In recent years, the Real Housewives series has become difficult to watch. What was once a fun place to escape has now become a franchise filled with conflicts, abuse, and repeated storylines. While conflict is a real-life aspect for everyone, it’s just not fun to watch. Unless the squabbling involves humor or an actual resolution, that is.
Also not fun to watch is the constant drunkenness of the cast members. Recently, allegations of Bravo producers plying reality television stars with alcohol, solely to create dramatic moments, have arisen. It just seems that alcohol abuse and even injuries created from intoxicated personalities will therefore continue to be seen.
To their credits, a few of the cities in this franchise are doing things well, such as the reboot of Real Housewives of New York. Comparatively, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City‘s Season 4 has only contained petty dramas, humor, and a few genuine friendships. In addition, Real Housewives of Potomac and Real Housewives of Miami have also excelled, at times. While these series are mostly thriving, the others appear to be slowly dying.
Will this franchise survive? Honestly, it’s still likely, as viewers will always tune in, no matter how frustrated they might currently be. However, we still think that things could be greatly improved upon. Moving forward, here are the changes that we’d like to see made in the Real Housewives franchise.
Children Being Off-Limits
On Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 12, Erika Jayne went off on Garcelle Beauvais‘ then 14-year old son, at Garcelle’s filmed birthday party. When Crystal Kung Minkoff began to leave, she offered to grab some of the flowers for Garcelle, to help the host clean up. When Garcelle’s underaged child, Jax, entered in to assist, Erika cursed “Get the f**k out of here!” on repeat to the frozen-in-place child.
Shortly after this episode aired, bots took things farther, attacking Jax on his social media accounts. The racial slurs and horrific statements made on this child’s pages were gross. These comments, alongside Erika’s poor treatment of a minor, should have never occurred.
Likewise, Gia Giudice has grown up on Real Housewives of New Jersey. Unfortunately, her mother Teresa Giudice and her Uncle Joe Gorga are perpetually at odds. For 13 long seasons, we have watched these families tear each other apart.
During Season 3, Gia wrote and performed a heartbreaking song for her family. While singing, the then-little girl began to cry. You see, her song spoke about her frustrations on her families divide. Even though this song blew up and became quite the bop, it’s still referenced back to in a negative way, as this song saw the family’s fighting increase.
Children should never be berated by cast members, nor should they be used to further negative storylines. Watching children being treated poorly or even exploited for views is gross, and we hope that moving forward, children will be considered off limits.
The Cast Needs To Actually Be Friends
We’ll say it again, the Gorgas versus the Giudices storyline has gone on too long. These families clearly hate each other, and we hate watching this same storyline play out, season after season. Their hatred has often seen their cast divided, making this series one of the hardest to watch across the Real Housewives franchise.
Likewise, the women on Real Housewives of Orange County have fought during every episode on Season 17. These fights are tiring. We’d love to see a return to the glory days, when this franchise first aired. During these earlier seasons, the women were far less focused on creating dramatic feuds, and the end result was a much lighter, less manufactured reality television experience.
Moving forward, it would be great if these highly argumentative casts were shaken up. We’d love to see cohesive casts take over. Bravo, please, bring on actual friends groups, or at the very least, find Real Housewives who know that laughter and resolved conflicts are the greatest gifts that they could ever give to their viewers.
Physical Assaults Should Immediately Get Stars Fired
Former Real Housewives star Bethenny Frankel is leading the charge on a union for reality television stars. Problematic as Bethenny may be, the excessive amounts of liquor being supplied is indeed a problem, as liquor is often to blame for the physical altercations seen.
Currently filming Season 14, Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Danielle Cabral and Jennifer Aydin have just sparred. Sadly, glass throwing(s), hair pulling(s), and physical fights, especially amongst the husbands, has often been seen on this series. Luckily, the network is now taking a stand, and Danielle and Jennifer have been put on a pause from filming.
Moving forward, any actions taken that could result in the harming of another should continue to be addressed. We would even like to see these punch throwing, aggressive characters dismissed altogether. In any other real world jobs, positions would be lost, so in comparison, the Real Housewives franchise should offer a safe work environment as well.
Social Media Restraints Need To Be Put Into Place
Drew Sidora and Shereé Whitfield from Real Housewives of Atlanta took their on-air grievances to social media, with serious financial allegations being tossed around like it was nothing. Not shockingly, Lisa Rinna, a former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, has also used her social media accounts to spread rumors, while further attacking her former costars.
These online spats are far more numerous than what we’ve just listed. These not only give away future storylines, but they are also heavy to watch. In the future, we’d love to see a social media restraint enacted. Stars should be bared from speaking on future narratives and/or spreading rumors about their costars.
TELL US – WHAT OTHER CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE IN THE REAL HOUSEWIVES FRANCHISE?
