Bethenny Frankel, the Voice of Reason?

from the California Chronicle

'Wives' Tale - Bethenny Dishes on Next Season

WITH only a handful of episodes left to air this season, "The Real Housewives of New York City" has become the show you must dissect on Wednesday morning.

But the Bravo reality show has yet to be renewed for a third go- round – and Bethenny Frankel, the most enterprising of the bunch, doubts that all of the current crop will be invited back.

"There could be some casualties," Frankel says.

The Real Housewives of Orange County only had two of the original housewives [on last time] and they've gone through four seasons.

"I won't be having any discussions with Kelly [Bensimon] in another season."

Frankel's bitter altercation with Bensimon - a former columnist for Page Six magazine who's been charged with misdemeanor assault for beating up her boyfriend - was the centerpiece of a recent episode.

As the housewives try to fight for bragging rights to see who is richer or more socially prominent, Frankel, 38, has taken an outsider's view of their often abrasive behavior.

"I'm the voice of reason. I represent the audience," she says, adding that she's well-equipped to deal with the volatile women on the show.

"I grew up around lunatics. If you actually grew up in the bowels of the race track, they're all lunatics.

"Bravo has some stable of crazy. I recognize crazy and understand it."

For example, Frankel, whose new diet book, "Naturally Thin," has reached No. 2 on The New York Times best seller list, can even explain the bizarre behavior of The Countess , who last week asked a group of understandably confused African-American girls at a Boys and Girls Club near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, "Do you know what a countess is?"

"When LuAnn became a countess, it defined her," Frankel says. "It's easy to attach yourself to that, and it became her shtick."

When the show is not filming, Frankel remains friendly with only one of the housewives, fabric maven Jill Zarin, whose braying, nasal voice Frankel has nailed in a series of stand-up routines on the Bravo Web site.

"Jill and I are more like family. We get into crazy fights and make up in three days," she says.

Bravo has planned a reunion show for the housewives, but Frankel and company have not been informed when filming will take place. "Jill is at Saks right now picking out her outfit," Frankel quips. "I just focus on today and tomorrow."

Frankel's "tomorrow" is full of promise. Her Skinny girl Margarita drink will hit stores in early June. And a recent appearance in the audience on "Dancing With the Stars" may lead to a stint on the tacky ABC talent show.

Frankel was invited on the show by host Tom Bergeron, and sat next to ABC honcho Anne Sweeney.

"If I was invited to go on, I would entertain the possibility," she says. "That would be intimidating to me. Those people can dance.

"Having been a runner-up on 'The Apprentice,' (Martha Stewart’s) it would be a big decision for me. Do I need to be on three reality shows in one lifetime?

"But I do want to wear those outfits."

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