I Love New York (2007-2008) is a VH1 reality television series. It features Tiffany Pollard (better known as "New York") in a quest to find her true love. The series is a spin off of another relationship competition series, Flavor of Love, which featured Pollard as a finalist in two consecutive seasons.
Whereas Flavor of Love tried to redefine Crazy Is Cool, I Love New York stays firmly in So Bad, It's Good territory. It's in every way a Distaff Counterpart to Flavor of Love: expect the lineup of hot men to get into catfights, burst out crying, do each other's hair and shake their thongs.
After Tango, the winner of the show's first season, failed to deliver as New York's soul mate, the second season aired, revealing Tailor Made as New York's chosen flame. Somehow, during the taping of her latest show New York Goes to Hollywood, New York dumps him.
In addition to Pollard, a host of other individuals from Flavor of Love joined in, including "Sister" Patterson (Pollard's mother) who appeared on the show to help Pollard choose the right man. Mauricio Sanchez played New York's assistant, "Chamo," but only for the first season.
Spinoffs include:
- New York Goes To Work
- New York Goes To Hollywood
- Real Chance Of Love
- Real And Chance: The Legend Hunters
- Frank The Entertainer: A Basement Affair
- Boston Symposium
Many of the men later appeared on I Love Money, alongside girls from Flavor of Love and Rock of Love. Hilarity ensued.
A third season of I Love New York was also planned, only to be canceled (along with all of VH-1's other planned reality TV projects) before filming could even begin for the exact same reason why the third season of I Love Money was never aired.
This series provides examples of the following:
- Aesop Amnesia: New York eliminates Onix for saying Sister Patterson's church performance was an act, and why did Tango dump her? Because she insulted his mother. Come season two, it's obvious she hasn't learned her lesson as she's back at insulting the contestants family members (Pretty and Punk's Mothers and Sistersnote , and Buddha's father). Pretty even leaves because of this.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Tailor Made, who compares this to being "The new guy in prison".
- Arch-Enemy:
- Season 1: Chance and Mr. Boston. It starts when Boston interrupts Chance's first one-on-one with New York to steal her away, and it just escalates from there. Chance and Mr. Boston temporarily set aside their differences in I Love Money, to pair up for what they thought would be an eating contest. It turned out to be a kissing contest. Mr. Boston was up for it, Chance... wasn't.
- Tango was arch enemies with Real, Chance, and Whiteboy. His feud started with Whiteboy, but carries over to the other two because of their close friendship. And because Chance is who he is.
- Season 2: Tailor Made was arch enemies with The Entertainer, Buddha, and Mr. Wise. Especially Buddha, who gets physical with him, and Mr. Wise, who he spits on and who has to be physically restrained from busting his ass open.
- Becoming the Mask: Tango said that he wanted Tiffany Pollard, but got VH-1's New York instead.
- Berserker Tears: Pootie sheds these during his infamous Freak Out.
- Big Eater: New York describes herself as this, as she allowed Mr. Boston to cook meals for her.
- Blatant Lies: In episode 5 of season 2, Tailor Made signs a blood oath and swears he's not a snitch. The contestants, viewers, and even New York knew that was a lie.
- The Bully: Chance towards Mr. Boston. Buddha towards Tailor Made.
- Bully Magnet: Poor Mr. Boston was a target of bullying by the other guys in the house.
- Bridal Carry: Tailor Made does this to New York at the end of the season 2 reunion.
- Camp Gay: Chamo, New York's assistant in the first season. He's played by the very flamboyant Mauricio Sanchez.
- Clip Show: The penultimate episode, just like its predecessor series.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: New York has her moments. She's afraid of parrots because they don't have "English diction".
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Mr. Boston vs. Chance in a boxing match. Chance knocks Boston on the floor within seconds. And it only goes downhill from there.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Downplayed. A post-credits scene shows that Boston and Chance decided to end their feud after the boxing match. It's a stretch to call it a friendship, but they're definitely friendlier.
- Devil in Plain Sight: Tailor Made, at first. When the guys start to catch on, they do everything they can to (a) get him out of the house and (b) get New York to notice. But she always forgives him. The man appears to be channeling Patrick Bateman.
- Didn't Think This Through: New York, who was protective of her own mother, should have known that bad-mouthing someone else's mother would have gotten her in trouble.
- The Ditz: The appropriately named It. New York speculates that he's an actor playing the role of a mental patient. It's apparently completely genuine; he's just a weird dude.
- Foreshadowing: One of the post-credits scenes shows Chance showing a great deal of interest in finding Bigfoot, which would later become the premise of the Legend Hunters show.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Chance softens up considerably when his mother shows up.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The first episode, naturally.
- Exact Words: To justify himself lying on the blood oath about not being a snitch, Tailor Made claims that he’s not a snitch outside of the competition.
- Expy: Unsure of Romance. He even lampshaded this on a casting special when he mentioned he looked like "the guy who was crying about his dead dog."
- Hated by All: In season 2, Tailor Made became the "house enemy" after he caused a lot of drama in the household.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: New York made this comment about Mr. Boston.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: 12 Pack and Heat in the first season. Punk and Pretty in the second. In both cases, New York questions the "heterosexual" part.
- Honor Before Reason: Mr. Wise was promoted to becoming a "Mama's Boy" and was asked by Sister Patterson to be a snitch. He refused, and was quickly demoted.
- Hot Contestants, Ugly Wife: Opinions vary, of course, but this is the general consensus. Even among the contestants themselves. This may have been why the producers didn't reveal that the men would be competing over New York.
- Hypocrite:
- New York criticized certain men for "moving too fast" when it came to getting to know her. This is coming from the same woman who did the same thing with Flavor Flav in season 1 of his show.
- New York eliminated Onix for suggesting that her mom was a hypocrite, but she turned around and disrespected Tango's mother.
- I Was Beaten by a Girl:
- How Chance felt in episode 5 of season 1 when he lost to a girl in basketball. Granted, the girl in question was Tamara Moore, a professional player for the LA Sparks, who was brought in specifically to invoke this.
- Played straight in episode 4 of season 2. The men had to do a challenge on who could take a beating the longest from the female fighters.
- It's All About Me: New York eliminates Heat because, due to his family tradition, he placed "Yaya" (His grandmother) first before her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: New York had a right to get angry at Tailor Made for spitting at Mr. Wise.
- Kavorka Woman: Most of the promo photos of the show explain it all.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: New York doesn't win Flavor of Love, both times. And things didn't quite work out with the first season winner.
- Lethal Chef: One challenge in episode 6 of season 1 involved the guys (except Mr. Boston) cook food for New York’s mother. Either some the food was undercooked or not cooked well, which made New York’s mother spit it out after she tried it.
- Lost in Translation: On the first night, Rico is close to being eliminated for calling New York negrita, or "little black girl." The literal translation is deeply offensive in the States, but both Rico and Chamo explain that it's a term of endearment in the Latin American countries where they're from. This is actually Truth In Televison. The word tends to cause some friction when Latin American teams face off against African teams in international sports; what the former think is a friendly nickname is taken by the latter as a slur.
- Manly Tears:
- Both Chance and Real shed these in the episode when Real is eliminated.
- In the same episode, Chance sheds these when he sees his mother cry.
- Mercy Kill: Ultimately why Mr. Boston is sent home. New York clearly liked him, but wasn't confident he could win, and he was getting put through his paces by the other guys.
- Mistaken for Gay: Again, 12 Pack and Heat. And then it turns out that 12 Pack used to work as a stripper. At a gay club.
- Mr. Fanservice: The point of the show, the Distaff Counterpart of its predecessor.
- Mrs. Robinson: During the reunion of the second season, it was revealed that Sister Patterson was dating Champion, a man many years younger than her.
- Nice Guys: Mr. Boston, Real, and Heat.
- Bonez was so nice that it New York actually eliminated him for it, fearing that she would be a bad influence on him.
- Non-Gameplay Elimination: At least once a series. In one case, however, the eliminated party comes back.
- Odd Friendship: Mr. Boston and 12 Pack in the first season, with the latter teaching Boston how to lap dance and helping him work out. Tailor Made and It in the second season, which continues even after the show is over.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Every contestant is given a nickname that their called throughout the show, just like the show's predecessor. Heck, even Tiffany Pollard AKA New York qualifies as this.
- Ordered Apology: New York demanded Taylor Made to apologize to Mr. Wise.
- Pet the Dog: 12 Pack tries to teach Mr. Boston to toughen up so the other men would stop bullying him.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: A couple of the white guys try it, but they don't tend to last very long because New York finds it offensive. Whiteboy is an aversion; unlike Buckwild in the previous series, his authenticity is never in doubt.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Tango in the first season, a big beefy dude who's really into dance
- Refuge in Audacity: Mr. Boston is a nerdy accountant who doesn't quite measure up to the other guys in coolness. He's aware of this, and more than makes up for it in balls. He impresses New York on the first night by squaring off against Chance without flinching and sticks around. It doesn't quite work out when the two of them are placed in a boxing ring, though.
- Rejected Apology: In season 4 of episode 2 New York demands that Taylor Made apologizes to Mr. Wise for spitting on him. In the confessional, Mr. Wise rejected Tailor Made's apology. This is somewhat justified, as said apology may have not come off as genuine.
- The Runner-Up Takes It All: Real and Chance has since had two seasons of their own dating show and now have their own Legend Hunters TV show.
- Sassy Black Woman: New York, of course. Her mother is an older version.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: New York pulls this to bring Buddha back after he's been sent home.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Narrowly averted with Tango. Unsure, Pootie and Pretty, not so much.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Real's Sensitive Guy to Chance's Manly Man. Mr. Boston and Chance also have this dynamic, but as enemies.
- A Shared Suffering: New York and Mr. Wise after Mr. Wise was spat on by Tailor Made, knowing full well about her incident with Pumkin.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Real and Chance. Chance is the hot-blooded tough guy compared to the more sensitive and easygoing Real.
- Spin-Off: Real Chance of Love, A Basement Affair. New York gets two herself: New York Goes To Hollywood and New York Goes To Work.
- Stealth Parody: Mr. Boston in his new web series, Boston Symposium. He may have been trolling us all along. He was definitely trolling for most of I Love Money, but it couldn't hide the fact that deep down, he's still a big dork.
- The Stool Pigeon: Tailor Made. Many contestants call him a snitch. Token tries to be this in the first season, but doesn't stick around long enough for it to matter.
- Talking to Themself: In a deleted scene, It is shown doing this. Man-Man lampshades this in a concerned-like manner.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Mr. Boston's at a bit of a disadvantage against the other dudes when it comes to things like beauty pageants, sports, handiwork, etc. However, he demolishes the competition when the challenge is to create a presentation of his financial prospects.
- Trailers Always Spoil: More like "Promos Always Spoil," as during the episode with the last elimination before the season 2 finale, a promo for the finale showed the final two to be Tailor made and Buddha.
- The Ugly Woman's Hot Son: Punk in comparison to his mother and sister as New York even stated that he got all the looks in his family.
- The Unreveal: Tango and Tailor Made's real names in Seasons 1 and 2 respectively. They're Patrick and George.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The nature of the show means that many contestants are eliminated before we get a good look at them.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- New York is terrified of horses, which becomes a bit of an issue when she has to visit Real and Chance's family horse ranch, or going on a carriage ride with Mr. Boston.
- Chance reveals in episode 9 of season 1 that he is afraid of heights.
- Midget Mac is a afraid of large bodies of water.
