In the interest of full disclosure: I love watching Erin Kaplan on “The City." That has nothing to do with her saying that she reads only two blogs on the show and this is one of them (but it doesn't hurt). I really do think she’s smart, hard working, and she’s not afraid of confrontation. In short, she's good TV.Like “The City’s” lead, Whitney Port, Kaplan was originally a Cali girl. She grew up in Newport Beach and moved to New York City for college. In the last four years, she has risen from a marketing assistant at Elle to the magazine’s youngest director of public relations. This year, she has a new challenge: Convert Olivia Palermo from society girl to working girl.
“I think that me and Olivia are complete opposites in every possible way,” says Kaplan, 26. “In our work life, in our personal life, we’re complete opposites.”
On a balmy afternoon in New York City, Kaplan took a break from work to explain why Olivia doesn’t impress her, what she thinks of the other cast members, and what to expect from “The City.”
Let’s talk about Olivia.
Great [laughing].
What was her first mistake?
I think that when you start anywhere you kind of want to embrace the people around you. When I was new, I wanted to get to know everyone in every department. I felt like she was focused on accessories and that was it. That’s not really how it is at a magazine or anywhere.
Despite her stint at Diane von Furstenberg, she doesn’t seem to have the goods to be a contributing editor at Elle. Why did Joe Zee hire her?
Well, I think Olivia has great personal style. He thought she could bring some of how she styled to the magazine. He obviously thought she was talented and had a good eye, so I think that’s why he offered her the job.
On the first two episodes, Olivia didn’t push hard enough on her projects. You noticed that, but Joe didn’t.
In Joe’s defense, on the first episode he didn’t have too much involvement. Anne Slowey did the "Today" show segment. He really wasn’t there. He didn’t get to see what happened in the accessories closet that day, and what happened at the show and after the show. On the second episode he was involved, but not to the extent that I was. I feel like I had to be his eyes and ears. He wasn’t around Olivia as much as I was. I wanted to fill him in on what was happening.
I’ve been pretty hard on Joe in my posts, but I have to admit I get a sadistic pleasure watching you fume when he’s complimenting Olivia. What’s going through your mind in those moments?
It’s hard. Obviously, Olivia and I don’t get along. I think at the end of the day if she does well, it’s going to benefit the magazine. Honestly, I would never wish for her to come back and fail, because that’s, one, more work for everyone else, and, two, it doesn’t make her look great and that represents the magazine, which reflects on everybody.
It’s clear there’s no love lost between you and Olivia. What can we expect going forward?
[Laughs] Well, you can definitely expect more conflicts. We go to Miami, which is interesting. I haven’t seen the episode, so I don’t know how they’re going to show it. We definitely have our ups and downs.
Last week, we saw Whitney start dating again. What do you think - Jay or Freddie?
I think they’re two completely opposite guys. I adore Whitney and she’s going to make the right decision. She’s very level-headed. She knows exactly what she wants. I’m kind of rooting for Freddie, though.
I’ve heard you say that you love Roxy?
I do. I really like Roxy. I think she’s very funny. She’s very self-deprecating. I met her long before the show. I definitely think she’s a good girl. She’s fun to be around. Yeah, I’m a fan of Roxy’s.
After watching her work at People’s Revolution, what if she and Olivia switched places? Would you mind working with her?
Oh my god. Um [laughing]. I would embrace working with Roxy. I think that Roxy is open to working with different types of people. [In this week’s episode], we did work together. I asked Roxy to help me out and she was game. Both Whitney and Roxy did everything that I asked. They had a great attitude. They both wanted to do what was best for the event that night. Yeah, absolutely I would like to work with Roxy.
credit - LA Times, Laguna Lovers
How did Olivia do at that same event? Check out this exclusive video from this week's episode:
