Vanderpump Rules

There was a time when Vanderpump Rules was a breath of fresh air in the Bravo lineup.

Amid all the manufactured feuds between middle-aged one-percenters, here was a series about a group of struggling young people in the all-too relatable position of being uncertain what the future holds, or how they would make that month's rent.

We suppose this is what we get for having high expectations of a guy who shaves his forehead.

For years, Tom Sandoval was regarded as that rarest of reality TV breeds -- the genuinely nice guy.

Thanks to a new Vanderpump Rules star's racist tweets, Lisa Vanderpump is having to personally apologize for the idiots who work for her. Again.

But that doesn't mean that she's firing anyone. In fact, a report claims that the decision is out of her hands.

The Vanderpump Rules world has been rocked after a new castmember's racist tweets were exposed. That topic brought up another man's bad tweets.

Lisa Vanderpump is wading into the fray and condemning these "heinous" statements in the strongest possible terms.

Max Boyens, we hardly knew ye.

Of course, we never really wanted to get to know ye, so it's not exactly a tragedy.

Folks, let's forget about the growing threat of World War III for a moment and focus on what's really important:

A new season of Vanderpump Rules is upon, and Tuesday night's premiere has left fans deeply divided.

As it enters its eighth season, Vanderpump Rules is beginning to reach the point where most reality shows begin to show signs of age.

Producers have tried to combat this phenomenon by experimenting with new cast members, but thus far, the new additions haven't fared well -- and now, it seems another one has officially bitten the dust.

Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright has officially completed their journey.

They've gone from nightmare couple ... to cantakerous exes ... to sort of stable couple ... and now all the way to the altar.

The fateful wedding between Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright is nearly upon us, and the controversy has been all over Twitter.

This goes beyond people's issues with Jax. It turns out that the Kentucky pastor Jax and Brittany chose has said a lot of hateful things.

Reunion episodes are often as boring and superfluous as those recap talk shows that used to follow cultish TV dramas like The Walking Dead.

Fortunately, as several of them creep up on 40, the cast members of Vanderpump Rules remain so violently angry and pathologically narcissistic that they create an interesting hour of television just by rehashing old beefs and making Andy Cohen question his life decisions.

For the first six seasons of the show's run, Jax Taylor was Vanderpump Rules' resident troublemaker.

He wasn't always the show's biggest villain -- that title often belonged to James Kennedy -- but no one stirred the pot quite as effectively as Jax.

For seven seasons now, Jax Taylor has persistently confounded and baffled Vanderpump Rules viewers.

Sure, Jax might seem like an open book at first -- it's hard to drink that much and hold on to many secrets -- but it's important to bear in mind that Taylor is also a compulsive and unrepentant liar.

A curious phenomenon has been taking place on the current season of Vanderpump Rules.

Against all odds, and seemingly against their inclinations, West Hollywood's most unrepentant hedonists are very slooooowly beginning to show signs of maturity.

Recent episodes of Vanderpump Rules have asked viewers to choose a side on a number of divisive issues:

Is Jax really ready to get married, or is he simply seeking comfort in the aftermath of his father's death?

On Monday night's episode of Vanderpump Rules, there was a good deal of talk about James Kennedy's drinking problem.

And while it certainly seems as though James has some serious issues with the sauce, it's important to bear two things in mind:

While Vanderpump Rules fans wait with bated breath for Jax Taylor to finally kick James Kennedy's ass, James is causing more trouble.

Specifically, James is picking fights and feuding with his co-stars on Twitter. It's getting out of hand.

There was a time when it seemed highly unlikely, but believe it or not, the cast of Vanderpump Rules is growing up.

Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright are engaged; Stassi Schroeder is dating a guy who doesn't seem like a colossal douche-nozzle; the Toms have made the leap from Lisa's lackeys to Lisa's business partners ...

Vanderpump Rules star James Kennedy is a strong contender for the very worst person to ever appear on a reality TV show.

Hear us out on this one:

Sadly, Vanderpump Rules appears to have entered that stage in the life cycle of every popular reality show in which the cast is too relatively rich and famous to engage in the sort of petty squabbles and public outbursts that made them relatively rich and famous in the first place.