There’s an irresistible Hail Mary for Bravo to return the reality series to its former glory.
The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) has aired for 15 seasons. In the streaming era, that number may as well be a million. One of Bravo’s crown jewels, its longevity competes only with soaps and procedurals.
Since its 2008 premiere, pop culture has changed. Norms have shifted, and trends have been reinvented. Born in a post-financial crash era America, when networks turned to cheaply produced reality TV, RHONY was among the first trailblazers and is still standing today, albeit not as tall. On that note, Bravo is running out of options to return the series to its former glory, if that’s even possible. But there is one remaining option.
The bigger they are…
To understand why RHONY needs ‘fixing’ at all, we have to go back to its fall from grace. The long-running show, which produced and attracted bonafide talent in the likes of Skinny Girl mogul Bethenny Frankel and author Carole Radziwill, has always been a Bravoverse favorite. It made a lasting, witty imprint with a different identity from the more glitzy Beverly Hills or casual Orange County. Because it was set in the Big Apple, RHONY had a chic, modern it-factor that immediately found success in the early days of the Real Housewives franchise. The trouble for RHONY, and for any other Bravo show, is that no formula can work forever, especially as the world around it changes at lightning pace.
Though it had several cast iterations – the most famous being a season 4 shake-up following Frankel’s exit — RHONY’s legacy rests with the Mount Rushmore lineup of Countess Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan, and Frankel. Aside from the latter — Frankel was an on-again, off-again feature — these women were steadfast captains of the boat, boasting several years on Bravo’s roster.
When things were good, they were great. RHONY’s meme production, notability in queer pop culture, and quality outshone the many cities Bravo launched the franchise in. At its ratings peak (seasons 3 and 8), the series pulled in 2.32 million viewers in the U.S. But regardless of how many people watched it, RHONY’s trump card was its singular branding. Its fast-moving, sharply comedic, and cutthroat depiction of New York’s socialite scene was like Sex and the City on steroids. It was edgier, funnier, and starker than its sister series.
But by the time season 12 rolled around — and Frankel had jumped ship for a third time — things had gone wildly off the rails. The old guard cast had grown tiresome; viewers craved new blood but feared change, and rightly wondered if a lineup of middle-aged white women grasping at their last moments in the limelight was representative of New York or Grey Gardens.
As Bravo reckoned with the political divide following Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election, the show attempted to retool itself. Things were already on a downward spiral;the series was relying on alcohol and messy breakdowns to keep the wheels spinning. However, its decision to add Eboni K. Williams, the show’s first full-time Black housewife, and throw her to drunk, Republican-leaning wolves proved disastrous. Though women and gay men are the force that keeps The Real Housewives relevant, trying to merge the show’s Republican-coded people and subject matters with the left-wing political backlash of the time was awkward. It’s not that the audience didn’t want compassionate Housewives they can root for as individuals, it’s that viewers sat down to watch the show to escape real life, not be reminded of how horrid it was.
Singer was particularly out of her depth, and turned the audience off further with her inability to engage with any discussion Williams’ presence raised. It felt like tuning in to watch your out-of-touch, drunk aunts fumble their way through a delicate Thanksgiving conversation they had no right chiming in on — uncomfortable and cringe. Part of the franchise’s charm is the distance viewers have from it. These are abnormal women living abnormal lives, so when you try to make them more relatable, bad things happen. The way Williams was framed as a person there to educate others was both unentertaining and deeply unfair to her.
It’s essential to outline that exact moment in American consciousness, when Trump was on his way out and Biden heading to the White House, to explain why Bravo made the risky decision to fully reboot RHONY — something the network had never done before. Citing a desire to make RHONY more reflective of the diverse city it was set in, it redressed the show in youthful, fresh faces more aligned with influencer culture than old money. It got rid of everything synonymous with RHONY (genuine social circles, long-standing beefs, and a lack of self-awareness) in the process. It was a move made out of desperation. But when nothing’s working, and when the cast has overstayed its welcome, is there anything else to do?
The relaunch and flop era 2.0
Whether legacy RHONY could have been successfully retooled or not doesn’t matter, because Bravo went for the nuclear option. It rebranded the show with six new women (Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank, and Brynn Whitfield). However, the ratings never jumped back. Season 13’s poor performance, which was the last season with Singer, de Lesseps, and Morgan, was the catalyst for the reboot, but season 14’s viewership was even worse. Complaints include a lack of genuine chemistry between the ladies, retrospectively missing the legacy series, and the loss of whatever magic dust made older seasons feel so nostalgic and real.
When RHONY first aired, the ladies had no idea it would be successful, nor were there defined rules about what to do or not do on reality TV. As much as people tried to control their images in the early days of the genre, they didn’t have the social media, knowledge of past seasons, and access to fans stars do now. It’s a different ballgame, and you can sense it in how much the rebooted RHONY feels like a marketing exercise, with the ladies pushing their businesses relentlessly and fashion icon Jenna Lyons pretending she wants to be there. Additionally, the cast is much younger. That image shift is sensible, after all, a younger target demographic is where the most commerce and social engagement is. But this is The Real Housewives. It’s meant to be about a near-invisible demographic on TV: middle-aged women.
Part of the joy of a Bravo show is knowing the people you’re watching are out of touch. They’re (hopefully) not needlessly cruel, racist, or homophobic, but elitism, narcissism, and pettiness are baked into the show’s logline. Although Sonja, Luann, and Ramon’s antics eventually ran their course and had viewers begging for Bravo to change something, it’s now common to see fans rewatching old seasons or lamenting the fact nobody will ever be as deranged as Ramona was, precisely because the young, informed cast members are too self-aware to sink to her levels of entertaining depravity.
Hail Mary
Sticking with the old plan wasn’t working, but the reboot hasn’t either. This sparks panic for the Housewives franchise at large. What happens when the other shows inevitably hit a wall? How will Bravo work around it? Is reinvesting in the faces and identity that made the shows famous the way forward, or is forced evolution the right call? Bravo needs to figure it out fast; otherwise, cancellation is the natural answer (and maybe the right one).
Not willing to pull the plug yet, Bravo has been projecting the calm, measured image of a network taking its time to figure this out. Season 16 was delayed while the suits and Andy Cohen decided on the best course of action. Brynn and Jenna’s exits are confirmed, while everyone else seems to be on thin ice. Cohen has explicitly said he’s not considering bringing back the OGs, but perhaps that idea will have to be revisited if reception improves.
While seasons 14 and 15 were by no means the worst Housewives episodes ever aired, something was obviously lacking. Other cities, such as Potomac and Miami, are facing similar relevancy struggles, but RHONY is at the center of this storm. If there was ever a time to throw one last parachute out, it’s now. And that’s why Bravo should bite the bullet and attempt some mixology. The new cast isn’t cutting it, nor was the old one. So, let’s throw both into a Skinny Girl martini and see what comes out.
While Ramona’s hilarious personality hasn’t been enough to distract from her increasing conservatism, Luann and Sonja still curry a lot of favor with fans and commentators. They both starred in the lighthearted Crappy Lake together, proving they still have some juice left in them, and they’ve managed to stay in conversation despite no longer being in the show that made them famous. Lastly, Sonja and Jessel hit it off when they met, so there’s a legitimate, if small, lead in. Tinsley Mortimer, who was an underrated gem when she joined, and Carole are other former names that would pique interest and bring something to the table.
You could easily point to the RHONY legacy season of Ultimate Girls Trip to make an argument against bringing any of the older women back. After all, those episodes of the Real Housewives crossover (this is my MCU) didn’t scratch the itch many of us hoped it would. It seemed like a failed trial run built to show producers what it might look like to revive that iteration. However, we have zero data on what would happen if we mixed the groups.
To make it work, the current lineup would likely still need to change. As an unlikely fan favorite, Jessel is a reasonable pitch to ground the younger ladies, and has also spent time with Sonja. Erin is a good antagonist and has a strained relationship with Jessel. Other than that, it’s a toss-up. That could be where new recruits come in, preferably women who are entrenched in NYC’s social hierarchy.
As for the elders, Sonja and Luann are the only sensible choices. If Frankel could be lured back in, I’d make the case for her, but I think she’s too proud to return for a third time. Ramona is an edge case — we’re perhaps crossed over into unhireable territory — but she’s not one of the franchise’s most entertaining veterans, and we know every show needs a good villain.
The idea sounds dire. There’s a 10% chance of them meshing, and a 90% chance of catastrophe. But I’d rather see a bold final season that took a swing and a miss than several seasons of RHONY petering out to fewer viewers every week. We’re at code red, so there’s nothing to lose. The worst-case scenario is that it doesn’t fix the relationship between the show and its fans, but the best-case scenario is a millennial vs boomers season that takes the best things from both generations and gives us something new to chew on. If Bravo doesn’t try it, it’ll be a missed opportunity to find out if RHONY’s heyday is salvageable. If it went wrong, at least we’d have the answer and the network can put the series to bed.
