Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Cat]

I've been missing OG RHONY recently, and IMO those women helped build the Bravo brand, so I cannot completely co-sign on your nuke strategy. 

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 I think they deserve some coins for over a decade supporting the network. Yes, they are ancient, but this diversifies the demo, IMO. How many shows does Bravo have which feature a bunch of 20 and 30-somethings on a boat? A slew of would-be influencers? All those Summer Houses featuring coked-up bros from Southern Charm? Too many. No show has the Park Avenue menopausal mamas!

ITA with you, though, that the show lost its magic after S10. Part of the problem is that from S7 onwards, the show was structured into The Bethenny Show, featuring a supporting cast of (great) RHs. She got rid of any dynamic RH who had an actual life going on (Heather, Carole). I suspect she did this so she could look like better in comparison to whoever was left over, but by doing so she got rid of an important balance on the show: the worker-bee Mary Sues vs the kooky partiers.

When Bethenny left, the impetus for all the night-time events and trips was gone. Ramona is the only one who has a life outside the show; the problem was, she no longer wanted to share that life on-camera. The others' lives were only about RH. Add to this a significant substance-use issue amongst at least half the cast, to the point where, with Sonja and Dorinda, it warped their original personalities. Leah, the Great White Hope, turned out to be more egregiously narcissistic than even Ramona. The Eboni era was a miscalculation by Eboni herself, even though I think she deserves a second season to set things right, because she had a lot going for her. And we can't blame her for Covid.

Anyway, all this to say that this + Covid = a perfect storm which conspired to sink RHONY. Having said all that, this period of rest for the show would IMO allow for a return and re-start which I personally would embrace.

OMG you are singing my tune!

I finally twigged onto Heather sometime during season 1 (and especially at reunion), and it's like I could no longer unsee the fakery. I couldn't drink the Kool-Aid anymore. Everything she says feels contrived for maximum 'likes' on Twitter. And now I learn she's saying Coach Shah is the Joe Guidice to Jen's Teresa? C'mon now. Do I think Coach Shah may have sensed Jen was involved in something shady? Yes. But in Utah, MLMs are a grey area with plenty of legal loopholes to help them. But that CS was the brains behind the scheme and is making Jen go to jail and leave her young sons behind during their most formative years? No way.

[Liberty City]

Eboni's arrival was at the wrong time; it was during COVID and a major presidential campaign. Had she come on a year before or even a year after, I do think she would've been better received. All that needed to be done was a bit of re-tooling of the franchise and all would have been fixed. It happened before and it would have happened again. That being said, I'm open to welcoming the new housewives and giving them a chance.

COVID did not help RHONY at all. New York, as a setting, is the unofficial final housewife each season, and it was pretty much standing still during filming, so it just lacked that lifestyle we'd seen for the series' entire run. Even their time in Salem was... lacking. I've been to Salem and it's HOPPING 24-7 during the Halloween season, and what we saw was.... not it.

[Cat]

I heard about this yesterday. I was sad to hear of her passing, even though she was grouchy and the site did became crazy and toxic. She used to break some exclusives about RHOA and even RHONY (when Jill was still on the show) back in the day, but that was a long time ago.

100% agree. I think Eboni would have mellowed out in her second season with the pressure of Covid and the election having been lifted. I also think the shifting dynamics between her, Ramona, Sonja and Leah would have gotten more interesting.

Im open to new HWs and I am ready to give the nuRHONY reboot a fair chance for sure... I just wanted to also express my love for OG RHONY lol.

[Liberty City]

Mhmm, and I think had the season not aired right after the election, too, it would've faired better. At that point, I think everyone was over the election and everything surrounding it, and the season was filmed during the HEIGHT of that, and it just... looked wrong. I loved her connection with Sonja; you could tell she genuinely wanted to be there for her in way that I think was more nurturing than Bethenny/Heather were during their seasons, and I loved that.

I cannot help but feel like, instead of RHONY: Legacy, they could have just done RHONY: Next Generation and kept the main cast (with some major changes/cuts) without the Legacy name.

[Cat]

Eboni in her interview some months ago (with Carlos King) said that Bravo told her that none of the RHs wanted to film with her, except for Sonja who wanted to. IA that they had a nice vibe going and genuinely hit it off.

Totally agree on the name. Like it or not, Ramona, Luann, Sonja, Dorinda (and Bethenny, if she ever came back) are all associated with RHONY. If the Real Girlfriends in... brand had worked out, this new crew could have been Real Girlfriends in New York.

[Faulkner]

What happened with the last season of RHONY was a mix of lot of things, but I think Bravo misjudged the moment. They thought the show needed a “reckoning,” as if RHONY was *that* important. They also didn’t anticipate how much the conversation would change from when they filmed S13 and when it aired. It felt very much 2020, a really traumatic year for most people, and it aired in the middle of 2021. 

But at the end of the day, the OGs had gotten really stale. Like how many times can we watch them get sh*tfaced, get naked and hump each other, and fight over the same stuff? It wasn’t going anywhere. 

[Cheap21]

I dont know how this dry ass reunion is more than 1 part

 

[Faulkner]

I just think about how amazing that four-person NJ S3 reunion with Teresa, Kathy, Caroline, and Melissa was (the one in which Jacqueline was MIA). The one where Teresa did a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon maneuver on those ladies. Didn’t know how good we had it.

[Soaplovers]

Problem was most of the NY housewives either had nothing going on outside the show (Sonja), didn't want to share it ( Ramona), or amped up the dramatics to compensate for Covid protocols (Leah, Luann).

Eboni came in at the wrong time, focused more on lecturing/preaching then actual going with the flow.  There were moments Eboni was fun and warm (with Sonja)...and she/Ramona had the most interesting of dynamics where they kind of liked each other..but were on totally different communication approaches (and Eboni was trying to bait Ramona too much probably with Leah's blessing...and Ramona would put her foot in her mouth as well lol).

Now that NYC is somewhat back to activity....would be nice to see a post 2020 NYC and how the women are navigating it.

[Cat]

Agreed on both points, and the substance use issues were getting too obvious to ignore. Nevertheless, I can't help but wonder if after Covid and a break, these women would have regrouped mentally and emotionally, having been removed from the Bravo spin-cycle for a time? (Admittedly, this is something I hoped for Dorinda, but RHUGT may have proved me wrong).

2020-21 saw a bit of a New York exodus to Miami. Part of it was Covid policy, and the fact that de Blasio was a mediocre and incompetent mayor at the time. Miami has become almost like a new Hamptons outpost for certain Manhattan-dwellers. New York transplants are starting to return to the city, though, and it has roared back to life again in terms of night-life. So, in addition to the Hamptons and Bezerkshires, it might be interesting to see that NYC-FLA dynamic.

Oh we had it so good. 3 against one. Melissa shrieking "ME! I'M the victim" as Caroline forgot about the Poor-Melissa-How-Could-You-Do-That-To-Your-SIL excuse so she could focus on hating Teresa on her own terms.

I also remember the S4 reunion (where Teresa wore all green + sequins) was epically insane.

[Gray Bunny]

Bottom line: I think Bravo jumped the gun by trying to be woke or proactive to complaints or whatever you want to call it. They could have and should have waited for the dust to settle. Clearly, there were a lot of factors that made the last season of NYC so terrible. It was foolish of Bravo to make a big, grand sweeping announcement of two NYC shows coming around the bend (STILL waiting for LEGACY to be confirmed). 

I agree with @Cat that keeping with the originals helps fill a demo of hot menopausal mamas, all of which are now single and skanking it up in the city. I personally would choose a Sex And the City meets Golden Girls cast versus a bunch of young chicks born in the 90's who strive to be influencers. But that's just the 80's baby in me who's not impressed by Instagram "celebrities." 

[Cat]

Late Gen Xer here, so I feel you on the Sex and the City/Golden Girls reference (and that reminds me of a great SATC skit featuring THEE Bea Arthur playing Carrie Bradshaw -- definitelyworth a look on YT). I think OG RHONY definitely fills a gap in the RH market that is currently missing (and I say this as one of probably two viewers who enjoyed Real Girlfriends in Paris, aka Flop 20-something Influencers Abroad). Fun does not end at 45. Nor, clearly, at 55, according to Luann, Ramona and Sonja.

[Taoboi]

 

Now why am I catching strays?

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;D 

 

But seriously, speaking for myself, I know I explained the trainwreck quality to it early in the season...which started slow. And then from there it looked like Heather might get taken down and then during the San Diego trip EVERYONE appeared to be turning on Jen finally and asking her about what she did. Danna especially for all her quietness appeared to have the tea and wasn't afraid it appeared to say what was up with Jen. I should have known something was up when people pointed out scenes in the trailer were edited out...like Danna spilling what tea she knew about Jen's case to Little Girl. And once word on the street said THIS was cut...

 

Season was more or less over for me. And I agree with @Cheap21. That finale was horrible. I will probably vent later. lol. That was how horrible it was. Outside of online clips, I have no plans to watch the reunion. 

 

PS. Speaking of the cut scene...if this is true...I can see why they cut it so close to Jen's sentencing. Especially in light of what we discussed about the restraining order and video TMZ posted.

 

So sounds like they gave Danna the Jen Davis from RHOD treatment.

 

Throw the show away. 

I saw it as Heather continuing her seasonal arc of playing Betrayed Friend...something we called out here at the end of Season 2. And sure enough, that was what she did in the finale. 

 

HA! Allegedly dating a doctor, I think.

 

I saw that, but was not sure if it was okay to mention it here. I agree with everything you said. She did some great scoops, and I loved her article showing how RHOBH was a chessgame between Yolanda and LVP. But that place just became toxic. RIP.

[Cheap21]

LOL at Brooklyn's side eye. She doesnt trust Porsha and PJ

[Liberty City]

Or they could even do Ladies of New York, a-la Ladies on London, etc. which was easily Real Housewives in a new format.

I don't think she was necessarily lecturing and/or preaching. I think it was her trying to get her POV across to women who, quite frankly, did not give two-sh*ts (a.k.a. Ramona & Luann). Sonja seemed to care, listen and understand Eboni's POV, which I loved and showed Sonja was capable of being more than the coddled "child" that Luann & Ramona wanted to keep her as. Had Eboni come in the year before or the year after, I do think she wouldn't have been as disjointed in the group. I really do not. The end of 2020 was not the time of year to film a franchise that relies on the City itself as its unspoken main star.

Let's be honest: Bravo / Andy Cohen jumped the gun, because they wanted to protect two of their so-called stars, who people are still wanted to see go; one who isn't even returning for Legacy and one who has been demoted before, and the franchise did not suffer because of it.