The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Did You Know?

• 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 10:00 PM timeslots.
• The current seventeenth season cast includes Phaedra Parks, Porsha Williams, Drew Sidora, Shamea Morton, Angela Oakley, Kelli Potter, Pinky Cole, and K.

Production

The Real Housewives of Atlanta became the third show in the Real Housewives series, following the success of the Orange County and New York City editions. Each season features between five and eight main cast members, who are listed by their first names. The first season aired on October 7, 2008, with Nene Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Sheree Whitfield, Lisa Wu, and Kim Zolciak-Biermann. Kandi Burruss joined for season two, which premiered on July 30, 2009, while Snow left the show. A producer told Snow they had expected a stronger reaction from her at the reunion when she learned what other cast members had said, but Snow explained she did not want to act dramatically for TV. Season three, premiering October 4, 2010, saw Wu step down as a main housewife, appearing only as a guest, and added Cynthia Bailey and Phaedra Parks. The fourth season, starting November 6, 2011, kept the same main cast but introduced Marlo Hampton as the first official "friend of the housewives." Whitfield did not return for season five, which premiered on November 4, 2012, and brought in Kenya Moore and Porsha Williams. Zolciak quit partway through filming that season. Season six, premiering November 3, 2013, had the same cast minus Zolciak, leaving Leakes as the only original housewife on the show at that time, with Hampton returning as a guest. For season seven, starting November 9, 2014, Williams was demoted to a friend role alongside Demetria McKinney, while Claudia Jordan became a main housewife. Season eight, premiering November 8, 2015, brought Williams back full-time and added Kim Fields as a new housewife. Whitfield returned as a friend alongside Shamea Morton. Leakes and Jordan did not return as main housewives but appeared as guests with Hampton and McKinney. Season nine, premiering November 6, 2016, saw Whitfield return full-time, while Fields did not come back. Hampton and Morton made multiple guest appearances, and original housewives Wu and Zolciak-Biermann appeared in the season finale.

Storylines

The first season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta kicked off with NeNe Leakes, Kim Zolciak, Sheree Whitfield, DeShawn Snow, and Lisa Wu-Hartwell. Leakes and Whitfield were already feuding, and things got worse when Leakes wasn't invited to Whitfield's birthday party. Zolciak was secretly dating a man she called "Big Papa," and she decided to try her hand at country music. Her friendship with Leakes fell apart after she became close with Whitfield, and Leakes made fun of her singing career. Snow wanted to be a socialite, while Wu-Hartwell aimed to make it as a jewelry designer. Whitfield tried to launch a fashion line and host a lunch to mend fences, but neither worked out by the season finale.

Season two saw Snow leave and Kandi Burruss join the cast. Burruss had just gotten engaged to her boyfriend A.J. and wanted to revive her music career. An attempt to get Leakes, Whitfield, and Zolciak to make up failed, with Whitfield famously tugging on Zolciak's wig to "shift it a little bit." Burruss and Leakes started fighting after Burruss befriended Zolciak and helped her record the single "Tardy for the Party." Zolciak also tried to start a wig line and got engaged to Big Papa, while Wu-Hartwell and Whitfield each launched their own clothing collections.

In the third season, Wu-Hartwell left as a main cast member, and Cynthia Bailey and Phaedra Parks came on board. Leakes and Zolciak reconciled as Leakes thought about divorcing her husband Gregg, and Zolciak began a lesbian relationship. Parks, who was pregnant, argued with her husband Apollo Nida about parenting styles before giving birth later that season. Zolciak and Burruss kept making music together but disagreed creatively. Bailey got engaged to her boyfriend Peter Thomas, and Zolciak set her sights on football player Kroy Biermann. A fight broke out between Burruss, Leakes, and Zolciak while the last two went on a promotional concert tour. Despite her mother and sister telling her not to, Bailey married Thomas in the season finale.

Reception

Critics have offered a range of opinions on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Melissa Camacho of Common Sense Media praised the show for highlighting a successful and powerful segment of the African-American community that television often overlooks. Tim Hall from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, who generally dislikes reality TV and called The Real Housewives of Orange County utterly ridiculous, admitted he found the women’s conflicts, dynamics, and wealthy lifestyles somewhat entertaining. Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times gave a mixed review, joking that the series’ portrayal of wealth would make the best time capsule of the Bling Decade, especially given the economic downturn when it premiered. She added more seriously that the housewives’ luxuries were never all that enviable and now might not even be viable. Hanh Nguyen from Zap2It agreed, criticizing the showy elite and rampant consumerism as out of touch during economic hardship, though she noted the program is not boring—you just have to be in the right mood to watch.

Several media outlets have labeled the series a guilty pleasure. Latoya West of About.com wrote that the housewives’ self-absorbed behavior might irritate viewers, but the divalicious drama could be addictive. In 2009, a writer for Essence said they could not get enough of the ladies and named it the best reality show of the year. Leslie Bruce of Today observed that the entire Real Housewives franchise rose to fame by featuring foul-mouthed, often catfighting, always self-promoting women, and that these shows dominate water-cooler discussions by showcasing at times the worst of female behavior.

In December 2013, one of the housewives, Williams, faced additional criticism after an episode from the sixth season in which she indicated she believed the Underground Railroad was an actual railroad line.