RHONY, Season 5 (Bravo)

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.

According to another source, Bravo waited until the last minute even to send around the contracts with the numbers, leaving only two weeks before filming began for the women to try to negotiate for higher wages.

But the industry insider scoffed at that idea, saying that there would never be a planned shooting schedule before the ladies signed the contracts. "Things need to be in place, Bravo needs to know their availability, and the reps need to sign the contracts," said the insider.

"You have to remember, there are no unions for housewives," another source told The Observer, explaining that shooting can last all day on some episodes, with only a short break for lunch. Then there are the costs of the job: hair, makeup, and clothes are not provided, and if someone has a scene inside a house, the cast member also has to pay for all the cleaning costs to make her home presentable.

"A lot of the ladies end up in the red after the money they put toward being on the show," our source told us.

But our insider disagreed, saying that RHONY was about showing women leading their everyday lives, hence it would be ridiculous to pay for the extra perks. (Though for some red carpet events and special occasions, the person noted, the ladies may be afforded their own hair and makeup.)

According to the Deadline article, the new (unsigned) contracts "threw in a few more contractual baubles like covering expenses for additional hair and make-up for the cast."

Several other sources who wished to remain anonymous told The Observer that the problem was that the money simply wasn't there. They complained that Bravo they didn't spend nearly as much on advertising as they had the previous seasons, and the show was put in a more competitive time slot, moving from Thursday nights to Monday. "Of course the show would see lower ratings if you pit it against American Idol or something," one individual close to the negotiations remarked.

But Monday night's lineup is shattering the network's internal ratings, according to Nielsen.

The Real Housewives. (Bravo)

Good ladies of RHONY, we knew thee well. According to several outlets, the stars of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City have refused to ink contracts on the sixth season of the stalwart show, with all six main cast members holding out for a better deal.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the issue is, as always, money problems:

Production on the sixth season was set to begin on Wednesday, but none of the six women made herself available for filming. A Bravo representative declined to comment.

The cast members all negotiate separate deals and are paid different amounts, depending on how long they have been with the show. However, each cast member is said to have expressed displeasure with Bravo's financial offer. Negotiations are said to have begun about three weeks ago but little progress has been made. "We're still pretty far apart," the source says.

The issue with raising the salaries of these ostensibly already wealthy (though that grand illusion has been shattered time and time again) women, is, as Page Six tells it, that Bravo would have no qualms about canceling the show all together than belabor a negotation that has already stalled production.

And we know that the network can be heartless when it comes to slicing up the cast--as it showed when it fired three members before last season--though dooming the entire program to cancelation would still seem like a pretty desperate measure, especially since the cast already receives such disperate salaries. (An average member earns $65k per season, though Ramona Singer has been rumored to make $500,000 and has been holding out for a million.)

Which leaves us wondering: What has Bravo been doing with these contract problems since the last season, giving all the money to the guys at Million Dollar Listing: New York?

Housewife Aviva Drescher and social critic Camille Paglia. (Getty Images)

Two weeks ago, feminist Camille Paglia did an interview with Salon.com in which she came out as the world's biggest fan of The Real Housewives franchise, calling it "a revelation of the deep truth about female sexuality." She added:

It’s like the Discovery Channel—sending a camera to the African savannah to watch the cheetahs stalking the gazelles! What you’re seeing is the primal battles going on among women. Men are marginalized on these shows—they’re eye candy, to use Obama’s phrase, on the borderlines of the ferocity of female sexuality.

We decided to call up Aviva Drescher, RHONY’s newest villainess (though we still think she's very nice), to get her reaction to the compliment.

"So this woman ... she a feminist psychologist?" Ms. Drescher asked, not having heard the news about the endorsement. We said maybe more like a contrarian feminist theorist.

"I think even looking at the title of the show--it's a celebration of housewives," Ms. Drescher said. "And it's not the ’50s version of a housewife either. It's all about the differences in women to whom we apply this blanket term. And yet it is still of tremendous importance to the stereotypical 'housewife.'"

So even the name of the show might be Bravo's attempt at a subversive feminist critique? After all, Ms. Drescher is one of the three married "housewives" among them (besides Ramona Singer and Heather Thompson). Caroline Radziwill started the season in an open relationship, Sonja Morgan is divorced, and LuAnn de Lesseps might technically still be in a relationship with boyfriend Jacques Azoulay after she was accused of cheating on him during the reunion.

"Out of all the women, I'm the only actual 'housewife,'" Ms. Drescher said. "But just the fact that this a show where six women who are employed, who are being paid to be themselves on television, is empowering by it's nature."

"In terms of the ferocity of sexuality, you get the whole gamut," she continued, adding, "I'm the one who's more conservative, the mom with four kids who isn't really that interested in going on a girls' Vegas-type trip."

"Bravo's really celebrating women's differences," she said. "And when it's comes to differences, nobody wins."

"Well, except in the fact that everyone watching the show can find someone to relate to," she explained. "That's what we're celebrating."

And Bravo's ratings, of course.

The RHONY cast: Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps, Aviva Drescher, Caroline Radzwill, and Heather Thomson (Getty Images)

With the 5^th season of The Real Housewives of New York City airing June 4th, the first teaser trailer has given fans a lot to look forward to. Not only are there three new Housewives—Aviva Drescher, Heather Thomson, and Carole Radziwill—but the sneak peak shown earlier this week has everything from prosthetic, skinny-dipping, and an elderly gentleman suggesting that he could give one of the ladies her "first squirting orgasm." And a lot of booze, to be sure.

Ms. Drescher, an advocate for amputees (she herself only having one leg) appears to play a major part in the drama of the season. The trailer begins with Ramona Singer asking if the toes on her prosthetic are "real" and ends with Ms. Drescher calling the tenured Housewife "white trash."

"I regret having said those words," Ms. Drescher told The Observer by phone yesterday. "I have a much larger vocabulary than that."

Without giving away storylines, Ms. Drescher admitted that she did feel very betrayed by Ramona. "That scene illuminated to me that friendships can certainly take up and downs," said the mother of four. "And in that way the show—art, in quotation marks—imitated life. Ramona and I did not start out that way."

As for her father, the 80-year-old widower who talks like Hugh Hefner, Ms. Drescher has nothing but love. "He's living life to the fullest. He's a dashing, brilliant playboy. My father has a rich storyline in the show, and he also started out by getting along with Ramona."

Ms. Drescher pauses dramatically. "And…well…I can't say the same for the end of the season."

As for her other new cast mates, Ms. Drescher is quite fond of Carole Radziwill: "She was a journalist too!" The Housewife mentioned repeatedly during the conversation, and positive that The Observer would get along fabulously with the widow of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' nephew.

Despite her friendship with Ms. Radziwill and her tempestuous quarrels with Ms. Singer, Ms. Drescher denied that the ladies teamed up "Newsies versus Oldies." Ms. Drescher also managed to maintain some perspective on the "reality" of Real Housewives. "It was like an sociological study: we were essentially forced to make the kind of friends over the course of four months that would usually take you four years to become that close to."

As for the rumors that her cousin-by-marriage Fran Drescher, didn't approve of someone from the family being on a reality show? Ms. Drescher said that the footage would speak for itself. "Fran said she used to not like reality shows until I started doing them. She came on the show, and she said to me afterward, 'Do you think I would ever say things about the show and then come on it? I definitely think those quotes from her were misconstrued."

Even though she hasn't seen much of the season besides the sizzle reel that was played for the Housewives on Wednesday night during Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live, Ms. Drescher believed the whole experience was worth it, if only to get the word out about her philanthropic efforts and raise awareness for amputees.

"If children and teenagers at home with disabilities watch this show and see me running around and married with children…living this lifestyle…they can say to themselves, 'Wow, I can grow up and do that too.'"

Cindy Barshop, merkin expert

Completely Bare, the skin care/spa/beauty place owned by ousted-Real Housewives of New York City Cindy Barshop, is a classy joint. Not only can you go into one of three locations in NYC, Scarsdale, or Dallas to get your free teeth whitening consultation or facial tanning (just make sure you don't get that backwards), but Ms. Barshop's stores offer only the highest quality vaginal decorations.

We've known for awhile about Vajeweling and even...blurgh...Vatoos. But today's TMZ offers up a new service for Completely Bare's list of clientele: Cindy Barshop-designed merkins!

The first line is called the Foxy Bikini, in which the bikini line is waxed bare and replaced with a pubic wig made from real fox fur. They come in a variety of colors ... including traditional pink!
For those who desire a more festive flower -- Cindy also offers the Carnivale Bikini ... in which the pubic region is decorated with feathers in a variety of colors!

But a fancy hoo-ha don't come cheap -- starting price for the Carnivale is $195 and the Foxy is $30 extra.

Well come...that's not such a bad price for real fox fur! But if you're getting waxed, wouldn't the point be smoothness? Why would you add fur where there used to be hair? Why are you trying to confuse potential mates? Are you a furry?

Cindy Barshop, if you have any answers to these questions, please contact us.