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'Real Housewives of DC's' Lynda Erkiletian sets the record straight on the Season 2 rumors
As we reported on Thursday (March 24), news that Bravo would not be renewing "The Real Housewives of DC" for a second season spread on the Internet.
And even though the network clearly stated that it had not made a decision regarding the show's Season 2, the reports continued. Now, one of the cast members wants to set the record straight.
"There's no official announcement," cast member Lynda Erkiletian tells Zap2it exclusively. "There's no way. [Cast member Cat Ommanney] is going on 'Watch What Happens Live' on the 28th. One might wonder why [Andy Cohen is] having a DC housewife as a guest [if the show is canceled]."
"There's negotiations taking place," she adds. "And no decision has taken place. Whoever started the rumor was basically doing it for attention."
We spoke to Lynda further on the cancelation rumors, the talk of low ratings and the criticism that the cast just wasn't exciting enough in Season 1.
Who and for what reason would someone want to start the rumor that the show was canceled?
I think we certainly have people out there who like attention, thrive on it, make stuff up, and are habitual at it. So, my first thought was that a team who had something to gain, which is a firestorm, leaked it. I'm perfectly happy living my real life in the real world while negotiations are taking place.
The article's source says the show should be shooting by now. Is that true?
That's not true. Basically, we're four months on, four months of promoting and finalizing interviews, and that sort of thing, and normally four months off.
And when you say we're supposed to be filming right now, we're obviously filming when we're supposed to be filming. And if we're not filming right now, that means we're not supposed to be. It's just craziness.
How do you feel about the reports that your show failed in the ratings?
The thing that I really hated about what was going on yesterday was that people kept talking about the ratings. Our ratings were double, triple what Bravo had anticipated. Our ratings, basically as I heard it from Bravo and [the show's production company] Half Yard, we were only second to New Jersey as a freshman show. Our first episode had 1,700,000 or 1,600,000 viewers. Beverly Hills didn't have that on their first episode.
So, the idea that people were saying we were terrible in the ratings? We weren't. We exceeded everyone's expectations. We knew that the [White House] incident may affect our viewership and some people wouldn't want to watch. So, we came from a disadvantage and we managed to run over a million viewers for every single episode. I was very proud of our ratings considering the circumstances, but most importantly because we were a new show.
Some viewers felt your season wasn't entertaining enough. Why do you think they feel that way?
I think the reason that happened was we only had nine episodes and I believe that what occurred was that much that we had was posted on video, because Bravo had no choice but to showcase what led up to the White House incident. They had no choice, but to allow that to unfold. So, by tweaking two plus episodes, they cut a lot of material that would have shown people to be much more interesting than they were. It's not that they're not interesting, it's that you can't show a snippet of a story and not follow it to the end. In production, you have to follow it to the end.
There were tons of material that Half Yard and Bravo just weren't able to use primarily because everyone wanted an answer to the White House incident and Bravo had to give it to them.
If you were to go on to a second season, what can the viewers expect?
I think that there are some dynamic, incredible women in Washington and you merge women and Washington and you've got a great second season. And I hope the fans and the naysayers will give Washington the opportunity to really show itself for what it has.
Are you glad to hear that there's still a chance DC will return?
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I hope DC returns. Is one of my favorite housewives second to Beverly Hills. I like that is a little different than some of the other crazy cities. I mean everything does not have to be drama, and I enjoyed that they spoke about politics. After watching Miami, I really miss the ladies of DC.
Let's just hope the show returns minus the Salahis. Not sure what they would follow the Salahis doing. They don't work. All of their businesses are in bankruptcy. It seems their only mission in life is to be on TV.
Uhh... they did have terrible ratings. Funny how she only mentions the first episode as every other that aired was significantly lower than the 1.6 million premiere. If she wants to compare to RHBV, they finished their first season with close to 3 million, RHDC barely passed the 1 million mark.
CANCEL PLEASE!!!!!
Esp. if those awful Salahis are in it !!!!!!!!
I actually hope that The DC Ladies come back for another try. I will admit that I was not their biggest fan and was dissappointed by some of the ladies. Other ladies such as Lynda I found to be refreshing and dynamic and I think if some ladies were to get the boot and others stayed it would be the DC everyone would watch. I say bring the ladies back for season 2 and I will certaintly be watching.
I liked the dc show. the only wife my girlfriends and I could relate to was Michaele Salahi. We are big fans. The other wives were too hateful for us. We are in college and laughed that we don't even do that.
If the salahis are back then we will watch it . I like Beverly Hills too.
THE WORST SHOW EVER !!!!!!!!!!!! A BUNCH OF MIDDLE AGED JEALOUS BACKSTABBERS . I HAVE NEVER VIEWED ANYTHING SO BORING. BUNCH OF DRUNKS WITH BORING LIFES !!!
NO NO NO NO NO NO !! ALL THEY DID WAS SIT AROUND DRINKING WINE AND TALKING ABOUT MICHAELE . CAT IS A MEAN DRUNK, THE OTHER BLONDE [NOT SALAHI ] ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE IN AN ALTERED STATE OF MIND AND THE REAL BORING ONE LINDA, HAD NOTHING TO OFFER. STACIE WAS A TWO FACE
NO, donot bring that dull show back ! I could not understand a word that CAT said. Cantanerous old lady. Mary was so stoned she never got up from the couch and Linda acted like she was above everyone. [Linda was the worst ]
YUCK !!!!!!! What did they do that was exciting ? Nothing !