Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Cat]

The problem they had this year was restricting the HW set (Karent should have stayed, and so should have Ana and Marysol) and focusing it all on two weddings -- one of which was fake. I mean, I love a nice wedding but on TV they can be a snore. Much as I adore Lisa Vanderpump, I could NOT sit through the episode devoted to Pandora's wedding, I just couldn't. Joanna's was moderately better, probably because Bravo cut it down to the bare essentials.

The other problem is the heavy focus on Joanna who, honestly, is just not that interesting as an individual. Without Marta she really didn't have much except to whine about sex.

Having said that, I love my Miami and, even though she is a big ole fake, I can't help but adore Adriana and her accent and craziness. That's why she is back as my avatar today. The scene with Lea and Adriana in the spa reminded me of their fight earlier in the season, and was actually quite final. While I can't hate on Lea for wanting to distance herself from Adriana's schemes, it was harsh to hear her say in the VT that a life (for her) without Adriana in it was better for her. BTW, people criticize Lea for her facelift but I think she looks absolutely phenomenal (and age-appropriate) as a result of it.

The last two episodes touched on a lot of the over-heated female relationships that really interest me in RHoM, not least Adriana back in the mix again, and the fact that Lisa has a very needy/particular dynamic with the other women. She is very invested in their lives/drama. I personally think drinking made her horny in Vegas and that's why she was all over Adriana.

Alexia gave me LIFE the last few episodes, not least when she read Drunken Lisa. I love me Las Cubanas on RHoM. I also liked her scene with Peter, even if it was staged, her love for him felt real. Alexia's family dynamic, that whole backstory with her dead-eyed addict son Peter, her Scarface-like cocaine kingpin ex-husband, her current hubby, Frankie, all that is fascinating to me.

The final segments of the show when we see "What Happened Next" were a disappointment, though. Who cares if Joanna hasn't fucked her husband since the wedding night? No promo for the Reunion, though, which makes me sad and makes me think that we won't have a Reunion episode and that RHoM's fate is sealed.

The concern is that the other RH franchises follow the RHoM route to ruin. I worry about my fave, BH, I really do.

[Eric83]

Don't worry Miami is getting a reunion. They filmed it last month and I think pics were posted in this thread + Bravo mentioned it in a press release.

[Cat]

What the HECK is going on in the OC? I can't believe they let Gretchen go -- I mean, wasn't she sitting next to Andy at REunion?! Isn't that the Golden Spot? Seriously, though, why did Lydia quit? What exactly is RHoOC planning? Bravo knows better than anybody that replacing half your cast can be tricky -- see RHoNY which STILL hasn't returned from hiatus.

Haven't seen RHoBH but I literally can't wait for it.

Oh great, thanks for letting me know.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Cat

[alwaysAMC]

Atlanta's premiere ratings are big:

REAL HOUSEWIVES ATLANTA BRVO 8:00 PM 3.108

1.4

Not sure how that stacks against other premiere/finale/reunion ratings, but anything over 3 million nowadays is really good.

[Eric83]

It's just below Season 5's premiere which had 3.2 million and of course it is above all other seasons of all other franchises.

[Chris B]

Bravo really needed those ATL numbers and the demo is HUGE. If that's where they're starting, I imagine it's going to be a very high rated season. The 7pm episode (which was a repeat of what episode?) got over 1 million viewers and two repeats that aired later in the night also got over 1 million viewers. That's pretty crazy.

[alwaysAMC]

Yeah, I was shocked at the ratings the 7pm repeat got... it was the last reunion episode from S5.

Miami's ratings doubled thanks to Atlanta. I wonder what BH's ratings look like, and how well they helped Miami's finale last night.

[Eric83]

And just because I am a ratings geek

RHOC Premieres:

Season 1: 430,000 Finale: Couldn't find any numbers

Season 2: 1.120 million Finale: 1.5 million

Season 3: 1.150 million Finale: 2.018 million

Season 4: 1.877 million Finale: 1.97 million

Season 5: 2.580 million Finale: 2.45 million

Season 6: 2.050 million Finale: 2.875 million

Season 7: 2.264 million Finale: 2.51 million

Season 8: 1.814 million Finale: 2.386 million

RHONY Premieres:

Season 1: 824,000 Finale: 1.801 million

Season 2: 1.64 million Finale: 2.030 million

Season 3: 2.04 million Finale: 2.641 million

Season 4: 1.965 million Finale: 2.449 million

Season 5: 1.660 million Finale: 1.838 million

RHOA Premieres:

Season 1: 658,000 Finale: 2.2 million

Season 2: 2.660 million Finale: 2.977 million

Season 3: 2.419 million Finale: 4.381 million (Highest Rated Telecast in Housewives history)

Season 4: 2.896 million Finale: 2.3 million

Season 5: 3.228 million Finale: 3.0 million

Season 6: 3.108 million

RHONJ Premieres:

Season 1: 1.720 million Finale: 3.470 million

Season 2: 2.326 million Finale: 3.362 million

Season 3: 2.872 million Finale: 2.678 million

Season 4: 2.975 million Finale: 3.440 million

Season 5: 2.841 million Finale: 2.502 million

RHOBH Premieres:

Season 1: 1.534 million Finale: 2.755 million

Season 2: 2.183 million Finale: 3.026 million

Season 3: 1.809 million Finale: 2.053 million

Season 4: 1.592 million

RHOM Premieres:

Season 1: 1.214 million Finale: 1.096 million

Season 2: 1.066 million Finale: 1.249 million

Season 3: 1.359 million Finale: 957, 000

DC is irrelevant as it's canceled

Edited November 5, 2013 by Eric83

[alwaysAMC]

^That's great - thanks for posting! Not to be greedy, but if you have the time, can you put the season finale ratings next to the matching premiere rating? Generally, you can see which seasons viewers either loved (by significant increase in finale over premiere) or disliked (finale decreases from premiere). Feel free to throw in DC - I loved it, it was fabulous, and shouldn't have been cancelled!

[Chris B]

The FABULOUS Real Housewives of DC premiered to 1.62 viewers and ended with 1.67 viewers.

[Eric83]

Edited!

[Chris B]

Those New York ratings show how Bravo ruined that very popular and very consistent franchise. I can't wait to see what next season does in the ratings. I wonder if it'll be lowered to Miami standards.

[alwaysAMC]

Thanks, Eric! Very helpful and interesting.

Major swings across the board, but OC, NYC, and BH seem to be consistent in that they start low and end high (which hopefully is optimisitc for BH given their premiere ratings this season were terrible!).

Poor Miami - BH didn't really help them like Atlanta did - their finale didn't even get a million viewers.

That shows just how tired viewers are with New Jersey... perfect timing to shake things up, which they seem to be doing. NJ S5, Atlanta S4, and Miami S3 must have been duds given their ratings dropped off the most on that list.

You're right - even though I really enjoy the new NYC girls - they didn't need to do an overhaul considering those S4 numbers without Bethenny were at the high-end for housewives. I still think it was more personal by Andy given those ladies are so close to him and I swear Jill was stalking him. They should have gotten rid of Cindy (dud) and added Carol with perhaps Heather in there as a friend of the housewives with potential for moving up. I'm still on the fence with Aviva.

Thanks! If I remember correctly, their reunion episodes increased even higher... I still firmly believe that DC could be as popular as OC/NYC/BH if given the chance. I guess Bravo didn't want the risk after the White House incident.

Edited November 5, 2013 by alwaysAMC

[Soaplovers]

Regarding the announcement of new housewives for OC? I do think that rumours of new housewives don't come in right away, that it gets reported as the season carries on. Lydia wasn't confirmed as a housewife till filming was over half-over.. same with Carlton and Joyce on RHOBH.

I do recall Kyle mentioning in an interview at the start of filming for season 4 that new housewives were hired and filming.. but that she didn't know who they were yet... so it's possible that could be going on with OC.

[Chris B]

Actually Bravo wanted more of the White House drama. They didn't do season two because the other ladies refused to film with Michaele so Bravo decided not to do it. IMO, focusing so heavily on the White House drama is what killed that show. They should've aired things in order, which would put the White House in the middle of the season, then deal with the fallout and all the Erika/Cat stuff (which actually happened later), then Mary's fashion show could've been the finale. They had to chop so much stuff up just to make that white house story work.