The Real Housewives of New York City is an American reality television series that premiered
on March 4, 2008 on Bravo.
Developed as the second installment of The Real Housewives franchise, following The Real
Housewives of Orange County, it has aired six seasons and focuses on the personal and
professional lives of several women residing in New York City.
The series originally focused on LuAnn de Lesseps, Bethenny Frankel, Alex McCord, Ramona
Singer, and Jill Zarin.
Kelly Killoren Bensimon joined the program beginning in the second season, while Sonja
Morgan was introduced in the third season.
Frankel left the program after the third season, and was replaced by Cindy Barshop during the
fourth season.
Barshop, Bensimon, McCord, and Zarin departed the series at the conclusion of the fourth
season; Aviva Drescher, Carole Radziwill, and Heather Thomson joined the series in their
absences during the fifth season.
In the sixth season, de Lesseps transitioned into supporting capacity; her original position
was filled by Kristen Taekman.
Overview and casting
While in pre-production, the show was initially titled Manhattan Moms.
The first season premiered on March 4, 2008, and starred Bethenny Frankel, LuAnn de Lesseps,
Alex McCord, Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin.
Despite the series title, the women featured were not all housewives.
Frankel and Singer owned their own businesses, McCord and Zarin had jobs outside their home.
Kelly Killoren Bensimon was added to the cast for the second season, which premiered on
February 17, 2009.
On August 31, 2010, Frankel made an official announcement that she would not be returning
to The Real Housewives of New York City series for its fourth season.
In September 2010, the fourth season began filming with Cindy Barshop as the series'
newest housewife.
Bravo pushed the Season 4 premiere back until April 7, 2011, and instead premiered The Real
Housewives of Miami.
Bravo announced in April 2012 that the show would be revamped for its fifth season and
effectively fired half of its cast, letting go four of its seven housewives: Barshop,
Bensimon, McCord, and Zarin.
The fifth season premiered on June 4, 2012, with new cast members Aviva Drescher, Carole
Radziwill, and Heather Thomson, leaving Singer and De Lesseps as the only original cast members
from the first season, along with Sonja Morgan, who joined the show in its third season.
The series was officially renewed for a sixth season on April 2, 2013.
Production was set to begin on May 8, 2013, but the housewives had instead gone into negotiations
with Bravo regarding their salaries for the season.
Sonja Morgan, Carole Radziwill, Heather Thomson and Ramona Singer rejoined the series on May
9, 2013, with Aviva Drescher signing her contract on May 24, 2013.
LuAnn agreed to the new contract on May 28, 2013.
It had been speculated that Kristen Taekman would join the cast, which was later confirmed
by LuAnn in an interview with Wetpaint.
It was announced in January 2014 that The Real Housewives of New York City would return
for its sixth season on March 11, 2014.
Aviva Drescher, Sonja Morgan, Carole Radziwill, Ramona Singer, Heather Thomson, and new housewife
Kristen Taekman are the main housewives with LuAnn de Lesseps returning in a recurring
role.
Timeline of housewives Episodes
Facebook game
In July 2012, Bravo released a social networking video game version of The Real Housewives
of New York City titled Real Housewives: The Game.
Every week after a new episode, a new story was available on the game.
It has been discontinued since October 2012.
References
External links Official website
The Real Housewives of New York at the Internet Movie Database
The Real Housewives of New York City at TV.com