Andy DehnartDespite its nonsensical title, Bethenny Getting Married? drew viewers to Bravo and became its highest-rated debut ever. Bethenny Frankel’s show was “the highest rated series premiere in network history with 2.10 million total viewers and 1.35 million adults 18-49,” according to a Bravo press release.
I’m surprised by that–but also by how watchable the show quickly became. I couldn’t quite imagine what Bethenny would do without the other housewives to make smart-ass comments about, and I also couldn’t imagine watching an hour of conversations between her and her fiance/future husband Jason Hoppy, who on Real Housewives had about 95 percent less personality than one of Ramona’s eyeballs. It was also weird that Bethenny suddenly had brand-new friends, highlighting the artificiality of these docudrama shows that purport to show someone’s life but actually show a producer’s version of it.
But thanks to conflict between them (fueled so far by Jason’s conservatism, and I don’t mean politically), Bethenny’s hiring of a gratuitously hot assistant, and some emotional weight in Bethenny’s on-camera therapy session, it just worked. It’s certainly not the guilty pleasure/ridiculous mess that Real Housewives is, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.