Real Housewives of OC: The Mysterious Lou

OC Energy Angels

Lou, we hardly knew ye...

It's the third season of the Bravo TV Reality series, Real Housewives of Orange County.

We've come to follow the lives of Jeanna, Vicki, Lauri, Tammy, and the newest 'Housewife' additions, Tamra and Quinn.

The series opened with the news of the death of Tammy's ex, 67-year-old Lou. A peripheral character who managed to be on the show with a new product line, OC Energy Drink.

Part of the back story on Real Wives about Tammy and her two daughters with Lou was how they were used to an extra 'extra' lavish lifestyle until Tammy's then "older" husband Lou filed for bankruptcy.

Flash forward: Tammy is divorced from Lou and dealing with living with less income and a simpler lifestyle. Tammy's two daughters are dealing with the fact that their father left them with no will and no inheritance, that he "promised" he'd always "take care of them."

Tammy had a long term relationship and son with Duff after her split with Lou. The second season focused on Duff's attempt to rekindle something with Tammy. It also saw Lou come into the show via his new "business," OC Energy Drink, and his relationship with his two daughters with Tammy, Megan and Lindsey.

His schtick: hire the lovely daughters of the OC ladies to "advertise" the drink as "OC Angels." Sort of "live" product placement in a show that worked quite well.

From OC Energy Drink:

Only a few select Women have been chosen to represent the company as “The OC Angels”. The product and our OC Angels receive Global brand recognition, through “The Real Housewives of Orange County”; a syndicated TV show on the Bravo network, which airs in over 114 countries around the world.

The viewers of Real Housewives were only privy to Lou's scheme of having the Real Housewives' daughters be the product's model/bikini wearing spokesgirls. Tammy and Lou's daughter Lindsey, Lauri's daughter, Ashley, Vicki's daughter, Briana, and Jeanna's daughter, Kara were spokesgirls/models at the OC Energy drinks official introduction.

Youtube - Behind the scenes w/The OC Angels

Lou's marketing strategy paid off:

From RG Global Lifestyles:

Glaser noted, “Launched in July of 2006, OC Energy is really starting to take off, and our new high speed production line provides the capacity to meet our current and projected needs well into the future. The exposure OC Energy received on Bravo TV’s ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ hit reality show this past season sparked a surge in demand for our product. With the show now in syndication internationally, we expect an exponential increase in the exposure to consumers worldwide, further increasing demand for OC Energy beverages. Additionally, we believe our ‘OC Angels’ spokeswomen who have been featured on ‘Real Housewives’ will play a key role in generating increased exposure and demand for our products through a variety of multi-media projects.”

Lou was the Chairman and CEO of OC Energy and RG Global Life Styles.

The Real Wives show gave a brief glimpse into Tammy and Lou's former lavish lifestyle when Tammy and Lindsey stood at the gate and gazed up the long driveway at their former home. Tammy mentioned something about a bankruptcy and divorce.

We decided to find out what Tammy was referring to, her former 'fairytale' life with ex-Lou.

From Answers.com:

1985: Louis and Tammy Knickerbocker found International Beauty Supply.
1991: The company begins to sell Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Dolls via the QVC television shopping network.
1995: The firm, now known as L.L. Knickerbocker, goes public on NASDAQ.
1996: Jewelry companies are acquired.
1999: The firm is forced into bankruptcy by creditors.

In January 1995, Louis Knickerbocker's various businesses were merged into a single entity, the Rancho Santa Margarita, California-based L.L. Knickerbocker Company.

Between 1995 and 1998 the company grew by leaps and bounds. The company developed new products and its best seller was the Marie Osmond Doll. They announced plans to offer the 50's show, "The Honeymooners" memorabilia, hair and skin product lines, a stolen item tracker service, a Richard Simmons line of collectibles, and other joint ventures.

By 1997 the company entered into a joint venture in Asia to sell alternative fuels but also began to encounter problems with the Federal Trade Commission and the FDA. The company also reported a loss of 4.4 million on 68.3 million for the year.

In 1998 the company reported 60 million in revenue with a loss of 28 million. In 1999 company stock was delisted by NASDAQ due to "low trading." The company filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy but was allowed by the courts to convert to Chapter 11 reorganization. It reported revenues of 42.2 million and net loss of 3.4 million.

In July 2001, L.L. Knickerbocker accepted an offer of $6 million from Brian Blosil, the husband of Marie Osmond, to buy substantially all of its assets, which would form the basis of a newly formed company called Marian, LLC. Louis Knickerbocker subsequently filed a plan of liquidation with the bankruptcy court for the minimal remaining assets he held. The firm's founder later reappeared with a company called RG Global Lifestyles, Inc., that marketed dietary supplements and health and beauty aid products in Asia, as well as a device that created drinking water from air.

According to Wiki, Tammy divorced Lou after his affair with an assistant and the bankruptcy. Tammy and Lou lived in one of the larger "estates" in the OC community known as "Coto."

Forty-four-year-old Tammy now works as a loan officer and is a single mom raising her son with her ex-boyfriend, Duff and daughters, Megan and Lindsey from her marriage with Lou.

Tammy has started a new website, Veriya, where she has her "Tammy's Living Book" and one can read the "cheating letters" from the now-dead Lou.

Next month, Veriya will be accepting subscriptions to exclusive coverage such as Tammy's living book in a biography video format. See her family video's, the cheating letters she found from her former husband and more!

Tammy describes Veriya as an online "lifestyle and entertainment" magazine.

Tammy's time on the Real Housewives show this season is spent coping with daughter Megan's propensity to get another tattoo whenever the urge strikes, with both daughter's lack of drive, something they didn't seem to inherent from their whirlwind entrepreneur father, Lou. Tammy's new boyfriend on the show has his face blurred out to protect his identity, Duff hasn't been seen and Lou is dead.

Life, as they know it, goes on in OC.

By LBG
Image [OC Angels]