Auld Lang Syne

“Auld Lang Syne” – which roughly translates to “times gone by”– was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788 and is thought to have been based on a Scottish folk song. And with that every year many drunkenly or not so drunk fumble through the words as a way of acknowledging farewell to the previous year.

I am not sure when I recall first hearing the song, singing it or even remembering it. I do recall watching New Years Eve broadcasts and it was always the concluding number after midnight usually done by the Guy Lombardo Orchestra which as I grew older was replaced by Dick Clark’s Rockin New Year’s Eve. ** I have posted the history of NYE below for those curious** We have many variations today and with that equal amount of performances and ways to acknowledge the new year, of course the most famous is the one directly across the river at Times Square and the infamous ball which drops at midnight and the revelers that were there all day do the kiss and then vacate after a long day of standing in what ostensibly is pens. Yes folks are corralled in pens with no ability to leave. Sounds great.

Many have their favorites, I used to love Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper on CNN, then she was terminated due to a poorly done photo of Trump, and his BRAVO friend, Andy Cohen took his place. The roster was covered by additional CNN hosts, my personal favorite as always was drunk Don Lemon and his cohort Brooke Baldwin. I think that is what made Don Lemon so popular and people forget that he began on the network late Saturdays and was even then a fascinating train wreck which over time became just frankly too political and he is now on the AM show and apparently doing well. I have actually watched CNN of late as it is less talk more news and with that they decided to stop the drinking between the two AC’s. MISTAKE. Neither man is actually funny, Andy Cohen is a misogynist and a mean drunk which tells you what he is like in real life, and Anderson doesn’t drink but is just a giggly girl who reminds one of the Prom Queen drunk on Seltzer and might actually let loose. I managed an hour, missing talk that concluded with how Iran brings in the New Year by hanging criminals. Okay then. Bring it on.

But I missed the other alternatives, NYE in Nashville (sorry I lived there and with that trigger warnings) and the Dolly Parton/Miley Cyrus show that included oddly David Byrn which was from what I can tell fascinating to watch. While I could imagine ringing in the New Year with David that is not how I would have. But okay then. Bring it on.

As I ended my new year doing what I have promised myself in the forthcoming year to do less of, attend Theater. The recent performance of Death of a Salesman had an Audience member so drunk and out of control that Wendell Pierce had to stop, break the fourth wall and ask her to leave and offer to refund her money. This is not surprising as this is the new Theater audience, either entitled and feel they can police and monitor behavior, or the insane who have no sense of behavior and personal boundaries. They sort of overlap on the Venn Diagram of Audience with the sing along crowd, the illicit taping or photo taking, and of course the lack of comprehension of the subject and are there as they are the FOMO crowd and truly don’t ‘get it.’

Theater is a crapshoot and again very objective, what one likes another can loathe. Again the Met Opera and the woman who screamed at me at the Subway in a full state of tears regarding the opera, The Hours, “IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE.” Or the two men on the way out ranting that it was horrid and they wished they left during the Intermission. Which one? The first or the second during the three hours plus long opera? Again I wonder why they hated it and with that I have bad news it is being brought back for next season, fully the same cast as the entire run was sold out. Yet I met not one person who liked it? For the record it will be sold out the next time too with many going again. Me no. But I did not hate it, I just found it lacking that cohesion that desperately needed a connection to explain the three women’s stories. I knew it but let’s assume many do not. It was based on the book, not the movie and with that I have met few who fucking read, let alone that book so I can understand the frustration. The hate no.

And with that even how bad the two pieces I saw on Friday, 1776, the Musical and Des Moines, the last play by the late Author, Denis Johnson, both with interesting casting choices, could not overcome the overwhelming weakness of script. The former simply dated and despite the “woke” casting of Women/Women of Color and Trans Women it seemed campy and much like a Drag Show send up. Des Moines was an unfinished work which the Author knew was incomplete and needed revisions but had established that it could not be done posthumously. And with that the cast did its best to make it work and I admit I went to see Michael Shannon who is on Showtime right now doing a poor imitation of the late Country Music Star, George Jones, but who I have a massive crush on. That ended not because of the play as I saw him prior to the show walking to the theater, lumbering as if he was lost or dazed and much like many old men I see attending theater and like the same men, like I did, left 1776 at Intermission. See that is how you do it. I just left and when I did I stopped in the restroom I realized one of the Men was heading in that direction, he then walked into the Ladies room and was in the stall next to me. I looked down his feet facing forward so I was not sure as he was masked but he could be a Man, be Trans or just “identify” as a woman. He raced out without washing his hands and was heading for the door. All of it just screamed weird. Irony that earlier the Ladies room was packed so I used the Men’s room, and when I went in I yelled “Anyone here?” Then as I was in the stall I heard the voices and told the women that I was the only one in there and to come in so they did. I should have definitely done the same, as while I was not unsafe in any sense I simply don’t get it. If you are a man or have become one be one, use the right restroom out of respect of those who simply don’t get it or because guess what you forfeited that right once you changed. Or here is plan, convert them all to have a single use one that locks to prevent the dilemma. This is why we have a problem right now, we simply cannot disagree in a healthy manner. I have zero problem with trans but I was sure that it was a man next to me.. why? Irony again as I left I checked the men’s room was again empty. Des Moines I managed to make it to the last 20 minutes and suddenly when the stage/theater went dark I took that to make my leave and slipped out of what was again a largely empty theater. Needless to say that was why my crush on Michael Shannon ended, I could not discern the character from the man I saw on the street; One review said he lumbered along the stage, well that is not far from what I saw, so Old Man and See Ya!

And with that we have a problem with how we express ourselves or share our experiences. When I said to the Women outside the men’s room, “come in there is no one in here so don’t worry or be afraid” they felt the need to correct that. And there is truth to that; but again if you identify or are transitioning you need to embrace it. I would have no problem with a Woman who I often call a “Big Girl” as she is a Woman now and should be acknowledged and treated as such. But once you are on one side or the other, stick with it. I get it. One it that there are urinals and no one wants to see that, I suspect men don’t either, but that is a personal issue just like watching me pee or take a shit. Some of this can simply be resolved by having one bathroom, no urinals and floor to ceiling locking stalls. They exist and I have used them and have no problem with that and it does stop the idea of doing what I did, lean down to check feet positioning, etc. But for fuck’s sake figure this shit out.

And with the need for inclusion and access, the MET Opera has commissioned finally works to include more by Women and POC. Better late than never but the reality is that it will never be enough or that they only started now. Fuck off, take it for a win and let it go or let them do it and accept it for bad or worse. Hey it can only open more doors, like toilets which apparently were the initial battleground I guess. And with that taking a dated Musical that we can say needs to stay in the graveyard such as 1776, casting it with POC, Women and members of the LGBQT community are not going to make a shitty thing not smell. It was a relic past its time so here’s an idea – WRITE YOUR OWN. Create a piece that addresses the issues of Women, Natives and of course Slaves. Gosh that would be hard! Okay, then. Why bother? But figure it out.

And that is where we are taking relics and redoing them to make them woke. Funny that very little was done to Death of a Salesman other than cast Black Actors and expand a role, enable a scene that permitted some music to accommodate the talents of two Actors who do sing, and yet it made perfect sense and there it was. Why the woman went nuts, I have no idea, but it is clear that again the theater crowd is of late a hot mess. I was relieved that in both plays I saw this weekend I had the rows to myself, I felt utterly relieved. I am so over it. Well in 1776 they insisted we all wear the provided masks and yet no rows behind us needed to. WTF? I have one play left and one musical (Moulin Rouge) both on a Wednesday and I am optimistic as the crowds dissipate in January and I hope for the best. I still have a lot of Opera, Comedy and Music on the calendar but they too have been largely absent of crowds and the ability to move seats is always there. I am just not sure anymore how I feel with regards to theater in the future. And I don’t feel I am not missing anything. That may be a good message for most to follow this coming year. Miss less.

Now how about a cup of auld lang syne.

From the Chicago Tribune:

While Ryan Seacrest now has the spotlight duty of guiding the New Year’s Eve festivities from New York City’s Times Square, it was Dick Clark — until his death in April 2012 at age 82 — who did the same for a 35-year span. Prior to Clark, it was bandleader Guy Lombardo as the best known personality for almost a half-century of live New Year’s Eve broadcasts from 1929-1976 on radio, and later TV live from New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel ballroom. It was 40 years ago when Lombardo signed off for his final broadcast on Jan. 1, 1976. And this year marks the 40th anniversary of when he died at age 75 in November 1977 and Clark took over the annual broadcasts.

In addition to our tradition at the farm for watching the New York countdown to the new year, there’s also other favorite folklore we follow about our New Year’s traditions. Here are some of my favorite facts and fun tips for starting the new year off right according the lore and legends passed along throughout the centuries.

Making the date — New Year’s celebrations have been observed since prehistoric times. However, only within the past 400 years has Jan. 1 been the widespread observed holiday. The Romans, in 153 B.C., were the first to use Jan. 1 to mark the beginning of the new year.

Cease to Caesar — Roman Emperor Julius Caesar tried to change the New Year date from Jan. 1 to a later date. Though he was voted down by the Senate — to make the ruler happy — the month of his birth was named in his honor: July.

A noisy night — Some of the most familiar trademarks of New Year’s parties are noisemakers, masks and paper hats. This tradition began many centuries ago as an effort to “hide your identity” while making noise to “drive away evil spirits” from hampering the new year. In China, firecrackers are used as “the loudest noisemakers around.”

Weather or not — Dating back to the times of ancient Babylon, it is believed the weather on New Year’s Day is symbolic of what the weather will be like for the rest of the new year. For example, sunny, rainy, cold, warm … Some people even believe each of the 12 days before New Year’s Day are symbolic of what the weather will be like for each of the 12 months in the new year. Many believe a windless New Year’s Day means a dry summer; windy means floods; and breezy indicates summer rainfall.

Presidential party time — George Washington, our country’s first president, is credited for holding the first public reception and presidential inauguration. According to his diary entry for New Year’s Day 1790: “Many came between the hours of 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to pay the compliments of the season to me, and in the afternoon, a great number of ladies and gentlemen visited Mrs. Washington on the same occasion.”

Mum’s the word — The Swedish and English who settled along the Delaware River began the tradition of the “Mummers’ Parade of Philadelphia,” which is still held each New Year’s Day. Groups dressed in fancy costumes sing and present plays along the streets while “mumming,” which means begging for money, food, drinks or belated Christmas gifts.

Flower power — The most famous New Year’s Day parade for most people is “The Tournament of Roses Parade,” held each year in Pasadena, Calif., which features more than 70 floats constructed from and covered with flowers. Originally meant to celebrate “the ripening of oranges in California,” it now has come to mean the opening of The Rose Bowl football game, which first began in 1902, when the University of Michigan defeated Stanford 49 to 0. Ouch!

Hide the Tide detergent — Some people believe whatever a person does on New Year’s Day will indicate the type of year that awaits. If you do laundry on New Year’s Day, you will have a hard year of work ahead and a death in the family. (Gulp!) Washing clothes on Jan. 1 is said to represent “washing someone out of your life!” Also, forget about sewing. It is said if you sew on New Year’s Day, you will be sewing a shroud (a cloth used to cover a dead body for a funeral) by the end of the year!

Look who’s there — Should the first visitor to your house on New Year’s Day be a female, bad luck will follow. If the first visitor is a man, expect good luck. Many visitors at one time indicates good fortune. Also, nothing should be taken outside the house unless something is brought back in, in exchange.

The Times Square New Year’s Eve trademark is the 6-foot lighted ball that descends 70 feet on a pole to the ground to symbolize the arrival of the New Year. The first “glowing ball” was built in 1907 built by Russian immigrant and metalworker/signmaker Jacob Star, after the city outlawed fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

Eating answers — Your New Year’s menu can be very important if you believe our ancestors. To gain wealth in the new year, eat cabbage or sauerkraut. Cabbage, and it’s green tint, is said to represent paper money. Germans believe eating herring (a strong-flavored fish often served in sour cream or vinegar) will bring good luck all year round. In Italy, pig’s feet or pork and lentil beans are eaten. The lentil beans symbolize “coins” to bring wealth in the new year. People are told to eat pork and poultry on New Year’s. The reason for this is because chickens scratch backwards (symbolizing a return to the old) and pigs root with their noses forward (symbolizing moving on to the new year.) Black-eyed peas are another favorite for good luck. And always make sure your salt shaker is full on New Year’s Day “to ensure you will prosper all year long.”

Wring it out

Rather than ringing in the new year, may I suggest wringing out the old one like a wet cloth and then throwing in the wash to clean and recycle as the old year is the new year in every way. We still have a raging pandemic with a new more infectious strain entering the marketplace (which like Covid the first one was here a lot sooner than realized), a vaccine rollout that is of course badly handled and secured, allowing this asshole in Wisconsin to fuck with some of them making them utterly useless. Reasons, like the Nashville Bomber, remain to be seen but being an angry white man seems to be reason enough.

I am not sure we as a country “get it.” The reality is that no one is exempt from contracting Covid, not even those who had it earlier in the pandemic season, a season that is perennial, at this point. So for those who felt the need to revel as if it was a good idea, you are revealing your sheer arrogance and ignorance of reality and facts. As I chatting with my Concierge this morning at 6 am, after my pre-dawn workout in the gym (as there is not one way in hell freezing up or otherwise I will work out with anyone in there as I have seen the behaviors that are reason enough in the best of times.. yikes, people you are really fucking weird in in the gym) and two highly coiffed women walked in, doing a new kind of walk of shame as I could not believe what I was seeing. Why? Do you think that your beauty will fade over the year and cannot risk not being out, and Covid is a risk worth taking?

There is something wrong with the notion of delayed gratification and clearly altering and accommodating one’s expectations and behaviors for the greater good. Are we all in a Stephen King hybrid novel, IT takes a STAND. In this the proverbial sewer rat comes above ground to rule the world during a pandemic. In the process children who once recalled him and his taking of their friends are now adults and try to save us from the shit literally hitting the air and killing us all.

I keep thinking why I hate millennials and they are truly a scourge on the world, as I read recently the first of that cohort hits 40 in 2021 and are worried about facing age discrimination. Oh.my.fucking.god. And I was worried about old white men. But in reality that group are just like their parents, struggling financially, having fewer children, marrying later and in fact thanks to 9/11, the 2008 recession and now the pandemic these children of the corn v. 2.0 are not all that a bag of vegan tortilla chips. Go gracefully into that good night, hipsters. Wear purple and feel good about it. But for all good this year resolve to shut.the.fuck.up.

I am not a new years eve person and anything forced upon me, as to which means I have to have a good time usually means not planning to have said good time and wish I was home is how I have celebrated the new year. And yes asshole it is okay that I don’t go out and booze it up, as my Mother used to say, “NYE is for amateurs and we are not amateurs.” So I grew up first watching Dick Clark and later by watching CNN, channel surfing, or just listening to music and having a great meal. Last year I was in a hotel, lit several candles and was drinking wine watching CNN when a knock on the door was hotel security and they had a complaint that I was smoking. No I invited them in to show otherwise, and was told that candles are also equivalent of smoking and I had to put them out. Not a problem and went back to TV and promptly opened the slider, put a wet towel at the door and lit them again. Problem solved. I do put out candles before I go to bed that is what usually leads to issues so I do get it but then again what I do is the same what I do when I go to the gym. I practice self care and in turn ensure that I will be safe regardless and that is what matters and if you are in my orbit you will be safe as well. I don’t think people see it the same way, and hence is why you have idiots flying across country, going to parties and coming back to high rises infecting others that cross your path. That is the insidious creep of Covid that you can be positive and never show any symptom nor sign of the disease and in the meantime transmitting it to at least 2 others who come into your range. Thanks, I’ll pass.

As I watched the most boring if not bizarre CNN broadcast with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, whose welcome mat I have long withdrawn, along with his housewives who seem to venture into criminal activities, tax evasion, business failures, multiple other marriages, alcoholism, eating disorders and sexual identity issues as a form of entertainment. No its a tragedy and a subject for a documentary not a “reality” series. As for Anderson I have issue that he allowed a mistake by a talented comedian, Kathy Griffin, used to terminate her broadcast partnership with him and led to Cohen as co-host. The reality is mistakes are made and what seems acceptable on the right side of the aisle with parties and other events passing along Covid is not something the left seem to reconcile with. So her stupid photo shoot that led to a FBI investigation and other career blackballing should not be over and she of all people should be allow to ask for forgiveness and be forgiven. This woman did not rape multiple people, masturbate in front of colleagues and demand some quid pro quo agreement in exchange for work and sexual gratification, so why the endless penance? This is misogyny once again on display and that of all people two gay men are ones participating in this is irony, don’t ya think?

Instead this “new” version had them standing in a large vacant Times Square with satellite interviews with celebrities and some taped entertainment while still doing reporting from locations that were socially distant and had little to do with celebrating or acknowledging ways and other places celebrate New Year. I am not sure watching a reporter get a tattoo, another chatting maniacally from a hotel room (unless there is Guiliani in there with his hands down his pants is there a point?) or another cavorting at a dog shelter is anyone’s idea of interesting or entertaining but then again I have a standard. Given how bad it has been for the entertainment sector and that we are in fucking New York City why not open all the closed houses and share some talent of artists who are struggling. A small band or orchestral performance, some musical talents, dancers, actors and any number of others who can perform socially isolated and yet alive to hear and see them in real time. Why not take a Nashville performer on the cusp be introduced by a more famous performer and showcase them in of all places the Mother Church, the Ryman? Or take the Dance Theater of Harlem, and have their dancers to dance through the streets of Harlem. Go to New Orleans to a closed Tipitinas and listen to the music versus drunken Don Lemon getting a piercing. Find the same equivalent throughout the country to showcase all the American talent that exists despite it all. Funny when I see commercials doing it than CNN certainly can. But we get the two GBFF’s taking shots. Wow, what an amuse douche.

The pandemic has changed it all, all of it, not just New Year’s Eve. Unless we are willing to admit that and deal with it we will never move forward and onward. And despite Bill DiBlasio thinking by Jan 31, he will have overseen a million more people getting the vaccine (for those mathematically disinclined that is 32,000 a day needing to get shot up) I wonder what reality he is living in. They have barely managed the 88K they have done. There is not enough vaccine in which to do so, who are these million people, are they all essential workers and again what is the definition and how were they classified and assigned such a spot, and where is this happening? Will Cuomo commandeer the Javitz Center again to turn it into literally a shooting gallery?

And this is a problem that has to be solved across the country, with hard decisions being made. And with that comes the wringing of hands like a towel to decide who and how that lottery number gets picked. The idea was essential workers first and front liners with regards to medical personnel. Again is that every Doctor and Nurse in America who simply may come into contact via their practice from a patient. What about Dentists and others who are also by the very nature of work coming into close contact, such as Physical Therapists and Home Health Care workers. Then we have the food processing and distribution and sale, another large cohort. Then transportation from public to private as that would include airlines and their personnel as well. They saw and handled 11 Million people these past few weeks so they are too on the front line. Then next Teachers and all those associated with schools and education from K-12 and beyond. Then the old people in Nursing Homes, but no we are putting them after hospital folks. Again this institution is one I struggle with as when you are in Assisted Living why and in turn will this factor in the decision as one with Alzheimer’s or other terminal diseases, why are they getting this over others who have a healthier longer outcome. And this goes into the idea of others who are at-risk. Cannot they be quarantined until the rest of America is vaccinated and then they can be in turn the last to be in line. Oh but that is bad, no? Yes? Which is it?

None of this is been established and like the testing debacle will mean it will go haywire early on. So this New Year expect it to be like the last. Get that towel and cry into it and then wash it as tears are droplets and again Covid is an airborne disease that yes you can catch or not, your choice if you are willing to play hard. Nope, hard is just that hard and I cannot give anymore. Personal responsibility is a challenge but I choose to live well and that is a term that has reverence. And I love life. Funny those who say that and then act in opposition are oxymorons. Emphasis on moron. Happy New Year, whatever that means.

Really?

You can always tell whether or not I believe in the BS someone is telling me by my tone of voice and how I say the word “Really?”  And in Reality TV where there is little reality there I don’t even bother, I just laugh.

I watch most of my reality on Bravo the station that truly brought new heights to the term reality and in turn I believe created ‘celebreality’ as an occupation.  And secretly my dream is to be a guest bartender on Watch What Happens Live the late night talk show on Bravo, hosted by Andy Cohen, the man with the best wonky eye and facial reactions, not to mention the ability to take a swing, punch or heavily profanity laced diatribe better than anyone.  Dick Cavett, Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin and those talk show hosts of another era who understood that when drinks are served they are not the only thing that flies.

My new favorite for utterly unknown reasons is Million Dollar Listing New York.  It reminds me why I love the city and why I would never live there.  The antics of the three brokers is so absurd, narcissistic and yet oddly explanatory about why I loathe real estate agents and why I think they are part, if not most of the problem, towards the excessive costs with regards to home ownership. Add to that I think they were largely ignored in their role as foot soldiers in the mortgage crisis.  Watching these three predators stalk prey in New York is not only laughable it is amazing they have careers.  From duplicity to outright fraud you can say “edited for television” only so many times before you wonder how many hours did they film these guys to get this?  There are only 24 hours in a day and I know many believe the nonsense that people work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, but one perusal of the rest of the New York Times or any other paper or journal there seems to be ample down time to partake in the food, fun and other pursuits of a city dweller.  And this show seems to manage to show both and including an ass exposed shower scene.  Well if your agent’s ass matters then we have a new addition to the ubiquitous  head shot on most realtor’s business cards.

The article below is about the show but it is something seen to be believed.  I cannot decide which of these morons I loathe more.  The ex porn star puts the queen into drama, the shower dude puts the ass into hole and the new kid on the block who can add bait and switch to his resume in more ways than one thanks to having an equally duplicitous twin brother.

New York if you can make it there you can be anyone there.  It is just good to know that Wall Street does not own the patent on lying sacks of shit.

The Real and the Unreal on Reality TV

Robert Caplin for The New York Times

Luis D. Ortiz of Keller Williams Realty, has joined the cast of “Million Dollar Listing New York.”

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO

When last we checked in with the aggressive trio of brokers on “Million Dollar Listing New York,” the former hand model and soap actor Ryan Serhant was working the deal of his career at a SoHo loft, while the former Swedish porn actor Fredrik Eklund had opened himself up to love.

Fans of the reality show will be rewarded in Season 2, which is to start May 8 on Bravo, with more catfights and dirty tricks among the brokers, and in the season finale, Mr. Eklund’s emotional wedding on an island in South Florida. 

After success with the original “Million Dollar Listing” in Los Angeles, the New York show pulled in an average of more than a million viewers an episode and was sold to almost 100 countries. Now the cable network is in discussions about “Million Dollar Listings” in both Miami and San Francisco, according to a person familiar with Bravo’s plans. The Los Angeles show, which is returning this summer for its sixth season, averaged 1.28 million viewers per show last year. 

And why not? Real estate is on fire again, certainly in New York, and lately in Miami as well. Mr. Serhant and Mr. Eklund had a year of huge sales and credit the show for at least part of their success.

But television can be a messy business, and efforts to make good television can clash with the challenges of representing the realities of real estate transactions. And as “Million Dollar Listing” shows, it can be the fame-seeking brokers themselves who drive the faux drama that keeps the ratings up, sometimes to the distraction of real-life owners. 

Mr. Eklund saw his team’s gross commissions nearly double, to $5.27 million, and last year he and his partner, John Gomes, and 10 others were the second-ranked broker team within Douglas Elliman, the city’s largest brokerage, having risen from eighth place the year before. Mr. Serhant, a broker with Nestseekers, moved from an office over a burger joint on 49th Street to his own space in TriBeCa, and went from having one assistant to a team of 12, with perks including a chauffeur-driven Escalade.

“They could pay us nothing and we would probably still do it,” said Mr. Serhant, 28, “because the advertising is something you can’t buy.” 

But just as buyers of million-dollar apartments should beware of the not-so-pleasant details of any listing, so too should viewers understand that “M.D.L.N.Y.” sometimes offers an alternate form of reality. 

Michael Lorber, a broker at Elliman and the son of its chairman, Howard Lorber, said he decided to quit the show after the first season because it did little for his business. It is filled with scenes recreated for the cameras, he said. Scenes of the brokers waking up in the morning, for instance, were often filmed in the afternoon. One time the producers asked him to dress in winter clothing in the summer to walk into a building, for a shot that would be added to a show that had been taped long before. “It was so stupid,” he said. 

“Most of my clients don’t watch the show,” he added, noting that the thrust of his sales — co-ops — have never been represented on “M.D.L.N.Y.” because notoriously thorny co-op boards want nothing to do with it. “People do it for the fun and to be famous.” 

With the production team insisting on capturing the brokers’ home life, Mr. Eklund hit an early snag when the condo board at 21 Astor Place, where he lived, refused to allow seven months of filming (even after he offered to pay them, he said). So he rented a second apartment a few blocks away; there, he said, the film crew shot scenes of him waking up and hanging around the kitchen. 

The pace of real estate is such that even with Bravo’s seven-month shooting schedule, deals can fall apart and viewers may not get the whole story. Mr. Serhant’s double-unit sale at 95 Greene Street in SoHo became a shadow of its former self — whittled down to a single unit — due to legal issues, after the cameras stopped shooting, something that was awkwardly noted in quick on-screen text in the season’s closing seconds. 

Some things are never explained. In the Season 2 premiere, Mr. Eklund asks Stuart Parr, a film producer, if he is the owner of the Marble House, a town house in TriBeCa. Mr. Parr replies that he is the “owner, designer and actual contractor.” He gives Mr. Eklund 30 days to sell the residence for $17.5 million. What is not revealed is that Mr. Parr was not the actual owner, but an old equity partner in the company that previously owned the building; he was trying to flip the apartment before he was contractually obligated to acquire it, said Justin Ehrlich, a partner at VE Equities, which owns the building. 

Mr. Eklund said he had not found out about the ownership situation “until much later.” Mr. Parr said this week that although VE Equities owned the unit, “I controlled the right to sell it.” 

The Marble House ended up being a kind of Waterloo for Mr. Eklund. He noted on the show that he spent $40,000 trying to market it, even trying publications aimed at wealthy Chinese and Russian buyers. In the end Mr. Parr ran out of time; in March he had to buy it for $9.46 million or lose it. 

He blamed the Bravo show for problems selling the place. He forbade Mr. Eklund to film at Marble House after the second episode, saying Mr. Eklund’s need to sell within the time frame of the show was interfering with his own attempts to sell. 

Mr. Eklund responded by saying, “We worked incredibly hard to sell this property and, unfortunately, did not succeed.” He added that he sold 38 apartments in the second season. 

Last year Holly Parker, an Elliman broker, said the show had staged a broker party at a penthouse at 100 11th Avenue that she had sold for $19.4 million. So brokers were ostensibly being introduced to the listing after Ms. Parker already had a signed contract. She referred to the show as “all make-believe.” 

Shari Levine, a senior vice president of Bravo, defended the show’s realism. “The level of reality is very high,” she said. 

And these sorts of issues don’t really bother Dottie Herman, the chief executive of Elliman. She says the bottom line is what matters to her, not the messy details. 

“They might throw an extra party or two,” she said, “but there would be nothing that would be false false.” 

The brokers insisted that they themselves drive the drama, not the producers. In the Season 2 premiere, Mr. Serhant shows up at Mr. Eklund’s open house for the Marble House. After Mr. Eklund ribs him about his collapsed deal in SoHo, Mr. Serhant strips off his shirt and dives into the pool.

“I think I got a little too cavalier” and jumped in to irritate him, Mr. Serhant said. 

Mr. Eklund later shows up at Mr. Serhant’s office unannounced to complain about the stunt, and the two trade nasty put-downs. 

Last week Mr. Eklund said he was still annoyed. “But does one part of me acknowledge that this could be good TV?” he said. “Perhaps. It is a fine line.” 

Luis D. Ortiz, the Keller Williams broker who replaced Mr. Lorber, and who plays up his Puerto Rican heritage on the show, enlists the help of a doorman at 15 Broad Street to divert people from Mr. Serhant’s open house to his own listing in the building, where he offers salsa lessons. And in a later episode Mr. Ortiz, 26, enlists his twin brother, Daniel, to alter photos of an apartment in bad need of a kitchen remodel. 

After an open house at which potential buyers question Mr. Ortiz’s honesty, his bosses at Keller Williams put him on probation. “I don’t regret it,” he said last week. “It was part of a learning process.” 

Mr. Ortiz has run-ins with both of his cast mates in Season 2. And the tension between Mr. Serhant and Mr. Eklund never lets up. The animosity is delicious, of course, for the cameras. 

It came as no surprise to Mr. Serhant that Mr. Eklund didn’t invite him to his February wedding to Derek Kaplan, 38, on Little Palm Island in the Florida Keys. Although Mr. Serhant was not there, a Bravo film crew of 16 joined the 64 guests at the resort for four days. Cameras captured uncomfortable talk of a prenuptial agreement and monogamy, Mr. Eklund said. 

“Filming a reality show is like jumping out of an airplane,” Mr. Eklund said. “You just hope at some point on the way down that parachute is going to go off. I am a control freak in real estate. But you cannot control this, there is no way.”