Strong, Terrifying Women

I don't get Oxygen, but "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" aired on Bravo this past week, so I decided to give it a look. I can't decide whether I like Janice or not. She's been hard, brash, cutting and crazy, but I've also seen her vulnerable, hurt and caring. One thing sure is that she is a very complex woman. Like many people, probably, I first became aware of her when she was a judge on the first few seasons of "America's Next Top Model". You never knew what she was going to say or do, which may be a big part of her popularity.

Her appearance on "The Surreal Life" was heart-wrenching. I think she and Omarosa were expected to create some entertaining catfights, but Omarosa was just hurtful and many things happened that made Janice reveal some very hurtful things in her past. Her love for her children was also made quite clear. I don't think that living in a house full of other strong personalities was good for her.

Which makes me wonder why, on the season of the show that I saw last week, she had herself and several models moving in together. I thought watching a casting call was interesting, though I can't imagine that clients would usually put of with so much yelling from an agent. Yes, she was yelling at the models, but was it really necessary? Plus she came up with a couple of inappropriate, in my opinion, comments. These revolved around her wanting to point out or fake latino lineage for her models since the client was latina. Still, I wish her well. If the show is in its 4th season, then she must be doing something right.

I also watched the second episode of "Tabatha's Salon Takeover". I have to admit that the woman has far more patience than I ever imagined. In her place, I think I would have told the owner where he could put his shop and walk out. He knew he was losing money, the salon was demonstrably filthy and his staff was obviously unhappy. He somehow saw none of that and just made excuses.

Perhaps Tabatha stuck with it because after testing the stylists she found they were all skilled and deserved a decent place to work. She managed to get the salon cleaned up and redecorated, which lifted everyone's spirits. While I don't think she made a long-lasting change in the owner, she did empower the stylists. Hopefully, they will make him be accountable as manager of the salon or go off and find better places to work.

From the previews, next week's salon manager looks like quite a piece of work. Licking clients? Ugh! Hopefully, she'll set him straight. I'll be there to watch.