Below Deck has emerged as a better reality show than Vanderpump Rules

The Cut

"I came to Below Deck seeking safe harbor from Vanderpump Rules, Bravo’s original foray into programming that did not focus on the lives of the rich and famous (à la Real Housewives), but rather the people serving them," says Bridget Read. "Vanderpump Rules, which follows a pack of troubled millennials nominally employed at Real Housewife Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants, has somewhat jumped the shark. As the cast members have grown rich and famous in their own right, their plotlines have shifted too: Instead of screaming at each other over suspected infidelities in between smilingly ferrying $13 goat-cheese balls to diners, they are now planning weddings and hosting book-launch events. The best parts of Vanderpump centered on the tension between the cast’s social drama and the norms and requirements of their workplaces; now, the SUR-vers are barely working, and a new cast of taut, plump-faced aspiring actors and models is failing to re-create the demented magic of their predecessors. Hence, Below Deck, now in its seventh season, and its newer, swankier cousin Below Deck Mediterranean, combine the most pleasurable genres of reality programming — cooking show, hotel show, and hot-young-people-hooking-up-and-fighting show — and do it all on million-dollar yachts where you aren’t allowed to wear your shoes." ALSO: A doomed Apple Watch is the true star of this season of Vanderpump Rules.