The premiere of Bravo’s “In The City,” a “Summer House” spinoff, is one of the best series debuts I’ve seen in a long time.
The series follows original “Summer House” cast members Lindsay Hubbard, Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula as they navigate the next phases of adulthood in New York City alongside a bevy of new friends. In Bravo-specific terms, it’s on par with the launch of “Vanderpump Rules,” because, similar to how that show was born as a backdoor pilot on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” the “Summer House” finale allowed for a near-seamless roll into the “In The City” pilot.
Near-seamless because, as any “Summer House” viewer knows by now, the idea of Amanda hooking up with fellow cast member West Wilson, the ex-boyfriend of her supposed bestie and co-worker Ciara Miller, blew everyone’s mind and threw everything into chaos.
So much so that seconds after we watch the “In The City” cast roll into Manhattan, we have to jump ahead to April 9 to watch Kyle and Amanda discuss recent events and whether she had been checked out of their marriage while they were filming this spinoff.
In sum, Amanda continues to mumble and play dumb about the betrayal and behavior caught on camera, and Kyle, while no saint, is heartbroken yet continues to try to shield her from the backlash.
Following that awkward moment, the show rewinds seven months to where it was designed to begin, as we join Lindsay in her gorgeous, spacious apartment with her daughter Gemma, whose face we are now allowed to see.
Lindsay, an influencer, is the kind of person meant not only to be on reality television but to also be the center of this kind of aspirational series set in NYC. Among this crew are doctors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and, naturally, hopeless romantics.
The “In The City” premiere features an interesting collective and also offers a more interesting presentation of New York itself than the past few seasons of the rebooted “The Real Housewives of New York.”
The network, seeing the success of “The Valley,” wanted to find its East Coast counterpart, and “In The City” is a more inspiring counterbalance.
Now, when the trailer for “In The City” debuted last month, there were complaints about the apparent lack of diversity in the cast. These complaints won’t be quelled by the premiere.
“How can a show set in NYC not feature more people of color?”
While I always want to see every type of person on television, I’m largely not among the crowd clamoring for representation in every social circle on a reality show. This criticism obscures the reality that Americans don’t co-mingle as much as some TV shows suggest. NYC may be the most populous and diverse city in the nation, but it’s long been a symbol of school segregation, too.
What’s not often said on these shows and in everyday conversation is that it requires a certain level of social mobility and economic means to be included in the friend groups featured on Bravo. And in America writ large.
So, I’m not shocked that the first Black person I saw on “In The City” was Lindsay’s nanny, Liz, because it’s what I saw all the time when I lived in NYC myself.
To be fair to Lindsay, she also has another Black male friend who seems to be at least partially involved with the show.
And yeah, there are other Black people on “In The City,” and just as unsurprisingly, they’re Black men like Kenny Martin, who used to work on Wall Street and is now a venture capitalist.
He is a friend of Kyle’s who initially invested in Kyle’s beverage company, Lover Boy. Kenny is dating Whitney Fransway, a former “Bachelor” contestant, who moved cross-country to live with him.
When Kenny meets Lindsay and shares this revelation, she notes that it’s a big deal for a woman to move across the country to be with a man without an engagement. Kenny disagrees and intimates that her opinions are rooted in male-bashing. Lindsay basically sees Kenny’s lack of commitment to Whitney for what it is, and it makes for good television that feels genuine.
I’m not looking for representation in every corner of reality television because I don’t believe it authentically exists. All too often, when it is forced, Black viewers are subjected to watching Black cast members be placed in hostile situations with no real chance at remedy.
See the most recent season of “Southern Hospitality,” where Emmy Sharrett, a white woman, falsely accused Bradley Carter, a Black man, of “making her feel unsafe.”
As satisfying as it was to see the clip of Bradley’s girlfriend, Julia, having a white woman to white woman moment in which she branded Sharrett a “white, privileged-ass bitch,” it is never entertaining to watch Black people be subjected to prejudice.
I don’t expect that from “In The City,” though the absence of Black women is hard to miss.
Having said that, I’d rather the network revisit previous franchises like “Blood, Sweat, and Heels” and offer viewers another shot at watching dynamic Black women navigate their New York City.
We see predominantly Black casts on Bravo through “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “The Real Housewives of Potomac” and “Married To Medicine,” but we’re not seeing enough Black shows on Bravo on par with “In The City.”
Black casts have delivered some of Bravo’s most compelling television for years. What we haven’t been given enough of is the real estate to match.
I will enjoy “In The City,” but I understand the frustration some viewers will not be able to shake about it, even if I find that anger misplaced.
“In The City” airs on Bravo on Tuesdays. It streams on Peacock the next day.
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