Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
By Lauren Daley
Beep beep, alert! This is not a drill, people.
After almost a year of info trickling in, drips and drops at a time, Bravo just dropped a full 5-minute trailer for “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island.”
The first-ever Housewives series set in New England premieres April 2 at 9 p.m.
PS: If you missed them at the Boston St. Patty’s Day parade, you can catch them at Fenway April 17.
In the trailer, we learn more about two Housewives:
Alicia Carmody — a Providence resident who runs, with her fiancé Billy Kitsilis, Pizza Mamma in Cranston, and other restaurants — and Liz McGraw: the state’s “Cannabis Queen,” per Bravo. With her husband, Gerry, she owns and operates The Slater Center, a pot dispensary in Providence.
Grab your popcorn ….
We open in Providence, at Alicia’s House, and she’s “stressed.” Her husband asks if she wants red wine. “Any colah,” (color) she says in a perfect Rhody dropped-r r accent. “My family, when they come ovah, I just need the edge awff (off) — you know what I mean?”
This is when non-New Englanders who only know Bawston accents from Ben Affleck movies learn that many Rhode Islandahs (especially Providence, Cranston and Warwick peeps) have the same accent.
Alicia, Billy and their daughter Celina, 9, are getting ready for a visit from Alicia’s “big Italian family” — her six aunts all live in Rhody. Celina randomly starts singing “Deck the Halls” as they set the table.
Alicia laughs, realizing: “Because Christmas is the last time I set the table! …Don’t make me die.”
Celina is her “mini-me.” They both love Britney Spears (Spea-ahs), we learn.
Alicia’s long-time fiancé, Billy, owns “a bunch of restaurants in Rhode Island. My favorite is Pizza Mamma.”
Now, this next part is very real, and where, as a lifelong born-and-bred Rhode Islander, I get to share the culture of my people. The old cliché (and meme) is that we Rhode Islanders HATE (I need CAPS LOCK here) driving more than 10 minutes? Truth.
Even the hit-or-miss Google AI overview is onto us. (“Rhode Islanders have a well-documented, almost comical, aversion to driving long distances, often considering 10 miles or a drive to a neighboring town a significant “day trip” requiring preparation.”)
@ian.brownhill Youd think its a cross country road trip 🤣 #rhodeisland ♬ original sound – Ian.Brownhill
Cut to a car full of Alicia’s family driving from Cranston to Providence. Cranston is 15 minutes from Providence.
Anita, Alicia’s Mom, tells us, “Alicia wants to move back to Cranston some day, really bad, ‘cause she misses being with family.”
“It’s just so fah!” Sharon, Alicia’s aunt, adds. “You gotta pack a lunch just to go there.”
Alicia explains: When she was pregnant, and they moved 15 minutes to Providence, “that was terrible.”
They arrived at the house.
“Billy!” her mom exclaims. “I love this house, don’t get me wrong. But I say we can build a beautiful one in Cranston.
An aunt adds, “Billy! What a wedding you could have out here.”
Cue the awkward faces from Billy and Alicia, as her family begs them to marry soon.
Alicia explains they got engaged when she was seven months pregnant with their now 9-year-old.
Side note: We learn that Alicia’s grandfather opened Superior Bakery and a few other pizza restaurants, and “was well known all over in Rhode Island.”
They sit to eat. “Alicia, have you seen Liz?” a relative asks, referring to castmate Liz.
Alicia explains she’s “known Liz since I was born …. Sometimes Liz makes me nervous. She’s definitely a queen. Queen Elizabeth. She lives in the most gorgeous castle.”
Cut to a stunning mansion on the water in Cranston, it appears to be Pawtucket Village, with Liz drinking out of a silver goblet. She tells the camera: “Everyone always says I’m blunt and I bite people’s heads off. And — I get this a lot lately — I can be [uses air quotes] scary.”
We then see Liz walking her cat Ganji on a leash down to “see dad.”
Dad, her husband Gerry, is cleaning Ganji poop off a white carpet.
Liz explains she met Gerry at a bar. They were married six months when “the whole ancestry DNA thing was blowing up … we are related somewhere down the line.”
[Ahem, mic drop.]
She tells us she has three step-daughters, Gerry’s kids, and “was not prepared to be a mom,” she says, recalling a story about driving them to school. The girls screamed, “Stop!”
“Skylar’s not in the car yet. Skylar’s got one foot in the car,” Liz recalls with a laugh.
Welp, I need more of all of this ASAP. RHORI premieres April 2 on Bravo.
After the premiere on April 2, the show will move to its regular time-slot Sundays at 9 p.m. on April 5. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
RHORI looks into “the world of a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations,” per Bravo. Rhody’s real housewives will navigate “the murky waters of friendships, feuds, and shifting loyalties within Rhode Island’s tightly woven social scene.”
Learn more about all the Housewives cast members and the show here.
Watch the new trailer here.
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Stay up to date with everything Boston. Receive the latest news and breaking updates, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.
Be civil. Be kind.
Read our full community guidelines.To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address