While you might not be familiar with Alex Baskin’s name, he’s in charge of some very important Bravo programming. He stands as the executive producer of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and its spinoff, Vanderpump Rules.
This man has been busy after Season 10 of Pump Rules, but it certainly wasn’t anticipated. The shock of Scandoval, which required extended filming, thrust the show into the spotlight to the point of Television Academy recognition. But according to Alex, VPR was on shaky ground before the big news broke. Deadline has the details.
Vanderpump Rules was dead in the water
Alex calls the progress of Season 11, a “worthy follow-up to last season”. Is it though? Rachel Leviss never came back to film, for one. Fans don’t appear to be thrilled at having to watch Tom Sandoval creep his way back into everyone’s good graces.
The EP added, “The timing of [Scandoval] happened to have been perfect. It was insane and proof that there can still be a monoculture. The story of Vanderpump is one of survival more than anything.”
Then Alex confirmed what everyone was thinking. The show was on its very last leg and thrown a Hail Mary. He said, “We were coming off a really tough ninth season and we had the cast firings before the season and there was a low-energy season during the pandemic. To the network’s credit, they gave us another run at it and we had a resurgence anyway.”
Will Season 11 carry the momentum?
A convenient resurgence that some speculated to be contrived in an effort to get exactly what they received – a second chance. To be fair, this is not a cast of accomplished thespians and I doubt Rachel would throw her life away and enter witness protection for a check.
Even this far into filming the 11th season, things are still up in the air with shooting around Ariana Madix and Sandoval. “There’s one that we’re still figuring out even this deep into production. Otherwise, we’ve been filming with the others and it was a situation that involved the entire group so the aftermath was felt by everyone.”
He didn’t have to tell us. It’s been quite evident most cast members glommed onto what happened to Ariana and made it about themselves. Which is probably why they’ve endured on reality television.
Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules remains in production.
TELL US – ARE YOU SHOCKED PUMP RULES WAS ALMOST AXED? DOES THIS MAKE YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT SCANDOVAL?
