Wednesday
Apr212010
A little bit of everything
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 
- 9 by Design. Do you love Cortney? YES, the answer is yes. The hipster dad doesn't even bother me, especially after seeing him take that April Fool's joke so well. Does anyone know if they started out with a big pile of money? What's the story? See more photos of their wowzers house here.
- High Society. Did you watch last night? It's 20 minutes of commercial and 10 minutes of show, and that 10 minutes is like pouring a bottle of Drano straight onto your exposed brain. Last night, Tinsley tongued Constantine from American Idol (ick), her old mom tongued her equally old date (double ick), and PJC was his normal self, which is to say a sociopathic worm. I can't even talk about Devorah (we knew she was bad news bears way back when) and Jules without swallowing a handful of valium. If you haven't watched, I beg you to share in my pain. PLEASE. Full episodes are online here.
- In case you haven't heard, there is a delicious, boomerang-like scandal going on with Jill Zarin. You must read this. (thanks to all of you tipsters.)
- Real Housewives of New York City is on tonight. On a related note, Blizzards at Dairy Queen are buy one, get the second one for twenty-five cents. Self-medication by ice cream. Mmmmm. See you after!
Reader Comments (27)
i LOVE me some trash tv, but i can't handle that high society show. BLEH! but i don't have a superiority complex -- i have lots of other trashy GO-TO shows that fill me with glee!
You completely crack me up! Thanks for all of your witty commentary...reading your posts is always a great part of my day!
Hey Jill...how does karma feel? Oh how the mighty have fallen!
The Novogratz scare the shit out of me. I am waiting for one of their kids or one of their kid's friends to die in their unsafe house and no one know about it for like 2-3 days. It seriously freaks me out. I am a nervous wreck watching this show. Plus I keep going over all the kids names in my head during commercials and I can never get all seven, so I have to quit this bitch.
The main and only reason to ever watch High Society is the gym scenes with PJC. These are the cinematography magic of our lifetime.
This is how they did it:
"Ah … just to tell you the numbers—and we never talked about money on the show by the way, we were very humble and very modest—we bought the Chelsea house 12 years ago for $500,000 and we sold it for six million; we paid a million for two houses in SoHo and sold them for $13 million …"
I had my mind set that I was not going to like "9 by Design" then I watched the first episode. I found I really liked Courtney and found myself quite fond of her husband too. All of the children seemed quite nice too with that oldest boy being so cute. What I had not planned on discovering was how similar their life is to mine, but with my remodeling and number of children just on a smaller scale (I can barely manage the 1 child I've got). My husband, daughter & I have lived through some crazy remodeling situations so much like they showed on the first episode: sold a house quickly - check / moved to cramped quarters for 2 months - check / slept on mattresses on the floor - check / can't believe your child is playing in a construction zone - check. I missed the 2nd episode, but am sure Bravo will rerun it over and over and over.
Not sure about her, but he is from a family of super achievers and started out as a Wall Streeter. Dad was a football hall of famer from West Point, retired as a Colonel in the Army. One brother is the president of a major hedge fund, one sister was the founder of the Acumen Fund [microfinance] and her husband is the curator of T.E.D. Watched an interview from the Aspen Institute with her and she was brilliant and completely fascinating. So she's figuring out how to help women in Tanzania and I am spending my time googling. Must rethink this now.
So we are clear ...I fucking love that show. Total design porn with the hippest family ever.
When the expediter told Courtney her kids were going to fall out the open window, he was going to get sued and she would cry cause her kid is dead, I fell on the floor laughing.
damn I keep forgetting about High.
9 by design. I do love them but I think they are totally bonkers for moving so much. That being said...I'm renting and their racking up monopoly places in Manhattan
Unusual rug -check
Weird lighting fixture *must be big* -check
Cool chair -check
West elm desk and bookcase -check
White paint (or is it BM linen @ 50%?) -check.
oh oh forgot bigcoolartprint. check.
Interesting, isn't it, that Jills response to the 'crazy fan' who was defending her book sounds idemtical to the actual 'crazy fan'. Was that a tongue in cheek way of her saying it was her? She doesn't expect her statement to make anyone think that her crazy fan story is true, right?
The brother worked for Goldman Sachs and is a hedge fund manager. Does any one else get the irony here?
The Design couple are unobjectionable. Their designs are unobjectionable. Not great TV. No suspense.
I love 9 by Design. I think they seem like really down to earth people who love their kids and their work. How they do it is a mystery to me as I only have one daughter and can't seem to keep up with the laundry...but more power to 'em!
Have you all checked out this link?????
http://hubpages.com/hub/BREAKING-NEWS-Jill-Zarin
Ohh boy.....
Yeah...I like them. I was a fan of thier work before the show, and its even more impressive that they do it with that many kids.
do you know where i could watch 9 by design online?!!! it sounds amazing and i'd definitely be curious about their finances... her style is killer!
9BD is pretty entertaining but I too was totally nervous watching those kids on the decks and balconies! That desk he HAD to have was ridiculous. I forget if you said or not but have you watched "Basketball Wives?" It's awesome. My new fave. Like Atlanta Housewives but prettier and with more game.
http://www.vh1.com/shows/basketball_wives/series.jhtml
count me a 9 by Design fan girl. i love it. cortney seems totally relaxed and unfazed, without pretense. i love that about her. bob with his outfits kind of bugs...it seems he's playing a bit more to the camera than she is; it's like she doesn't notice it. still, i do like it, i like them both. i guess i'm just distracted with his hats and ties over tees and vests and all. but who cares, he's an artist. i love the cool things they have for their kids in the house. it's just damned pleased TV after all the utter pettiness of Jill and Ramona. I mean, what do THEY have to offer the world? at least Bob and Cortney are intelligent and interesting people.
Cynthia, ooooooh, that is some good dirt. The amazon reviews for Jill's book are blowing UP, and it's all very bad news for Jill. Her book has less stars than LuAnn's, which is a major burn.
I can't wait for the reunion.
Re Basketball Wives--I keep meaning to watch it. Will get on it.
1. I am in love with 9 By Design. I LOVE Courtney and have already said that I wish I could be that chill. I am not even that chill when I am sleeping. God! But I would have murdered her husband by now. Love the kids - they will be great, normal, creative, independent grownups.
2. I watched the first episode of High Society and I said never again and I meant it.
3. Jill: Oy. What has happened to our Jill? She has lost all the marbles. I loved in the comments on that story someone called Ramoner, "Ramonacoaster."
4. I ate almost only ice cream for a year and lost almost 15 pounds (I actually lost TOO MUCH WEIGHT!! if you can believe that!). And when I was pregnant with my daughter I ate DQ ice cream every single day. A couple of special factoids about me and DQ. For you, SGM. With a cherry on top.
I think High Society sux! Everyone on that show is rude, spoiled, vapid and hateable. With one exception, the poor housekeeper. JPC is a freaking joke. I have watched 2 episodes and can't watch another one. Done. I am going to have to check out ( by Design. The premise just doesn't interest me. However, I did catch The Basketball Wives and it's amazeballs! As for Jill, karma's a bitch. She so wrote those reviews.
Holy shitstorm! The reviewer on Amazon has updated her review. You cannot pay for this kind of entertainment.
Nothing has changed on the "Jill Zarin faked her own review" story. It all came out two days ago.
(The bad-review writer, Alana Chandler, is turning out to be as self-promoting as Jill, comically enough. She is going to every web site out there, calling attention to the review. She and Jill appear to be evil twins, locked in some self-promoting dance-to-the-death)
Original anon---yes, the Jill Zarin "Amazon-gate" IS awful, but just who is this fame-ho reviewer who is on every site? I am sick of both of these two. Agreed.
9 By Design? I am still not sure I like this show. Why would a family of 8, with one on the way, rent a two bedroom, one bath? I totally agree that the "bar" rental was ridiculous, but for a family of that size, the temporary apartment was beyond stupid. As much as I found the contractors "playing to the camera," the one who said the kids would fall off the balcony of the construction site and die---well, he had a point. Bohemian is great. Dangerous? Not so much.
I have never been a Bethenny fan so I wonder, out loud, why everyone is suddenly Team Bethenny? Bethenny was the snarky half of the Jill-Beth duo. In her blogs last year, she repeatedly said how she and Jill had "something" on Ramona and that Ramona was afraid of them during the reunion.
I don't know what happened or didn't happen while Bobby was ill. From lots of comments from Jill about "Bobby putting food in her mouth," I have made the leap that Bobby and Jill had to help Bethenny, financially. In Jill's defense (which isn't a place I'd like to live) the first season was only 7 or 8 episodes and Bethenny wasn't in many. Beth became a Huffington Post blogger last year (her only other contribution was to plug a vacation spot in the Caribbean and after many comments, she finally clarified that her trip had been comped). Anyway, her first column was about how she'd been approached for the series, by Jill, she declined and Jill harangued her until she finally realized what a marketing opportunity it would be for her "brand." No doubt, Jill pushed her career.
I'm sure Jill keeps score and it's miserable to have her as a friend because you are always trying to repay her kindnesses, but Bethenny is far from innocent here.
And before I burst---the Bethenny peeing on a stick with the door cracked??? Really? If you didn't KNOW you were preggo, why would you leave the door ajar, for a film crew, while you retrieve a conveniently placed pregnancy test? I get that Bravo is plugging Bethenny's new show, but we haven't all had our brains removed to think most cast members pee with the door open so Bravo can get a good vantage point of their ass on the toilet...?
I just recently came upon your site and your commentary is pure hilarity. I about choked to death on my cereal laughing that watching 10 minutes of High Society "is like pouring a bottle of Drano straight onto your exposed brain."