RHONY I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down

Post-mortem on the RHONY reboot

In the erstwhile days of summer in New York, I began an optimistic weekly ranking of the reboot of Bravo’s long-running franchise The Real Housewives of New York. The series, thrust intro controversy from a lackluster season 13 and the off-screen racist behavior of original cast member Ramona Singer, prompted the cancelation of that season’s reunion and a house cleaning. Singer has only now received any type of punishment for this behavior, thanks to inexplicably texting the word “nig” to Page Six. She was axed from this weekend’s BravoCon festivities in Las Vegas. Of course the trailer for The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy (the title is giving Marvel at this point), which she stars in, still aired at BravoCon. Bravo hopes we’ll forget about Ramona’s behavior by December. They’re probably right.

At any rate, in July I was excited for a reboot, for a fresh take on the franchise that actually represented New York beyond the Upper East Side. Even Gossip Girl went to Brooklyn in its original incarnation! The series started off a bit rocky, but it was engaging and felt fun. It was a treat to see Jenna Lyons on television again after her 2020 HBO Max series Stylish. Brynn Whitfield and Ubah Hassan were funny and entertaining to watch. Jessel Taank seemed like a nightmarish villain who would be thrust upon us all season. And then, things took a quick turn. Jessel emerged as a dark horse favorite in the series once we realized that she was merely trying to find her footing amongst this group of women she didn’t know. She eventually earned fan favorite status and first chair next to Andy Cohen at the reunion. No one else, besides Jenna who is already a New York icon, has received even half the press blitz that Jessel had this season. We also learned that oversensitive (she knows she is, she’s a Cancer, she admitted at the reunion) Erin Lichy is a Trump voter and gave to his campaign post stop the steal. And Sai de Silva turned into the series’ actual villain. Mean and aggressively determined to be correct in any argument, she and Erin made Jessel their target all season. Her upbringing and her marriage were the main topics, but nothing was off-limits.

Rinse and repeat. The last few episodes of the season were near unwatchable as Erin and Sai continued their Jessel assault, Jenna checked out, and Brynn and Ubah never rounded out to three-dimensional characters. I took weeks to watch them, let alone bother to recap any of them.

Then there was the reunion. Naturally, the women bonded over shared experiences and traumas throughout the season. None of them really knew each other and this is how people bond. But the reunion itself dedicated a moment to a good cry from each of the women and honey, we do not watch Real Housewives for that! And none of the moments felt authentic, in the way real emotion is often wrought on say, Married to Medicine, a series about real friendships and women who genuinely care about one another, their marriages, and their careers.

Meanwhile, the only husband I cared about this season was Pavit, Jessel’s husband, who became a bit of a media star in his own right thanks to a Vietnam mileage run for a Banh Mi sandwich. Speaking of Married to Medicine, Dr. Eugene is the best husband in the Bravo universe by far, but Pavit is a close second after only one season. They’re both funny, engaging, and clearly love their wives even if they verbally spar with them often. Sign me up for that kind of husband, okay??

When the trailer for RHONY Legacy aired during BravoCon, the audience cheered uproariously for the return of their favorites and honestly… I felt the same. The trailer was completely unserious, had a slew one-liners, and showed the women genuinely having fun with one another. The show got a bit too dark in its final two seasons pre-reboot, but this was a welcome return to form that the reboot of RHONY would do well to imitate in season 15. I want less trauma. I want more genuine relationships. I want some pure innocent fun.

Jessel will deliver, surely. She’s the star of the series and the only person who absolutely guaranteed the reboot gets a second installment. Jenna Lyons should probably not be on this show if she doesn’t want to fully engage, but I do love watching her on TV. Erin has solidified herself as a solid Bethenny-type villain. Sai will return because Bravo knows people will hate watch if she’s on. Brynn and Ubah, much as I love them, need to make a case for their continued existence on the show in roles that aren’t “friend of.” They’re more entertaining off-screen than they were during the actual season. And hopefully, we add in another woman or two who actually knows one of the women in the cast. This series is begging for real connections, positive or negative, that can be mined for entertainment.