Despite rumors and speculation, we don’t know what Andy Cohen plans to do about the Real Housewives of New York. The decision will be very soon, filming is to begin Labor Day weekend.
Forbes Magazine had an interesting article on the subject yesterday. And yes, Bethenny Frankel did indeed kill the Real Housewives, not intentionally, but because Jill Zarin,LuAnn de Lesseps and Kelly Bensimon can’t live with her $120 Mil SkinnyGirl deal.. The article reads like a post-mortem for the Housewives franchise. Indeed, if not for Bethenny, recently featured on the cover of Forbes, would Forbes even mention the Real Housewives? Food for thought.
bethenny with husband jason hoppy and daughter bryn
Did Bethenny Frankel Kill The Real Housewives?
By BLUE CARREON
If you missed the entire season of The Real Housewives of New York and only tuned in to the two-part reunion show, you would think that Bethenny Frankel was still a cast member. True, she wasn’t there on the couch exchanging verbal assaults with the other women, but given how her name often resurfaced in the discussions, one cannot help but think that maybe she just didn’t make it to the reunion taping because she was busy with her $120 million empire. But her presence was palpable, almost akin to that 15-minute, Oscar-winning performance of Judi Dench in the movie Shakespeare In Love.
Which brings me to the question, is there life for the Real Housewives after Bethenny? Will the intelligentsia’s secret guilty pleasure survive given that the recently concluded season was only mildly interesting and lackluster at best? This, despite the fact that they hired two new housewives to replace the spirits princess and Forbes cover girl. Are we at the denouement of Andy Cohen’s reality show reign? The Real Housewives of DC has been cancelled after all and its main attraction, the controversial and self-contradictory, not to mention alleged gate-crasher,Michaele Salahi ,has been seeking fame through other avenues according to a recent New York Times article. And with the announcement that Desperate Housewives, the ‘art’ form that was imitated by the ‘reality’ series, will not be returning on air after next season, one can conclude that the plot of the homemaker-as-a-drama-queen has been stretched too thin and too far.
What was the appeal of The Real Housewives anyway? Did we see parts of ourselves in the characters? Did Jill Zarin remind us of Brittany Murphy’s character in Clueless? The girl who was given a makeover by the popular girls then turned into “a monster” according to Cher.(love this) Did we feel just a bit of schadenfreude at watching Sonja Morgan fail miserably in her efforts to be the Samantha Jones of the group? Did we secretly sing Money Can’t Buy You Class in the shower even if we can’t stand how LuAnn de Lesseps likes to refer to herself as The Countess? Were we in awe of Alex McCord’s conviction and self belief that she is a model? Did we admire Ramona Singer’s chutzpah for baring her 54-year old body?
From the reunion shows, it was rather sad how these women seemed to fight for camera time, hurling invectives and names at each other to make themselves relevant in order to nab a contract for another season. There was Jill spelling out words not allowed on television and Alex turning into a bright red tomato. There was Kelly Bensimon with her pseudo Zen approach to confrontation while Ramona’s voice reached decibels that would make Maria Sharapova curl in defeat. There was Countess LuAnn affecting an I-am-above-this air when really it was Cindy Barshop who rose above it all because she just gave up. It was as if Cindy, with her lack of storyline, knew that she would not be asked to return to the show. Thus, her demeanor that conveyed feigned interest in all that drama when all she wants to do is disassociate herself from the women.
Waiting…..
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Let’s see, LuAnn is stupid and arrogant. Sonja is sweet and vulnerable. Alex doesn’t know how to defend herself like Bethanny did, and so the vultures named LuAnn, Jill and Kelly get to pick on her like sociopaths on a newbie in a prison. Kelly’s gender designation is still a mystery to me, and if it weren’t for LuAnn she would be the biggest dolt on the show. LuAnn has no voice and bad lyrics. Jill has a gut and a mouth and is the ultimate mean girl. The skating outfit and other the stretch pants show that she thinks she’s 18 not 118 – her effective age. And Andy likes any of these witches? And this makes for good tv? Hello?
I think this decision about the cast is wholly dependent on whether they can find more desirable replacements, and how many. But it seems they are being turned down right, left, and center. i too think maybe it is time to shut down the franchises.
I agree it may be time to shut the franchise down At the very least I hope that Andy listens to the viewers and either cleans NYC house or cancels the show. But then I remember OC and that house needs to be ckeaned or shut down. Then there’s Altanta …. Yea, the time has come.
You might be right, but too kind. The pretense, mendacity and outright phonyness of these dying divas has killed this franchise. They are uninteresting, involved in staged plot line, the trip to Morocco, why……it didn’t work for Sex and the City, what jerk producer dreamed that up. Did he think that we are such jerks that we wouldn’t recognize it. The Luman stating that Bethenny was catching up to them financially….what crap..her 2 million versus Bethanny’s 120 million and climbing.
You might be right, but too kind. The pretense, mendacity and outright phonyness of these dying divas has killed this franchise. They are uninteresting, involved in staged plot line, the trip to Morocco, why……it didn’t work for Sex and the City, what jerk producer dreamed that up. Did he think that we are such jerks that we wouldn’t recognize it. The Luman stating that Bethenny was catching up to them financially….what crap..her 2 million versus Bethanny’s 120 million and climbing.