I must say first that I am a huge lover of reality shows. I even produce and direct my own so that genre holds a particular fascination for me. There are so many now that it's difficult to watch them all but I really try to experience as many as possible.
I always give a new show the chance to develop and my feelings might evolve over time but for now, I get a very bad feeling about this one. It is obviously inspired by Vanderpump Rules and my guess is that Lisa Vanderpump is hoping it will become must see TV.
But in order for that to happen, some serious fixes are needed. So far, the only ones I like are Anthony the chef, Andre the barman, server Priscila and Stephen the event coordinator. They are real, entertaining yet not prone to extreme behavior that never fails to make my skin crawl.
The others in the cast are still an open question for me to find out if I will like them in the long run. But the two most obnoxious, cliched and unbearable characters are without a doubt Eric the manager who is an absolute monster of arrogance and Marciano the eternal frat boy who will most likely never change.
Eric is by far the absolute worst one in the bunch. He is prickly, smug and pretentious. I understand that he is the manager but the way he goes about it is insane. I find him unwatchable to the point that when he talks in his confessionals, I fast forward because I can't stand what he says and the cocky way he says it.
Marciano is the typical jerk who goes around drinking like he's on a Vegas bender. Hannah is his insecure ex who still loves him and we can see a mile away that their road to get back together will be filled with toxic confrontations already teased as the season will progress.
But the thing that really disappoints me about this show is Lisa. At the beginning, she establishes her rules which make perfect sense one of which is to not drink on the job. Well, that rule is broken within minutes obviously along with several others yet, Eric and Marciano drink constantly and antagonize every other person in the cast but Lisa doesn't do anything to stop it.
I understand that most reality shows think they need at least one or two villains to stir things up but the fun for an audience is to see the bad apple being properly chastised and punished. Yet Lisa doesn't intervene when they break her own rules and the show devolves into yet another circus of toxic personalities who drink, make bad decisions and so far suffer no consequences.
The show is still in its infancy and the previews are showing us that there might be repercussions for the culprits but I can't help but agree with chef Anthony who says that in any normal restaurant, half the staff would be fired already.
The toxicity is already so high and as I write this, only 4 episodes are released so I am not hopeful that this will get any better. I will pretty much watch any reality show but at some point I feel like this one will lose me if the people who need to be called out on their behavior are free to roam in this debacle eventually making it unwatchable. Let's hope that some sense will prevail and that Lisa will admonish the ones who deserve it.
Any show needs a grace period and I am willing to stick around to find out but if by the end of the season nothing changes, I won't be returning for season 2. A bit of drama is fine but toxicity to this level is just not sustainable and frankly, not even remotely entertaining.
