Introducing the New Housewives...

The 5th season of The Real Housewives of New York City premiered on June 4, 2012 and introduces us to three new housewives after last summer's great housewife massacre.  The new housewives are Aviva Drescher, Carole Radziwill, and Heather Thomson.

We are first introduced to Aviva, whose ex-husband has dated both LuAnn and Sonja and the housewives waste no time pointing this out.  I think at her party, Sonja was a bit passive aggressive as she pointed out to Aviva that Harry, her ex, had called, reassured Aviva he was not showing up, but made a point to say that Harry is SO comfortable around her (Sonja) that even if he was at the party, he would be fine.  Never mind that we have already learned that Aviva and Harry get along without any problems.  Sonja claims she stirs the drink, not the pot, but there was a bit of pot stirring in her slight digs about Harry.

A bit later LuAnn tries to get into it with Ramona about the accusations Ramona made about her parenting during season 4 and at the reunion. Sonja interrupts the confrontation and reminds the ladies that they agreed to "rise above."  Clearly the remaining ladies are well aware that the great housewife massacre occurred because fans were frustrated by the catiness and excessively harsh fighting.  Sonja, LuAnn, and Ramona clearly made a deal to pull back on the fighting so that they don't end up like Jill, Alex, and Kelly.

Ramona tries to bond with new housewife, Heather over the fact that they are business women in fashion, Heather has her own line of shapewear called Yummy Tummie.  Heather feels as though she and Ramona do not bond and Ramona feels the opposite. Heather is further critical of Ramona for over sharing.  Even though Heather is happy to share the story of her son needing a liver transplant after his birth at the drop of a hat, she feels it is inappropriate for Ramona to thereafter share her difficulties with child birth.  Things get a little more tense as Mario and Ramona both criticize Heather for being a bad conversationalist--interrupting people and not listening to others.  Ironically, as Ramona is criticizing Heather for talking over others, interrupting, and not giving others a chance to speak, Ramona is doing the same thing.  These two may be a bit too alike which will definitely lead to them bumping heads.  Heather's inappropriate cocktail party etiquette and over sharing is also drawn into question as she repeatedly points out that "her father just died" in a casual manner as if sharing she just got her hair done.  Then again, we all grieve in our own way, who am I to judge?

Finally, the last new housewife is Carole Radizill, a widow who wrote a memoir about losing her husband to cancer.  However, it is five years later and she is trying to move on, but "people constantly want to talk about her book" and bring her back to the place of being a recent widow.  Did I mention Carole is a princess (clearly going to cause conflict with the Countess) and she has ties to the Kennedys.  Unlike the other housewives, Carole has some blue blood cred. However, overall thus far she has not left much of an impression.

At the end of the episode, LuAnn meets with all of the "newbies" to discuss the housewives recent time in the Hamptons and drops the bombshell that Ramona is blackmailing her with damning information about her daughter and then leaves.  Clearly, LuAnn who lost all of team brunette to the great housewife massacre is trying to recruit the new ladies to her side for the inevitable feuds that will occur.

What did you think of New York's newest housewives?

Are Jill and Cindy Leaving the RHONYC?

Are Jill Zarin and Cindy Barshop leaving The Real Housewives of New York City?  Rumors are circulating that they will not be back for Season 5 of The Real Housewives of New York City.  Season 5 was set to begin filming during Labor Day weekend but has since been pushed back at least 3 weeks.  Initial reports was that this delay was due to the recent suicide of Russell Armstrong (husband of Beverly Hills Housewife Taylor Armstrong) but now rumors are circling that the delay is due to recasting.  Around the time of the reunion rumors were circling that all of the New York housewives would be dumped in favor of new, richer housewives.  Bravo saw the success of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills where the women were truly wealthy and was hoping to match this success with a rebooted Real Housewives of New York.  Now rumors merely are that Cindy and Jill are out and new housewives will be in.

Personally, when it comes to Cindy my response is "sayonara!" and I think many fans will feel the same.  Cindy just never quite meshed and did not endear herself to the fans.  While she got along great with "Team Brunette" she seriously clashed with the blondes.  Furthermore, it often seemed as though Cindy was trying to get screentime by creating nonsense drama. "Hangergate" anyone? And who could forget the ridiculous fight with Sonja in the van over Sonja not being able to save LuAnn's seat. Cindy seemed to fight for the sake of fighting which at times made her seem crazier than Kelly. While Cindy's portrayal and action during Season 4 were not all bad, she never quite fit and as the new girl is anyone going to miss her?  No.  Just like there was no fan outpouring when Jennifer Gilbert didn't return for Season 4.  Adding Cindy to the RHONYC was an experiment they tried and failed.  Let her go.  If only Bravo could have done the same with Kelly Bennsimon after Season 2.  Although let's get real, Kelly may be crazy and infuriating but she does make for good tv.
The big bombshell/question regarding Season 5 is whether Queen Bee Jill Zarin will be returning.  Jill is under contract with Bravo and does not have a choice regarding whether she can leave unless Bravo let's her out.  Will Bravo let Jill walk away from the series?  Doubtful.  Jill has always been a main focus of the RHONYC and the show's defacto leader.  However, her "power" and role as the leader has become somewhat mitigated and split since the fallout with Bethenny and Jill's sudden personality change.  Jill had been the one who used to get along with everyone (with the exception of her occasional spats with Ramona) and tried to help "make nice" amongst the other wives.  That all changed after an off-camera fallout with Bethenny that bled into the entire season.  Since then, fans perception of Jill has changed and her personality on camera has changed as well.  What were once minor spats and passive aggressive digs between Jill and Ramona are now all out wars.  However, let's be real the ladies could simply be upping the anty for the cameras.

I think the thing that has changed about Jill is that she has become more calculating and more focused on getting screen time and building her brand through the show.  By this I don't mean calculating in a bad way.  I don't think that Jill necessarily has bad intentions, I just think that starting with Season 3 she had a game plan for how she wanted the season to go and storylines to inject into the show.  Perhaps it was like that in Seasons 1 and 2, but if that were the case it was certainly not as prevalent as it was in Season 3 and Season 4.
I believe that Jill never sought out to be the villain of Season 3 and that she never intended her friendship with Bethenny to disappear.  I think she saw the opportunity to take an off-camera fight (which all in all sounds like some miscommunication combined with Jill's jealousy over Bethenny's career taking off and Bethenny not having as much time for her) and bring it on camera for screentime.  I believe Jill thought that by playing the "Bobby had cancer and Bethenny did nothing" card, she would come out as the victim and she would look good to viewers.  I also think she thought it was an issue that they would fight/talk out on the show and then resolve in one big happy ending.  Provided she had her script (remember Jill was not willing to talk to Bethenny at Ramona's without her "notes"). Clearly Jill played her hand wrong and lost.

She returned in Season 4 with hopes of redemption and restoring her image in the eyes of the viewers. Unfortunately, Jill came back with more of the same. She help create a great divide between the cast and the eventual blondes v. brunettes storyline ruled the season. Jill would unconditionally support anything a brunette did and vehementally attack all of the blondes. There was no self awareness, no humbleness, just the constant belief that she was always 100% right and could do no wrong.

Nevertheless, as infuriating as Jill has been these last two seasons, she has been an integral part of the show since its inception. She is the "queen bee" and is The Real Housewives of NYC. I hope she returns for Season 5.