Owning Manhattan

I'm writing this review after finishing the 5th episodes and won't watch more.

Living in New York City and being an architect, I was super excited about the release of this show and it was even in my calendar. But what a disappointment!

Why all US real estate shows always focus about the dramas inside their office (are they even real?!!) instead of the actual real estates? We want to see houses, apartments, real estates!! But the show focus unfortunately on the bad energies and egos within their office. What a shame for Ryan.

As a note to Jonathan, I wouldn't be so arrogant and a bully to juniors when you don't even know the sun sets on the west 😂 seems to be a basic thing any human know as a kid! Sun rises in the east and sets on the west, working or not in this industry.

Yes, the views and places they sell are amazing! I'd totally want to have one of those apartments as "an extra flat", who wouldn't (...:)..). They're super pretty.

However, I feel like everything else just focuses on drama. The she-said, he-said, she-did, he-did, and then they talk about it with other people. They are very rude to each other, which is sad to see. What if they could lift each other instead of the opposite. They could gain so much more from their work, and basically, from life in general. It's sad how people these days feel the need to take people down and make sure to hurt someone just for the sake of it.

I don't know. I hoped for more. Probably expected some level of drama but this was just too much. My jaw physically dropped in a few episodes because of the mean things people said or did. And, it's reality. It's not possible to say "it's just TV, no one got hurt in real life".

I also want to point out that this doesn't apply to all the cast on the show.

Also, I often felt that the owner of the company, Ryan, was acting more than being his true self. He did mention he did try acting before getting into real-estate, maybe that's why?

Having followed Ryan Serhant for the past 10 years by watching Million Dollar Listing, reading his books and following him on social media, it's safe to say I'm a big fan! When I saw he was going to have his own Netflix show however, I was slightly worried it would turn out to be another Selling Sunset. I was more than happily surprised that the show was much more real than all the other shows, with the emphasise on real estate. The agents are a lot more authentic, despite the occasional drama. Ryan is as lovely, hard working and inspiring as always. A big thumbs up, and we're rooting for you!

More selling and less with the scripted reality show nonsense. I would have preferred just Ryan but instead we got these model/actors that frankly just ruin everything. I loved the originality of the first show he did but this one just lacks any substance. Scripted reality tv hit its peak and it's going downhill fast. It's fine for mindless watching when there's nothing else but this didn't hold my attention and found it more interesting to just scroll on IG.

A more interesting premise would be learning sales techniques from Ryan and what it's really like running his own shop minus the fake reality actors they got for this one.

This was less about real estate and more about drama.

After watching the full series, I wondered if any of the personal situations in this so-called "reality" were actually real, as they seemed very fake and scripted. I went into the Serhant website and found that, with the exception of Chloe, who is a former actress, NONE of the supposed realtors in the series are actually working for Ryan, so they are likely actors playing a role, an unconvincing one at that. Maybe I could have overlooked a few, but for the most part, I saw two familiar faces: Ryan and Chloe.

I wonder what was the point of the series. Don't recommend it.