Vanderpump Rules was the perfect millennial tragedy

What is Vanderpump Rules if not a series about middling millennials? It’s a question plaguing Bravo fans following the news that the hit reality show is getting a reboot with a new class of waiters and bartenders in its 12th season. No details about the cast have been revealed yet, except for the expected return of the series’ namesake and executive producer Lisa Vanderpump. However, many are already wondering how a potentially Gen Z cast could alter the show’s identity. 

When Vanderpump Rules premiered in 2013, it arrived as the antithesis to MTV’s The Hills, which followed a group of young, privileged women pursuing careers in entertainment and fashion. The cast of Vanderpump Rules, on the other hand, were anything but aspirational. They were struggling actors and part-time models waiting tables to pay their rent and sharing small apartments. Most of the cast were about to hit 30 when the show first aired, noticeably older than the wide-eyed, college-aged individuals we regularly see on dating competitions and other “young adult” reality series. (Series regular Jax Taylor was 33.)

Still, the awareness that most of the cast was “past their prime” and still struggling — with the surprise success of a reality show keeping them afloat — gave Vanderpump Rules a novel and authentic feel. Amid more TV-friendly depictions of 30-somethings as ambitious go-getters — Bravo’s Summer House, for example — the series was a particularly unpleasant depiction of millennial life. Doomed by narcissistic tendencies and an unreliable gig economy, the cast were performing the millennial lifestyle in all the wrong but painfully realistic ways. 

Even Scandoval, the explosive cheating scandal between castmate Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss that catapulted the show into the national conversation last year, hasn’t exactly paid dividends for the cast. Only one star — the betrayed party, Ariana Madix — has really been able to elevate her career outside of the show, as the host of the supremely successful Love Island USA. The cast would only go on to film one more season after the scandal.

This fated ending feels appropriate for a show that so amusingly depicted the so-called “unluckiest generation.” It’s this throughline of millennial failure that made the show oddly special for viewers while simultaneously remaining unrewarding for its cast.

Drinking and backstabbing are often seen as the key factors in Vanderpump Rules’ popularity and lengthy time on the air. However, a constant refusal to evolve was the most crucial plot at the center of its narrative.

“Vanderpump Rules” documented millennial failure like no other show

The series thrived on the promise that this group of dysfunctional restaurant workers would never become better people, let alone make their way up the social and economic ladder. 

Even when presented opportunities, the cast still found a way to fumble them. For example, when it seemed like main protagonist Stassi Schroeder had outgrown the show, moving to New York with her boyfriend after season two, she quickly found her way back on the reunion couch, begging Vanderpump for reemployment at her restaurant SUR (and on the show). After publishing a New York Times-bestselling book in 2019, Next Level Basic, she was fired from the series for a racist incident involving Black fellow cast member Faith Stowers. 

Schroeder has astonishingly managed to bounce back, as an author and podcast host in addition to nabbing her own reality show. But other cast members haven’t had such luck.

Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval are maybe the biggest failsons of the crew. A running joke across the show was that they each owned only 5 percent of TomTom, the restaurant that was opened by Vanderpump from their namesake, among other business failures. Once the pair were at last able to afford homes, their relationships with their respective partners quickly blew up, leaving them adrift. It also goes without saying that Sandoval’s affair and subsequently offputting antics have tainted his public image as a business owner for the foreseeable future. 

The show’s main antagonists Jax Taylor and James Kennedy — before Sandoval stole the mantle — epitomized failure, more so on a moral level than a professional one. Their habitual cheating, constant undermining of friendships, and generally offensive behavior made their level of villainy quite unique, even by reality-TV standards. More specifically, they personified the “F-boy” archetype, the promiscuous and manipulative type of millennial man who somehow found a way to blame all his bad behavior on his mental health. 

It’s notable that Taylor’s behavior has only regressed on the spin-off The Valley, which debuted on Bravo earlier this year. The series features several former Vanderpump Rules cast members, like Taylor, his ex-spouse Brittany Cartwright and Kristen Doute, supposedly entering a more mature era of their lives. Instead, they’ve largely exhibited the same level of chaos and immaturity displayed on the original show. After five years of a dysfunctional marriage, Taylor and Cartwright’s union recently ended in divorce. 

After 11 seasons of reality fame, where does the cast go? 

It’s important to note that, while much of the failure depicted on Vanderpump Rules can be attributed to poor decision-making, the reality of starring in unscripted television rarely allows for professional growth. In the United States, at least, it’s rare that reality fame leads to greater opportunities in entertainment. Even if you’re an A-list reality star, you’re probably not earning that much, as unscripted TV operates on relatively cheap labor. This was evident in the last season of Vanderpump Rules following Scandoval where several cast members confessed to struggling financially even after the opportunities granted from the highly publicized scandal. It’s a harsh lesson that a generation primed for self-broadcasting and publicizing their daily lives is collectively learning.

So what’s left for the cast after a decade of failed relationships, friendships, and businesses, plus 15 minutes of unprecedented fame? Some are left with more possibilities than others. Schwartz and Sandoval are still minority owners of TomTom. Madix and Katie Maloney still have their sandwich shop, Something About Her, which may or may not lead to another reality show. James Kennedy will presumably continue to pursue a humble DJing career, while Lala Kent and Scheana Shay, like so many reality stars and celebrities past their prime, have podcasts. 

Overall, it feels unlikely that the current cast — not including the readily employed Madix — will completely disappear from the limelight. For one thing, Bravo and NBCUniversal have a tendency to recycle reality stars, creating new spin-offs, casting them on shows like The Traitors and House of Villains, keeping them stuck in the Bravo-universe for perpetuity. This has already been demonstrated with The Valley. Schwartz, Shay, and Kent have already filmed scenes for the next season, presumably in a guest-star capacity. The Valley still provides some opportunity to see people in their 30s and 40s making poor decisions. Although, most of the cast, aside from Taylor, Cartwright, and Doute, are living relatively stable lives compared to the ones showcased on Vanderpump Rules.

Overall, it doesn’t really compare to the thrill of watching a group of service workers defy conventional adulthood, whether or not they purposely resisted it or were just less likely to succeed economically. Vanderpump, then, was the perfect document of a generation failed by the “American Dream” and their own individualist tendencies. Presumably, a younger cast will deal with similar hardships. But for fans of a certain age, it just might not hit the same.