Bravo struck reality TV gold when it launched The Real Housewives of Orange County in March 2006. The series was such a hit that a little over a year later, the series spawned a New York City-set spinoff, which was retooled in 2022. And with that, a franchise was born. Since then, 11 different U.S. versions of the series and 21 international adaptations have been made. To date, there have only been two U.S.-based Real Housewives series that have been canceled.
I have been an avid fan since the very beginning. While I have my favorite show, I can’t help but tune in to watch each and every iteration to catch up on what the successful women are up to. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to notice a major element is negatively impacting the franchise.
What's Negatively Affecting The Franchise?
Without fail, every season in every series, a “villain” emerges amongst the women (like when Erika Jayne was villainized in Season 12 of Beverly Hills). It doesn’t matter how successful the housewife is or how long they've been on the show; at some point, they become the scapegoat for everything that’s going wrong.
While some cast members and fans are often quick to blame editing for poor portrayals and unneeded drama, I think there’s a different culprit behind the mess: alcohol. Over the years, I’ve noticed that the drama that unfolds typically happens at a party or amid a vacation, during which drinks are handed out and ordered in excess.
When Has This Issue Cropped Up In The RH Spinoff Shows?
There have been multiple alcohol-fueled moments across the franchise. In fact, every iteration of Real Housewives has problems that arise at the various parties and vacations the women attend. One might say that’s because tensions run high amongst the ladies. However, I firmly believe it has more to do with the liquid courage flowing through their veins, causing them to say and do things they might not do without the extra help.
Let's be clear about something. There’s nothing wrong with drinking, especially since all the women who appear on The Real Housewives shows are of legal age. However, it seems that the endless supply of alcohol often causes them to forget what they’ve said and done, which leads to confusion and then drama.
It's always a game of telephone gone wrong and, as a result, you'll have one cast member calling out another for saying something they don’t even remember spouting. In some cases, the accuser is even wrong because they misremembered who said something. That seemed to be common in the latest season of Orange County, especially when it came to the season’s “villain” Heather, who I'm a fan of.
How Could These Situations Be Handled Moving Forward?
The good news is that fixing this issue that's negatively affecting The Real Housewives franchise is easy. All producers and cast members have to do is scale back the amount of alcohol that's being consumed. While it could be challenging to enforce early on, surely the producers could work to make this a reality if they chose to.
I’m not saying we need a dry season of the show (though that would certainly be interesting). I just think there should be some kind of limit on how much they can drink, the same way there is at some businesses. And given that more and more cast members are exploring sobriety or simply scaling back on their drinking, it seems like the possibility of this less-than-positive influence going away is more imminent than ever before, too.
For fans who are worried that reducing the alcohol will make the show boring, I’m here to say that wouldn't necessarily be the case. After all, the women never drink while they’re filming the reunion specials, and those are always explosive and full of drama in their own right. As long as the series keeps mixing different personalities, entertaining TV is sure to be the result. The lack of booze will just remove the telephone game of unnecessary drama and I, for one, think that would be a great thing.
You can catch up with all nine current US installments of The Real Housewives with an Peacock subscription. New episodes of the Salt Lake City and Beverly Hills shows are now airing on Bravo on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. and Wednesdays at 8 p.m, respectively. Keep an eye on our 2023 TV schedule for all updates regarding new seasons of the other franchise iterations.
