It's a Wrap

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.