When asked if she feels pressure to replicate the successes and gains the unscripted space has seen in 2026, Frances Berwick, laughs and says, “We work in television.” Which is to say, yes, of course.
It has been a pretty big year for the shows in Berwick’s purview. First up for the chairman of unscripted at Bravo and Peacock, there was a massive season of Peacock’s The Traitors, which begat series ratings highs and the kind of media coverage usually reserved for a prestige show starring an Oscar winner or two. This was followed by the tenth season of Bravo’s Summer House that, thanks to a mid-season scandal involving a love quadrangle, also earned series high ratings and the kind of wall-to-wall media coverage that is usually reserved for the declassifying of state secrets.
Then came the summer of Love Island USA, which, over its six-week run, was the first- or second-most-viewed project across all content on all streaming services. In the middle of all of this, after several Housewives franchises have been flatlining in recent years, a new addition has breathed life into the format and quickly garnered fans. And in Rhode Island, of all places!
While viewership has been steadily climbing on several Peacock and Bravo properties, 2026 was the year where the reality TV cup runneth over.
