'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
'Real Housewives of New York City' Ratings Do Just Fine Without Bethenny
by PopEater Staff, posted Jun 11th 2011 2:00PM
Maybe Bethenny Frankel wasn't as integral to the success of 'The Real Housewives of New York City' as we thought -- ratings for the Bravo show have actually increased since Bethenny Frankel left the show.
"During filming and again just prior to our fourth season airing, many articles popped up stating that RHONY would flop after Bethenny's departure," a current cast member told Rob Shuter of AOL TV sister site PopEater. "Many of these seemed to be veiled leaks by B and her team, designed to hurt us and boost her own spin off. Unfortunately for them, those plans didn't pan out."
While the NY franchise has seen its ratings continue to grow, Bethenny's second season has dropped 22 percent from her debut. That isn't to say it's not still a hit, though, and it remains the highest-rate solo show on the network. A third season has been ordered. Meanwhile, 'RHONY' continues to outstrip hers with 40 percent greater audience with more than 2.28 million viewers tuning in last week.
"Bethenny saw herself as the star of that show and assumed without her, less people would watch," the Bravo insider tells Shuter. "This is Bethenny's worst nightmare. She would have liked nothing more than the show to fail without her. She desperately wants her own reality show about her new married life with her baby to kick Jill Zarin and the other ladies asses."
'Bethenny Ever After' averaged a very healthy 1.45 million viewers for its latest season and has already been renewed for a third season. But more importantly what this has taught Bravo is that no one lady is more valuable than the show itself. So watch out NeNe, Teresa and Gretchen ... as much as we love you the real star is the show itself!
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