Pausing 'Summer House: Martha's Vineyard' Adds to Bravo's Dark History (2024)

When Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard began, the series was well received. The Summer House spin-off focuses on a group of Black millennial friends as they spend part of the summer in a house in Martha’s Vineyard. The reality series has special significance, as Martha’s Vineyard was one of the first vacation locations in the United States that allowed Black people to enjoy it. The first season delved into the history of Martha’s Vineyard in addition to providing the standard interpersonal conflicts people come to Bravo to watch in the first place. The first season proved that the series was one to keep despite the lack of attention it was getting. Season 2 proved to be equally good as, if not better than, the first season, but unfortunately, viewership has dropped.

Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard was renewed in July 2023, with major advertisem*nts for the series beginning in March 2024. Another new series and Vanderpump Rules spin-off, The Valley, also premiered in the same month and may have very well hindered Summer House MV’s marketing opportunities for the new season. Clips, footage, fanfare, and several interviews with The Valley cast prior to the series premiere. The hype makes sense, as the cast includes Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright, and Kristen Doute, who were fired from VPR due to racist actions against their former castmate. However, it seemed as if there was hardly any focus given to SHMV. The conflict surrounding them was plenty enough to draw in VPR fans, so why not even out the marketing more? Now, new developments in the series have raised many fan eyebrows, as Bravo announced that SHMV will be going on hiatus, leaving its fans wondering why a pause is necessary. Several fans on Reddit have noticed a pattern with Bravo and its Black-led series, and it seems as if Summer House MV is falling into the same trap.

Summer House: Martha's Vineyard (2024)

TV-14

Reality

From yacht parties to electrifying romance, both fun and drama are on the docket for these young professionals and entrepreneurs during their island getaway. With some being newbies to the area and others as lifelong veterans, friendships are put to the test, jealousy bubbles to the surface, and loyalty is questioned all while living together in this beach playground.

Release Date

May 7, 2023

Cast

Nick Arrington , Jasmine Ellis Cooper , Silas Cooper , Jordan Emanuel , Bria Fleming , Shanice Henderson , Amir Lancaster , Jason Lyke , Preston Mitchum , Summer Marie Thomas

Main Genre

Reality

Seasons

2

Creator(s)

Shanae Humphrey

Streaming Service(s)

Bravo

Low Ratings Are Not Likely to Blame For the ‘Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard’ Pause

The second season of Summer House MV did not have stellar ratings in comparison to its contemporaries. With the series being so new and not featuring the faces Bravo fans are used to, combined with the lack of marketing for the new season, it makes absolute sense that viewership has dropped. People can’t tune into a show they were unaware had even started. Even the fans who have threads on Reddit took four days to notice that the Season 2 trailer dropped when it did. How is it possible for Reddit viewers, who are known for staying on top of their fandoms, to miss the trailer for a show they love? Lack of consistent marketing. While other series on the network have seen abysmal drops in viewership with the massive marketing machine behind them, what could have happened if Summer House MV got the same amount of push from the network?

Regardless of marketing, the viewers who joined the Season 2 journey stayed for the Season 2 journey and looked forward to a reunion special since the first season did not have one. However, several cast members had to begin campaigning for a Summer House MV reunion special, as there was no reunion date announced at the beginning of and during the season. Once fans joined in on the cast’s campaign, Bravo quickly announced that there would be a reunion special. And there was one, even if it was obviously held on the Watch What Happens Live! set, unlike other series reunions, which get dedicated spaces designed to fit the vibe of their show. It looked like an afterthought rather than a true decision to honor the season.

Bravo Has Canceled Many Popular POC-Led Series at the Height of Their Popularity

The announcement of the Summer House MV pause has many viewers concerned it may never come back. Ratings are always something to consider, but there are plenty of other shows on the network like Watch What Happens Live and Real Housewives Of Miami, that have similar numbers. This also works in reverse; there have been several very popular series with numbers akin to Vanderpump Rules that have been canceled or forced to end prematurely. The most recent cancellation of a popular series was Shahs of Sunset, which was allegedly canceled because of the arrest of Mike Shouhed. Mike has been vocal about the series since, accusing the producers of forcing them all to ramp up their personalities while sowing divisive seeds in their group. At its cancellation, producers stated that the series had “simply run its course.” This felt like an odd response from viewers of the series, who knew that the Shahs still had plenty to offer, especially with Mike’s arrest. The series did see a dip in ratings towards its end, but it was still popular, if not more popular than several other offerings at the time.

Shahs isn’t the only popular POC-led series that was popular when it was canceled. A series called The First Family of Hip Hop only lasted one season in 2017 and was one of the network's most popular series that TV season, but it never returned. Another series, Thicker Than Water, which focused on a family of gospel singers, was incredibly popular but ultimately moved to a different network. While Bravo did not cancel Thicker Than Water themselves, the star of the series did hint that production’s interference was taking focus from the story they were trying to tell.

Ben Tankard, the patriarch, shared in an interview with the Gospel Music Association, “With more control over the direction of the show, we can include more of our lives that we couldn’t before,” adding, “When we were with Bravo, it was hard to do because they tended to lean more toward conflict-based storylines than music and creativity.” He went on to comment about Black people taking their stories into their own hands, saying, “This time we are our boss, inspired by Tyler Perry to own our content, and we are streaming it directly to our fans, which is the first time for a Smooth Jazz and Gospel artist.” Several other Black-led series have been canceled on the network for a variety of reasons, but the loss of viewership, despite that not being as important a factor as many think, is often the go-to excuse.

Ratings Are a Difficult Excuse to Use When There Is a Pattern of Dismissiveness Toward Black Stories on Bravo

With all the accusations Bravo has faced regarding racial discrimination and other issues, the hiatus news combined with the lack of marketing has Black Bravo fans feeling uneasy. Reality TV social media account BlackGuysBravoToo posted about the hiatus shortly after it was announced, noting this pattern. The post said, “Summer House: Martha’s Vineyardpositively highlights young Black professionals happily living life, navigating relationships, and having fun with their friends on vacation.” They make a very good point. With the slowly waning popularity of Love and Hip Hop and its franchises, Black millennial viewers crave positive representation on television, which Summer House MV does beautifully. While RHOA, RHOP, and Married to Medicine are still going strong, Summer House MV allows viewers to see reflections of themselves on screen.

Black Guys Bravo Too went on to say, “It’s light and airy while still giving juicy comedic drama and, most importantly, educates viewers on various topics pertaining to the Black experience that we simply do not receive from everyday programming.” The post ended with a call out to the network, saying, “While we are major Bravo TV fans over here…we’d be remiss to not acknowledge that it’s extremely odd and incredibly frustrating to see that Black-centric shows are seemingly always the first canceled or ‘put on pause’ by the network.” This statement is even more poignant when considering the number of Bravo stars who have been accused of racist behavior toward Black people and still thrived on the network after the fact, like Southern Charm’s Kathryn Dennis, who remained on the series for several more seasons following an incident of racism outside the series, as well as Jax, Brittany, and Kristen, who all now star on The Valley.

Bravo Should Move ‘Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard' Exclusively to Peaco*ck

Now that NBCUniversal has a home for all the shows that branch out from its subsidiaries, the streamer has also begun streaming its own content. In fact, one of the first Peaco*ck exclusive series was the revitalization of The Real Housewives of Miami, which attracted enough viewers to move back to the main network. Peaco*ck has become the place for all things Bravo, especially now that they’ve opened the vault for series like Blood, Sweat & Heels, and Shahs of Sunset to new audiences. Rather than a hiatus, moving the series to Peaco*ck would be a much smarter move. It would allow for the audience base to continue building while keeping the show’s current fans happy. The cast deserves another opportunity to continue telling their story, and just like several other series that started off with low viewership, the Summer House: Martha's Vineyard deserves this as an option.

Summer House: Martha's Vineyard can be streamed on Peaco*ck.

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