When NBCUniversal spun off cable networks such as E! into Versant, one of the interesting aspects was where would the latter’s shows stream now it is no longer a sibling to streamer Peacock.
The company, for instance, struck a big deal with Hulu for the rights to stream old episodes of The Kardashians.
One of E!’s first new shows under new ownership is The Golden Life, bringing back the former stars of The Real Housewives of New York as they start fresh in Florida.
One of these stars, Sonja Morgan, posted on Instagram that The Golden Life, which also stars stars Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Kelly Bensimon, would be streaming on Hulu alongside its linear bow on E!.
However, Deadline understands that this is not the case with Versant insiders saying that there are no streaming plans for the show as of right now. That’s not to say that it might not stream on Hulu in the future, but it seems there’s no deal in place currently.
Versant’s President of Entertainment Val Boreland told Deadline recently that one of the big differences between being part of the start up rather than NBCUniversal was that they can sell the streaming rights to its shows to third party platforms.
“We can partner with people in ways that we weren’t able to [before]… maybe that in the past we wouldn’t have been able to do because they were in conflict with our parent company,” she told Deadline at Realscreen.
“Everything is on the table to discuss, and again, we have a lot more flexibility to consider things. We are talking to all the streamers, everyone we know, people we work with, friendly competition now can be partners, and I think that’s really going to open the floodgates,” she added.
The series, which is produced by Blink49 Studios, will see the group, who are bound by decades of shared history, fallouts and friendship, starting fresh together in the Sunshine State in a new “golden” era of life. They’ll hang out in their second homes and enjoy a bustling social scene as they navigate dating, family and career milestones.
It will start filming this spring.
Cori Abraham, SVP, Unscripted Content at Versant, told Deadline that a “lot of people have been requesting that these ladies come back”.
“When the show was pitched to us, we were like, ‘Yeah, we want to see it too’. We want them to come back. We’re excited that they are now snowbirds. They will come down to the south over the winter, so we’ll be shooting them this winter for the next few months,” she added. “They are still fabulous as ever, and it’s not really your flipping table kind of show. It’s more of like a Mahjong table kind of show.”
However, the series has already courted some controversy. Jill Zarin was originally set to star but she was fired after she made some racist remarks about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show.
“In light of recent public comments made by Jill Zarin, Blink49 Studios has decided not to move forward with her involvement in The Golden Life,” the production company said in a statement. “We remain committed to delivering the series in line with our company standards and values.”
Deadline understands that Dorinda Medley will join the gang as a guest star.
Medley joined RHONY in Season 7 and quickly became a fan favorite for throwing parties at her Blue Stone Manor in the Berkshires and “making it nice”. She had catchphrases like “clip, clip, clip” to shut things down and was friends with Sex & the City’s Candace Bushnell, with whom she shared a memorable scene where Medley tells her, “I’ll tell you how I’m doing… Not well b***h”.
Medley would be a full-time housewife for six seasons before infamously getting “put on pause” for Season 13. Following her time on the Bravo reality series, she starred in Peacock’s Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip in Season 2 and Season 3 and competed on The Traitors Season 3 and Season 4.
Sonja Morgan’s Instagram post
Instagram / sonjatmorgan
