Recently I have started watching Owning Manhatten with my roommate, another show in the long tradition of Real Estate TV shows. Like many others I grew up on HGTV and love the houses, the thoughtful details put in by the renovators, and the families, but this new show is not exactly like what I’m used to. The recent generation of shows has a completely different feel. It all started with Selling Sunset and has only grown from there. The focus is not on the houses or the families and making their dreams come true. It’s about the drama behind the scenes. The personal relationships of the realtors with each other and their own ambitious career goals.
While it may not be everyone’s favorite you have to admit that the drama is compelling. The entire cast is made up of social media and internet-savvy individuals, which means they know how to create a brand for themselves. They’re treating this show as an advertisement and they fully make the most of the screen time that they are given. They are not afraid to be confrontational, unlike a lot of us viewers. They can turn the smallest slights into major plot points. The two cast members that exceed the most in this area have to be Chloe and Jonathan though.
Chloe started off as an underdog, someone with an untraditional background in reality trying to prove herself, but she quickly turned into the villain. She yells at her coworkers and supposed best friends for things that seem loosely related to her, like taking on new assistants, and in probably one of her worst moments, gets angry at her friend in the middle of a divorce for no apparent reason. Her large personality may stem from her years as a Broadway performer, leaving her not afraid of the sound of her own voice and ready to use it. While she may not always be the most sympathetic, she is entertaining.
Jonathan, covered head to toe in tattoos and quickly signaling himself as a younger hipper version of the other realtors, also stands out in many of the same ways. He comes off cocky and arrogant and starts to bully one of his coworkers, Savannah, a newcomer to New York real estate. He fights with Ryan, his boss, and acts like he knows more than he does.
When you watch this show, one question you are left with through all of it is, how has real estate gotten so many people glued to their TVs? What is so attractive about their drama? All careers and fields have fights and high-stress moments, but there is something about real estate with all of its glitz and glam that sets it apart. Hosting open houses, while appearing fun on the outside, actually seems to be one of the more stressful parts of their job. Their world, simply put, is just aspirational. While they do acknowledge over and over again that the average realtor does not live as they do, they are still selling their dream life to their audience as an escape. Their life just seems like a fantasy world and it’s fun to get sucked into their world of luxury apartments and expensive dinners.