Roughly 13.8 billion years ago, the universe began from an infinitely hot and dense single point, then expanded and stretched — otherwise known as the Big Bang Theory. But 20 years ago, students of the Bravo school of science witnessed an explosive moment emanating from Orange County — specifically a wealthy enclave known as Coto de Caza — with five women forming a fireball of aspirational intrigue and drama that, over time, spawned an ever-expanding reality TV universe — otherwise known as "The Real Housewives."
The first episode of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" premiered on Bravo on March 21, 2006. The series followed the lives ofJeana Keough, Vicki Gunvalson, Lauri Peterson, Kimberly Bryant and Jo De La Rosa. The first season of the series was just eight episodes, but over time it expanded and morphed into a franchise, spreading to 12 other U.S. locales, fromBeverly HillstoNew Yorkto Rhode Island, the latest entrant premiering next month. It's also produced more than 30 international editions across 20 countries, a dozen spin-offs (with mixed results). Its aim was to provide an anthropological look at the lives — and perceptions — of affluent and unfiltered women that has become a prototype other programmers strive to emulate (see: Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.")
To mark this month's 20th anniversary of "Orange County," the one that started it all, the Times spoke to the original cast members, as well as key players in its origin story, about how Bravo's long-running franchise came to be.
'A not great version of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'
WhenScott Dunloplived in Los Angeles, he spent his days working in sales, and his nights as a performer with the Groundlings. He held a mix of above and below the line roles on projects, including the low-budget feature "Tag: The Assassination Game," starring Linda Hamilton andRobert Carradine. Then he got married and, in the late '80s, moved to Coto de Caza, a gated community that boasts million-dollar estates and is nestled in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. Right away, he was fascinated by his neighbors.
Dunlop (original producer, Season 1):Jeana [a former Playboy Playmate of the Year] was the first person I met in Coto. I was moving on a very hot August day. And she comes walking down the street and says, "What are you doing here?" I said, "Well, I'm moving in." She goes, "Who are you?" It was the third degree. It was funny. But I got to know Jeana and her late husband, Matt [Keough, then a retired baseball player], and family [they had three kids] very well.
As Dunlop settled in, an idea for a TV show took shape. He had been struck by the archetypes around him: the "tennis bitches," as he puts it, men of leisure, boomerang kids. Initially thinking it had the makings of a short film, Dunlopthoughtthe reality formatwas something to consider as the genre gained traction in the early aughts.
Dunlop:I was just watching and observing here in Coto. The ladies were here; the men would leave the ranch, as we call it. The original vision I had was to do a parody of life in affluent suburbs, but with plenty of reality in it.
Keough:Every time Scott came over, he would say, "Who's that guy in the living room?" [I'd say] "Well, that's a director, David Goodman, from New York. It's cold there, so he's out here writing his next screenplay." There was always this fun group of people at my house. It was like "Cheers" or something. Scott said, "I want to do this show about your family, kind of like 'The Osbournes'; I want to do a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.' He had all these different ideas, so he shot a sizzle reel with us, and another great young actor [Ryan Eggold] who ended up doing a lot of shows.
Dunlop:Ryan was studying acting at USC, and he lived down the street from me with his folks. He called me up and said, "Is there any way I could be on this show you're doing?" I said, "I'll tell you what, for the sizzle reel, we'll do this: You are the son of two doctors. You are 'the boomerang kid.' So, next time you're back home, we'll shoot a scene with you, as you normally are — in a robe, drinking a beer, kind of walking around outside."
Bryant:I was approached by Scott — we lived in the same community and he had eavesdropped in the workout room; he heard me making fun of the fact that I had gotten these breast implants. He talked to a friend of mine and said, "Do you think she would do it?" I was not interested. I really am a stay-at-home mom for a reason. It's a busy life. The whole family voted on it and we said yes. I remember thinking, "There's 200 channels of nonsense, nobody's going to be watching this, so it's not a big risk."
Dunlop wrote up a one-page treatment and, by 2004, began piecing together a sizzle reel for his idea, "Behind the Gates,"to shop to networks. At the time, Bravo was forging a new identity in reality programming after years as a niche cable networkthat aired highbrow art films, opera and ballet. Its programming roster included breakout hit "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Project Runway," "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" and "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List."
Frances Berwick(then-executive vice president of programming and production, Bravo):He had come in with this pitch saying, "I think it'd be interesting to basically film my neighbors. We all hang out in the country club — there was this hospitality place where they were congregated. There are cute pool boys. And this teenage son of this woman is flirting with somebody else's mother." He painted a picture of what the community is like.
Andy Cohen (then-vicepresident of original programming, Bravo):I just remember there was a VHS tape on my desk and Amy Introcaso-Davis [then-head of development] said: "Look at this. We want to do something with it." I wish I still had the tape. It was weird. There was some narration on it. I was really intrigued by the fact they all lived in this gated community and that was very soap opera-y to me.
Berwick:The show nearly didn't make it to air. We started to see the cuts of the show. And we thought we had a vision for it, which was very much fly-on-the-wall look at people living their lives. We started to see it; the producers were trying to cut it for comedy and it felt more like they were leading it into a not great version of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" because these are not improv comedians.
'We were interested in the women'
Bravo gave Dunlop some notes.
Cohen:We were interested in the women. We were not interested in the husbands.
Shari Levine(then-executivevicepresident ofcurrentproductions, Bravo):Although it's hard to imagine that people talking about breast enhancement surgery would be shocking/surprising, back then it was. And Kimberly was talking frankly about that, which caught my attention and made me think they would say things out loud that most people only spoke of privately. And I was intrigued at that possibility.
Dunlop put out local newspaper ads to look for more subjects.
Gunvalson:Michael [her son, then a teenager] wrote a letter to Scott. Mike went off to school and didn't hear anything but said there might be a call coming in. I'm like, "I'm too busy. What are you talking about?" Next thing you know, Scott called and said, "Can I come over?" He ... was like, "I'm thinking we should do a reality show in Coto because you're kind of like the "Desperate Housewives.'" And I said, "I'm not interested." I shut the door in his face. I'm like, "I have a headphone in my ear and I'm really busy working. You're kind of bugging me right now." He knocked on my door again. Here we are.
I have two children from a previous marriage. And Don [her then-husband] said, "I don't want to do this." And I said, "You can't tell me what to do." Therefore, we did it. We're from Chicago. We're nothing special. Brianna [her daughter] was cheerleading. Michael just went off to college. Don was working for Home Depot, not retired. I'm working from home [with her insurance business] at that time. Lauri was working for me.
Peterson:I was in such a transitional period of my life — recently divorced, trying to raise my three children and support them all on my own. I feel like I had spent pretty much all of my life as a married person. I had just had my second failed marriage. I'd never really done anything on my own and I felt like I needed some excitement. It was good for me at the time.
DeLa Rosa:When this opportunity came around, I was literally in college. I was almost graduated from UC Irvine and I was studying English and comparative literature. My goal was to go to Harvard Law School. Maybe go into entertainment law. Then Slade [Smiley, her then-boyfriend] came home one day and let me know that he had gone to a charity event and they were looking for a fifth couple to cast — they loved the idea that he was 15 years older than me. They loved the idea that I didn't come from money, yet I was living in this community of wealthy. He obviously wanted to do it. So, I was like, "OK, let's do it."
'It was going to be $400,000 to kill it'
Shooting began in 2005, but the initial footage did not thrill executives.
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Cohen:I will never forget the meeting. I remember where I wassittingin the meeting. Shari and I were kind of hoping that we were going to come out of that meeting with the news that the show was going to be killed. When I look back on it, that meeting became probably the most important meeting of my life because if it had been killed — I think it was going to be $400,000 to kill it.
Berwick:Shari Levine ended up going into the edit bay and overseeing a complete recut of it. At the time, that was considerable overage for us. But we did have the debate: Is it worth spending all this money on overages? Should we just write the whole thing off? We ended up not, and the rest is history.
Levine:That first season was really hard to make. There wasn't a template or guide to follow. We had shot a lot of footage and moments of these women's lives, and finding the right way to weave them together wasn't really clear. The rough cuts were not good. No one was happy. I come from a news magazine/documentary background and am used to looking at material and working with editors to craft a story. So it was natural for me to want to be in the edit room and see what was going on. I went to L.A. and spent days looking at the footage, talking about what we had and rethinking how it was being used. It was a process and we came up with a different plan.
'We didn't even have a pool, so why was I sitting in a bikini?'
Finding a catchy name that would capture the spirit of the show was key and Bravo executives didn't feel "Behind the Gates" delivered on that. Since the show was, in some ways, a nod to "Desperate Housewives," then a massive hit for ABC, that was set in the world where "The O.C.," Fox's popular teen soap, takes place, the title changed to "The Real Housewives of Orange County."
The first episode opens with a montage of shots that feature lavish estates, tennis courts, expensive cars and jewelry whileavoice-over setsthe scene: "Life is different in a gated community"; "The land here is $1 million an acre"; "When you're not behind the gates, you don't know what you're missing." Titled "Meet the Women," it introduces viewers to the women and the lives they're leading.
Gunvalson:I don't have butlers. I don't have a private jet. I'm just a Midwestern girl transplanted to California. I have a gardener that comes once a week. That's it. I do my own laundry. I'm very involved in my kids' lives. I think viewers could relate somewhat to the struggles you have when you're a working mom. I like it. I want to control my own money. I want to do what I want to do.
De La Rosa:Because I didn't have an example of what this was going to be, there was no element in my mind to self-produce myself. I was a little over the top. I don't know about sitting in a bikini with a dog doing a [confessional-style] interview. We didn't even have a pool, so why was I sitting in a bikini?
Much of Keough's story in that first episode was focused on her eldest son, Shane. He was facing the stress of finishing high school — the episode shows him choosing to miss the ceremony as Jeana attended a fundraiser — and the waiting game ofabaseball draft to continue his father's legacy.
Keough:Not going to graduation was because I had had a fight with the baseball coach at Tesoro [High School]. So, I switched [Shane] to another school. He didn't know that many kids there and didn't have a lot of friends there, so he didn't want to go. He just wanted to have a bunch of friends over to the house. So, that wasn't really a cringe moment. My cringe moment — and Vicki's too, we would laugh about it — was the wardrobe. We have no idea how bad some of this stuff looks. I had started going through menopause, so in the first or second season, I kind of blew up like a little balloon. I didn't look so cute. And the rest of them, were all so tiny. They worked out like crazy.
From her opening shot, Gunvalson is hard at work in her home office, fielding calls — her workaholism would become a signature aspect of her personality throughout her run.
Gunvalson:Back then, there wasn't the lights and there wasn't all the filters. It was a small camera crew, two or three people, and they were in my space and in my way. It was annoying more than anything since I didn't know what they wanted from me. To just be me? I'm like, "OK, let's go. I got dinner cooking. I got a headset on. I'm working, I'm making money."
For Peterson, who was living in a townhome with her three children, a key scene involved visiting the lavish homewhere she used to live beforeher divorce.
Peterson:I hadn't actually been back into that neighborhood since I left. It was such a great community. Safe, secure, guarded. I felt like the house changed so much. It was sad and I was sad. When it was my house, it was this bright white house with black trim, super pretty, with hydrangeas everywhere. I remember seeing a Porta Potty out front — obviously they were doing some remodeling. But it was very symbolic to the way I was feeling.
The first moment we see two of the Housewives interact is when De La Rosa, who still wants to enjoy her youth while her older partner wants her to settle down,bashfully approaches Bryant, sitting with friends, at a restaurant. De La Rosa is seeking advice.
De La Rosa:I truly considered Kimberly to be my Yoda. She was the quintessential housewife — from how she looked to what she did on a day-to-day basis, taking care of the home and her family. I was born in Peru, having come over to America very small, 3 years old — there was no example of a stay-at-home mom or a housewife living a life of luxury like that. The housewife stereotype is you get to shop and you get to have tea and you get to do all these things. So, I'm fluffing pillows and I'm making the bed, doing all these things. Kimberly was like, "Oh, honey. You're doing it all wrong. You need to come hang out with us, and I'll show you how to be a housewife." She became my guiding light.
Bryant:I remember thinking that it didn't feel very natural, the way she approached us, but once she was there, it was very natural for us all to gab. Those women at that table were my friends that I had invited. And Jo comes up, and she's just beautiful and young. And I just wanted to go, "Oh my God, what are you doing in the suburbs? When I was your age, I was living in New York City." I couldn't imagine how awful it would be to be in a suburb, not even knowing if you wanted your own kids with some old, weird guy. So my thought was, "OK, I'm going to play along with this." Because this is what we're supposed to be doing, inviting her in. But the whole time I wanted to go, "Get out of here! Go, go! This is formative years."
The episode closes out with De La Rosa, taking some of Bryant's advice, doing a lap dance on Smiley while swirling a hot pink boa.
De La Rosa:I would like to blame it on the wine. Inhibitions were fully down. I look back at it now and I cringe to myself whenever I've seen that episode. Maybe I was feeling pressure to maybe push to be interesting — that's all I can attest it to. And the other half of it is just age. I was finding my sexuality and discovering myself literally on camera.
I think I probably got a check for like $1,200-$1,500 total for the entire season. It was not a lot. Also, there wasn't anything to compare it to.
'They were the uniform of these women'
As the series found an audience, a fashion staple that was as lavish and exaggerated as the women emerged from the shadows: the Sky top.
Cohen:I was obsessed with the Sky tops. I couldn't believe it. They were the uniform of these women. I think they were all designed by this one woman that they all went to and they all had zillions of Sky tops. They were these blouses that really accentuated their implants, they gathered in the middle with this jewel piece. I don't know that they were in style then, but they were in stylethere.
Keough:Oh, they were so fun. We wore them to the "Today" show and Al Roker was like, "What is this?" There's this massive plate on your chest. It's like, we're strong, powerful working women. These are our shields.
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This story originally appeared inLos Angeles Times.
