Mention It All - The Jill & Bethenny Reunion Recap

Episode Date: July 19, 2023

In a week packed with RHONY content, Dylan sits down to share his thoughts about Jill and Bethenny’s big reunion, an event 13 years in the making. But after all this time, do we really care? He breaks down some of the major conversation points, but questions the place of these two OGs amid a completely new era of RHONY and Bravo. Have we moved past the need for closure? Check out our latest promo codes here: https://betches.com/promos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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With me, Dylan Hafer. We're going to check me, boo. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention It All podcast. I'm Dylan Hafer. And today, it is just me because I feel like, quite frankly, it has been too long since it was just me, myself and I on the microphone and all of you. And we have a lot to talk about since the last time.

have really just sat down and chatted. We have had the premiere of a new Rony franchise. Very exciting. We have had, you know, another episode of Sonia and Luan. Welcome to Crappy Lake, which is just just nonstop hits. I'm laughing my ass off. I hope you are too. I'm enjoying it a lot. And of course, in the world of Bravo News, the seismic event that happened this week, or at least an event that is intended to be seismic. Jill Zeran and Bethany Frankel reunited for an interview, a conversation. It's theoretically the first time they've been alone together in 13 years, except they're not actually alone because Gary and Ali and what's his name,

the new fiancé, are all there. Okay, so I listened to the podcast. I was on the fence at first because, to be completely honest, when Bethany posted on Monday night, look, it's happening where it were, me and Jill, what you've been waiting for, all these years. My gut reaction was not that excited. Because, okay, in one sense, yes, this is 13 years coming. They had their fallout on season 13. Bethany went to the funeral. They saw each other on a plane or something. There have been run-ins. It's not like they have not spoken in 13 years. But it doesn't feel like we ever particularly got closure or like they ever really repaired the true fault lines in their

relationship that go back over a decade. But like, when Bethany posted this, my gut reaction was kind of like, who cares? Like, I think that this is something that would have been really, really highly in demand if it happened three years ago. I mean, think back, three years ago. July 2020, the first, I mean, any time in 2020 after March 11th, give or take, we were in the absolute depths. We were stuck at home. Bravo shows where production was down. Orange County was filming through a window.

So was Southern Charm. Roney was getting, getting to a bad place. You know, their season in 2020 was all right, but 2021 was the real trouble year. And of course, the year that precipitated the, the reboot, which we're going to talk about in a little bit. But if they had come together in COVID, when everybody was desperate for content, people were on Instagram live 24-7, people were starting

podcasts, me, myself, this podcast, April 2020 was our first episode. That wasn't an accident. Everybody was fucking bored and wanted to listen to a podcast. And you know what I would have listened the fuck out of two in April 2020, Bethany and Jill talking over each other for an hour and a half about circumstances that happened in the Hamptons between five and 13 years ago. That would have been absolute pandemic gold. But in 2023, it's like, I'm not going through my life with any big question marks about what happened with Bethany and Jill. Of course, there are specific situations that we never got definitive answers to or that there are differing versions of events, talking about Bobby's funeral, talking about the situation of

Jill, Bethany leaving the show, you know, like, okay, fine. I don't have the definitive account of everything that ever happened. between them, but I don't, I haven't been feeling like I really need that. And I think with housewives sometimes that have been around this world for a long time, but in Bethany and Jill's case, they have not been on housewives for a long time. They haven't had active storylines to keep pulling from. They've had to really return to the past. And I mean, seeing Bethany launch a housewives podcast in the last several months after, you know, constantly diminishing and and kind of dismissing housewives as a thing as something that she doesn't need as something

that she doesn't care about. Because these women haven't been on the show in a long time in a meaningful way, the only thing they can do is to go back to this well of stuff that happened 2010 and mine it for more. Hope that we still care. Hope that, hope that, that people are going to listen and I mean I guess it worked I listened to it this morning on 1.5 speed which I would I would recommend in the sense of if you are a busy person and you value your time and you don't want to spend the full 90 minutes but I would not recommend from a from a listener experience in terms of your your mental health and well-being because let me say the 1.5x was jarring. There was a lot of commotion,

a lot of talking over each other, which as somebody who's had many, many guests on a podcast, sometimes you talk over each other a little bit. It's unavoidable. But I don't think that these women necessarily have the podcast etiquette, you know, down to a science. But, you know, it was it was listenable. There were, there were some interesting things going on. But I think most of all, the timing of this is really interesting. And they talk about it a little. They are not at all pretending that the new Roney reboot does not exist.

They, I think, are maybe going to recap it or talk about it in a separate podcast. It was a little unclear. I will say here and now, I have one listening experience for Bethany and Jill on a podcast together, and that was this. So if they do something from here on out, I am saying now that I'm checked out. I reserve the right to change my mind, of course. And if you guys demand that I listen to something else, perhaps I will. But, you know, they're acknowledging this new show.

But for this to happen allegedly organically, the day after the premiere, of this long-awaited, long-talked about, you know, controversial, new updated version of Real Housewives of New York City, it just feels so, so obvious. And Bethany's account of how this happened, if you haven't listened, I'm not going to do like the full, you know, bullet point by bullet point breakdown of everything that they discussed.

I'm sure somebody's already done that on Reddit more thoroughly than I could. but, you know, to get into some sort of, you know, conversation points, Bethany's account of how this podcast situation came about was that last Friday. So basically, within a span of three days, this whole thing happened. Her fiancé, Paul. See, I remember his name. That's good journalism. Ten minutes ago, I couldn't say his name.

Now, Paul. His name is Paul. On Friday, he was like, Bethany. I have an idea that you're going to hate. What if you had Jill and, you know, talked about all this stuff and talked about the new show, XYZ? And Bethany's like, I love it. That's a great idea.

So Bethany has her people, essentially, I guess her eye heart people, I don't know, reach out to Jill. And, you know, there's this basically, you know, they approach her about it. Jill had some mixed feelings about being approached by Bethany's people instead of Bethany herself. This harkens back to the time when Bethany had her talk show and Jill was, you know, pitched to come on the talk show by some third party. And she got mad because Bethany wouldn't call her herself to do it. But Jill has grown a lot. She's matured. She swallowed her pride and she said, yes, I'll do it.

Allie told her she should do it. Of course. Ali in the other room, always present. I like Ali. I like seeing Allie around. It is funny how it's really a package deal at this point. But they were supposed to do it on Sunday. There was bad weather. I guess you can't podcast when it's raining. So they do it on Monday. So, okay. You know, I don't know if I don't believe that the first time this had come up was last Friday. But it does just seem exceedingly convenient that there is this show that kind of, flips the script on what these women have laid claim to for the last 15 years, that for all the years, even when they haven't been on the show, they are the Real Housewives of New York. And they are some of the people that people most strongly associate with the Real Housewives of New York. And then all of a sudden, we have six new gals coming in hot.

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eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs, you're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. And the premiere of that new Roney reboot, it was good. It was promising. It felt, fresh. It was entertaining. It was intriguing. It was perhaps not the most iconic episode of Housewives of all time. But I think, at least in my opinion, I've watched a lot of Housewives. To me,

it cleared the bar of, does this seem like a show that is worth watching? Because I saw a lot of people with a lot of opinions after Sunday Night's episode. And, you know, I had seen it a couple weeks in advance, so I had time to digest. I've seen the second episode already. Obviously, I had already formed a lot of thoughts about it. I had already done that interview with Aaron Brin and Jessel, which came out on Monday. If you haven't listened to it, you really should. It's a fun conversation. I'm excited about them. But seeing some people react to the premiere, of course, they're going to be strong reactions. But I think that some people, I don't need everybody to love it. But I think that some people aren't being super honest with themselves about what is the actual objective of a

housewives episode what is the reasonable expectation for a group of women filming a housewives show to me there should be some some interesting conflict happening some some sort of disagreement some sort of, you know, controversy within the group. There should be humor. There should be, you know, personalities, family dynamics, you know, kind of the ingredients in the soup that really make it come together. It's more than the sum of its parts. It's an ensemble show. It's, you know, the New York flavor that we want. And to me, in large part, this premiere accomplished that set of ingredients. The checklist to me was mostly complete. And that's not to say it's the best soup that I've ever tasted or that it's, you know, a three Michelin Star creation.

But I think that there is a more charitable way to look at it and a less charitable way to look at it. And I think for the people who might be listening whose instinct watching that episode is to say, it's not the same. I think these women are boring. These fights aren't worth fighting about. I think it might be worth taking a step back and thinking about what do you really want out of a show like this? Because I agree that, you know,

it's not a done deal that this is going to be an amazing season, an iconic franchise. I've only seen two episodes. Most people have only seen one. there is a lot of room for things to either get better, get worse, plateau, we'll see. But I just don't think that that premiere episode is worth being upset about. And of course, you know, we'll talk about it more throughout the season. I'm excited to have more guests and get more perspectives.

There's going to be lots of conversations about Roney coming up. But overall, I think we're in a good place. And the thing with Bethany and Jill specifically is that if you look at the overall Roney universe right now. We have these six new women coming in hot, like I said. They're at the Rainbow Room having their

premiere party. NBC is pulling out all the stops. Then you have Luann and Sonia. They got their own show. They have, you know, prime placement, Sunday night, right after the new show. They're doing promo. Sonia was on live with Kelly and Mark.

I want to say Kelly and Ryan. I want to say Regis and Kelly. I want to say Regis and Kathy Lee live with Kelly and Mark this week. They're getting, they're getting the good press to. And then you have Ramona, Durinda, Kelly, Kristen, also Luann and Sonia. They were just in St. Barts filming this gross trip. They're getting the peacock treatment. And that's going to be coming out next year. All of those women are still being fed in one way or another by this Bravo machine and still being given an opportunity, whether it's the opportunity that they wanted in the first place or something different or exactly how much they're being paid versus how much they made before. Who knows? But they're

getting something where when you look at Bethany and Jill, they are probably the two former New York Housewives that are most prominent who aren't still in this ecosystem, at least not in an official capacity. And Bethany can say all she wants that she doesn't want to come back to Housewives, doesn't eat it, XYZ.

She's the one who started a Housewives podcast. And Jill, I thought it was really interesting, actually. And this episode with Bethany, they talk about what happened with Roney Legacy a little bit, you know, enough, more than we've gotten from Jill about it in the past. And the negotiations that broke down earlier this year, which then was later, you know, turned into the girl's trip. But Jill basically says that she feels like her time for housewives has passed. And that when they were doing these negotiations,

she had expressed to Luann, you know, because there was obviously disagreement about who was getting paid what. And Jill doesn't get into exact specifics of that. She probably really really can't, if we're being honest. But she says that she was talking to Luann and at a certain point when the negotiations weren't going a great way, she expressed to Luan, why don't they just do this as an ultimate girl's trip? Wouldn't that just be easier? And that she thinks or knows or somehow that information got back to Andy and then it was painted like

Jill doesn't want to do this or Jill, you know, isn't happy with the situation. And so she feels that when they finally did do it as the ultimate girl's trip, that it was basically retaliatory that she wasn't included in that. And I mean, I think there might be some truth to that. It is pretty obvious with the casting. You know, Kristen Takeman is not more iconic as a New York housewife than Jill Zarian is. She wasn't on the season that Scary Island originally happened.

I mean, neither was Derinda, but Durinda's, you know, a different case. But I think, you know, Jill is kind of the biggest piece where it seemed like she was going to be involved and then she wasn't. But, you know,

she filmed another show that's going to be on in the fall, this goat competition show, I think, that's, you know, good for her. I mean, they all have stuff going on. And Jill is the first person to say, she's at a point in her life where she doesn't need to do anything she doesn't want to do

she's fine she's set she has her brand she has money she has her life she's doing well but it's pretty clear that a year ago she would have wanted this and so for her to say now that she feels like housewives is is done for her clearly there was a change and I think you know in a way it's kind of like actions speak louder than words and I think putting out this podcast episode the day after new Roney. It's like, okay. Right. Okay.

Yeah. Sure. I guess you're over it. I guess it's fine. I don't know. I don't know. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get

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Try them all now at McDonald's. Refreshers contain caffeine. Copyright 2026, the Coca-Cola Company. Sprite is a registered trademark of the Coca-Cola Company. I thought it was interesting to hear them talk about the specifics of the Bobby funeral situation. Because that was something where that was when Bethany was on the show in her. sort of second act of housewives and Jill was not and there, you know, there was this huge issue that was talked about on the show and off the show about how Bethany filmed at Bobby's

funeral without telling Jill without getting Jill's permission. The other women in the show didn't know that there were going to be cameras there. And I do think one of the more interesting parts of this podcast episode between them was getting a little more clarity on what happened there, at least according to Bethany. So basically there was this, you know, Jill was sitting Shiva and the other women were supposed to go over to Jill's after the real Shiva was done and basically do like a little filmed Shiva visit. And Jill wanted on the show, she wasn't on the show that season,

but she wanted them to sort of acknowledge Bobby's passing and, you know, show a little footage, have a little moment. It would be nice, whatever. So then when Bethany, when they filmed Bethany at the funeral, unbeknownst to anyone else, this, I guess, you know, production wanted to do it. Bethany didn't realize that Jill wasn't aware. It was a whole miscommunication, whatever. But the other women also didn't know that Bethany was going to film at the funeral. So then when they found out that she did, they decided they didn't want to go to Jill's and film the little Shiva scene. You know, was that wrong of Luann and Ramona and Sonia and whoever? I don't know. I can't say it's not my call.

But Jill was told by a producer that the women couldn't make it. without the context that they had found out that Bethany filmed at the funeral, and that was the reason they didn't want to come. Jill didn't know at the time that Bethany had filmed at the funeral, and so she only found out about that when they put out the trailer, teaser promo for the season, and she was in it. There was footage from this conversation. It was their reunion, whatever.

And so at the time, not only was Jill unaware that they had filmed at the funeral, but she was also unaware that that was the reason for the other women not coming and filming with her. So she thought that independently, these other women just kind of were like, we don't really care. We don't want to film with Jill. End of story. No additional context.

Which in that situation, it's easy to see how that would be extremely. hurtful to Jill. So this is a situation where this was probably the part of the of their conversation that I felt like was the most actually informational and actually productive in the sense of in real time, you felt like they worked through something. And Bethany was very, seemed very caught off guard. And like she had never fully known that Jill was really truly unaware. of what was happening with filming at the funeral.

And that Jill said she never signed a release for her voice to be used on camera when Bethany was miced up. And that she was told by someone at Bravo that they aired it without a release and just trusted or assumed that Jill wouldn't sue because, you know, Jill's thirsty or whatever. And Jill said, yeah, I didn't sue because I didn't have an issue with the way. they portrayed it. I thought it was tasteful the way it was shown. But of course, it would have been better, you know, had she known and had some, some input or at least the choice of whether or not

it was shown in the first place. It's tough. It's tough. And the thing with these two women is that they talk a lot about, you know, friendships on the show and can anyone maintain a friendship? and, you know, if Bethany had stayed on the show for season four, would they have been able to mend fences? And would it have been real or would it have been for the show? And, you know, it's nice that they can sit down and have this 90-minute conversation. But at the same time, it's like, I personally don't care. You know, I've been talking about it for 25 minutes.

Maybe you might think that I care. But, like, at the end of the day, I'm living in 2023. Neither Jill nor Bethany are on my TV screen, and they're not going to be anytime soon. So it's a little bit like out of sight, out of mind. I hope everyone is doing well. I hope everyone is feeling good about their choices

and their place in the world. But like, I don't really, this isn't affecting me. And I'm curious to see sort of where they go from here. Like, are we going to get a bunch of photos of them, you know, in the Hamptons together and, like, at dinner and playing tennis and, you know, sort of flaunting a friendship? Or is this just really a one-off thing? Like I said, maybe there's another podcast that they're doing. I don't know. I hopefully won't know.

But like, I don't know. Sometimes when you've lived in the public eye for so long like these women have, I get that there's this impulse to like give the people what they want and sort of like perform this friendship, this reconciliation. But like, Jill talked to on the show. They were talking about how like obviously this whole thing was coordinated. you know, Jill showed up to the house and Bethany's assistant met her at the car and walked her into this bar area where she records her podcast. It's not like they were just sitting in the yard having a chat and there happened to be a microphone there. Like it was, you know, they were creating

content. And so, you know, I appreciate having something to listen and talk about, but I do wonder sort of like what is the, what is the end game? And that's, been something that I've been wondering about with Bethany for a while now that like what is the what's the goal here we're on TikTok doing drugstore makeup reviews okay like Bethany is not she's not going to build an empire posting TikToks of dollar tree halls and you know of course she has success under her belt and she has, you know, still has fans and people who like her, but it's like, what is the, what is truly the plan? What's the goal? What's the thesis statement of everything that we're doing here? And I think when you juxtapose that with something like the new Rony cast,

it's like, that's what I want to watch every week. That's what I want to get excited about and post about and talk about and have, you know, conversations and thoughts about. And it's like this Bethany and Jill stuff. It's like, okay, good to know. Best of luck. And, you know, that's kind of where we are with that. I'm way more interested in watch what happens live when all six of the Rony Girlies are on there. And Andy asks them all what they've learned the most. And Brin's answer is that she's learned not to trust Aaron and Aaron looks like she just shit her pants on television. That is what I want to follow. And I met these women two weeks ago. Like that's the story that I am now interested in following. And I know that not everyone agrees. I mean, there are always going to be posts,

you know, I've seen this past week posting about new Roney. There's always going to be somebody in the comments that's like, I want Ramona back or, you know, this isn't Roney or whatever. And if you really feel that way, that's fine. but I just feel like, you know, life is short. I want to be entertained and, you know, having something new and fresh and exciting really just kind of, it almost, to me, it makes me kind of forget about what we had before in a way that feels like positive growth. And I mean, I will be so excited to watch that Roney legacy season.

of girls trip. Don't get me wrong. I can't wait. And I'm loving Crappy Lake. I mean, Sonia and Luann, truly, the fact that Sonia had sex with that man with Billy Richard or whatever, I have missed, Sonia Morgan yelling about getting her pipes cleaned on television is just electric. She, Luanne talking about how the business has been really rough for these like sad little children's lemonade stand injected into my veins, quite frankly. But when it comes to actual storylines and relationships that I am interested in following currently, Roney is giving me that. at least so far. And I mean, I'm glad it's here. And, you know, Orange County, great right now. Figuring out what the fuck is going on with Jen Padranti and, you know, Tamara and Gina melting down every time someone mentions infidelity. Oh, my God. Yes.

Hearing Jill and Bethany talk about something that happened 15 years ago about, you know, which producer was talking to Bethany at the polo and, you know, convincing her to do the show. it's like an interesting little detour, but it's not the plot. It's not the plot anymore. And you know, TBD on Jill and Bethany, but, you know, for now, we've got good stuff cooking. And I'm excited. And I hope you're excited too. Speaking of, I mean, maybe this is contradicting myself talking about 15-year-old shit that happened on TV. But I'm thinking about doing a Roney rewind in the vein of what we just did with Vanderpump season one. I feel like watching, maybe watching season one or like a scary island kind of vibe could be fun. Roney is in the air right now. If you have thoughts

about that, feel free to DM or let me know in a five-star review. But yeah, you know, just something to noodle on. There's always stuff going on. But, you know, I love revisiting the older stuff when it makes sense. And, you know, I'm playing around with what might, with what might be good to tackle next. So let me know if you have thoughts on that. But otherwise, thank you so much. Thank you so much. for listening. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. You can follow me at Dylan Hafer. And until next time, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mentioned at all is produced by Dylan Hafer, Sean Kilby, Jorge Morales Pico, and Rebecca Sousa McCat. Editing by Horace Pico, social media by Dylan Hafer, guest

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