The forgotten NYC housewife
Tags: real housewives of new york city, jill zarin, jennifer gilbert, reality show,
Print this article |
Send YM | Comment it!There will be someone missing from the upcoming reunion episode of the reality television show "The Real Housewives of New York City." That's Jennifer Gilbert, an event planner who was quietly introduced in recent weeks on the Bravo TV show as someone arranging a party for housewife Jill Zarin. Believe it or not, Gilbert wasn't just tapped to organize a party but to be a full-fledged cast member on the third season of the show, which follows a group of women as they juggle their careers, motherhood and busy social calendars. But she says she couldn't get any airtime.
"I don't know there's anything I could've done differently to advocate for myself without looking obnoxious," Gilbert says. "I found in a lot of situations if you didn't scream the loudest or say the meanest thing you weren't heard." TV crews followed Gilbert for three months at her homes in New York and in the Hamptons. She was filmed for the show's open, but viewers rarely saw her.
"I was surprised because I really did film quite a lot," she says. She wasn't the only new face added to the cast. Sonja Morgan also joined the show in Season 3, but she already knew Ramona Singer and LuAnn de Lesseps so it made more sense for her to be included in situations on camera.
Also, a big focus this season has been on a feud between Bethenny Frankel and Zarin, which caused alliances among the cast. In one corner, Frankel, Alex McCord and Singer. In the other, Zarin, Kelly Killoren Bensimon and de Lesseps.
Newbie Morgan, who pleaded not guilty this week to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge, seemed to stay pretty neutral in the show feud, while if Gilbert had an opinion viewers never heard it. "When I walked in I didn't know about the fight that Jill and Bethenny had gotten into," she says. "It was already on a train that had left the station so I was doing a lot of catch-up."
Bravo says it hasn't been decided whether Gilbert will return for the show's fourth season. Gilbert says if she does come back she won't channel her inner mean girl for good TV. "It's not like I'm timid and afraid to speak my mind," she says. "I'm just not inappropriate, and I'm not going to say something that's mean just for the sake of saying it. That's never going to be me. If that's what they're looking for then I'm probably not the right fit."
The finale airs Thursday at 10 p.m. EDT. A reunion episode airs June 10.
Online since: 2010-06-03 07:58:53 Written by:
Web source: http://www.rollywood.net
More articles on TV Series & Talk Shows US Vice-President Wife to appear on TV ShowLifetime network's "Army Wives" is set to welcome the wife of Vice President Joe Biden in a future episode.The network announced Wednesday that Jill Biden will make a guest appearance on the military drama to raise awareness of the contributions by U.S. men and women in uniform as well as their families. She will appear as herself in the episode, titled "Mud, Sweat and Tears." She visits the show's Fort Marshall to kick off the annual Fun Run, and while there meets with military spouses. A number of real Army wives will be featured in the episode, which is scheduled to air Aug. 15. "Army Wives" stars Kim Delaney and Catherine Bell. ... read more >>  USA returns atop cable with "Burn," "Royal"The return of USA Network's original drama series "Burn Notice" and "Royal Pains" helped return the channel to the top of the latest cable-ratings heap. According to Nielsen Live+SD (same day) ratings for the week ending Sunday, USA delivered an average primetime audience of 3.5 million viewers. The Season 4 premiere of "Burn Notice" scared up 6.6 million viewers Thursday. Lead-out "Royal Pains" began its sophomore run in front of 5.8 million viewers. "In Plain Sight," the third original series on USA's spring schedule, drew 3.5 million viewers in its 10 p.m. Wednesday slot. In second place for the week was Fox News Channel, which edged Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite by about 4,000 viewers. The news network averaged 1.9 million total viewers in primetime. ... read more >>  Persons Unknown sets up creepy intriguing mysteryWith "Lost" over, it's no surprise that networks are looking for the next big mysterious thing. "Persons Unknown" has big aspirations, and comes with a good pedigree -- here, Christopher McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects" screenwriter) is the J.J. Abrams in the room. Or at least NBC hopes so. But the thing about kicking off a less-than-straightforward narrative like "Persons" is that the viewer most likely to get fully absorbed in the show, immediately looking for clues (why is the key in the Bible? Why is the hotel lobby playing "Beautiful Dreamer?" Will this be important next season?) is also the viewer who's been burned the most by such setups. ... read more >>  Charlie Sheen faces jail stint in plea dealCharlie Sheen, star of hit TV sitcom "Two and a Half Men," is expected to enter a new plea of no contest to assaulting his wife in Colorado last year and could spend up to 30 days in jail, a report said Tuesday. Celebrity website TMZ.com said Sheen, 44, will enter the plea to a misdemeanor assault charge and, with credit for good behavior, a possible 30-day jail sentence could be reduced to 17 days. A district attorney in Aspen, Colo., where Sheen was charged, told Reuters he could not confirm or deny the plea, and an attorney for Sheen said no deal had yet been reached. Charlie Sheen, the highest-paid actor in television, is due in an Aspen courtroom Monday to face a judge in the matter. The star of television and movies was arrested Dec. 25 for assaulting his wife, Brooke Mueller. She told police Sheen had pulled a knife on her when she threatened to divorce him. Both had been drinking at the time, and both later entered rehab facilities. ... read more >>  Finally, a jobAndy Richter and Conan O'Brien's writers will take the spotlight in a TBS special to be taped during a Chicago comedy festival next month. The one-hour special, with the working title "Team Coco presents Conan's Writers Live," is scheduled to air 10 p.m. EDT June 27. The show will be taped June 17 during the second annual Just for Laughs festival presented by TBS. The festival runs from June 15-19. Tickets for the "Team Coco" show, which will also feature music by comedian Reggie Watts, go on sale Friday.Richter, who was O'Brien's sidekick on "The Tonight Show" and will play the same role on O'Brien's upcoming TBS talk show, will host the special. Richter also is on a nationwide comedy tour with O'Brien. ... read more >>  The ladies on leadThe ladies are in the lead at "Dancing With the Stars." Sportscaster Erin Andrews and singer Nicole Scherzinger tied for the top spot on the next-to-last episode of the ABC dance-off, while fellow finalist Evan Lysacek finished third.The Olympic figure skater collected 52 points out of 60 for his two dances. Andrews and Scherzinger each earned 55 points. Each couple performed a freestyle routine and a "redemption dance" in a style the judges thought they should have excelled in but didn't.Andrews' redemption dance earned the highest score of the night: 29 points out of 30 for the samba she performed with professional partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. ... read more >>  No more "Mercy", "Heroes" or "Trauma" from NBCNBC has canceled "Heroes." The network also pulled the plug Friday on its two freshman medical dramas, "Mercy" and "Trauma." The network seriously mulled bringing back "Heroes" for a shortened final season to wrap up the serialized show, possibly as a two- or four-hour movie. In the end, given the fairly high cost of the drama, the show's consistently declining ratings and the number of new hour-long shows coming to NBC next season, the network decided the series wasn't worth an additional episode order. The show has long had a rocky relationship with its fans. Out of the gate, "Heroes" was a big hit for the network -- an ethnically diverse big-concept ensemble that performed well overseas. It was NBC's "Lost."But the show's writers struggled to keep the twisting narrative on track. Characters were killed off and resurrected with regularity. Narrative threads were started, then abandoned. Unlike "Lost," the show seemed not to be driven by central questions that needed to be resolved with a final season. ... read more >> |