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ShowsReal Housewives of New York CitySeason 1
The season that built the template

The Origin

Five women, one city, no handbook. RHONY invented the Housewives format here — a specific social world, a camera willing to sit inside it, and a cast with enough distinct voices to make the city feel like a character rather than a backdrop.

Filmed
New York City
New York City
Premiered
Mar 4, 2008
Bravo · March 2008
Episodes
16
Format
NYC social reality
Original five-woman cast
Cast size
5 players
Original Housewives cast
On this page
  1. 01The take
  2. 02The shape of the season
  3. 03Where it sits in the canon
  4. 05Adjacent in the canon
  5. 06Also appears in
01The take

The Origin.

The origin document. Everything the Housewives franchise became starts here.
02The shape of the season

A rhythm worth tracking.

Five women, one city, no handbook. The original cast — Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer, Luann de Lesseps, Jill Zarin, and Alex McCord — established what a Housewives cast looks like when it actually has something to say. Manhattan is the sixth character: the social circuit, the dinners, the obligations. The show invents its own format here, season by season, scene by scene. The origin document.

03Where it sits in the canon

The #02 slot.

Slot #02 of 5 in the Real Housewives of New York City Editor's Canon. The seasons on either side show what I ranked it against.

No spoilers. Every page is reviewed before it goes live.
06Also appears in

Cross-references.

Real Housewives of New York City — Editor's CanonEditor's Canon · #02
Real Housewives of New York City S1 — The Origin — tiered.tv