A Message to the Bravo Fan Base
Lighten up & stop being so critical...
There’s been a trend over the past year or so…maybe it’s ever since Scandoval, I’m not sure, but it’s the trend of overanalyzing & being overly critical of every single show on Bravo. If a show, a storyline or person doesn’t fit into the mold of what has come before, a majority of the Bravo fandom (and a lot of podcasters/creators) write it off.
When a new Housewife enters the realm and doesn’t act the way that the loud, online majority things they should, they immediately are called for firing. Sure, sometimes it’s called for when a HW comes in hot (looking at you AnneMarie…) but other times it just is bad producing and editing (thinking of Katie Ginella & Nneka from RHOP last season). Both Housewives came in with an agenda, a preexisting ‘relationship’ with someone currently on the season and made a poor first impression with the cast and viewers.
Once you lose that first impression, it’s hard to gain trust back from the audience and we saw that with Nneka. She came in hot against Wendy but I don’t think she was completely wrong; Dr. Wendy was so out of pocket and tried making it seem like she didn’t know Nneka meanwhile she was at her baby blessing. Nneka was trying to move on throughout the season but Wendy had a wall up, blocking any hope for a reconciliation. Personally, I liked Nneka and think she had potential.
We’re seeing the same with Katie on Real Housewives of Orange County…she came in hot against Heather DuBrow (who definitely called the paparazzi) and while she is trying to move on and put it behind her, the audience won’t let the mouse go. Katie fits in really well with this group; she’s beautiful, wealthy and has very interesting personal stories that I would like to see more of. If she is a one hit wonder, I will be very angry that the online discourse around her and Heather’s ‘fight’ probably contributed to it.
Whenever someone or something feels off putting, or seems to be slightly inauthentic, the riots ensue. While yes, the entire point of reality television is to be authentic but it’s really hard to do in 2024.
Bravo fans have a hard time with change, even though they are constantly calling for firings and hirings of their favorite shows. They don’t like to let go, to move on, and look for something new. They refuse to accept that the golden days of Housewives is over; we will never have a reality show like Vanderpump Rules Season 1-4 ever again because everyone is too aware of the cameras, of their social media presence, of how they are going to come across to viewers. We will never see a scene again like Kim & Kyle Richards in the back of the limo, or a storyline of following Taylor Armstrong through domestic violence and suicide… those days are gone. No one is willing to be that open, to be that vulnerable and that unpolished.
Bravo fans don’t seem to understand that. They don’t seem to be very welcoming to newcomers or new ways of doing things. They are too critical of everything that comes across their screens. They don’t give anyone time to warm up; if someone isn’t out of the box crazy & entertaining within the first 5 minutes on screen, they’re a flop. When a storyline is too overdone, people are angry. I don’t really know what anyone expects anymore or what anyone wants. It’s ruining the viewing experience for everyone when you hear the same people complaining week after week that nothing is the same.
You know what I’m getting at, right? I’m referring to Season 15/2 of Real Housewives of New York.
The discourse around the premiere was exactly what I expected…negativity and calls for canceling & the Legacy cast. I listened to a few podcasts (before turning them all off because I don’t need more negative opinions in my life) and everyone complained that the ladies were too structured, too wound tight, too aware of the cameras. They can’t stand the fact that Jenna Lyons’ girlfriend isn’t going to be on screen, they hate Brynn for stirring the pot…it seems that they’re just finding any reason to dislike this new cast.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: THE LEGACY/OG CAST IS NOT COMING BACK. GET OVER IT.
This new era of New York is here to stay and that’s obvious enough from the insane budget that Bravo has put behind them, or the press tour that the cast went on ahead of premiere night.
You cannot compare this New York to any other franchise; it exists in a vacuum. Aside from RHOSLC we haven’t had a new cast in a very long time; it takes everyone a second to shake out, to become comfortable with each other and their new found fame. Salt Lake City was lighting in a bottle, it was the exception, not the rule so comparing that to New York is asinine.
I don’t particularly care about Jenna Lyon’s girlfriend. I don’t need to meet this woman to understand or appreciate Jenna. Her relationship is the least interesting thing about her.
Why is it ok for Karen Huger to constantly dodge questions and make excuses for her bad behavior, like drunk driving or for Heather DuBrow to reprimand her husband on camera for ‘admonishing her’? Why do we give Kyle Richards a pass when it comes to the breakdown of her marriage? (an argument I made on Twitter & was told that it’s because she’s given us so much before…which I’d argue against because she’s given us nothing of her personal life, only off the backs of her sisters).
Why do the seasoned housewives get a pass in hiding parts of their lives? Why isn’t the same grace given to the newbies? I’d argue that Heather DuBrow and Karen Huger have given less than Jenna Lyons in their many years on television.
When it comes to the other New York ladies, I want the surface level drama. Why are we complaining about Brynn yelling about being a call girl? Why are we shaming Jessel for playing into her persona? When Lisa Rinna & Erika Jayne played into their God given (audience) roles, they were applauded but now that the new ladies are doing it, it’s too much?
Sometimes low level stakes storylines are good! Sometimes light drama is good — not everything on television needs to have the undertone of illegalities and darkness.
Orange County, as good as it’s been this season has that dark undertone. Potomac has that undertone too — Karen’s drunk driving, Mia and a paternity test. We’ve had a lot of tough to handle storylines over the past 5 years; the FBI, Covid, hundreds of lawsuits, physical altercations, revenge porn… it’s a lot to handle, it’s a lot to comprehend. Don’t you want to watch beautiful, rich women fight over cheese & pigeons in the best city in the world?
What ever happened to light hearted fun?*** What ever happened to having each city and franchise be it’s own individual entity? Why are we overanalyzing every step these women take? Did anyone ever think that their constant criticism of these new RHONY ladies is the reason they’re not performing how they want them too? If you’re constantly telling someone they’re not good enough for TV, they might start to believe it.
I realized that I used this phrase & image in my last Bravo post. I clearly have a lot of feelings about the criticism our reality shows are dealing with these days.
Maybe it’s the loud minority online that doesn’t like NuRHONY or feels that Housewives have to fit into the same boxes but it’s tiring. People are writing the season off after one episode…one that I thought was pretty good!
All of these arguments can also be applied to the 2nd season of RHODubai. I did not enjoy the first season at all but I put my head down and watched the 2nd season in full, and enjoyed every second of it. It rarely had filler episodes, it was funny & light hearted, and everything you want Housewives to be. But it wasn’t enough for some of the harshest critics. It wasn’t enough to satisfy the people with the loudest voices.
When new HWs act like they’ve studied the show, people hate them. When Housewives act like they don’t know what they’re doing, people hate them. When they’re criminals, they hate them. When they are wholesome they hate them. No one is ever happy with anything they see nowadays. Everyone wants to complain, to rage bait, to bitch & moan about how they miss the way things used to be.
The best part about all of this? You don’t have to watch! No one is forcing you to watch RHONY or RHODubai… you can turn the television off. If you want to relive the golden days, subscribe to Peacock…all the episodes are there.
NuRHONY is not old RHONY. It’s not Orange County or Salt Lake or Beverly Hills. It exists in it’s own universe so start treating it like it.