Lisa Vanderpump Ditches Bravo for E! With Overserved

In the vast world of cable reality TV, different networks have their distinct brands and rosters of talent. No cable entity has done more to cultivate that roster than Bravo, whose personalities — sometimes even referred to as "Bravolebrities" — have been cultivated through multiple seasons of multiple iterations of their franchises, from the Real Housewives to Below Deck, with various spinoffs and crossovers among them. In a way, these rosters of reality personalities can sometimes seem like old-school film studios, with performers under contracts for their entire output. Which is why it's oddly newsworthy when a Bravo personality as notable as Lisa Vanderpump pops up with a new reality show on another network, as she's doing this week with E!'s premiere of Overserved with Lisa Vanderpump.

It should be noted from the outset that both Bravo and E! Exist under the NBC Universal umbrella of cable networks, so whatever kind of low-scale poaching may have gone on here, it's all in-house. And Vanderpump is still very much involved in Vanderpump Rules, even as that show currently languishes in a wasteland of scandal (not having anything to do with Lisa) and the pandemic-related shutdown of nightlife in Los Angeles. But the fact is that Lisa bolted The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills midway through Season 9 — two full years ago, now — after refusing to tape with the other women following a conflict in which she appeared to have been exposed for manipulating drama within the group. Which, to be fair, was Lisa's m.o. and one of the things that contributed to her being one of the show's most popular housewives (for a while). But popularity waxes and wanes on Housewives, and it was probably time for Lisa to move on anyway. Her departure didn't seem nearly as acrimonious as those of other wives who quit the show. Just several seasons earlier, Adrienne Maloof refused to show up for the Season 3 reunion, at which point Andy Cohen essentially declared her dead to the franchise. Lisa was always far more valuable to the franchise and seemingly much more of a favorite of Cohen's. That, plus the aforementioned Vanderpump Rules, meant that Lisa wasn't exactly persona non grata at Bravo.

And yet, here she is on E! with Overserved, the latest extension of the Vanderpump brand. It's a show that makes sense on E! — much more sense than if it were on Bravo — except for the fact that it's Vanderpump at the center. E!'s reality brand is far more centered on celebrities, in all their tragicomic glory, and while Lisa is the show's central figure and party-thrower, the premise sees a new handful of celebrities traipse through her palatial home, Villa Rosa, for a different dinner party every week. In the premiere episode, it's Vivica A. Fox, Lance Bass, and Michael Turchin (Lance's husband).

During her run on Housewives, Lisa was always incredibly guarded about herself but fairly nosy about everybody else, which suits her role here as party facilitator. Hosting the party with husband Ken, daughter Pandora, and any number of the possibly hundreds of small animals that live on her property (in the premiere, it's her two Shetland ponies that get all the shine), Lisa is happy to show off her fabulous home to her guests. As we've seen on previous RHOBH seasons, Lisa and Lance are already friends. And as we've seen on Vanderpump Rules, Lisa is seen around West Hollywood (and seems to view herself) as a gay advocate/icon. And yet Lisa's always been the type of older straight lady with a lot of gay friends who you're still kind of always on the edge of your seat worrying that she'll say something she thinks is cheekily friendly but is wildly problematic. That doesn't happen here, but just saying: the tension is there.

Vivica Fox is new to Lisa, and credit to the show for not pretending they're old friends. The dynamic between the guests is decently loose and fun. While nobody (including, ideally, the audience) is under any illusion that this is much more than the 2021 celebrity economy chugging along, it's a fun time. The three stars bond over all having competed on Dancing with the Stars (see also: celebrity economy chugging along), at some point Vivica brings up having starred on Soul Train and there's a dance-off, Michael gets pretty/significantly drunk and is actually pretty fun. It's the dictionary definition of "diverting enough," especially for a half-hour program.

If anything gently irks about Overserved, it's the show's attempts to sell Lisa and her family as some kind of elite party-planners. Each episode, we're told, will have a different theme for its dinner soiree. For Vivica and Lance, it's "An Evening in Provence," which pretty much translates to "fancy garden party." Similarly, we're treated to more than a few frankly insulting scenes where we're meant to believe that Lisa and Pandora are preparing the food themselves. Not even Housewives tried to sell us on the fiction that these women cook their own food! At best they'll mix a drink, a scene we also get, where we see Pandora putting together some pastel-colored concoction that Vivica proclaims "tastes like candy in a glass" (unclear whether that was a compliment).

Culinary forgeries aside, the show is at its best when it's at its dishiest. Vivica talks about getting dumped by 50 Cent on a radio show. Lance tells a story about embarrassing himself in front of Cindy Crawford. There's some actually pretty good Dancing with the Stars dish, if you care about either that show or So You Think You Can Dance (which I do). There's even a moment or two where the streams between Lisa's reality-show lives cross, as Michael drunkenly jokes about being "Team Rinna" (one of Lisa's main RHOBH rivals). And while I doubt any real bombshells about Housewives will ever emerge on Overserved, this seems like the first time in a while that Lisa doesn't seem to be actively stonewalling.

So what does it mean, if anything, that Lisa Vanderpump, with her pink house and her weird pets, is getting her celebrity friends sloshed on E! Instead of Bravo these days? If nothing else, it means that she's past the point where feuding with her circle of friends is part of the job description anymore. Overserved isn't nearly as compelling as an average season of Housewives, but it's a refreshing diversion, especially if you're missing Lisa's particular brand of diamonds-and-rosé excess.

Overserved with Lisa Vanderpump premieres on E! March 18th at 9:00 PM ET.

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.