By Drew Grant 5/13 11:37am

Exclusive

RHONY, Season 5 (Bravo)

Exclusive: RHONY Contracts Still Unsigned as of This Morning; Tensions Still Running High for New Season

Last week it looked like The Real Housewives of New York City could get shut down for good when all six of the cast members refused to sign their contracts. Shooting for the series was supposed to commence last Wednesday (according to several news outlets), but was delayed when negotiations stalled.

Thank goodness it might not be over. According to Deadline, RHONY ladies Carole Radziwill, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Heather Thomson, Aviva Drescher and Sonja Morgan all received modest pay increases, though how “modest” that money is definitely on a case-by-case basis; Ramona Singer made $500,000 last season and was holding out for a million, while a source close to the negotiations told The New York Observer that The New York Post’s quoted “average” payout for a housewife–$65,000–was “in the ballpark” of what was being offered this time around.

According to an industry insider, however, none of the ladies have officially signed their contracts yet, so don’t be jumping for joy just yet. Read More

By Kim Velsey 12/05/12 4:56pm

penthouse parties

One of Mr. Eklund's photos, via twitter.

Multi-tasking Broker Fredrik Eklund Sells Art and Condos, Shoots Reality TV All at the Same Time

Art shows at on-the-market penthouses are so common that they have arguably supplanted open houses in many of the city’s trendier corners, but art made and sold by the penthouse’s listing broker is something new.

Last night Douglas Elliman broker Fredrik Eklund hosted an exhibit of his photography in the penthouse of 50 Lispenard Street. Mr. Eklund told us that all 25 photographs at the event sold. The penthouse, listed for $4.55 million, is still on the market. (Mr. Eklund has the entire six-unit building, which is half sold). Read More

By Drew Grant 11/12/12 2:11pm

Bravo

Ben Huh, CEO of I Can Has Cheezburger, on Bravo's new show 'LOLWork' (Bravo)

Ben Huh of I Can Has Cheezburger on LOLWork, Reality Television and Keeping a Straight Face

Ben Huh struck us as goofily affable when we met him at Bravo’s Top Chef Kitchen restaurant three weeks ago. Sitting at a table with a Post reporter and a friend from Mashable, the CEO of the I Can Has Cheezburger network (which includes, among other properties, Know Your Meme, FailBlog and The Daily What) had a self-aware cockiness in his voice when he claimed he invented the phrase “internet culture.” And though he was about to be rocketed into the world of Bravolebrities–the term Bravo applies to its various reality stars–he spent more time helping the table parse weird terminology than trying to sell himself.

We don’t remember how the conversation got started, but at one point someone asked if you could call Furries (those people who dress in plush animal outfits at conventions, frequently with sex in mind) “anthropomorphic.”

“No,” Mr. Huh responded firmly. “That’s when inanimate or inhuman objects take on human qualities.” This, the star of Bravo’s first attempt at a reality-sitcom told us, was “the opposite … humans that want to be animals.”

So what do we call them?

“Animorphs?” the guy from Mashable suggested, referring to the teen book series popular in the late ’90s.

“Animorphism,” agreed Mr. Huh. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 10/26/12 11:56am

television

pepsi

Bravo Developing ‘Cola Wars’ Drama

We all recall the Cola Wars of the 1980s: so many dollars bled on advertising by Coca-Cola and Pepsi in order to convince the nation to choose their particular brown sugar water over their competitor. (We will not say that the two are essentially indistinguishable, as so many have, for Diet Pepsi is America’s Best Drink.) Read More