The Real Housewives of Atlanta

**The Real Housewives of Atlanta** (abbreviated RHOA) is an American reality television series that premiered on October 7, 2008 on Bravo. Developed as the third installment of The Real Housewives franchise, it has aired twelve seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women residing in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

The current cast consists of NeNe Leakes, Kandi Burruss, Cynthia Bailey, Kenya Moore, Porsha Williams and Eva Marcille, with Marlo Hampton and Tanya Sam serving as friends of the housewives. Previously-featured cast members include original cast members DeShawn Snow, Shereé Whitfield, Lisa Wu and Kim Zolciak-Biermann; and later additions Phaedra Parks, Claudia Jordan, Kim Fields and Shamari DeVoe.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta has received moderately favorable reviews from critics and has been recognised as a "guilty pleasure" by several media outlets. However, the series has been criticised for appearing to fabricate portions of its storyline. By February 2014, it was the highest-rated installment of The Real Housewives franchise and the most-watched series airing on Bravo. Its success has resulted in the conceptions of the spin-offs The Kandi Factory, Kandi's Wedding, Kandi's Ski Trip, I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding and Don't Be Tardy.

## Overview and Casting

### Season 1-4

The Real Housewives of Atlanta was announced as the third installment in The Real Housewives franchise, intending to capitalise on the successes of its predecessors The Real Housewives of Orange County and New York City. Throughout its run, the show has been led by five to seven housewives, who are credited by their first name. The first season premiered on October 7, 2008, starred Lisa Wu, DeShawn Snow, NeNe Leakes, Kim Zolciak-Biermann Shereé Whitfield. Snow departed from the show after the first season, and alleged that producers considered her to be "too human for a circus show". Kandi Burruss joined the show in the second season, which premiered on July 30, 2009.

Premiering on October 4, 2010, the third season saw the departure of Wu and the addition of Cynthia Bailey and Phaedra Parks. The fourth season which premiered on November 6, 2011. Whitfield exited the series upon the conclusion of the fourth season.

### Season 5-8

Porsha Williams and Kenya Moore joined the show in the fifth season which premiered on November 4, 2012. The sixth season premiered on November 3, 2013 and featured the same cast from the last season except for Zolciak who departed from the program in the middle of season five. The seventh season which premiered on November 9, 2014, saw Williams demoted as a friend of the housewives, alongside Demetria McKinney while Claudia Jordan was introduced as a main housewife. Leakes decided to leave the show after seven seasons while Jordan was fired from the show after one season.

The eighth season premiered on November 8, 2015 which featured Williams returning as a full-time housewife and Kim Fields joining as the latest housewife. Whitfield returned as a friend of the housewives alongside Shamea Morton. Leakes, Jordan and McKinney appeared as guests. Fields did not return for a second season.

### Season 9-present

The ninth season premiered on November 6, 2016, with Whitfield returning in a full-time capacity. Morton made numerous guest appearances while original housewives Wu and Zolciak-Biermann appeared in the season finale. The season marked as Parks' final season.

Leakes returned as a full-time cast member for the tenth season, which premiered on November 5, 2017. Zolciak-Biermann returned as a friend of the housewives, alongside Eva Marcille and Marlo Hampton. Morton and Wu appeared throughout the season as well. Whitfield and Moore left the show after the tenth season.

Marcille and Shamari DeVoe became new full-time cast members for the eleventh season, which premiered on November 4, 2018. The season also featured Hampton and Tanya Sam as friends of the housewives, while Moore and Morton appeared as guests. DeVoe did not return after the season ended. The twelfth season premiered on November 3, 2019, with Moore returning full-time, and Hampton and Sam returning in recurring capacities.

## Critical Reception

The Real Housewives of Atlanta has been moderately well received by critics. Writing for Common Sense Media, Melissa Camacho spoke favorably of the series' emphasis on "a successful and powerful segment of the African-American community" that appears to be frequently neglected by the popular television. Tim Hall from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer commented of his general distaste for reality television, particularly describing The Real Housewives of Orange County as "utterly ridiculous". However, he admitted that the dynamic and conflict between the women, in addition to the wealthy lifestyles they led, to be "somewhat entertaining". In a more mixed review, Alessandra Stanley from The New York Times joked that its portrayal of wealth served as "the best choice for a time capsule of the Bling Decade" when noting the economic downturn the United States experienced around the time that the series premiered, although more seriously stated that the housewives' luxuries "was never all that enviable, and now it looks as if it might not be viable." Hanh Nguyen from Zap2It shared a similar sentiment, criticising that the "showy elite and rampant consumerism" that the women regularly display "seems rather out of touch" given the United States' economic hardship, although she elaborated that the program "is not by any means boring, but you do have to be in the mood to watch."

The Real Housewives of Atlanta has been recognized as a "guilty pleasure" by several media outlets. Writing for About.com, Latoya West commented that the "self-absorbed" nature of the housewives may become irritating to viewers, but noted that the series' "divalicious drama might be addictive." The staff from Entertainment Weekly joked that they "are never tardy for this party"; they felt that "Leakes alone could keep The Real Housewives of Atlanta on the map", and additionally credited Zolciak's "slow train to cuckootown, making all local stops" for helping to establish "the franchise for the ages." In 2009, a writer from Essence mentioned that they "couldn't get enough of the ladies" from the program, and recognised it as the best reality show of the year. Writing for Today, Leslie Bruce commented that The Real Housewives franchise in general rose to prominence for its depiction of "foul-mouthed, often catfighting and always self-promoting" women, and stated that they "dominate water-cooler discussions by showcasing at times the worst of female behavior."

The Real Housewives of Atlanta has been criticised for appearing to fabricate portions of its storyline. One source of speculation arose during the fifth season when Kenya Moore allegedly requested that Walter Jackson pretend to be her boyfriend; series producers were reportedly unaware of said arrangement. Moore commented that such claims were "completely false", and further "urged viewers to stay tuned because the truth will come to light." Moore was also criticised for alleging that she was financially stable, although she reportedly joined the series as a source of income to offset the difficulties with her lawsuits from several creditors. In December 2013, Williams received additional criticism for comments made in an episode aired during the sixth season, where she indicated that she believed the Underground Railroad was an actual railroad line.

## U.S. Television Ratings

The Real Housewives of Atlanta is the most popular of the Real Housewives franchise. In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that it was "most popular in the Black Belt, but maintains fairly consistent popularity everywhere" in the U.S.

The first season maintained an average of 1.495 million weekly viewers; Bravo announced that the series had become the first program from the network to "crack the two million viewer mark among adults 18-49." The premiere episode of the second season was watched by 2.66 million people, setting the record for the highest-rated The Real Housewives premiere episode in the franchise's history at the time. The third season averaged a weekly viewership of 3.6 million people, while the fourth and fifth seasons premiered with 2.8 million and 3.2 million viewers, respectively. The sixth season premiere was watched by 3.1 million people; with 1.9 million viewers being classified in the adults 25-54 demographic, it became the highest-rated episode in this target demographic. As of February 2014, The Real Housewives of Atlanta is the highest rated installment of The Real Housewives franchise, and is additionally the most-watched series airing on Bravo. The premiere episode of the seventh season attracted over 3.8 million viewers during its initial broadcast on November 9, 2014, including 2.2 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic via Nielsen Ratings. It marked as the most watched season premiere ever to air on Bravo.

## Broadcast History

The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs regularly on Bravo in the United States; most episodes are approximately one hour in length and are broadcast in standard definition and high definition. Since its premiere, the series has alternated airing on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and has been frequently shifted between the 8:00, 9:00, and 10:00pm timeslots.

## Spin-offs

* Don't Be Tardy
* The Kandi Factory
* I Dream of NeNe: The Wedding
* Kandi's Wedding
* Kandi's Ski Trip
* Xscape: Still Kickin' It
* Kandi Koated Nights
* Porsha's Having a Baby