Sunny Beverly Hills can be cold, according to the promo for the third season of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."

I enjoy the ladies of Beverly Hills (let's be honest: I'll watch anything Bravo produces with the phrase "Real Housewives" attached to it), but I didn't realize how much I was looking forward to the series returning until this promo came out a few weeks ago:



Love it! (Anyone else surprised that Kim is going to be back? I thought she would be done with this. I also wasn't sure if Taylor would return, but I guess you'll do what you gotta do if you need to make money.)

Set your DVRs: Season 3 premieres at 9 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

I've blogged a few times before (here, here, here, here, here, here and here) about my love for all things Bravo, but I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I love the live late-night show after the weekly drama with the Housewives.

"Watch What Happens Live" features the cable network's executive vice president of original programming and development, Andy Cohen, chatting with stars from Bravo's reality shows and beyond (the guests from the final show of 2011 were Lea Michele and Chris Colfer of "Glee"). The show includes recaps of what's aired that night, as well as what's happening around the world. Each episode features a drinking game (for those 21 and older, Andy stresses) as well as a game for the guests to play. Andy takes questions and comments from callers, emailers and Twitterers, and guests are often put on the spot (especially if they're involved in controversy on their reality shows). Essentially, it's a half hour of fun television after some often too dramatic drama of reality television. And beginning Sunday, the show will air FIVE NIGHTS A WEEK!

OK, maybe this won't be of interest to you at all if you don't watch anything on Bravo, and if you tune in without watching the shows, you might not understand a lot of the jokes or references. But (maybe I should be ashamed to admit) I am pretty excited about this news.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

When I blogged about "Work of Art" yesterday, I neglected to mention that one of our area's own is on the show.

Sarah Kabot, a professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art and a Cleveland Heights resident, is one of 14 competing to be the next great artist. Cleveland Heights Patch interviewed Sarah Kabot and got some insight on the artist, the casting process for the show and taping the first episode.

"Work of Art" airs at 9 tonight on Bravo.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

On Wednesday, Bravo TV premieres the second season of "Work of Art" (I somehow completely missed the first season). I previewed the first episode earlier this week to see what to expect from the cable network to which I devote most of my TV-watching time.

I was pleased and intrigued by the show. A lot of interesting work is going to come out of it, and I've gotten so used to the reality competition format that I'm not so annoyed by the excessive production, interviews, background music, commercial breaks, etc. that go along with it. The first challenge is pretty neat too: The artists have to take kitschy art and make it world class.

The host and cast of Bravo's "Work of Art" season 2.

 I enjoy looking at art, but I am not an art person. So while I might be able to tell you if something is good or bad, I'd never be able to tell you why something is good or bad. This particular challenge highlighted that so well, and the comments from the judges and others viewing the art help to explain WHY the art succeeds or fails. (The results of the first episode: I liked the pick for winner but not so much for the person going home. I didn't think that artist's piece was the worst, and I wish that artist would get to stick around longer for more than one reason, though I don't want to spoil the results.)

The cast of Lifetime's "Project Runway" season 9.

When I was considering what I enjoyed about the show, I was reminded of what I liked so much about another Bravo show, "Platinum Hit" and what I'm loving about "Project Runway" (which I'm tuning in to for the first time this season because of contestant Joshua McKinley, a Willoughby native). These shows take some incredibly talented people and push them to do their best work every week. The contestants are creative in ways I can only dream about, and the competitions give us talentless folks a front-row seats to their creative processes every week.

During commercial breaks of "Project Runway" in recent weeks, Lifetime has been promoting its new show, "Project Accessory," and I'm now really looking forward to another show and several more episodes of peeking inside some creative minds to learn how they do what they do.

Related links:

• Preview "Work of Art"
• Preview "Project Accessory"
• Jean Bonchak's "Project Runway" diaries

-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

If Housewives, wealthy singles and competition shows aren't your thing, you can probably tune out of this blog entry right now.

I watch a lot of Bravo - well, almost exclusively Bravo, so I'm in kind of a Bravo bubble. The network has premiered several shows over the summer, and I have a lot of thoughts to share about the happenings.

(I know I don't watch many quality TV shows, so no need to lecture me about how I should be watching "Mad Men" or something.)

Real Housewives of New Jersey

The Real Housewives of New Jersey

This might be my favorite season yet of any of the Housewives series. If you're thinking about getting into the series (though you probably shouldn't waste your time), a marathon of this season's Jersey ladies would be the way to go. The dynamic of the current cast of characters is much better than in past seasons, showing the good and bad of everyone (but mostly the good of Caroline, whom I think everyone wants as their second mom [and not just because her son is gorgeous]). Teresa, who in past seasons seemed fun and sane, now seems like she is trying to put on a show to keep everything together. Maybe it was a bad idea for her to agree to this season, with the legal issues that have been going on with her family. Add to that the family feud with sister-in-law Melissa and cousin Kathy, and she's poised for a complete breakdown on national television. God, this show sounds so trashy. Did I really call it my favorite in the franchise?

Millionaire Matchmaker

I blogged a few weeks ago about how I was looking forward to the return of Patti Stanger and crew, and their matchmaking hijinks. So far this season, I'm disappointed. The matchmaking crew spent season four in New York City, and upon their return to L.A. this year, Patti spent plenty of time trashing NYC and the people there. From that point forward, season five has seem scripted. The first season or two of the show seemed much more staged, while the third and fourth were a little more natural. This season, though, has regressed a bit to the set-up situations. Patti's comments seem more unnatural, instead of her usual off-the-cuff wit. This week's episode - the third this season - has been my favorite so far, because it involved a charming prince and an awkward guy who works with my friend. But if more of the episodes are like the first two than the third, I'm not sure how much longer I will be reserving space on my DVR for this show. (But I am really looking forward to the episode that will include Madison from "Million Dollar Listing.")

Flipping Out

I'll try to avoid gushing about this show and just say that I love Jeff, Jenni and Zoila. I don't think I'm learning anything about interior design or remodeling homes, but I am laughing pretty hard when I'm watching it.

Most Eligible Dallas

I hope this show doesn't come back for a second season. I might tune out at some point, and it will be much easier to do that if it's not going to be back again. I don't know how it will be back again, anyway, because shouldn't these people be finding love? And that would make them less than most eligible. They should have just done a Real Housewives of Dallas.

Top Chef: Just Desserts

A group of pastry chefs competing to make the best desserts? The worst part about this show is that you can't taste what they're making.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Taylor and Russell in happier times.

Oh, the elephant in the room. After the husband of one of the Housewives killed himself earlier this month, Bravo announced it would re-edit the footage from this season, which premieres Monday. What a tough situation. Taylor's storyline this season involved her troubles with husband Russell, so it will be interesting to see how the network incorporates or omits his presence. Prior to Russell's suicide, I had been looking forward to this season to see what was happening with the ladies. Sisters Kim and Kyle ended last season with a bit of exposure of some major problems between them, so I'm curious how their relationship has changed since then. And Camille is newly divorced from Kelsey Grammer, so I wonder if she'll be as much of a mean girl as she was last season.

So much bad TV to watch, so little time.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

One of my favorite shows, "The Millionaire Matchmaker," comes back for a fifth season at 9 p.m. today on Bravo TV.

The show stars Patti Stanger, the millionaire matchmaker and CEO of an exclusive dating service, the Millionaire's Club. In advance of the season five premiere, I read Stanger's book "Become Your Own Matchmaker: 8 Easy Steps for Attracting Your Perfect Mate". I was kind of bored and underwhelmed with it. Check out my review, and come back later this week to see my initial thoughts on the fifth season.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

I get sucked into everything Bravo TV, and the summer's new show "Platinum Hit" was no exception.

I. Loved. This. Show.

I'm worried I might have been in quite the minority on that, though. The show premiered on Monday night, and partway through the season was moved to 8 p.m. Fridays. The Friday night timeslot traditionally isn't the most desired - although, I'm sure in the time of DVR that makes a little less of a difference.

"Platinum Hit" is a songwriting competition, with 12 people vying to write the next platinum hit. Each week the contestants wrote a hook (chorus) in a specific genre or on a specific topic. Judges would select the top hooks, and winners would pick teams schoolyard style to turn the winning hooks into full songs. After sometimes-intense songwriting sessions, the contestants perform their songs for the judges, who then select a winning song and a losing song. And in true contest-show style, one member of the losing team goes home. The show ended Friday night, and I'm thrilled with the winning songwriter, who is so incredibly lyrically talented. 

What made this show different than "American Idol"? (Yes, both feature Kara DioGuardi as a judge.) "Platinum Hit" is all about the writing and much less about the performing - and that's what I found so interesting about it. Watching the whole songwriting process was pretty fascinating, as the contestants would focus on the tiniest details with words and pitch and notes, writing and writing and rewriting. I never really thought much about what makes a song a hit song, but I could usually tell what was good and what was bad. Hearing the feedback from the judges helped me understand why what I was hearing was good or bad. The judges often had suggestions for ways lyrics or melody could be written better. I often watched the judges' comments thinking, "Oooooh, right!" I loved a lot of the music that came out of the show and experiencing hit songs from behind the performance.

I have a feeling this is going to be one of the one season-and-done shows. Most of Bravo's shows focus on a group of people, following them from one season to the next. Will "Platinum Hit" be the next "Top Chef"? Unfortunately, I don't think so. I think people care more about watching food made than watching songs be written. It was a good show to have on the DVR all summer, and I'll be disappointed if it doesn't come back next year.

View a video of a sneak peek of the season here:


If you don't mind the season being spoiled, check out the full performance of the winning hit below:



-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl

I'm interested in obsessed with Bravo and will watch anything the cable network produces. This summer the network debuted two new shows: "Million Dollar Decorators" and "Platinum Hit."

I thought for sure I would love "Million Dollar Decorators" because of my previous love affair with "Trading Spaces" (confession: Ten years ago my goal in life was to be Paige Davis). But "Million Dollar Decorators" is not exactly the redecorating show you would find on HGTV. In January, I blogged that another Bravo show, "Million Dollar Listing," is an HGTV show plus drama, so I should have expected "Million Dollar Decorators" to be the same. I'm much less interested in these decorators and their personal lives than I am in the gorgeous homes they put together. Sure, I'll keep watching it, but it's one that I'll watch while catching up on my Google Reader.

"Platinum Hit," on the other hand, had pulled me in after one episode. It's not a singing competition, or based on musical ability, but instead at how good these contestants are at writing songs. And after watching this last week, I now understand just how difficult song-writing can be. Most of the characters on the show are divas - of course, because the entertainment industry is full of them. But some of them are really good musicians - like Nick Nittoli, who basically opened the first episode saying he was the next Michael Jackson. I don't know if I would go that far, but I was pretty impressed with the hook he wrote for the first challenge and the song it turned into. I'd actually like to download it, which Bravo conveniently (and smartly) allows viewers to do here.

If you want to tune in and missed any episodes, you can catch up on BravoTV.com - or just turn on Bravo at any time of day. The cable network re-runs every episode of every show almost on a loop.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl


P.S.: If you're a fan of "Modern Family," tune in to "Inside the Actors Studio" at 8 p.m. Wednesday on Bravo. The adult members of the cast paid James Lipton a visit.

The bad boys of real estate are back in Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing", a series that follows the drama of top agents selling properties in the tough market of Los Angeles.

I previewed the first two episodes of the season, and I'm pretty much hooked already. I'm fascinated by seeing the features, amenities and price tags on the gorgeous homes, and I'm looking forward to seeing the agents work out high-priced deals with difficult clients. And agent Josh Flagg (pictured on the right) isn't hard to look at for 42 minutes. Josh F. also appears to be the "nice guy" of the three agents featured on the show. Josh Altman (left) is aggressive and Madison Hildebrand (center) is kind of dramatic. Why do their personality traits matter? Because it's Bravo reality programming, and Bravo reality programming comes with drama drama drama.

Is this show something you should watch? If you like tuning in to HGTV to get a look at floor plans, furniture and interior decorating schemes of houses on the market, this is probably not the show for you. If you are interested in that kind of stuff but get bored with HGTV's presentation, you'll be much more entertained by "Million Dollar Listing." If you want a well-produced reality show with more substance than the usual and have an interest in real estate or beautiful California homes, you should give this show a try.

Unfortunately, the show premieres at 9 p.m. Feb. 3. With a (mostly) great comedy block taking up many TV watcher's Thursday nights, "Million Dollar Listing" might fight for viewers. But don't worry if you don't have the DVR space for it: Bravo replays shows frequently throughout the week and on its website.

Bravo's description of the show's fourth season:

The most buzzed-about real estate gurus return to Bravo for a brand new season of "Million Dollar Listing" and once again give viewers an up-close and personal look inside the high-stakes, cutthroat world of Los Angeles's real estate market. Josh Flagg and Madison Hildebrand return and are joined by Josh Altman, one of the most successful agents in the country.
"Million Dollar Listing" follows the lives of three of Los Angeles' hottest, young and aggressive real estate magnates in the making as they make a fortune selling multi-million dollar properties in the most exclusive neighborhoods – Hollywood, Malibu and Beverly Hills. With the economy still in a slump, Josh Altman, Josh Flagg and Madison must fight for their share of the market and the competition is intense. Season four follows the agents as they deal with some of the most demanding clients they have ever encountered. They are pushed to the limit and struggle to manage their personal lives while also trying to move some of the most magnificent and most expensive homes in the City of Angels.

You can preview the season by clicking the play button below (some offensive language is bleeped):



-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com

I don't watch much TV--mostly because I work nights and am one of the last few people left on Earth without DVR--but lately, I have been watching a lot of new-to-me shows on Bravo.

My first new guilty pleasure is definitely Millionaire Matchmaker. The show features experienced third-generation matchmaker Patti Stanger, founder of the Millionaire's Club. She said she started this dating website to cater to the growing need of wealthy men who did not have time to date traditionally. She and her staff take a very personal approach to matches through the club, going so far as to hire hypnotherapists, body language experts, dancing instructors and other such experts to help members achieve their top potential in order to snag the men or women of their dreams.

On the show, Patti and her staff--COO Destin Pfaff and VP of Matching Rachel Federoff--meet with millionaires and millionairesses, cast their potential dates, send them to mixers and wait for magic to happen. There are strict rules these love-birds must follow, including a two-drink maximum, and she checks in with both parties after dates to see how they went. Also, Patti is very tough, has a strong attitude and her take-charge demeanor rules the show. In fact, she often critiques potential dates' choices in fashion--and even told one girl to get her hair done professionally and use Crest whitestrips before she'd allow her to meet any of the millionaires.

Now, I never really got into many reality shows, but this one is absolutely fantastic. While one may think these poor millionaires have a hard time dating because they are so dedicated to their work, that is definitely not always the case.

The clients are MESSED UP.

While some of the clients are messed up in a normal sort of way (such as the nerdy guy with ADD, or the chubby and insecure guy), others are single for very obvious reasons that no amount of money could possibly fix.

Example: One guy was so involved in his bromance with his buddies, he had to bring them along--and then he proceeded to get totally drunk in front of his date (who didn't drink at all) and give her a sloppy, drunken kiss.

Needless to say, Patti unceremoniously kicked him out of the Millionaire's Club.

In the same episode, Patti tried to set up a man who declared his hatred for people in general in front of his date.

Basically, the show is a little window into the supposedly fabulous romantic lives of rich people. I imagine it's gotten popular among many women who dream of meeting a charming millionaire; watching the show, anybody can see how these millionaire men and women are just as weird and insecure as the rest of us.

So, if you're bored sometime, I highly recommend this show for a little mindless entertainment.

Check out the show's official page at Bravo for more (and to watch episodes!).

--Danielle Capriato
DCapriato@News-Herald.com

Remember the White House party crashers? Michaele and Tareq Salahi attended President Barack Obama's first state dinner in November -- uninvited -- and stirred up some bad press for cable network Bravo and its "Real Housewives." Bravo was filming Michaele Salahi for "The Real Housewives of D.C.," and the network said today it decided to go ahead with Salahi and four other members of the cast to premiere the latest installment of the "Housewives" franchise, premiering Aug. 5.


Michaele Salahi, left, is interviewed by Ariuka Ulziibayar at the America's Polo Cup Championships, which the Salahis hosted, by the National Mall in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

From Associated Press reporter David Bauder:

The network could either go ahead with the series or scrap the season altogether, Andy Cohen, the top programming executive, said Tuesday. There was no way at that stage to simply replace her, he said.
“It was a long, engaged process” to decide on going ahead, he said. “There were many, many serious conversations. I think when everyone sees the show they’ll agree it was the right thing.”
Cohen said Bravo was as surprised as the rest of the country to find out the morning after the dinner that the Salahis had gone somewhere uninvited; the gate-crashing was not encouraged or suggested by Bravo. Its production company had filmed them getting ready for the event.
He rejected the view that Bravo was rewarding Salahi for bad behavior.
A state dinner, particularly a new president’s first, could be considered the Super Bowl of power events in the political city. Much of “The Real Housewives of D.C.” series focuses on how influence in the city is derived as much from proximity to power as money, Bravo said.
The gate-crashing incident will be dealt with in the series toward the end of its run, Cohen said.
“It’s not the Salahi show,” he said. “She’s one of five women.”
Other “Real Housewives” joining Salahi are Mary Schmidt Amons, the granddaughter of TV personality Arthur Godfrey; Lynda Erkiletian, the founder of a modeling agency; Catherine Ommanney, a British import who’s an interior designer; and Stacie Scott Turner, a real estate agent who started a charity for teenage girls in foster care.

I don't have time to watch much TV, but "Real Housewives" is my guilty pleasure when I do. I like each of the locations (Orange County, New York City, Atlanta and New Jersey) for different reasons, and my favorite characters (because, let's face it, that's what they are) change with every episode. The shows and their stars are trashy and entertaining. I get a good laugh and feel better about myself for not being simple-minded, shallow and money-hungry. I'm really looking forward to "D.C.," and I have a feeling Michaele Salahi is exactly the kind of character I'm going to find fantastically fascinating and unbelievably ridiculous.


-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com