RHOC: Barks and Bits!

Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino

Danny Pellegrino delivers his signature sharp commentary on the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, criticizing its lack of substance despite being a 'supersized' installment. He dives into major

Key takeaways

• The departure of Danny and Nia from The Real Housewives of the Valley is widely seen as a firing, despite their public statement about stepping away for family reasons.
• Nene Leakes' return to the Ultimate Girls Trip has been praised as a welcome spotlight moment that highlights her foundational role in the franchise's early success.

Main topics

• The Real Housewives of Orange County season critique
• Departure of Danny and Nia from The Valley

Notable quotes

"I don't know what we're doing. We're spinning around in circles."

"They're holding us hostage. And in particular, I feel that they're holding me hostage."

Conclusion

Danny concludes that The Real Housewives of Orange County has lost its narrative momentum and may

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:08) Hello, everyone, and welcome to Everything Iconic with me, Danny Pellegrino. Today, we're going to be covering this week's episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, which was a supersized episode. That's right. Despite the fact that the season has given us almost nothing to talk about and is terrible, we are getting supersized episodes. When I saw that, I had chills up and down my spine. I thought, what are they going to do? A supersized episode? I assumed we're on episode nine. We're past the mid-season point. So I've been waiting on the edge of my seat for a good episode to come to us from the Real Houses of Orange County. And I assumed when I saw that it was 54 minutes long, I thought, okay, finally, finally, we're getting something good. Finally! Speaker 1 (0:49) Unfortunately, that is not the case. However, we'll get to it. Before we get into the realest of Orange County, I do want to discuss some things that are going on in the greater Bravo universe. Of course, I don't know if you saw this news that Danny, Daniel, and Nia from the Valley are no longer going to be on the Valley. Sister, yes. They have been let go from the show. Speaker 1 (1:11) And they released a statement. Danny and Nia said they're stepping away, going to focus on their kids. And I love when they make a statement and try to pretend like they weren't fired from the show. And obviously there's some gray area when it comes to these shows. And none of the cast members universally want to say that they were fired. And sometimes I think the gray area comes in with the fact that they necessarily weren't given a pink slip. They just weren't given new contracts for the upcoming season. However, we can almost always assume Speaker 1 (1:40) To me, that means firing. And we can almost always assume that these cast members, when they do not come back, they were fired. And you could tell when you read their announcements, you could sort of read between the lines. Sometimes, occasionally, they do like to come out and say, yeah, I was fired. I remember Teddy Mellencamp did that, I think. And I had so much respect for that, of being like, yeah, I was fired. I was not asked to come back. Speaker 1 (2:00) And even on the Real Housewives Ultimate Girls trip, I don't know if you're watching this, but it was revealed that Giselle had let it slip that Candace had been fired from the Real Housewives of Potomac. And everyone sort of thought that Candace had left on her own accord. She was having a baby, whatever. And so I think in general, 99.9% of the time, you should always just assume that the cast members who are not returning for the upcoming season were fired. And especially with Danny and Nia, like it's so obviously clear that... Speaker 1 (2:26) The cast, the crew, I believe, didn't like them. And so it was like, it's shocking to me that I have been seeing on social media and stuff, people being like, I don't know why they decided to step away. And it's like, are you kidding? You think Danny and Nia, who had to move to Santa Clarita because they couldn't afford the house they wanted in Los Angeles or in the Valley or closer to the group, they are just stepping away from the TV show? You think that they just stepped away from the TV show? Are you kidding me? Speaker 1 (2:53) I do not believe that was the case. However, they are not going to be on next season. And I hope that it helps the show move in a better direction. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm assuming Lacey's going to be up to full time. Of course, what I want is Sheena and Brock Shishi to be back. But the cast was so large that it might not make sense to bring in new cast members, even though they're losing Danny and Nia. Maybe it's just a season to regroup with them. But I'm a little concerned about Ameriposa or Kristen Doty because... Speaker 1 (3:21) her and Luke were already sort of on an island with Danny and Nia, and now Danny and Nia not coming back. It's like, how are they going to fit in? I'm sure they're scrambling behind the scenes trying to call up, I don't know, Janet and Brittany and all of the others and being like, hey, Michelle, let's get together. I'm sure there's going to be some chaos there, and I'm excited to watch that. Speaker 1 (3:42) I don't know. I feel like it'll open things up. My problem with the Danny and Nia of it all is that we got in this hamster wheel because whether or not you like Danny and you like Janet or whosever side you were on, it did feel to me as a viewer, it was like Danny and Nia, anytime they were confronted with something, they would just sort of deny it. But then we saw with our own eyes and ears, like when the hot mic moments were happening or the way that he was talking to his wife, you know, those kinds of situations. It was like, I felt obvious. Speaker 1 (4:08) that they were the problem and it was causing a lot of the storylines to just get stuck. And so I imagine it wasn't a very difficult decision to say goodbye to them. But I laugh and I'm relieved because I've been getting messages. People think that I'm Daniel from the Valley. And so I'm happy that going forth, I will not receive those messages because I don't want to hear it. And then what else we got going on? The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. Now, I thought this past week's episode Sunday when they were in Atlanta and... Speaker 1 (4:37) Nene was such a big presence. I was loving it so much. I love to see how the other women, Kyle in particular, was just jumping on Nene's lap and trying to, I mean, Kyle was like feral for Nene when she came out. And rightfully so, because I was so happy to see Nene pop up onto that stage. And it feels like they're giving her a lot of spotlight as she so deserves because so much of Housewives, when you think of like the fandom of Housewives, I think that was so... Speaker 1 (5:01) And Nene was so instrumental in that in the beginning years. I mean, and you think about every famous meme there is, it's like Nene Leakes. And so I was happy that they gave her a lot to shine. And I can't wait for this upcoming week's episode. It feels like they found a little bit better balance of like the clip show versus new content. I mean, obviously we have the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drama that's happening. Heather Gay is trying to... Speaker 1 (5:24) Come for Lisa Barlow a little bit. And I was upset for my baby gorgeous. I don't like that the Salt Lake City gals seem to be so jealous of Lisa for getting the spot on the Ultimate Girls Trip. And I wish they would just let her be celebratory. And I'm sure they're going to feel bad after watching the episode or seeing how Heather acted and even the other ones how they acted. I'm sure when we see on Salt Lake City this upcoming season, they're going to feel bad about it because they should. And Heather should have let Lisa just have that moment and let her shine. Instead, she's trying to come at her and... Speaker 1 (5:54) I don't know. I thought it was also interesting. At the end of the episode, you see Heather going to talk to Lisa, and she says something like, oh, the camera's not even on me. And it seems like she's so hyper aware. And I feel like we've lost Heather a little bit the past few seasons. Like, I don't know. It doesn't feel like the Heather that we got to know at the beginning of the Salt Lake City Housewives. And so I don't know. I don't know. But I am excited for Salt Lake to come back. I need them back, especially with what's going on in Orange County. I feel like I need Salt Lake more than ever. I just need them. Speaker 1 (6:23) And to be honest with you, I don't know if I'm supposed to say this or if I'm allowed to say it. I may or may not have seen an episode of the upcoming season of Salt Lake City Housewives. And I will tell you guys this. I'll be honest. I was concerned. And now I'm not. Now I feel good about where we're at. So I'm not worried about Salt Lake City Housewives. Just know that. Know that! Speaker 1 (6:46) What else? I'm glad we have all these shows. And I'm glad Salt Lake City's coming back. New York is coming back. I'm a little more iffy on the New York house. Obviously, the season premiere of the new upcoming season of The Real House in New York is going to be good. Obviously, they can't have another flop. Every single... The other thing, too, I think we needed just in general with Salt Lake City, New York, all the shows. Obviously, the premiere episode, they're going to edit the shit out of that. They're going to make sure they're going to do everything they can to make sure it's a good episode. Speaker 1 (7:15) I'm more interested in like the third, fourth, fifth episode because that's when it starts to fall off a cliff if it's bad. We're seeing that with the Orange County Housewives. So just because a premiere episode is good does not mean I'm going to just like completely stand my ass off. I'm going to be a little skeptical, especially with New York more than any other franchise because they bamboozled us how many times in a row? Two seasons in a row now we've been bamboozled. I'm optimistic and I'm going to go in with an open heart and an open mind. However, I just want to remember that. Speaker 1 (7:42) as we go forth. I do feel like they're bringing in some quirky characters on the New York Housewives, which is good to me. Obviously, I'm excited to see Carol back in the mix a little bit. But we'll have to see how it goes. Martha Stewart is going to be popping in quite a bit. That's exciting to me. And I do think they put a lot of resources in the New York Housewives. And although I said the same thing last season of they're not going to allow another flop season, Speaker 1 (8:08) I feel like this is going to be three strikes throughout. And so if this is another flop season, then it's going to be Bravo as a network is just going to be like, okay, we're done, I believe. So hopefully they'll get it together, but we'll see. We're going to have to watch right up until I have to go to BravoTV.com for more information. Let's see what else is going on. You know, I did have a, this morning I had sort of a crazy morning. I went grocery shopping. I was over at the Trader Joe's and I did, I was with my son. So I had my kid in the stroller. He's 15 months now. They're just about 15 months. Speaker 1 (8:37) And so he's in the stroller and he's at the phase where he's always taking off the shoes and socks. So now it's like, you can't even get the shoes on him. So if he's in the stroller, I'm like, okay, we don't got to worry about the shoes because otherwise he's just going to throw them. I've lost countless shoes. You know, when you're trying, I used to live by this amusement park called Joggle Lake and I would always drive past it and there would always be shoes on the side of the road, like one shoe. And I would always think, how does somebody lose like one shoe off the side of the road? Speaker 1 (9:02) sometimes after the amusement park, you would drive by and you'd see people with like their foot out the window, which is like, now that I'm mentioning it, it's crazy. But people would leave the amusement park and it's like, you're so tired that you would just like put your feet up and there'd be a foot out the window. And so somebody would lose like one shoe. Speaker 1 (9:19) And before I realized that was how people were losing one shoe, I was like, how are people losing one shoe? Now I'm realizing there's like another issue. And that's with toddlers is that they just throw the shoe off. They're not interested in the shoe. They throw it out the window, throw it off the stroller. They throw it off their foot. And that's what my son's doing. He's also repeat. He's babbling a lot and sort of like repeating noises. So we get to the grocery store and I always want to make sure that he's like well presented, especially as a gay parent. I'm like, I always want to make sure he's well presented. Speaker 1 (9:46) wearing a nice outfit. The hair is combed as much as it can be when we're going to the house. But with the toddler boy, it's like impossible to completely have them put together. So you might be missing a shoe or whatever. But I'm thinking about that as I'm going through the grocery store. And so as we're going through the grocery store, my son is taking off his socks. So the shoes aren't on, but now he's ripping off the socks, throwing them in the aisles, and I'm trying to catch them. Then I can't carry the cart too, so I got to put the groceries underneath the stroller. So I'm doing that. Speaker 1 (10:11) And then he's repeating sounds. So some other little kid in the grocery store in the cart was like, ah, you know, like making noise. And somebody sounds like, ah, you know, he's like screaming in the thing and people are looking and I'm like hyper aware of it. I'm like, no, we got to make you presentable. I don't want him to be a mess. So then we get to the checkout counter and we just had this crazy shopping experience at the Trader Joe's. I'm buying all the pumpkin stuff, trying to calm him down, keep his socks off the ground and try to keep his noises at a minimum. Speaker 1 (10:38) But people are looking and I'm a little bit like, okay, we got to get home now because he's ready for his nap and he's starting to lose it. So we get in the line. I'm trying to put the sock back on him. And as I'm bent over at the stroller, I look up and guess who is in, well, it's the person in front of me in line at the grocery store was a diva that I love. I'm not going to, I don't know if I should say her name. I'm not going to say her name, but I'll give you a hint. Speaker 1 (11:11) So this legendary diva is in front of me checking out at the grocery store. And it's someone that I would like love to say, oh my gosh, I love you so much, whatever. But I didn't want to bother them. They were wearing like a hat, trying to go a little incognito. So I didn't want to make a big fuss out of it. But I'm thinking in my head, this is why I have a kid now. Like this is a good reason to have a child. I got a little cute baby. A perfect opportunity for the cute baby to do something cute and then get the attention of the diva in front of me. Speaker 1 (11:40) And then we strike up a conversation. We become friends. She decides to babysit my kid. You know, like the whole thing is running through my head. I'm like, we're becoming besties. And so I'm putting on, I'm trying to wiggle the sock off my kid's hoof. And I'm thinking, okay, you were just like such a crazy person throughout the aisles of this grocery store. You're making all sorts of cute noises and being a ruckus. So now we get to the front of the line and I'm thinking, okay, if you're just a little bit of a ruckus, it'll get the attention of the diva in front of us. And then we'd come besties and that could be your new babysitter, your new nanny. And unfortunately, all of a sudden my son decides to clam up. That's right. My son just all of a sudden for the first time in his life decides not to make any noises. Speaker 1 (12:22) And so I'm like thinking, like, Lucky, Luciano, make some sounds. Start crying again. Start babbling. He says mama all the time. He goes, mama, mama, you know, because he's babbling. It's not actually mama, but he's saying mama, mama. I'm like, say mama. Like, if there's ever going to be a woman that's going to be your mom, it's going to be her. Speaker 1 (12:51) Like if there's ever a woman that I want