TLDW: 'Southern Hospitality' > 'Southern Charm'

In Bravo's arsenal of reality television are two shows with too similar a name. Until I watched them, I was mixing up Southern Charm and Southern Hospitality constantly. A running joke in our household is that if I'm watching either show, it's referred to as The South – for the longest time, Duncan could not tell the difference between the two.

For this TLDW, let's throw in some more abbreviations just to add to the chaos. Southern Charm = SC, Southern Hospitality = SoHo.

SC has 11 seasons, and focuses on Charleston, South Carolina's social scene (and the current location of season 23 of Top Chef that we've been watching on Discord). Bravo has green-lit three spinoffs, but only one has stood the test of time. Southern Charm Savannah and Southern Charm New Orleans both lasted just two seasons, premiering in 2017 and 2018. It took a few years before execs and bigwigs decided to push SoHo forward in 2022.

SoHo is the East coast equivalent of Vanderpump Rules, *another* Bravo show that is *another* a spinoff (of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills). VPR follows the lives of young, hot people who work together at a restaurant/bar. But instead of a Sexy Unique Restaurant in West Hollywood, it's a nightclub, dubbed Republic.

Each season of SoHo is solid. Every episode is a banger. Most of the cast are friends with each other outside of the show, and you can tell. It's not like they just show up to film. It makes you a little more emotionally invested as a viewer IMO.

Leva Bonaparte is the thread between SC and SoHo. She is the tie that Lisa Vanderpump is to VPR and RHOBH. Leva was on four consecutive seasons of SC, and as the owner of Republic Lounge & Garden (and six other King Street businesses with her husband), is on all four seasons of SoHo. Before that, she was a friend-of on SC during seasons 1-6.

Early SC reeks of misogyny and white men from the south who have never been told no before. The first few seasons follow Kathryn Dennis, a bright and gorgeous 21-year-old. During season 1, she has a fling with Whitney Sudler-Smith – who is 23 years older.

Whitney is a weird guy. He's a nepo baby, but more importantly, is the creator and an executive producer of SC – so he's everyone's boss-slash-castmate who is (at *least*) 10+ years everyone's senior. His 85-year-old mother, Patricia Altschul, is also on SC as a friend-of.

Kathryn hooks up with Whitney in season 1, and then begins seeing disgraced politician Thomas Ravenel, known for his federal indictment charges in 07' for cocaine. And he's 29 years older than her. T-Rav (yes, he calls himself T-Rav) and Kathryn end up having two kids together, but don't last as a couple. He's eventually axed from the show after season 5 because he sexually assaulted his nanny.

I would suggest hopping into SC after T-Rav's exit, but heads up that he briefly makes an appearance as a guest on season 7 🤮

(total watch time SC + SoHo: 6 days, 1 hour and 36 minutes)

I binged 'The Traitors Canada' in three days

I've watched The Traitors, The Traitors UK, The Celebrity Traitors, Traitors New Zealand, The Traitors Australia – and now The Traitors Canada.

There are dozens of iterations of The Traitors, but it first began back in 2021 in the Netherlands. The show's creator pitched it around for five years before anyone put it on TV. Since then, it's become an international game of deception, with 41 different countries coming up with their own versions.

Seasons 1 and 2 of The Traitors Canada were sort of a flop for me. Season 2 was better than 1, and I liked 3 the most. Applications opened a few months back for civilians to apply for the upcoming normie season, with more than 60,000 applications. That's cool, except when you realize the rules of service 60k people agreed to is to give up their likeness and identity indefinitely, and use you however they like.

In the application, “you grant the release parties, the right to use your name, voice, likeness, photographs, and any biographical material personal media and/or your contribution for and then connection with the quote program by any medium or method whether now known or later developed through throughout the world in all media and perpetuity." 🫪 Respectfully, fuck that.

(total watch time: 1 day)

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