They’re cleaning house.
Bravo is recasting “The Real Housewives of New York City” after COVID, low ratings and fan disappointment marred the reality show’s most recent season.
The network will also launch a throwback version of the show featuring former cast members, showrunner Andy Cohen told Variety.
“You know that we’re at a crossroads for ‘RHONY,’” Cohen said. “We’ve spent a lot of time figuring out where to go. And the plan that we’ve come up with, I think, is a real gift to the fans.”
Despite the coordinated announcement, Cohen didn’t provide any details on what he called the “rebooting and recasting” of “RHONY.”
Since the show launched in 2008, 17 different women have starred on “RHONY,” with Ramona Singer and Luann de Lesseps appearing in all 13 seasons. Cohen’s announcement implied that both women would be out of the main show but could appear on the “throwback” version.
Cohen said Eboni K. Williams, the first Black cast member in “RHONY” history, might return if she “is interested and has friends that would meet our casting goals.”
He explicitly stated those goals included shedding the show’s lily-white image.
“We are searching for a multicultural group of friends who really best reflect the most exciting city in the country,” Cohen told Variety. “We’re looking for a group of women who are real friends, and who are of diverse backgrounds, races and religions.”
The season 13 cast remaining “real friends” was apparently off the table after tensions skyrocketed in the COVID-marred season. Williams said she’d never invite Singer to her home again.
“We do not have shared values around the issue of, basically, shared humanity,” Williams said in August 2021. “I’m not going to ever put myself in a position to be embarrassed and hurt and disappointed by Ramona again. So, that’s it for me. We can continue to do other things, but she’ll never be invited to another event that I throw.”
Williams, Singer, de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan and Leah McSweeney starred in the slimmed down version of the show that finished airing in September 2021. Usually each season has a reunion show, but season 13 of “RHONY” didn’t get one.
Cohen said the idea for a throwback version of “RHONY” was inspired by the success of “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip,” a spinoff that brought together housewives from different cities and aired on Peacock. “RHONY” vets Jill Zarin and Dorinda Medley will star in the second “Ultimate Girls Trip.”
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