Production on the massive amount of television and movie projects which typically film every year has been slow going for many months now. There are a lot of strict protocols in place to try to keep each cast and crew safe and healthy right now, and while that's an absolute necessity, it has led to several things beginning to film, only to shut down when an additional quarantine time is needed. Now, the Bravo hit The Real Housewives of New York City has had to suspend production because of a cast member's COVID-19 diagnosis.
According to Deadline, production on RHONY has now been suspended because an unnamed cast member has tested positive for the virus. Right now, the cast member is said to have only mild symptoms, so, hopefully, they will be able to recover quickly and easily.
Unfortunately, this is the second such shut down that's been required for this branch of the wide-ranging reality show franchise. RHONY also had to pack up its production for two weeks in October, after a crew member was discovered to have had the virus. Production, in general, on RHONY was then scaled back with the hope that fewer people being around would stop anyone else from contracting the illness.
The overall Housewives franchise has seemed to be hit especially hard with shutdowns, as both The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills also had to halt production in the late fall. On top of that, several members of the casts have reported that they received a positive diagnosis at some point, with word on those cases coming from eight cast members across five of the current franchise series.
Any production that's been attempting to film since last summer has had to deal with a lot of changes on set. Crew and cast members are frequently put into quarantine bubbles so that they only interact with those they have to work with on a regular basis, and there is a lot of mandated quarantining going on for everyone when they're away from set. They also still have to practice social distancing as much as possible when working, along with wearing masks whenever possible and being tested for the virus regularly, sometimes multiple times per week.
Luckily, even though shows like Young Sheldon, For Life and Days of Our Lives have had to suspend production after finding out someone in the cast or crew was positive, at least the new safety measures seem to have stopped any one show (or film) from leading to more than a few cases of the illness at one time. Most productions have been able to resume filming after a couple of weeks, so hopefully RHONY will be back on track before too long, even though this discovery did, apparently, cause them to halt plans for a trip upstate which was going to cap the season.
The Real Housewives of New York City will be back for Season 13 sometime this year, but if you're looking for more to watch in the meantime, be sure to check out our guide to winter / spring 2021 TV!
