Plenty of reality programs promise to show us how the rich and powerful live their lives. Very few actually end up doing that, of course. The women featured on the Real Housewives of NYC weren't part of the city's social elite before they humiliated themselves on national television—nor were they all housewives either—so they had little to lose in the end. That will change, though, when Bravo's NYC Prep, or the "real-life Gossip Girl," as Bravo has been billing it, debuts on June 23. One of the obnoxious, over-privileged teens featured on the show—the one who comes off in the worst possible light, in fact—hails from one of the city's richest and most respected families. Meet Peter Carey ("PC") Peterson, the grandson of Pete Peterson.

It just keeps getting better/worse. On the heels of our introduction to the kids of NYC Prep, Bravo's new real-life Gossip Girl series, an in-person preview was held at the Paley Center. Erstwhile Gawker editor Joshua David Stein was there.

Remember when The Fashion Show debuted on Bravo a few weeks ago and everyone was all like, "It's a total ripoff of Project Runway!" and Bravo was all like "It is not! It's totally original," but nobody was buying it? Yea, well, since that argument hasn't worked out too well, the show hasn't exactly soared in the ratings, and Project Runway's debut is fast approaching, it looks like it's time to take a different approach.

• The romance between Kate Hudson and Alex Rodriguez is heating up. How does People know this? Well, A-Rod supposedly introduced Kate to some of his friends and Kate has been telling people she's a baseball fan, so it's pretty obvious, no? [People]
• Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou have come up with a name for their new baby: He's Kenzo Lee Hounsou, in honor of the Japanese designer by the same name. [P6]
• A woman is claiming she was attacked and left "crippled" by Sacha Baron Cohen (playing the role of Bruno) in 2007. [TMZ]
• Eminem had thousands of dollars worth of items stolen from his L.A. hotel room on Sunday night, including his diamond necklace and laptop. [NYDN]

Growing up in New York and turning out to be a complete dickwad is a hallowed city tradition. Teen fictions like Gossip Girl have shed some fake-ish light on the plight/privilege, but now a reality series (on Bravo, of course) is poised to blow the story wide open.

• Conan O'Brien makes his debut this evening as Tonight Show host. [BN, EW]
• Bravo is ditching its tagline "Watch what happens" and replacing it with "By Bravo." We'll just have to watch and see what happens with that. [AdAge]
• More on the recent ratings meltdown at CNN. [Politico]
• The Times Magazine will be 9 percent smaller starting in two weeks. [E&P]
• DirectTV chief Chase Carey is in talks to join News Corp. as Rupert Murdoch's second-in command, taking over for Peter Chernin. [THR, BN]
• Disney's animated pic Up was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. [THR]
• New York's cover story on Condé Nast, in case you missed it. [NYM]

TV shows are being cast all over the place because, even though it's only May, fall is just around the corner. Plus, Tom Cruise joins a movie and Adam Brody joins another.

Washington is all the rage these days! What with the politics and all. MTV's Real World series might be heading down that way, and Newsweek did that DC-set Hills parody. Well now Bravo's following suit. With—yes you guessed it because, really, what else?—an upcoming installment of Real Housewives.

• How is Twitter going to make money? With a reality TV series, naturally. The show will involve "putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format," in case you were wondering. [Variety]
• The primetime lineups for next year "are chockablock with shows meant to make recession-weary viewers laugh and feel better." How encouraging! [NYT]
• Ratings are down for CNN's Anderson Cooper as well as for Roland Martin, who has been subbing for Campbell Brown recently. [Page Six]
• Bravo's next Real Housewives installment: Washington, DC. [Daily Intel]
• Fox News nut Greta Van Susteren may not be around for long. Rumor has it her contract won't be be renewed and Megyn Kelly will replace her. [NYT]
• New York lost close to $5 million last year; with ad pages down 37 percent thus far in 2009, "losses are expected to be even higher this year." [NYP]
• A Russian investment firm has dropped $200 million into Facebook's bank account in return for a 1.96 percent stake in the company. [NYT]
• Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum sequel beat out the fourth installment of the Terminator franchise with a four-day pull of $70 million. [Reuters]

• Paris Hilton's reps have been asking event planners in Cannes for $100,000 appearance fees. Sadly, Paris isn't having much luck getting them to go along since, well, "it's not 2002." [P6]
• Sarah Jessica Parker says she's worried about the health of the surrogate mom carrying her twins, since tabloid reporters have been harassing the poor girl and trying to hack into her computer. [People, LAT]
• A documentary about Amy Winehouse is reportedly in the works. Should be entertaining! [People]
• Katie Holmes showed up with Suri at last night's American Idol finale. This is good news since it means Tom finally let her out of the house. [Us]

Last night was Part Two of The War of the Grosses, alternately titled the Real Housewives of New York City reunion special. It was: ladies yelling in an echoing room while a gay dude sighed.

In her latest video, Cutrone declares the headband trend dead, although the "Michelle Obama bringing back Camelot" head kerchief is totally hot. And you should make sure you've buried your cowboy boots in the back of the closet and have you have your collection of open-toed shoes ready for summer. And what is Kelly, herself, wearing while she says all this? Cowboy boots, of course. As she explains at the end of the video, being totally out of style is totally in style, and "pretty much everything I just said is now cancelled."

Several reviews of Bravo's Project Runway ripoff, The Fashion Show, pointed out that the challenges seemed to be considerably more difficult that the ones asked of contestants on Runway. There's no doubt about that! On the next episode of the Isaac Mizrahi-hosted series, aspiring designers have to put together an outfit for Tinsley Mortimer—on a budget of $40. A preview of the episode—featuring a stilted performance by the Tinz herself—is above.

• Yesterday the media was reporting Jack McCollough's injuries amounted to a scratch on the nose. Today his publicist says he suffered a broken nose in three places and required surgery. The plot thickens. [NYDN, TMZ]
• Meanwhile, not only is Anna Wintour annoyed that everyone is still talking about McCollough, she has to deal with more tough talk from Azzedine Alaïa. "She behaves like a dictator and everyone is terrified of her... but I'm not scared of her or anyone," said the designer. [WWD]
• The H&M on 86th and Lex opens in 20 days, for your information. [Racked]
• Marc Jacobs is launching a new perfume this fall called Lola. [Fashionista]
• Speaking of Marc, his favorite tattoo artist, Scott Campbell, is serving up discounted Mother's Day-themed tattoos on Sunday. [Style.com]
• In honor of Sunday, Pipeline has a list of fashion's hottest moms. [Pipeline]

• Are Americans finally shopping again? Maybe. Retail sales were up slightly in April. [NYT]
• Gucci has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Guess? Inc. [BN]
• Alessandra Stanley's Times review of Bravo's Project Runway-ripoff, The Fashion Show, featuring Isaac Mizrahi, Kelly Rowland and Fern Mallis, wasn't especially favorable. [NYT]
• Agy Deyn is now pitching bottled water. [Sun]
• Leigh Lezark is the new face of Mango. [Nylon]
• Michelle Obama wore Michael Kors—not Alaïa—to the Time gala the other night. [FWD]
• If you've ever wished you could meet Adriana Lima dressed up as "a modern-day Cleopatra," you'll get your chance this Saturday. [NYM]

No one knows when Project Runway starts again (June? 2012?) or where it will be (something called "Lifetime"), but Bravo has kindly given us a knockoff, airing tonight.

Unless you've been sequestered at a religious retreat/padded cell/otherwise media-free zone for the past month, you'll know that The Fashion Show, Bravo's knockoff of Lifetime-bound Project Runway, is debuting next week. And like a replacement child born after the tragic loss of its sibling, Bravo's new baby will struggle to escape comparisons to its beloved predecessor, especially since it's been molded so faithfully in the other's image.

I don't know if y'all homos watch Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo, but something big is happening on the season finale. Something very big, and very gay.

Last year, MTV looked into doing a reality show with Tinsley Mortimer, but the show was ultimately shelved, reportedly because the Tinz wasn't the most scintillating presence on screen: "She looked good, but she just got dressed and went to parties every day and didn't have anything interesting to say. It was incredibly boring," an MTV insider told Page Six at the time. Perhaps she'll have better luck this time around.

• Kelly Cutrone's forthcoming reality show has a name: Kell on Earth will be a "no-holds-barred look into the life of one of America's most legitimate tastemakers," according to Bravo. [Fashionista]
• Project Runway is looking for contestants for the show's seventh season. Unfortunately if you make the cut, you'll be appearing on Lifetime. [NYM]
• Emma Watson is the new face of Burberry. [SW]
• What's Arden Wohl up to? Posing for a lookbook, for one thing. [Nylon]
• Eccentric fashion on NYC social scene: the hits and misses. [WWD]
• A woman who sold four fake Birkin bags has been fined $7.5 million. It went down in Taiwan, though, so the ladies of Canal Street are safe for now. [NYM]