The Photo Credit for this totally not photochopped picture: BravoTv

 On tonight’s REAL Housewives of Atlanta, Kim has a marvelously easy labor and gives birth to a cute little black girl who she names Linnethia. Okay maybe not, but the way this “non-scripted” show is headed, it wouldn’t surprise me.  Before I get started, I’d like to once again point out, I have nothing against Sheree. I don’t know Sheree.  I do know that NOTHING about the Sheree Whitfield storyline has any basis in fact. NOTHING.  I just don’t understand the need to manufacture a storyline for Sheree when Kandi is always doing interesting stuff and we aren’t seeing any of that. Cynthia and Peter’s drama is real despite the awkward staging of “conversations” by Bravo. Cynthia’s sister has a very interesting storyline that is based in fact that is also going untapped. Phaedra is actually a successful businesswoman with a hot husband and a cute kid, but Bravo chooses to assign her the role of comic relief. None of this makes sense to me, and it bugs me, so I’m afraid Ms. Whitfield is going to have to suffer through being the focal point of an exposé once again.

Even more tea about the court scenes are behind the jump.



Photo Credit: Bravo TV


Let’s start with the visit to Empty Lot Sheree. Tonight we will see the true and rightful owner of the lot, Thelma Fergusen, make a visit to the “work site”.  In the name of “making good reality TV” we are treated to a scene where Thelma and Sheree stand in the empty lot which now sports a huge hole where the house used to be and have a mother daughter talk.  Sheree looks quite pretty in this scene with her curly weave and inappropriate gold sandals but even she seems to be having a hard time delivering lines like “I’m putting the pool back there” in an empty lot without the first piece of machinery let alone a solitary worker on the premises. Fortunately, the totally unscripted script calls for a mother daughter conversation about Sheree’s lack of a father in her life. In a obvious attempt by Bravo to continue its “poor mistreated Sheree” storyline we are treated to a conversation about what Sheree did not get for Christmas as a child.

Of course this story takes place in an empty lot, as all mother daughter heart-to-hearts do. Why? Because Sheree’s townhouse is not being filmed this season. Notice we have yet to see any Sheree scenes in her home. That, dear viewers, would spoil the entire illusion. So when Bravo needs yet another scene to segue into the upcoming DRAMATIC REENACTMENTS of the court scenes, we are forced to watch (we are being forced to watch this, right? ) as some pretty houses are flashed on the screen and then we arrive at Empty Lot Sheree. In perhaps one of the most awkward scenes in Bravo history we hear mother and daughter keep repeating that poor,poor Sheree’s father never bought her a  Speak and Spell for Christmas. I could not make this stuff up. The scene wraps as the two decide that the only way to keep this cycle of deprivation from continuing is to hit up ole Butt Head Bob for the seven figures Sheree so richly deserves. It was awfully mean of Butt Head Bob to only give her 1.1 million dollars in the divorce. How will her kids ever learn to spell with that paltry amount?

So this sets us up for the court scenes. And this is where my confusion really sets in. I try to suspend all disbelief when watching RHOA these day, but LAWD do they make it hard.  I have seen two clips of courtroom scenes involving Phaedra representing Sheree “in court”.  What I have not seen is any tangible evidence in the Fulton County court records of any representation by Phaedra ever occurring. Up until today, it has been my assumption that these scenes are dramatic reenactments of the actual court appearances with Phaedra Parks playing the part of Sheree’s real divorce lawyer Nichol Hanyard. But even I admit there are problems with this explanation. Let’s start with the clip shown for a brief second at the end of the Empty Lot Sheree scene.

This is Judge Arrington  Credit: Fulton County website

In this scene, Phaedra is at the defendants table and is heard saying ” Phaedra Parks for the respondent, Your Honor.” Well at least the storyline now has Sheree as the defendant, and that much is true.  And it also shows Butt Head Bob at the plaintiff’s table with his own documents representing himself. That is also true. Butt Head Bob represented himself in several motions to the court and won them all.  As much as I love the term Butt Head Bob, I must confess to knowing that he is one smart cookie. I also know that he keeps the kids as much if not more than Sheree. He’s not the evil deadbeat Dad we see on the show. Though he was really harsh to Sheree and collaterally to his kids during the divorce, so he doesn’t get a halo either.

What perplexes me about this clip is the judge they show on the bench. That would be Judge Arrington.
Judge Arrington is not only a real judge but a very well-known and well-respected judge in Fulton County. Why on earth would he be participating in this charade?  Not only is he not the judge for the divorce hearings (That would be Judge Lane, but we will get to her in a minute) Judge Arrington was the judge that ruled against both Sheree and Bob in some lawsuits that had to do with Bob’s  Patchwerk Recording Studio which he has since sold to his partners. So did Butt Head Bob take Sheree to court for something to do with that in addition to the divorce modification issue? Again, I didn’t see that in the court records. Also, there are only two or three people in the courtroom. Fulton Superior Court is always packed. Anyone who was waiting for a case before Judge Arrington would be sitting in the gallery if only for lack of a better place to wait.  Nothing about that clip can be logically connected in my brain.  

Judge Downs Photo Credit: Fulton Court



Judge Lane Photo Credit: Fulton Court



Y’all are going to have to watch tonight’s episode, and/or Tuesday night’s episode to help me unravel the manipulation and misdirection. I think the Judge Arrington farce will be up first and the scenes with a fake Judge Lane happen later in the season. At this point, Kim giving birth to a black baby girl and naming her Linnetha would make a lot more sense than all this.

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