Relationships are complicated, especially long-term ones. What we’re seeing play out between Marlo and Kandi isn’t as unusual as some viewers are attempting to make it. Marlo’s issue with Kandi is very logical and clear. 
 
Marlo opposed her castmates attempts to sanitize the shooting that occurred at Kandi’s establishment. It was a simple request: say “shooting.” Here’s the thing: There was a shooting. It was covered by popular blogs and respected news media outlets. It is wholly fair to call a thing a thing. Kandi had no problem articulating that Sheree’s website crashed, that Sheree is not making use of the most well-known Housewives brand, She by Sheree, that she attempted to help Sheree with her website, but Sheree didn’t want to compensate them. If Kandi can say all that about Sheree’s business. They can say shooting. 
 
What needs to be cleared up is Marlo didn’t attach her nephew’s shooting to Kandi’s business until Drew gaslighted her. To gaslight means to get someone to question their reality. Drew attempted to convince Marlo that she was cavalier in her use of the word “shooting” because Marlo had no personal experience with gun violence, and Drew set herself up as the martyr from Chicago who knows all things gun violence. This interaction is what triggered Marlo. In the episode, she continuously said, “My blood nephew died” to confirm her reality. We use the word trigger so often, that when we see an actual moment of triggering, it goes unnoticed. 
 
This turn is where the conflict becomes significant. I think everyone has been in a situation where you wished someone had responded differently in the past, and a present situation brings up those old feelings. We saw this happen with Kanye and Jay Z. Years after Kim and Kanye’s wedding, Jay Z and Beyonce moved to California. Kanye was triggered that they never brought the kids over for a play date, and this brought up the pain of Jay Z missing his wedding. Same with Marlo. Kandi’s nephew getting shot by someone he knew through work, brought up those feelings for Marlo. And she simply stated she wished her friend had done more like send flowers, or a card, or call her family. All reasonable and normal stuff that relationships are all about. 
 
Kandi and the other castmates reactions though remind us we’re watching a show. Drew, Kenya, and Kandi took Marlo’s simple words and turned them into an attack on Kandi’s businesses. This is the typical melodrama that Kenya and Kandi like to fabricate. Let’s not forget that Kenya spent Season 12 on a retributive mission against Nene because she claimed Nene called Brooklyn a buffalo. How stupid. We’re all familiar with the antiquated tendency to say a pregnant woman looks like she’s having a buffalo, but it was Kandi who told Kenya that Nene called Brooklyn a buffalo. That quarrel was stupid, and so is the claim that Marlo is trying to bring down Kandi’s businesses. No one will stop streaming “Who Can I Run To?” because Marlo said Kandi didn’t send flowers. Absolutely no one is cancelling their Blaze reservations for their upcoming afterwork gatherings because Marlo said Kandi didn’t reach out to her family. Kandi has built a fanbase from the 90’s. We’re not going anywhere. It’s not happening because the shooting is on brand. 
 
Courtney called Kandi ghetto. It was wrong, but unfortunately Courtney’s perspective is an embedded aspect of social relations in Atlanta. ATLiens have a saying: “You flew here; I grew here.” Many transplants don’t understand social dynamics. There is a North-South side divide in Atlanta. People from North Atlanta consider South Atlanta low brow and often only visit South Atlanta for the airport. This is why most of the sports teams and cultural institutors moved their venues farther north of Highway I-20. What Courtney said is a reverberating theme and speaks to how people see Kandi. Let’s not forget that Xscape introduced themselves to the world as the “ghetto En Vogue.” The idea that Kandi and her businesses are part of a Chitlin Circuit is what really bothers Kandi. She could address the issue in a more meaningful way, as Phaedra dealt with the stigma of the father of her children going to prison. Phaedra openly expressed her concerns and used the Housewives platform to support children of incarcerated parents even going to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers on camera. Kandi could do the same regarding workplace violence.
 
What is happening verifies Marlo’s point: Kandi doesn’t deal with the ACTUAL issue. The issue isn’t that Marlo is attacking Kandi’s business. The issue is Marlo felt Kandi could have done more, and that’s Marlo’s prerogative. Not dealing with the actual issue is Kandi’s pattern. Rewind to season 14. Kenya didn’t appreciate the dungeon invitation to see Kandi’s Broadway play, and Kenya rejected Kandi’s request to wear panties that allowed random people to buzz her clitoris throughout the night. Kenya couldn’t see the connection between sex games and Kandi’s Broadway play. It was a logical position. Kandi didn’t deal with this actual issue. As usual, she turned it into a personal attack. She claimed that they were all making her out to be some freak, and then Kandi accused Kenya of “having a past” herself.  Same with Mama Joyce. We’re on Season 15, and Kandi has yet to deal with the actual issue of Mama Joyce subjecting her husband, and kids, to emotional abuse. That’s the actual issue. Instead, Kandi frames it as if it’s a simple disagreement. No. It’s abuse, child. 
 
Kandi can handle things however she wants in her personal life. The issue is how it impacts the show. Her blowups stunt the progression of stories. It’s part of the reason why we think she’s so boring. If there isn’t an active dispute in Kandi’s life, you can’t get anything out of her. She’s not like a Porsha, who when she was on the outs with all the ladies in Season 10, was hilariously trying to reinvent herself as a vegan or like Nene who took the girls to the energy reader to confront their elephants. You’re not going to get those funny introspective scenes from Kandi. The larger problem that impacts the show is how cast members pull rank. If Nene Leakes had left filming the way that Kandi stormed out, although she escalated the situation to violence, people would be calling Nene unprofessional, telling her she needs to quit. But Kenya, Kandi, and sometimes Drew, have been seemingly controlling production. Refusing to discuss particular topics, leaving filming early, demanding that certain people be removed from the scene, as Drew did to Marlo. All of those rank-pulling antics impact the producers’ ability to deliver stories to the viewers. That’s my biggest issue with this season. It feels like there is nothing there because cast members are refusing to give. The cast members are engaging in a classist, elitist, sexist shaming and dismissing of Marlo. It would be wise of RHOA producers to avoid supporting these acts. Yes. Marlo has a record. Yes, Marlo was in foster care. Marlo is also a college graduate who opened her own boutique at Perimeter Mall in North Atlanta, Georgia on her own. It’s sad that Kandi who too was slut-shamed concerning her relationship with Jermaine Dupri while she was a member of Xscape would undermine another woman’s accomplishments in the same way that people attempted to undermine her talent. 
 
In the words of Phaedra Parks, “Fix it, Jesus.” 

Think it’s safe to give up on the idea of The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s great return. The problem with the current season is twofold: one, the cast seem unwilling to give organic personal stories. Two, in my opinion, Bravo is more interested in producing fights than stories. 
 
As a I wrote in my first post, Kandi is a millionaire songwriter, and Kenya is a Miss USA. Unfortunately, they are not compelling enough to bring eyeballs on this format. The truth is Nene, Phaedra, and Porsha leading RHOA would be hilariously entertaining and a rating success. Kandi and Kenya can’t pull it off, and firing Marlo Hampton will not change that. RHOA once was the Chicago Bulls of Bravo, and if we’re honest, Nene was/is Jordan. But fans claimed, “Kandi’s Instagram followers are boosting the ratings,” and “Kenya is the shade assassin.” Kandi and Kenya stepped onto a winning team. The interactions between Nene, Kim, and Sheree and the strength of their personal stories built a funny and magnetic foundation, and a blueprint for reality TV ensemble casts. Still, the problem is bigger than Kandi and Kenya and the current cast.
 
The production of reality TV shows featuring recurring ensemble casts has dropped developing strong stories in favor of centering explosive fights. Drew Sidora’s music venture was the only adequately explored personal story of late. It could be compelling if Drew didn’t come off as an actress playing a real housewife. Her phone call to Kandi seemed like a producer-prompted attempt to create a conflict between Kandi and Courtney. Scenes like this one jolt the audience out of our investment in the supposed reality and cause us to question the show’s authenticity. Production didn’t take the time to introduce Courtney to viewers prior to her conflict with Kandi. As a result, we don’t care about the disagreement because we don’t know Courtney. Imagine if RHOA production had cut all of Marlo’s prior scenes, and we met her in South Africa in the battle against Sheree. That would have been awkward. This pattern of presenting abrupt conflict has continued since Season 13. We didn’t know Drew and Ralph, but we were thrust into their marital fight ridiculously early in either episode 1 or 2. Watching the show often feels like when you’re out to dinner with friends, and the couple they invited gets into an intense, personal dispute at the table. It’s uncomfortable and embarrassing. It makes people want to get up and leave, and that is exactly what viewers are doing. 
 
The other issue is current cast members don’t seem interested in sharing their real lives. We haven’t discussed Mark Daly. Talk about the elephant in the room. With what Kenya has given this season, she might be better off as a friend. Similarly, Kandi shares her life, but it’s a carefully produced version of her life. When was the last time we got an organic moment from Kandi, like when she was crying her heart out to Cynthia about her mother’s hatred of Todd or her failed wedding dress fitting that ended with Momma Joyce threatening Carmon Season 6?
 
To be fair, the castmates have learned the reality TV terrain has changed. As many commentators astutely noted concerning Robyn Dixon concealing Juan Dixon’s alleged affairs, the Housewives Universe is no longer about women opening their lives; it has become about women “getting” other castmates. Makes sense that cast members are unwilling to be vulnerable under conditions where they feel cast and producers are out to get them. Let’s not forget, according to Robyn Dixon, that producers asked Robyn if any topics were off limits, and Robyn said she preferred to keep the minute details of her financial issues with Juan off camera. After this conversation, Robyn states Ashley began to share on camera the very aspects that Robyn told producers she wanted protected. In my view, this is the kind producer betrayal that ruins series. They could have probed Robyn about it in her interviews in lieu of seemingly setting up a castmate to embarrass her. Kandi and Kenya aren’t stupid. I’m sure they realize producers are simply looking for conflict. Instead of sharing their lives, everyone creates contrived moments to deliver an “iconic line.”
 
It seems the producers confided in Marlo about Kandi and Kenya coasting. I agree with that sentiment. They are coasting. However, it isn’t Marlo’s job to bring out anything in Kandi and Kenya. It is Marlo’s job to bring out the best of her own storyline. Every housewife has one job: to be a real housewife. It gets tired when castmates like Gizelle, Marlo, and Lisa Rinna go into Inspector Gadget mode and investigate/instigate their castmates. Calm your happy, producer pet, ass down and share YOUR life. 
 
This whole discussion about recasting all talent has been propelled by four cast members who openly targeted Marlo on Twitter, calling for her firing. Yes, Marlo takes things too far, but so has Kenya Moore (Let’s not forget her pulling out Kim Fields’s chair, pulling Nene’s ear, using a bullhorn to taunt Porsha, and threatening to beat up Phaedra “pregnant and all”). If we start from the beginning and not in the middle, Marlo has every right to be upset with Kandi. If we go back to Season 4, Phaedra introduced Marlo to the group when Marlo was dating Charles Grant. The women (allegedly Kandi, Phaedra, and Sheree) wanted Marlo and Charles on the show to blow up Nene’s spot and expose Nene’s “cheating,” although she was separated from Greg. This moment was the first real bring down a marriage storyline on RHOA. Kandi never disclosed the extent of her relationship with Marlo during Season 4. Andy Cohen was taken aback when Kandi admitted at the Season 14 reunion that Marlo dated her cousin, only after Marlo divulged it. When Marlo and Nene became friends, Kandi seemingly turned-on Marlo and insinuated that Marlo was a high-paid escort. Kandi was the one who initiated the baseless, inappropriate sexual comments about Marlo, which Kenya intensified. Marlo got her peach, and she returned serve, throwing the same shade that Kandi originally threw at her. The problem is many current viewers are unfamiliar with the early seasons of RHOA. As a result, it’s difficult to explore a storyline that originates 11 years in the past. 
 
Let the demise of RHOA be a lesson. Bravo, and many commentators, believe Housewives cast mates are replaceable, as if the Real Housewives platform is the star. It is not. Nene Leakes, her humor, and her longstanding relationships with the equally outspoken Kim and Sheree made producing reality TV look easy. But I hope everyone learns that it takes magnetic personalities to attract and keep viewer attention. The Housewives Brand is not the star; The housewives are the stars. How can the network rebuild the series without Nene, Phaedra, and Porsha? Should there be a total overhaul or is it simply time for Kandi and Kenya to move on with Bravo or E! spin-off series? Either way, we the viewers must deal with another underwhelming season of one of the most beloved reality TV shows in history.