Entertainment
Inside the ‘Real Housewives’ Renaissance on October 21, 2023 at 1:00 pm Us Weekly
It was a different scene for Real Housewives of New York City alums Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan when they arrived in Benton, Illinois, to film their spinoff series, Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake. After years of private jets and luxury yachts, the duo found themselves in an unairconditioned sedan, driving sans chauffeur to the Benton Motel, a one-story lodge without any of the charm of the Hamptons hideaways to which they’re accustomed. Would these two city slickers crash and burn once they left the Upper East Side?
The answer, shockingly, was no. De Lesseps and Morgan started to fit right in within days, engaging in all kinds of activities you absolutely can’t do in Manhattan: mudding (off-roading in a mini monster truck), bull-testicle eating (what it sounds like) and noodling (catfish hunting with your bare or possibly gloved hands).
The surprisingly heartwarming Crappie Lake became an instant hit with fans and even critics, who don’t normally pay much attention to Bravo’s wares. New York magazine called it “the best show on Bravo” in July. TIME, meanwhile, hailed it as a “captivating comedic masterpiece” and a “refreshingly conflict-free return to form.”
It’s that last notion that seems to have proliferated across the Housewives universe of late, a welcome respite following a few years where the shows had turned relentlessly grim. After the coronavirus pandemic made filming extraordinarily complicated, some of the franchise’s brightest stars were hit with serious legal allegations. Erika Jayne of Beverly Hills was accused of embezzling money from families of plane crash victims (she’s in the clear for now), while Salt Lake City’s Jen Shah was arrested for wire fraud (she’s in jail for the next six years).
Luann de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan. Nick Fochtman/E! Entertainment
Housewives has always trafficked in these women’s woes — see any number of messy divorces and Teresa Giudice’s 2012 prison stint — but to many fans, these developments felt different. Ripping off the IRS is one thing, but allegedly scamming retirees and plane crash victims is quite another.
“Some of our shows have gotten very dark in the past few seasons, and it’s not that surprising,” says Sevin Cavusoglu, senior vice president of unscripted content at NBCUniversal. “These dynamics have been going on for 15, 16, 17 seasons. It’s good to counter that with some Crappie Lake silliness.”
Across the Housewives board, much of the action has gotten a lot more low-stakes. During RHONY’s first season with an all-new cast, the biggest blowups involved a prank war gone wrong and the question of whether it’s weird to serve a cheese plate at a house party. Over on Salt Lake City, which in season 2 featured an actual FBI raid, the gals are having it out over whether Meredith Marks should have invited Angie Katsanevas to her Palm Springs getaway — and whether Angie should have crashed the trip when she didn’t.
Cavusoglu points to the RHONY’s women’s fight over a bleeped-out restaurant (later confirmed to be fading Manhattan hotspot Catch) as the perfect example of what embodies this current era of Housewives. “In a way, it’s a throwback to OG RHONY, because I feel like those are the conversations that Luann used to have — etiquette and where you won’t be seen, where you need to be seen and where you want to go,” Cavusoglu explains. “There’s just something so fresh, yet familiar about it.”
The RHONY revival represents one of the biggest swings Bravo has taken in years. After a lackluster season 13 that was so poorly received it didn’t even get a reunion — a depressing Housewives first — the network decided to wipe the slate clean and reboot the franchise in another first. Some viewers were angry to see favorites Morgan and de Lesseps swept out like so much trash after a roaring ’20s party. Others theorized that executives overhauled the cast rather than fire controversial OG cast member Ramona Singer, whose fights with RHONY’s first Black Housewife, Eboni K. Williams, crossed the line from thought-provoking to offensive. (A source told Us in October 2021 that Bravo launched an investigation after a crew member and Williams accused Singer of making racially insensitive comments. “For the first one filed by the crew member, the findings were corroborated,” the insider said at the time. “[For] the second one filed by Eboni, the findings were not corroborated.”)
Brynn Whitfield, Erin Lichy, Sai De Silva, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank, Ubah Hassan. Gavin Bond/Bravo
Bravo eventually confirmed that Morgan, de Lesseps, Singer and three other “legacy” Housewives would participate in an all-RHONY season of Peacock original Ultimate Girls Trip, but fans remained skeptical of the new cast, which Andy Cohen announced at BravoCon in October 2022. It didn’t help that one of the new stars, Lizzy Savetsky, quit during filming. “The beginning was scary,” Cavusoglu admits. “Even within Bravo, there were a lot of skeptics because people are so loyal to the OGs.”
Within a few weeks of the show’s July premiere, though, the tide of public opinion had turned. Bravo stan accounts were fully on board, while legacy media outlets couldn’t stop gushing over bona fide fashion legend Jenna Lyons (the former fashion director of J.Crew who revitalized the brand in the early 2010s) emerging as the mysterious and refined elder stateswoman of the cast. Still other fans were pleased to see Brynn Whitfield and Sai De Silva speak honestly about their difficult childhoods in unusually moving moments.
“I’m beyond thrilled,” Ryan Flynn, senior vice president of current production at NBCUniversal, says of the show’s reception. “The RHONY audience has been one of the most passionate and most vocal and probably most strident in their love. Love to watch, hate to watch, love to hate-watch — all of it, but very vocal. It was not surprising when we were met with skepticism.”
By fall, the skepticism had melted away and been replaced with fierce debates about favorite Housewives and the ethics of gifting friends your sponsored products. “Very honestly, I feel very elated and vindicated in a way that we got to show everyone, ‘Give us a chance,’” says Cavusoglu. “We love and respect this show just as much as you all do. We’re not going to steer you wrong, and we want to do right by RHONY’s legacy.”
Emily Simpson, Gina Kirschenheiter, Heather Dubrow, Tamra Judge, Shannon Storms Beador, Jennifer Pedranti. Andrew Eccles/Bravo
A similar trajectory took place on Orange County, the 17-year-old workhorse of the Housewives firmament and the one that started at all. Fans were again skeptical when Tamra Judge announced her return to the series in summer 2022, as a returning cast member usually spells doom for fresh ideas. In this case, though, Judge’s splashy homecoming added a much-needed jolt of low-stakes drama. With the addition of newbie Jennifer Pedranti and former Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong, season 17 proved there was still plenty of juice in the orange.
“It was a bit stale. We were kind of stumbling around for a bit,” says RHOC star Gina Kirschenheiter, who joined the show in season 13. “This year, everything clicked into place, because there was just good synergy with this cast. Whether we were really happy and having fun or really angry and having issues, it was real.”
Flynn, who first started working on RHOC in season 6, agrees. For season 17, producers decided to change “everything” — the graphics, the opening, the theme song, the showrunner. “After the last season where it felt like, ‘God, we’re just not moving the needle enough,’ we knew we needed to take — in Dorinda [Medley’s] words — a pause and not get right back on the same sort of schedule,” Flynn says.
Nicole Martin, Guerdy Abraira, Lisa Hochstein, Julia Lemigova, Alexia Nepola, Larsa Pippen. Gizelle Hernandez/Stephanie Diani/Bravo
For Flynn, a full-on break in filming is the first step when a franchise needs a shakeup. In the case of The Real Housewives of Miami, that break lasted a full 10 years, but the decision to revive the show seems to be paying off. After two seasons that streamed exclusively on Peacock, Bravo will be airing season 6 on linear TV starting November 1. Among fans, there’s talk of Miami being the strongest entry across all the Housewives cities right now. This is thanks in part to plenty of kooky drama — arguing over Brazilian butt lifts at a dog’s birthday party — but also the real, relatable experiences these women are having. Viewers saw the shocking breakdown of Lisa Hochstein’s marriage in season 5, while season 6 will track Guerdy Abraira’s fight against breast cancer. Critics love to brush off the Housewives as frivolous trash, but there are a scant few shows on TV that prioritize the real struggles of women in their 30s, 40s and above.
“You see people going through growing pains with their marriages. You see friendships really tested,” says Kathleen French, senior vice president of current production at NBCUniversal. “The women are beautiful and they have these wonderful high-end lifestyles, but they have real-life problems.”
French, a self-described member of the “Miami Fan Club,” was one of the execs instrumental in bringing RHOM back in 2021. The show is notable for being one of the most diverse entries in the Housewives franchise, featuring cast members from Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Russia and Canada. “It’s a beautiful show. Miami is such a great international city at this point, and I think this cast reflects Miami,” French tells Us. “It’s a microcosm, I think, of what is actually going on in Miami right now.”
This may sound like PR spin, but diversity is obviously something French and her colleagues are thinking about when casting these shows. For the revamped RHONY, Cavusoglu was passionate about making sure that the show was a better reflection of the real people who make up New York City. “We wanted to diversify in terms of neighborhoods, in terms of professions,” she says. “I’m an immigrant woman myself, and one of the things I love about New York is you hear so many different accents and different languages when you walk down the street. It was like, ‘Where do we find that New York?’”
There’s no pleasing everyone, of course, but for the moment, plenty of fans are happy with what they’re seeing on RHONY, as well as RHOSLC, RHOC, RHOM and the rest. Real life may not be all diamonds and rosé, but on Bravo, the dream is still alive — so long as you pay your taxes.
For more with the Reality Stars of the Year, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
It was a different scene for Real Housewives of New York City alums Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan when they arrived in Benton, Illinois, to film their spinoff series, Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake. After years of private jets and luxury yachts, the duo found themselves in an unairconditioned sedan, driving sans
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AfriqueFest: Pan-African Musical Experience — World Cup Edition is set to take over Noto Houston on Sunday, June 28, bringing together East, South, and West African sounds in one immersive celebration of music, culture, and connection. Presented by Experience Noir and Bolanle Media, the event is designed as a cinematic night for the culture, blending global energy with Houston nightlife in a way that feels elevated, intentional, and deeply rooted in African creativity.
Spotlight on DJ Shinski
At the heart of this year’s experience is DJ Shinski. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya and now based in Houston, DJ Shinski has built an international name off high-energy sets that move effortlessly across Afrobeats, Amapiano, hip‑hop, dancehall, reggae, and electronic sounds.
He has also become Africa’s most‑subscribed DJ on YouTube, crossing the 2‑million‑subscriber mark and turning his mixes into a global destination for music lovers.
DJ Shinski’s style is precise but unpredictable: one moment it’s classic Afrobeats, the next it’s East African anthems, then a run of throwback hip‑hop or R&B that still feels fresh. That ability to read a room and connect multiple worlds in a single set is exactly why AfriqueFest is building so much of the night’s energy around him.
At AfriqueFest, DJ Shinski helps drive the Safari Grooves segment, representing East and Central Africa from 4 PM to 6 PM. Expect a journey that moves from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Addis, and beyond, all filtered through his signature “vibes on vibes” approach behind the decks.
DJ Tunez and the rest of the night
Supporting that energy, DJ Tunez leads the Gold Coast Beats chapter from 8 PM to 10 PM, bringing his own Nigerian‑American Afrobeats pedigree to the stage. Together with the Diamond Rhythms segment (South) and a curated roster of DJs, the night stretches across the continent in three distinct musical chapters, all connected by a single dance floor.
Hosted by @chris_gone_crazy, @kingdrewwskyy, @roselynomaka, and @samsnewleaf, AfriqueFest is positioned as more than a party—it’s a celebration of sound, style, and Pan‑African identity in Houston, with DJ Shinski anchoring the experience from the moment doors open.
Brought to you by Bolanle Media & Experience Noir
Brought to you by Bolanle Media and Experience Noir, this World Cup edition of AfriqueFest is crafted as a night where global DJs, storytellers, and music lovers collide and create a shared cultural memory. With DJ Shinski front and center—and DJ Tunez helping close the night—guests can expect a show that reflects both the future of African nightlife and the power of the diaspora to create unforgettable live moments.
If you want to experience DJ Shinski live at AfriqueFest, now is the time to lock in your spot. Purchase your tickets now at AfriqueFest.com and get ready for a night of music, movement, and culture at Noto Houston.
Laughter Meets Inspiration: Our Ladies Show Lands on The Roku Channel
A bold new sketch comedy series for women premieres June 13 across the U.S., U.K., and Canada — arriving on the back of a festival-winning run that has critics and audiences already paying attention.
It isn’t every day a brand-new comedy arrives already wearing a row of trophies. Our Ladies Show does. The seven-episode inspirational sketch comedy series — created, written by, and starring Christin Jezak — begins streaming on The Roku Channel on Friday, June 13, 2026, available free to viewers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Produced in partnership with global media services leader Encompass Digital Media, the series sets out to do something rare in today’s streaming landscape: make women laugh out loud and leave them lifted. In a media moment crowded with noise and cynicism, Our Ladies Show is a deliberate counterweight — comedy with a conscience, built for women of every age and background.
A Show Built Around Real Life — and Real Laughs
Each of the seven episodes opens with a monologue from one of the cast members introducing the theme, then rolls into three or more sketches that hit the subject from every comedic angle. The series tackles the things women actually carry: holding grudges, comparison, beauty, patience, gift giving, the importance of community, and dealing with anxiety.
The comedy comes from a place of warmth rather than mockery — a “laugh at ourselves” spirit that runs through a gallery of unforgettable characters: a nosey neighbor, an overwhelmed mom, relentlessly optimistic flight attendants, beauty pageant winners past their prime, and a crew of unruly campers with a counselor who simply cannot hold it together.
Then the show does something most sketch series don’t. In the final segment of every episode, the cast gathers in a living-room setting and invites the audience in — sharing real inspiration drawn from the theme, the sketches, and their own personal stories. It’s the moment the laughter turns into something that stays with you.
The Women Behind the Show
Our Ladies Show brings together three performers with serious range:
- Christin Jezak — creator, writer, and star (Miracle at Manchester, Raising Hope, Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
- Hillary Hawkins — (Primal, Nick Jr.’s Play Along, Gullah Gullah Island)
- Sarah Hernandez — (Nefarious, Unplanned, House of Payne)
“In a world with so much division and depression, I hope women of all ages and backgrounds will watch this show, laugh, be reminded of how beautiful, unique, and loved they are, and remember how much we need each other.”— Christin Jezak, Creator & Star
Already a Festival Favorite
The series’ recurring long-form sketch, Neighborhood Watch, didn’t arrive quietly. Originally released as a web series and revamped for Our Ladies Show with new footage, sound, and music, it has been sweeping the festival circuit:
- 🏆 Best Webseries — 2026 New Media Film Festival (Los Angeles)
- 🏆 Best Web/TV Series — Paris Film Awards
- 🏆 Best Web Series — Dallas Movie Awards
- 🏅 Additional wins at the London Movie Awards, Florence Film Awards, and Hollywood Gold Awards
- 🎬 Official Selection — 2026 Harvard Divinity School Film Fest
- ⭐ Finalist — Houston Comedy Film Festival
- 📣 Three nominations — 2025 Content Christian Media Conference, including Best Actress in a TV and Web Series nods for both Christin Jezak and Sarah Hernandez
Where and When to Watch
Our Ladies Show premieres Friday, June 13, 2026, streaming on The Roku Channel — the home of premium and free entertainment — in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. All seven episodes deliver the series’ signature blend of sharp sketch comedy and genuine encouragement.
Watch the trailer now on your platform of choice:
For more information, visit www.ourladiesshow.com and follow @ourladiesshow on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
About Christin Jezak
Christin Jezak has worked for over 15 years in the entertainment industry. She created and stars in Our Ladies Show and the award-winning web series Neighborhood Watch. She produced the EWTN TV program For the Sake of the Gospel and the all-women web series Ladies Keepin’ It Real, played Dr. Sam in Miracle at Manchester (starring Dean Cain, Daniel Roebuck, and Eddie McClintock), and voices Agnes in the podcast Confessions of a Catholic Single. She held a lead role in a short film for NTT Data directed by Academy Award–winning cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, has co-starred on Raising Hope, and appeared in Jimmy Kimmel sketches and a Grubhub Super Bowl commercial.
About The Roku Channel
Roku pioneered streaming on TV and is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico by hours streamed (Hypothesis Group, Dec. 2025). The Roku Channel is the home of premium and free entertainment, alongside Roku’s Howdy and Frndly TV services. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, California.
About Encompass Digital Media
Encompass Digital Media is a global managed services company — technology-driven, software-defined, and people-powered. Trusted by world-leading broadcasters, networks, sports rights-holders, and OTT platforms, it processes over 25,000 hours of content daily, serves 850 channels to 84 countries, distributes over 243,000 live events annually, and reaches 400 million radio listeners weekly worldwide. Learn more at www.encompass.tv.
Media & Interview Requests: To interview creator Christin Jezak or the cast, contact Christin at cjezak@p2ptheatre.com.
Most of the talk about Euphoria asks one question: was it realistic? That’s the wrong question if you make films. The better one is simpler. How did Sam Levinson get an audience to feel addiction from the inside? And what did it cost him to end the show the way he did?
Strip away the noise and Euphoria is a clinic in three choices: point of view, style, and the ending. Here’s what’s worth taking — and what isn’t.
1. Put the Camera Inside the Character
Most shows about drugs watch from across the room. Euphoria doesn’t. When Rue is high, the camera is high too. Walls breathe. Floors tilt. Time skips. You’re not watching her — you’re stuck inside her head.
That’s the lesson: point of view is a decision you make with the camera and the cut, not a mood you add later in color. Levinson builds it into the lens, the blocking, and the edit.
So before you shoot a scene through a character’s eyes, ask one thing on set: whose eyes is this lens standing in for? Then make every cut respect that.
2. Your Style Has to Mean Something
The glitter. The slow push-ins. The impossible club lighting. Euphoria‘s look got copied everywhere. That’s the trap.
The style worked because it carried weight. The beauty wasn’t decoration — it was the lie addiction tells you, the reason the next high looks worth it. The camera made self-destruction gorgeous on purpose.
The copies missed that. A thousand music videos took the look and left the meaning behind, and you can feel how hollow they are. So here’s the test: if your signature style could be swapped onto any other project and still “work,” it’s not a style. It’s a filter. Every choice should have a reason behind it.
3. The Ending Tells the Audience What It All Meant
When Euphoria ended for good in Season 3, Levinson killed Rue — an accidental, fentanyl-laced overdose. He called it “the honest ending,” saying he wanted to tell a true story about addiction and grief in a time when one mistake can be the last one. Reportedly, that wasn’t the original plan; the death of Angus Cloud, who played Fezco, changed the script.
Forget whether you agree with the choice. Study how it works. An ending is the last instruction you give your audience about how to read everything before it.
By ending on consequence instead of recovery, Levinson reframed seven years of beautiful chaos as a story about cost — not a celebration of it.
It’s also the show’s most debatable move, and that’s worth noticing too. A show that spent years making pain look beautiful had to fight to make that pain land as loss. Did it earn the ending, or enjoy the wreckage too long to stick it? Smart filmmakers will disagree — and that argument is exactly what a good ending is supposed to start.
What Not to Take
The neon grief is the most copied part. It’s also the least useful. Take the surface — the colors, the slow-mo, the trauma-as-texture — and you get the costume without the body.
The real craft is underneath. Commit your camera to a real point of view. Make every stylistic choice earn its place. Treat your ending as the point of the whole thing. Do that, and your work won’t look like Euphoria. It’ll do what Euphoria did.
This piece touches on addiction and substance use. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
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