sitting as far away from her as possible really smacked of doing the absolute bare minimum / production telling her they wanted her sister on the cast so she reluctantly plays along.
I will say that they seem like they probably had a super fucked-up childhood / a monstrous stage mother, which probably left significant scars on them both. So I'm open to seeing a softer side of Kyle, but not particularly holding my breath based on the group consensus.

Anyway those are my thoughts. If I stick with it I might add more.
*cut to 3 months from now and I'm midway through my definitive top 100 Housewives of all time countdown thread