‘Southern Hospitality’ Should Be Bravo’s Next ‘Vanderpump Rules’-Level Hit

Bravo’s hottest show right now is Southern Hospitality, a spin-off of Southern Charm, and the time to jump in is now.

Brought into our lives by Southern Charm star Leva Buonaparte, the Lisa Vanderpump-ian svengali of Republic Development and Management Group, which owns five restaurants in Charleston, SC. But much the way LVP was only the amuse bouche to the bacchanalia of Sexy Unique Restaurant restaurant, Leva is simply the glamorous, invariably well-dressed familiar face (and boss) to get us situated with her staff of hot, messy twentysomethings. And for that, we can’t thank her enough because she has brought us a fresh generation of reality stars to satiate our trash TV yearnings for what I can only hope is the next decade.

After two under-the-radar seasons, Bravo is hot on Southern Hospitality, ramping up its marketing and positioning it for a breakout year. And it’s working. All your favorite Bravo-based podcasts are catching up on Southern Hospitality, from the Watch What Crappens guys to Danny Pellegrino on Everything Iconic to Gabbing with Gib to the B---- Sesh ladies who are getting texts from Andy Cohen telling them to add SoHo to the rotation.

Southern Charm and Summer House, both coming off great seasons, used to be about drunk groups of friends making the most deliciously watchable bad decisions of their lives. Now Lindsay Hubbard is about to be a mom, Craig Conover is a titan of the pillow industry and Shep Rose is closer to getting a social security check than to getting carded at a bar.

To be clear, I never want to be put in a position where I do not have these people on my television screens; I want to see Madison LeCroy and Paige Desorbo weekly for the rest of my life. But these are no longer people having the kinds of catastrophic drama you can only have when you’re 25; they now create the kinds of catastrophic drama you can only have when you’re 35. And while that’s still very good, it’s also very different.

We used to be a proper society and have Vanderpump Rules to fall back on for the specific brand of mayhem only a group of real-life, fame-hungry friends doing things to one another that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy can provide. That cast of maniacs (and Ariana), too, have grown older, their relationships have frayed, and not one of them has stepped foot in SUR for years. With the recent news of a full-cast reboot for the upcoming season, Vanderpump Rules may once again provide us with a steady stream of apartments with broken Venetian blinds and microwaves that don’t work simultaneously with the air conditioner. But we need solutions to this deficit of people getting b---jobs in the dirty back alleys of restaurants, and we need them now.

Enter the glorious trainwrecks from Southern Hospitality.

Now in its third season, Southern Hospitality is set in the apparently high-stakes world of VIP service at Republic Garden & Lounge, Charleston’s hottest club.

Following in the Adidas Slides of Kristen Doute and the slip dress uniform of Stassi Schroeder, the cast of characters are: Maddi, the HBIC at Republic, vying for dominance with VIP server and best frenemy, the wavy baby herself, Grace Lilly. There’s another supreme rising in Emmy, whose boyfriend, Will, used to be a bartender at Republic but now goes to law school while, likely, probably cheating on his delusional, ready-for-a-ring girlfriend.

Mia is a former hostess who quit the restaurant in protest in Season 2 but continues to be a presence on the show because she’s too good at reality TV to get kicked off. Joe Bradley, a member of the VIP team and a Handsome Dummy™ for the ages; TJ, another bartender; and Brad, a VIP server and f---boy extraordinaire, make up the rest of the boy’s squad. This year, they’re joined by Lake, a VIP hostess who has caught Brad’s eye, Michols, the new assistant manager, Molly, a bartender ready to stir more than just drinks and Austin, who, thankfully, is there with his shirt off a lot.

In a time when the very concept of diversity is being politically weaponized to stoke the flames of fear and uncertainty, SoHo makes a case for how much better the world is when people from different races, backgrounds, sexual orientation and experiences come together. Sure, in this case they come together to kinda ruin each other’s lives, but they’re doing it under the pretense of love and friendship—and for our entertainment.

Do you need to watch the previous two seasons to catch up on the messiness this year? Not at all, but why wouldn’t you want to see Maddi and her truly awful boyfriend make up and break up while Joe Bradley pines for her, yet sloppily chases Mia? Or see Emmy promoted to assistant manager over Joe and Maddi only to have her be demoted back down to server by the time of the reunion? It’s not imperative to the texture of these characters, but if you’re reading this, you’ve absolutely watched things much, much worse than Maddi grabbing a shovel before she drives over to confront her unfaithful boyfriend.

With only a few episodes of the new season under its belt, Southern Hospitality has been unhinged in ways that fill me with a joy and appreciation I once reserved only for Jax Taylor ripping off his white cable-knit cardigan in the midst of a fight.

We’ve already gotten several hints about Will cheating on Emmy, resulting in Emmy entering the pantheon of greatest mascara-running moments in Bravo history, blowing off her shift and getting written up by her 21 year old BFF who now has her old job.

A legend-in-the-making. Joe Bradley and Maddi have finally gotten together, a pairing I’m actually rooting for despite everything I know about hot young things in love on reality shows. Grace Lilly, I’ve who has sadly been absent from much of the season so far, had a come-to-Jesus moment during an ayahuasca journey in which she chatted with literal Jesus. Brad has set his sights on new girl Lake, while TJ and Michols spent the first few episodes in a will-they-or-won’t-they, while they both traverse the complicated ins and outs of being openly gay men in Charleston, SC.

Michols’ sharing his coming out story and the fall out with his mom, gives this season an added layer of poignancy; the kid’s a star and a certified cutie pie. Speaking of TJ, who is a bone collector Shereé Whitfield herself would be proud of, a rift has formed between him and former BFF Joe, and not just because of the rumors flying around that they once hooked up. No, no, Joe is angry with TJ for exposing that Joe slept with Countess Luann de Lesseps while he was dating Danielle from Summer House.

Read that last sentence again and tell me you don’t want to watch this show.