This confirms that a good actor doesn’t necessarily make a great reality TV star. That’s too bad… she needs to seriously rebrand.
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This is her issue. The fact that she thought she could enter the Martha/Ina/Joanna space and somehow do something innovative and different.
It’s already been too much rebranding and name changing (jam, no jam). The waters have been sullied. She should step away (IMO) from this type of venture for a long while and try to find something that’s uniquely her - not her cosplaying someone else. For her, maybe that’s just being mom to her kids.
I watched most of the first episode. It was okay, sort of interesting. But maybe a little out of touch. Must of us don’t keep bees, and can’t make candles out of saved beeswax.
She seems like a genuinely nice person. I wouldn’t mind trying to find a rd or to the cake she was baking.
The only thing that rang snotty and planned out, was a clip I saw of her with Mindy Kaling talking about her last name. I would never have said it like that. Very rude.
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I watched most of the first episode. I really wanted to like it. But, and this is just my opinion, she herself didn’t seem very likeable.
I don’t think this is her thing but I’m not sure what is. I never watched Suits, and to be honest had no idea who she was until she started dating Harry. I might watch something with her talking about fashion and interviewing style people (since I do think she dresses impeccably 99 percent of the time). It doesn’t always have to be serious.
If you really mean “just being mom” (not being on TV) then I’m not sure how that will generate the money to keep H&M in the style to which they are clearly accustomed? OTOH being a mom on TV would mean giving up the privacy of their kids which has always been a sine qua non for them.
They are caught between a need to earn many millions of dollars per year and a desire for privacy. Those two things are irreconcilable. Hence the “worldwide privacy tour” etc. There are actors and celebrities who are famous but very private. But generally that’s only possible after they’ve made so much money that a high public profile is no longer necessary.
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Yeah… if I went to go “visit” a “friend” of mine, I wouldn’t particularly enjoy being talked down to as if I had no idea how to make a bruschetta or a skillet of “noodles” (what on earth was that?).
She’s not even real friends with Mindy Kaling, this was made clear when Kaling was interviewed about her appearance on the show. It was just a random calling-in of favors from stars that share representation with Meghan. They’d met a few times and that was it.
On top of which, she really doesn’t show much interest in her guests! She expects them to fawn over her and be so impressed with her little twine wrapped goodies. But she doesn’t really interview them or try to reveal anything about them. They are mere props.
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Seems like she’s been trying really hard to be something she’s not. IMHO she should just lean into her circumstances- she’s more or less a normal middle class kid from a broken home who became reasonably successful, then married into money (and some drama).
I think people would be more interested in seeing honest reactions of things “normal” people don’t get to experience. Along the lines of luxury travel, fine dining, designer clothing, charitable work around the US and internationally . But not with an attitude of “I’m cool and amazing” like her show but more of an “omg can you believe it, isn’t this amazing and I’m so fortunate” attitude. Because she is fortunate, and she is a normal person, just in an extraordinary circumstance.
I just thought of Ann Hathaway in Princess Diaries - part of why that movie was so fun and her character so likable was her character’s attitude. Life is truly imitating art here, and Meghan could maybe take a cue from that movie or any number of a-list stars who still come off as normal people and are loved for it (e.g. Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves).
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I agree. For example, Jason Momoa & Keanu Reeves are widely liked by the general public because, in my opinion, they both come across as being genuine & down to earth people. They don’t try to put on airs and act like they’re better than everybody else. Very humble & unassuming.
Meanwhile, Meghan kind of acts like the Queen Bee from that Mean Girls movie. Wants to control the storyline/narrative. Constantly trying to craft and shape things into an aura of “I’m a fancy big shot member of the royal family but I want you to think I’m a totally regular person while I sit here in my megamillion $$ Montecito mansion and pretend to cook for myself, even though I have staff who did it all for me.” Everything is for show with the desire to gain more popularity, more notoriety, etc.
While Meghan attempts to be the next wealthy Martha Stewart or Oprah Winfrey, what she doesn’t realize is that everybody else has kind of moved on. People have real problems…getting laid off from a job, struggling to pay your bills, rising grocery prices, etc…all the while, Meghan babbles about beeswax candles and fancy things that nobody can afford.
It turns people off because the fakeness of it all seeps through her pores without her even realizing it. She & her husband are desperate to be famous & relevant. They desperately want both total privacy while, at the same time, making foolish choices in order to stay in the celebrity headlines.
The 2 of them need to go get normal jobs. And by that, I don’t mean Netflix specials or stupid lifestyle podcasts that nobody will listen to.
Meghan is just not a very nice person. She comes across as the sort of person who will stab you in the back if it benefits her. Just look at how she handled things at her wedding re: her closest friends…tossed them to the side when she got launched onto the royal stage.
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Like “regular people” who come upon unfortunate financial circumstances, M & H could downsize their lifestyle - a LOT.
I may be alone in this but I believe that THEY think people care about them WAY more than people actually do. Americans, at least, just aren’t that into them 
Like the handfuls of other celebrities that successfully do so, they could choose to live a private life and I bet no one would bother them or care about pics of their kids. I think Meghan wants to be a star and that desire drives her continuously try and create a brand for herself. Part of that involves her finding ways to keep herself in the news cycle.
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The article about the Royal Family’s total reliance on servants I posted earlier (with photos of how Harry has servants to take off his boots, clean his sunglasses etc) is instructive, and shows why the prospect of downsizing would be completely alien to Harry:
When Meghan discovered that Harry was only worth about £20 million, she realised she needed to reassess other assumptions she’d made about this strange new family. Harry, it seemed, had spent little time explaining exactly how strange and demanding his family really are. But then, having everything done for you throughout your life by staff gives you a complacent air, something several of Harry’s former Kensington Palace advisers have noted.
King Charles once confessed to a member of staff that if you grow up having everything done for you, a mindset takes over in which you are permanently terrified that if you had to do it yourself, you’d be completely lost. He said, “It’s the only benefit of being Prince of Wales [as Charles then was] 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.”
…
Harry, though generally “one of the easiest and nicest” to work for, according to one staffer, was prone to flashes of irritation too. One of the prince’s former servants said, “I remember once in his private apartments I’d muddled something — some of his papers on the desk or something. He was immediately angry and it was out of proportion to the problem, or at least I thought it was.
“We thought it was a bit rich complaining about me being muddled, given that Harry was probably the most muddled of all the royals of his generation. The joke used to be that Harry was very much like the Prince Regent in the Blackadder television series. People used to say that without a servant, Harry would take two weeks to put on his own trousers.”
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If that is indeed true, I don’t how he found anyone who would marry him because the idea of that type of entitlement is beyond insufferable, royal or not.
This is where Meghan could help him assimilate into a servant-less life, as that was how she was brought up (and how most people were brought up). He simply needs to be shown the bank account balance.
I do think some of this is him not having any parental guidance after Diana died, resulting in a lack of maturity on some levels.
Prince Harry (and William) went to boarding school and were in the armed services. I think they probably leaned to do things in their own.
They may have not ever learned to do things like taxes and make appointments. But putting on their pants, I’m sure they do themselves.
Times have changed since Churchill who had a manservant to accompany him to war.
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One would hope so, but most people don’t rely on others to take off their boots or clean their sunglasses either. I assume William and Harry had a protection officer at Eton (as shown in the photo below, they don’t just stand around looking for threats), but I do wonder whether Harry and William ironed their own uniforms and shined their own shoes when they were in the Armed Forces. I don’t know if Harry had a protection officer with him in Afghanistan?
I watched some of the first episode. What was weird is the bee keeping segment? This is a lifestyle show yet she is “scared” of the bees. The guy she had with her apparently is the real bee keeper that “she still needs.”? I have friends who garden and have bee hives. They all do it themselves. I do not think it is doable for most people to hire a beekeeper.
I think the show could be successful if she focused on things she is expert at doing/crafting. Martha Stewart was an expert at doing all sorts of things cooking, flower arranging, crafting etc. And she presented in such a way that novices watching felt like they could do it as well.
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Much of it seems staged and inauthentic - from the mansion rental to the “friends” who don’t really know her that well (and aren’t really sure why they’re there), to the high-end clothing and jewelry she wears. I don’t know how this will find a “regular people” audience. Joanna Gaines, who is worth millions and millions, finds a way to not appear pretentious.
Netflix has gotta be regretting this decision bigly.
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I think Joanna Gaines and her husband started out in the trenches. They grew the audience and learned along the way. People trust their expertise which I think is key for any lifestyle show (how-to).
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As much as I am not a fan of H and M, I will give Harry a pass on the sunglasses cleaning. His shirt is probably soaked with sweat and would be useless in cleaning his glasses.
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I always feel that I can wear the clothes she does. That they are attractive and casual, affordable in the way that isn’t completely out of range.
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She is admittedly very good at calligraphy, but I don’t think that’s enough to carry a whole show.
As an ambitious working actress in her 20s and 30s, then a royal bride and then a royal exile, Meghan hasn’t had the time or the career to have amassed hosting and cooking expertise on the level of Ina or Martha. To me she has way less experience than even a Gwyneth Paltrow, who has managed to take criticism of her silver-spoon background and show some humor about it, even getting in on the joke. Sense of humor seems really critical here, and I’m not sure Meghan has a great one.
Other youngish “lifestyle” entrepreneurs like Joanna Gaines lean into their messiness and relatability (ie authenticity), but Meghan seems to have stalled in that department and still behaves as though she’s in the royal family.
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I think she gives off an air that we might have said that she thinks her something doesn’t stink.
I watched the first few minutes of this show. It’s not good. Almost laughably awful
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