Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie helped usher in the age of reality television in the mid 2000s with their massively successful series.
What could be more fun than watching rich people living their rich lives? How about rich people trying to figure out how to live like the rest of us? After all, it’s worked before.
According to a report by Page Six, the format that made household names and superstars out of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie is being looked at as inspiration behind a new vehicle for “Real Housewives” stars Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan.
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The original series saw socialites Hilton and Richie trying to figure out how the rest of the world lived by taking on manual labor jobs like working on a farm, in a restaurant or housekeeping. To say they were in over their heads was an understatement, and the key to the show’s humor and success.
For Richie and Hilton, they’d grown up with wealth and privilege, but were not yet hugely famous. De Lesseps and Morgan have spent years of their adult lives pampered by their wealth and fame, bringing a fresh perspective to the whole concept.
The women have already signed their contracts, according to the report, though the show technically has not been greenlit — it is purportedly a lock to get on the schedule, though.
As for the production itself, even the ladies don’t know where they’ll be headed or what they’ll get up to — until it’s too late to back out, we’re guessing.
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According to Page Six, producers are looking at more remote parts of the country like Kansas and Nebraska that aren’t saturated with media presence (or New York socialites).
As De Lesseps and Morgan head off on new adventures, “The Real Housewives of New York City” is looking at a hard reboot after 13 seasons. Producers announced that they were looking to rebuild from the ground up with a fresh, more diverse cast for Season 14.
At the same time, they clearly want to have their cake and eat it, too, planning a “Legacy” or “Throwback” series starring some of the OG “Housewives,” which seems likely to include both de Lesseps and Morgan.
Why not just launch a brand new show for the new cast of “Housewives” if the original cast (or much of it) is still going to be around for this new show?
Possibly the hope is that seeing it as a continuation of a successful franchise will give the new cast a better shot at clicking with audiences, while the fanbase of the OG cast will hopefully carry over to the new brand.
