"For years, any issues that came up during a reunion taping would be obliquely referred to as "last year in New York." After that we had "the blogs," also known as blind items being reported by micro-influencing regional gossip accounts. This phenomenon involved Housewives feeding information to these platforms in the hopes of having justification to talk about each other's business on-camera, schemes that folks like Lisas Rinna and Vanderpump were famed for participating in."
"Both approaches have resulted in what I will call a late-stage reality simulacrum: We are all aware that the mode of entertainment we call docusoap is a constructed hyperreality with coded symbols that may resemble real life but are devoid of the context of how people actually interact with each other real life. People float in and out with information that helps move the characters along, the scene resets, and we continue."
Housewives casts have used reunion euphemisms like "last year in New York" and anonymous blogs to circulate blind items that justify on-camera confrontations. The shows operate as constructed hyperrealities where coded signals mimic but do not reproduce real social context. Cast members and external micro-influencers exchange information to steer narratives and produce dramatic beats. Producers frequently introduce peripheral "tertiary" characters from alleged social circles to escalate storylines. Those guest participants often provide short-term spectacle but risk prolonging on-screen torment or derailing narratives when they fail to integrate believably. Recurring examples include staged guests like 'cookie' figures used to embarrass cast members and generate plot fuel.
Read at Vulture
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