Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Chris B]

I don't want Kim either, I'm just talking about what I think would happen. I just can't see them getting rid of her unless they had some top notch choices for new housewives.

[DRW50]

What they need to do is face why the show has been stagnant for two seasons, and cut out the bad. I'd say get rid of everyone but Kyle and Lisa, and maybe Joyce. The current show is suffocating and tattered to pieces, a bizarre combination.

I do think that the cheesy connections to bygone stardom are the most fascinating part of Kim, and I wish the show would do more with that. Frankly, I think showing more of those autograph sessions and reunions would be more interesting than a lot of the drama the show has been selling this season.

Edited February 1, 2014 by DRW50

[Chris B]

I agree that Beverly Hills probably needs a reboot more than any other, but I think they'll be hesitant after the NYC one didn't quite click. I think the days of that type of self-imposed mass-exodus are gone.

[JackPeyton]

Joanna is the only reason rhom is was teachable and bravo knows it.

If they are Miami they should move Joanna to BH. Them again she serves a similar role Brandi does and Brandi is very popular.

I think they are happy with the NYC reboot. It grew in the ratings. This season is very buzzed about and they dropped another original wife.

[Cheap21]

The ratings dropped big time for NYC after the reboot. S4 was getting over 2 million an episode on average and S5 tended to hover around 1.4 to 1.5. The numbers did grow towards the end of the season, but they werent on the level of the previous season. The reboot IMO was a mistake. Alex should have been kept on with Aviva and Heather as new wives and Carole as just a friend. The changes were just too drastic and Bravo could have done a better job at making it a smoother transition. I think the ratings would have been higher had they gone this route.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Cheap21

[Chris B]

Season 5 of New York never even crossed 2 million viewers. Ratings were GOOD for season 4, they were fools for drastically rebooting things. Even the Jill Zarin episode of Watch What Happens Live was higher rated than the NYC episode that aired before it.

[Eric83]

How do you think NYC ratings will fare after being off the air so long?

[Cheap21]

I hope well. I think that preview released sparked up quite a bit of interest and it helps that BH is boring as people are itching for something new. I think the well timed news of Ramona's marriage drama has also created buzz. I think it wont have the problem S5 did of alienating people bc the "new" wives are no longer new so theres not alot of adjustments we have to get used to.

[YRBB]

Hmmm. I'm not surprised that ratings would be high for NYC Season 4. It does make it a little more difficult to explain why, as a corporation/brand, they decided to reboot.

HOWEVER, I am not surprised they did it because my experience as a viewer watching it was that it had gotten so dark, so nasty, so vile, so UN-entertaining, that, besides the trainwreck quality to it that kept me watching until the end of the season, I would have dropped the show in Season 5 if the drastic changes hadn't taken place. It'd be surprising if similar feedback led them to a creative change that wasn't impacted or fueled by ratings, aka money.

Now, did the changes have to be so drastic? Not really. They could have been smoother/more drawn out. But what I saw is that the people who, I, as a viewer, could not stand anymore were thrown out, with precision, no remorse, and no long, drawn-out, "we know they're getting cut" drama. Besides, I'm afraid that keeping all those Housewives while introducing new ones= too large a cast, and slowly writing one out while introduced another= would take too long.

So, yeah, they made a brilliant decision in cutting that poison out. Seems they were convinced enough, for some reason or another, that the risk was worth it. The ratings will go up again now that almost all the Housewives have been around for a season and they've had a lot of time to work on it, provided it's a good season. I really do hope so.

Edited February 2, 2014 by YRBB

[alwaysAMC]

I also think some of that NYC decision was personal for Andy Cohen... he writes in his book how demanding and draining Jill Zarin is with him. She bugged the [!@#$%^&*] out of him. I also heard somewhere that he never really liked Alex/Simon.

[YRBB]

Jill Zarin bugging, demanding and draining the sh!t out of someone? NEVER!!! I can totally see that as a reason. Plus, she is a vile ho.

Alex & Simon were WTF-worthy enough to justify their existence until their shtick became old and they could hardly generate any story, so I could see him not liking them.

Edited February 2, 2014 by YRBB

[Cheap21]

they had plenty to do towards the end! Alex vs LuAnn was a highlight of season 4 and removing Alex instantly made LuAnn irrelevant with nothing to do in season 5. Big mistake

Speaking of which, I do think S4 was too toxic and I probably would have dropped had things not been changed but the wrong decisions were made. If anything LuAnn was the most toxic housemate, more so than Jill at that point. She came across so evil and not enjoyable at all. She should have been #1 to leave and then Jill.

[Eric83]

Andy said that he felt the response from the audience was that the show had gotten toxic.

Honestly there was truly no way around a reboot. Jill, Kelly, Cindy and LuMan needed to go. I think the show will do better this season.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Eric83

[Antoyne]

I remember at that time making a rare visit to the Bravo Facebook and twitter and it was pretty universal that season 4 was just overly vile and toxic. I think the ratings would've been where they were season 5 with or without the cuts. I was definitely done with the show and never even finished that reunion.

[Gray Bunny]

I know it's been lamented before, but it bears repeating since we're discussing it again... I don't think NYC's Season 5 numbers would have dipped so drastically had they properly transitioned the new season. They didn't even bother to do a "last season..." recap at the start of the premiere episode. Granted, 57% of the previous season's cast was gone and therefore irrelevant, but they could've at least recapped the Ramona, LuAnn, Sonja stuff, and briefly touch upon some of the other people like Jill and Alex.

And to pretend like Carole, Heather, and Aviva had always been there, without a proper intro to their lives, family, home, etc. just felt incomplete. The first handful of episodes were mostly uneventful too. I dunno. What's done is done. I understand Alex McCord's reasoning that she didn't want to return as a "Friend of" while still basically doing the same amount of work with less pay, but it definitely would've helped the show.

I do think they're going to bounce back this season. There's anticipation for them to return, whereas before people seemed generally uninterested in them. It helps that Beverly Hills is a dud this year, and New Jersey's last season was the same old dreck. Housewives viewers are ready for something that feels more fresh, and NYC hit their stride with the new ladies towards the end of last season, so I have a feeling they're going to gel really well this year.

Plus, you've now got Ramona and her real-life drama, and even the drama surrounding LuAnn being downgraded but still heavily featured... I think they'll end up doing better than Beverly Hills is currently doing. Will they hit Scary Island numbers? Eh, we'll see where the season takes us.

They better promote the hell outta that leg....