Image Credit: Kelsey McNeal/BravoTaylor Jacobson is a curious star of the first episode of Bravo’s The Rachel Zoe Project. Curious because Zoe’s former styling associate—and the most interesting thing about the reality show for the show’s first two seasons — does not appear on screen once in the first hour of the current season premiere last night, except for in a few, ripped-from-the-archives flashbacks. But she’s the main event simply because she’s the only thing the rest of the employees of Rachel Zoe, Inc. — and, apparently, the rest of the world who’s interested in the Zoe frivolity — can focus on. “Have you seen what’s happening, like, all over the internet?” Brad says to Zoe’s assistant Marisa right off the bat, stoking the Taylor-obsessed rumors that swirled when Taylor got the boot from the company.
Because, as if you haven’t heard yet, Taylor got fired from Zoe’s company between when shooting for season 2 ended and shooting for season 3 began. Why? Truly, it’s really, really not very clear. “Rodger and I recently promoted Taylor to Head of Product Development,” Rachel says at the top of the show, “and he started to notice some very suspicious activity within the financials of the company.” To which Rodger adds: “The bottom line is we know what happened, we know the truth.” Which is? “The expense reports are all f—ed up. She’s disrespectful to you. She’s disrespectful to us.” Huh. Wait: Huh?
Disrespectful? Screwy expense reports? Last I heard, you don’t get fired for f—ing up expense reports, unless you steal from your company, and Rachel and Rodger never go so far as to commit to saying that. Look, I’ve screwed up an expense report in my day here at EW — and hark, you’re still enjoying my writing! And Taylor’s main thing was being disrespectful. To everyone around her. So, those things said, something’s fishy with what exactly happened in this whole situation. This is shady. Are Rachel and Rodger covering up something else? Are they trying to save face? Will Taylor ever speak and tell the truth? Goodness, I hope so!
At a staff meeting, Rachel is too emotionally stressed about the situation — constantly mentioning how betrayed she feels by Taylor — that she makes hubby Rodger deliver the news to the staff: “Taylor is no longer with the company,” he tells them. And here’s my favorite part. Next, Brad astutely asks: “Are you going to tell us exactly what happened?” Yes, the same thought that’s on all of our minds! Rodger’s response: “At the end of the day, she’s drama. We’ve been getting behind the number, looking at the books. There’s a lot of things I’ve been doing since I’ve been here, and frankly things aren’t adding up, and that’s really all I want to say about it.” So, basically, in a nutshell: No. No, we’re not going to tell you what happened. Instead, we’re just going to make a bunch of veiled references to expense reports, missing product, “things not adding up,” and Taylor, basically, being a bad person. How fair is all that to Taylor? I kept waiting for Bravo to splice in a 30-second interview where Taylor could at least defend herself against everything Rachel and Rodger were spewing about her. Wouldn’t that be fair? Totally suspicious that Rodger and Rachel are allowed to sort of trash her without her getting a chance to respond.
Like I said above, Taylor was indeed the most interesting part of The Rachel Zoe Project in the first two seasons. Sure, she was surly and hard to work with, but this is fashion, people! Divas are a dime a dozen. Just look at Rachel herself! And, yes, people move on, even if we don’t know why. “I feel like at this point I’ve just been knifed in the back so many times, just knifed, like, over and over,” the figurehead of the company continued in her quest to squash Taylor. “I have, like, wounds, and this one is definitely the deepest.” What’s hilarious, too, is how Rachel acts like Taylor owed her something for employing her over the past four years. “I did everything for Taylor,” Rachel later adds. “I trained her, I taught her everything she knows about this business. To then watch her benefit off what I created for her is probably one of the hardest part of this whole thing, honestly.” It’s called business, honey.
The precious few minutes of the hour that didn’t focus on Taylorgate instead revolved around Demi Moore, a giraffe, Rachel freaking out over Demi holding a mouse, and some out-of-this-world, 10-inch Alexander McQueen stilettos. Which is to say, nothing much happened at all beyond Taylorpalooza 2010. I’m not so sure I even want to watch RZP without Taylor. What about you, dear readers? Does a Taylor-less RZP—even with Kate Hudson and Donatella Versace!—appeal to you?
her husband–that’s a wig right?
No, he’s Justin Beiber’s future if he (Beiber) doesn’t get a haircut soon.
I thought he was channeling Rod Blogojevich.
Thats what they do in NY-CA.
Frankly, I’m glad Taylor’s gone. She had a horrible attitude and was unnecessarily rude at times.
I don’t know what show you people were watching. TAYLOR did all of the work. Brad did nothing but gad about and fritter. No wonder Taylor was resentful. This is a very common workplace situation, unfortunately; the do-nothing suck-up is the one who gets ahead.
I’m glad Taylor and her moppy mullet are gone. Her attitude and whining was unbearable and child like. AND NO WAY did she EVER make this show more intersting!!! NOT!!!!
Yeah, I agree. As noted she could definitely be unpleasant but I still liked her. Best haircut on TV.
totally agree. brad, while nice, was straight (no pun intended) up rachel’s arse. taylor had moxy. brains, and talent in a highschool atmosphere.
Rachel’s business grew to the point where she HAD to hire an assistant for Taylor who was complaining about the workload. Once Taylor got the help she was demanding, she jealously refused to train Brad or help him learn the job. She gloried in the mistakes he made, and insisted he be fired (it’s him or me). Taylor IS smart and hardworking, but she is also a Passive Aggressive Control Freak who does not work well with others and is poisonous in a group work environment. The RZ business will be a happier place to work and much more fun to watch with Taylor gone.
I don’t disagree that Taylor worked very hard. But hellooooo…she was at work. What I couldn’t stand about her was that, miserable as she CLEARLY was, the only response she could come up with to an apparently untenable situation was to bitch and moan and gripe and whine instead of just…hellooooo again…getting the hell out of there. Why did it take her FOUR years? Sorry, that’s just sheer insanity. We’ve all had negative work experiences and “toxic” work environments…and I say – if you can’t stand to get up in the morning, QUIT. The best Taylor moment was when someone asked her if she was excited about going to the Oscars and wasn’t she glad she was going, and her response, from a supine position on the couch, was “NO! I do NOT want to go to the Oscars!! And this conversation makes me want to slit my wrists.” For god’s sake…if you want to slit your wrists, whether you’re joking or not, get the hell out. My God, if I’d been a coworker of hers, working as hard as she did, I’d have wanted to pick her up and toss her out the window. Good riddance. And do something about that hideous white mop on your head.
you most have been playing with something at the time of showing.you didn’t see it well,I see.
Henrietta-
While I couldn’t agree more with your position it also makes me wonder if you’ve ever worked for a boss that always praises your ability in public and constantly undermines your self-confidence in making your own decisions about the work. Working in a creative industry can be either insanely rewarding if you get the right kind of contacts, or it can be just as emotionally draining. As for Taylor working there for 4 years and being unhappy the whole time, I can relate: on one hand your head tells you that working for a boss like Zoe is the experience of a lifetime, on the other, your heart is telling you you’re miserable. But it’s not just misery that complicates, it’s the blow to your self-confidence that makes it hard to leave and see the situation clearly. I’ve been there. Many creatives have, too. I think Taylor deserves a little more slack, considering that she put up with Zoe’s ADD and Brad’s nonworking ass and still only bitched a little, is a testament to her personality.
Absolutely agree with you, she did all the work! That on top of listening to the never ending Manic Depressive Rachel Zoe. How did she do it for 4 yrs., that’s the real question.
RIGHT ON
Nothing about RZP appeals to me. Everyone except for Brad is obnoxious.
I thought Taylor was an unprofessional brat. I cannot imagine working w someone like her (no, I do not work in fashion). That being said, I will def continue to watch RZ.
I SO agree…She wouldn’t let anyone else do the work, and then would whine about how nobody was doing anything…And her “Brad or I” thing just ANNOYED me (sorry – grammar police moment…).
I LOVE Brad and love watching him get all goofy about clothes with Rachel. I don’t know what it is – I dont’ care much for fashion, but I find myself watching this show…And I really think it comes down to Brad, Rachel and her hubby
)
Katie: I’m so glad someone mentioned the “Brad or I” think … every time they replay that I cringe. It’s like she had been corrected so many times that she thinks that’s the only way to say it.
She was grammatically correct.
Yes, Taylor said it correctly. It sounds awkward, but it is correct to say “It is I.” So, “It is Brad or I” would also be correct, and “It’s Brad or I” would be correct as well. I was taught that if you can flip the sentence, then use the subjective form of the pronoun – the reverse of “It was I” is “I was it.” So, “I” is correct. It is also correct to say “This is she” when answering the phone.
I love saying “This is she” when I answer the phone. I feel so grown up!
I digress. Taylor was a Debbie Downer, taste or no taste. The drama this year will be the gossiping and seething about what Taylor is doing apart from Rachel Zoe Inc., rather than the griping and snarling about what she was doing as an employee. They know where the tension of the show lies. It will be a season-long Taylor-gate, and will actually serve to give her more exposure. RZP is shooting themselves in the foot by milking that storyline.
I’m wirh Michael. That “Brad or I” grammar thing was like nails on a blackboard (or AS nails on a blackboard)…but again, grammar aside, that was such a Taylor statement. Bitch, kvetch, and flip her hair, whine, complain, chomp her gum and tug her hair, roll her eyes, hurl her cell across the room and smack brad with her hair…about doing all the work, and then complain that nobody else at the company is “capable” of helping her. As if what she was doing was brain surgery. Sorry, I get the distinct impression that what we saw of Taylor on the Zoe show was Taylor as she ALWAYS is, in every situation, and always will be. She’s a miserable, sniveling little toad, and I cannot imagine what life with her must be like (her poor BF!!!!). I’m just one of those people who truly DOES believe in the timeworn cliche re: life being way too short…and Taylor spent 4 entire years making herself, and everyone who even looked at her, abysmally miserable. And then her whole passive-aggressive “poor little me” approach to the whole “who’s going to Paris?” mess was also very annoying. Talk about a lose-lose position to be in – for Brad. I’m glad he went & that Tempestuous Taylor stayed home. Imagine how she’d have managed to ruin THAT trip. Criminey, think of it – paris with taylor jacobson. The horror!!!
@English Teacher & Michelle—you’re right, given this precise example. However, in at least one episode, Taylor actually articulated it a bit differently – in a heated conversation with Rachel (obviously) she said “You have to choose. It’s real simple. You have to choose between Brad and I”. And in this instance the usage of “I” is not correct. I have no idea whether she cared one whit about being grammatically correct when she said it as a stand-alone statement (but I’d think not)…anyway, just an obversation. Taylor strikes me as the sort who, if she is speaking grammatically correctly, it’s as likely as not to be a happy accident.
Using the term “gramatically correctly” is just as odd as saying, “It’s Brad or I.” Just an “obversation.”
And alMOST as odd as the usage of quotes around the word observation (this is a subtle one, so you might have to put your thinking cap on). and ummm…come again?
Haha um, I was quoting your misspelling of the word observation…but my point was: who cares?! People make these errors all the time
@Henriette
Actually, during the heated discussion you referred to Taylor said, “I don’t want to be here. (then softly) It’s going… (then very loud ) It’s Brad or I. It’s Brad or I.”
I agree,Get all your friends onto Rachels show,we’ll show whos the BOSS.
Rodger’s hair looks like an old guy’s Justin Bieber look!
I was off that program after a couple episodes, really far & away the most useless waste of time other than NJ housewives.
I’m definitely watching the show this season. Taylor was nothing but a brat who complained waaaay to much about hard work. I’m delighted to see her gone. I’d much rather see more of the clients and actual styling than Taylor’s whiny, rude complaints.
Cannot imagine why any true celebs would want a shiftless and negative creature like Taylor to be responsible for their wardrobe. Seriously.
I hope Taylor sues the bejeesus out of them. I hope she takes all of Rachel’s clients and Rach is left homeless with that ratty fur coat she always wears.
If you watched last season’s shows, you saw Taylor’s bad behavior in every episode!
She pouted, she complained, she criticized, and she was disrespectful and bi*chy to everyone, including Rachel. Taylor’s passive-aggressive, nasty attitude would have gotten her fired by just about anyone but Rachel. Rachel couldn’t manage a paper bag and Taylor got away with murder.
Roger is a tough nut, and Taylor was bound to be history the first time he told her to do something and she sneered at him and gave him her expressionless fish eye face.
I enjoy watching the RZ show. Brad is endearingly clueless, Roger’s attempts to manage Rachel remind me of efforts to herd cats, and Rachel is an interesting, super creative Original.
The insights into the fashion world and the Great Fashion Houses are unique.
Good riddance to Taylor!
Amen Elizabeth! Many creative people have trouble with the business side of things. Rachel was smart to bring Rodger into the business and it was a death knell for Taylor the moment she did. I am looking forward to a dramatic but pleasant season!
What you said, Elizabeth!! And the “herding cats” comment was not only hilarious, it’s truly spot on. Rachel is a mess, but there’s just something likable about her (to me, at least)…I think Taylor got away with heinous murder and that any other employer would have canned her ass after 2 months. I’m a small business owner and have encountered a few of the taylor “type”…but in 11 years I’ve not encountered one person who can touch taylor in the obnoxious, noxious, toxic departments. Good riddance!!!!
your almost right on my way of thinking.Taylor needs a MANfriend not a BOYfriend,maybe that would put a happy face on sometimes.She is something else,what.???
You lookout what you say,it WILL come back to YA.You will see.BUY
taylor never appreciated that job. regardless of the reason she got fired i’m happy she is gone. the only thing that sadden me is rodger didn’t fire her on TV.
second.
Third.
Taylor was a whining piece of humanity and unnecessarily rude and mean to Brad. She was jealous of his relationship with Rachel. But what seems weird this year is watching Rachel’s relationship with long suffering Brad disintegrate while her stress level skyrockets. A baby? Really? You currently have so many to care for on this show it would be redundant. Her skill lies in her taste in dressing others, but putting a Brigitte Bardot look alike in furs (Bardot a huge animal rights activist) was just shoddy and in really bad taste. There is more to fashion than Sonny and Cher fur vests, giant rings and fedoras. Zoe seems headed for a meltdown of gigantic proportions. Her head is larger than those ridiculous fedoras she is so fond of. Do not predict future success for this show. Oh, and the fascination with over the hill former actress Demi Moore? What is that about? Moore has not had any success since the 70′s of note. She seems good at the dressing others part, but very bad at the living life part.
I think Rodger is a closet gay.
But he watches football, as the show emphasized last night. LOL
i see a football game now and then and I’m a GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
Why? Because he’s got pretty hair??
*gack* Pretty hair?? Please tell me that’s a wig…or something. whatever it is, it’s positively scary, and horribly unhealthy-looking, and…god. Extremely weird.
This is 2010 – if Taylor wants to respond she has about 10 billion outlets with which to do so. And we haven’t heard a word from her, have we? How about getting someone who actually enjoys the show as much as the fans to write the recaps?
She actually has done a few interviews and hasn’t said much of anything. She has confidentiality agreements with with company not to say anything.
The agreement probably works in her favor anyway. Rachel and Rodg can’t say EXACTLY what happened, and Taylor doesn’t have to face any more circumstances if she did steal. I never liked her, she was painful to watch so bye Taylor I wont miss you
Agree. If you don’t like a TV show, don’t watch it. Certainly don’t pan it to fans. Interesting insights and analysis is one thing, spewing negative preconceptions is something else. TANNER obviously does not like the RZ show and POPWATCH should find someone else to review it.
Amen. This “review” was shameless tripe and in truth can’t even be called a review. (One of the first tenets or requirements of being a “critic” is impartiality. Uh-huh…). This thing reads as though it was written by taylor’s sister. I say “sister” since she clearly could not possess any friends…anyway, EW truly does need to scout around for a few writers who know how to write.
I think she is purposely not responding (or suing them for slander) because she IS guilty. She’s a smart cookie if she did do some shady stuff she’s just keeping her head down and let all of her “fans” (like the author of this recap) call her the victim and build her up in the media, while also giving vague yet defensive interviews. She’s trash.
She does reply,she wrights then has a talking head put it out there for her,read where you see her picture.She said at times “I’m not going to talk about it then,7″ to 13″reply comes out of that hole in her face.
Well, Rachel and Rodger aren’t obligated to give a reason as to why they fired her. Think about it, anytime someone get’s fired at work you rarely get the full story, just what the company wants known so though that can be a bit frustrating, I get that. And if you’ve watched the show at all, you know how close Rachel was with Taylor. That’s why Rachel put up with as much crap as she did, because she loved Taylor even though Taylor could be an absolute brat. I think that’s why she was so hurt. She really did do a lot for her not just as a co-worker because they were close friends too. Yes, it may be business for Taylor to move on and get her own clients but that doesn’t make it any easier when you see someone that you trained, helped and loved for four years do wrong by your company and then try to horn in on your clients.
I totally agree.
I totally agree, too. They couldn’t come out and say Taylor stole stuff, because then Taylor would sue them for slander if they weren’t able to come up with the proof. But they could state the fact that the financials didn’t make sense and Taylor did not have an explanation.
By the way, where I work, screwing up expense reports on a regular basis is definitely not good. And having a surly attitude – aiyiyi! It’s a recession, folks – who gets away with that stuff? (apart from you all at Entertainment Weekly, apparently!
)
That’s not how slander, or defamation, works. Taylor would have the burden of proving that the allegations are false, among many other elements. Defamation is actually an extremely difficult cause of action to plead successfully in the U.S. – we love free speech and all – so it’s doubtful that that is Rachel/Roger’s concern at all.
Also, Taylor probably signed a confidentiality agreement to work for Rachel, since Rachel is a celebrity stylist. If Taylor were to tell her side of it, she’d be breaking that agreement, would get sued, and would lose credibility any by breaking it anyway. So sucks for her.
Rachel is under no confidentiality agreement and can basically say whatever she wants, within reason, without having to prove anything because she knows Taylor can’t really respond to any of it. So we’re really just getting a one-sided perspective
I too was hoping for a chance for Taylor to defend herself! They ultimately tried to make it seem like she was a horrible person who betrayed them without giving any legit reason. I love Brad, but I always thought Taylor made things interesting and she honestly did have the best style of anyone on the show. I’ll watch next week but I can’t see it being entertaining enough with Rachel “literally dying” 20 times an episode without a little attitude from Taylor.
I think Taylor got the raw end of the stick. Rachel let Brad get away with everything and Taylor did all the work. Brad is going to have a hard time without Taylor and I hope he does. He is the BRAT.
I disagree. From future previews of the season plus interviews with Rachel I read today, Brad and the new assistant are kicking a*s, minus all the beyotching and drama that came along with Taylor. What a miserable, glass half empty human being she was. You could even see on last night’s episode how Brad had come into his own and had new confidence without jealous, angry Taylor around. He may have been green at the beginning, but she did NOTHING to train him and threw him under the bus constantly. Taylor may have had some legit complaints with Rachel and her lack of management, but her OWN unprofessional behavior didn’t make it any better. I also think Rodger coming in to more objectively manage the business side of things was a great move all around.
As the business grew and the workload grew, someone had to be hired to help Taylor who was complaining of being overworked. In the First Season we see Brad hired to help Taylor. However, the better Brad got along with Rachel, the more hostile Taylor got. She refused to train Brad and tried to get him fired. When Brad had a teary meltdown, Taylor saw him as less of a threat and began to work with him, but she was always resentful and sarcastic.
Every mistake Brad and the Interns made was always their fault, never Taylor’s fault for failing to organize and oversee her staff. Taylor loved to show the cameras how hard she worked and how useless everyone else was. She played the martyr to hilt.
Brad persevered, and now he has Taylor’s job. I hope he has learned enough to do it well and gets a well organized, focused assistant to work with him. “Poor Taylor” can go poison some other workplace if anyone will have her.
I want some of whatever it is you’re smoking. Taylor had a “little attitude”??? Egad, I watched the show for two seasons and really and truly have no clue what that mug of hers would look like with a smile on it. A “little attitude”? Taylor reminded me of the Pig Pen character in the old Snoopy comic strip…but the little cloud of filth hovering around Taylor would be her ghastly and incredibly negative…aura. For lack of a better word. I cannot think of ONE person (well, leaving out all the Real Housewives) who is more teeth-clenchingly obnoxious than taylor was. If that’s a “little attitude” I’d sure hate to see what constitutes a “lot of attitude” in your world…life’s too danged short for that crap.
Don’t forget she does say “Bananas” also the girl can’t help it, she is in CA.They start fads you know.Leave her alone she’s little.
i thought it was very unfair to talk about Taylor the way they did..ifthey had proof, they wouldn’t have just hinted. Rodger is so whipped anyway
They probably have confidentiality agreements that won’t allow them to say exactly what happened. In that case, they probably have all the proof they need, even if they can’t share it with you.
If it is true, it is not libel
Clearly folks commenting here don’t know much about HR. Granted the show’s “working environment” is pretty unprofessional, however, they CAN NOT disclose in full why she was fired if they don’t want a libel lawsuit. Most companies won’t even give references beyond confirming a person’s length of service. They said what they could to add to the drama but they had the sense to shy away from spelling it out.
They can disclose whatever they want as long as it’s true. It is only libel if it’s false, and Taylor would have to prove it’s false in a lawsuit. The only reason they would need to be so vague is if she didn’t actually steal or do anything wrong, because then she can’t prove falsehood.
You seem to be talking more about privilege…Rachel, etc. don’t really have ‘privilege’ in this case though: it is not a job reference, it is a TV show, and that changes things a bit/makes it not applicable (the purpose of the privilege is not served, and the audience did not have a duty or interest to receive it).
But even so, they are so vague as to what supposedly happened, they don’t need to claim privilege.
You’re 100% correct mamabird in you observation of people commenting here. They do not know what can and can’t be said legally unless you want a costly lawsuit on your hands.
The Rachael Zoe Project has also stuck their necks out and said entirely too much. It’s completely unprofessional to be discussing this, letting your associates discuss this AND on TV! Their idiots whether it’s true or not.
I’m pretty certain all the dancing translated into: Tay was stealing and we gave her a choice of leaving or calling the police
I’m glad Tay is gone. She was a black hole of uncooperative doom.