Jax Taylor-Brittany Cartwright Spinoff: Bad Idea, or the Worst Idea?

For many fans, Vanderpump Rules Season 5 had something of a shark-jumpy air about it.

Critics feel the show focused too much on the wedding of the show’s least-lovable couple (the seemingly mismatched Tom and Katie Schwartz), while ignoring far more compelling storylines such as Scheana Marie’s divorce from Mike Shay.

The capper to what was arguably already an over-long season is a three-part series of Vanderpump reunion shows (which brings the season’s total episode count to an astonishing 24, possibly another reason for the drop-off in quality.)

Watch Vanderpump Rules Season 5 Episode 23 Online

The reunion shows are padded to within an inch of their lives (He seems like a cool kid, but did Stassi Schroeder’s 12-year-old brother really have to dole out life advice to every member of the cast?), but they contain the occasional big reveal.

Or at least they confirm rumors that have already been out there for months.

On last night’s episode, we learned that the Jax Taylor-Brittany Cartwright spinoff series (previously known as the worst-kept secret in Bravo history) is officially a go.

Jax and Brittany take Kentucky will premiere sometime this summer, and while the show is a spinoff of a spinoff, it’s not surprising that Andy Cohen and company have decided to go this route.

Vanderpump remains immensely popular and Jax is still the show’s biggest personality.

Watching Jax put in work on a Kentucky farm in an effort to convince his future in-laws that he’s the right man for Brittany could make for an amusing fish-out-of-water tale.

The fear among some fans was that the show would spend have too much of a lighthearted Green Acres tone and get too much mileage out of Taylor fumbling with simple farming tasks.

However, last night’s sneak peek put some of those fears to bed.

Jax is entertaining, but he’s no cartoon character, and the new series clearly won’t be turning a blind eye to his short temper and other darker qualities.

The extreme conservatism of the Cartwright family was put on display this past season, when Brittany’s mother made homophobic comments after watching Jax get roasted by his friends.

(Despite what Cohen and the cast claim, the fact that the elder Cartwright has a bigger problem with Jax possibly having hooked up with a guy than with his long history of violence, cheating, drugs and arrests is deeply problematic.)

So the show could provide the dramatic fireworks that fans have come to expect from Vanderpump.

Or it could amount to overkill at a time when the main series can least afford to further alienate fans.

View Slideshow: 37 Classic Vanderpump Rules Moments in GIFs

Either way, the sight of Jax trying to figure out which end of a pitchfork to use should be entertaining.

Watch Vanderpump Rules online to relive the rocky road that brought Jax and Brittany to where they are today.

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Jax Taylor-Brittany Cartwright Talk Marriage, Vanderpump Spinoff

Despite this season’s heavy focus on the Katie Maloney-Tom Schwartz wedding (and the many occasions for drunken debauchery leading up to it) Jax Taylor remains the heart and soul of Vanderpump Rules.

Like The Situation before him, Jax is awful in the best way.

He cheats, drinks heavily, takes way too many GNC supplements, and spends a bizarre amount of time on surgeons’ tables.

But despite Jax’s wicked ways, he and his pious Kentucky girl Brittany Cartwright have managed to make their relationship work.

Their odd couple dynamic has been one of the most entertaining parts of Vanderpump Season 5 (sorry, Tequila Katie) so it’s not surprising that for several months now, questions about the couple’s future have been circulating on social media.

Specifically, fans want to know two things:

1. Will Jax and Brittany get married?

(Our guess: not any time soon.)

2. Will the long-rumored Jax and Brittany spinoff show ever come to pass?

(Our guess: absolutely!)

By most accounts, the Jax-Brittany reality show filmed last summer in Kentucky, and will premiere sometime this summer.

Further details will likely be released around the time of this year’s Vanderpump reunion shows, but for now, a source offers this explanation to TMZ:

“The focus of the show will be Brittany’s family pressuring her to get hitched to the bad boy… but he’s just not into sealing the deal.”

Sounds like we’re in for kind of a lighthearted, fish-out-of water/Green Acres vibe

Probably won’t pull in Vanderpump-level ratings, but could be an amusing diversion for two or three seasons.

But given the low-budget, low-stakes nature of the project, the amount of secrecy surrounding it is downright bizarre, and it’s led some fans to believe there’s more to this thing than meets the eye.

In the past week, Jax has twice dodged questions about the show, as well as about his future with Brittany:

“I mean, I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I know they were talking about it,” Taylor recently told E! News.

“They’re talking about spin-offs all the time with all of us, so I don’t know what’s going on.”

On Monday, while appearing on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live, a caller asked if Jax is planning to propose to Cartwright any time soon.

He dodged the question by pointing out that they’ve only been dating for a year; she took to Twitter to remind fans they’ve been dating for nearly two years.

All of this has led to two main theories:

1. Jax proposes to Brittany on the show, hence all the secrecy.

2. Jax and Brittany have been having problems, hence the reluctance to publicly discuss the spinoff.

View Slideshow: 37 Classic Vanderpump Rules Moments in GIFs

Either way, it’s more of the unpredictability that’s endeared Jax to fans over the years.

Watch Vanderpump Rules online for more of Mr. Taylor’s shenanigans.

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