The drama surrounding the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta may be bigger than the interest in the franchise in its entirety. Simply put, after all the speculation on contracts, leaked information, and rumors, audiences may have checked out the infamous peaches representing the new Black Hollywood. Admittedly, the reality series has been on an accelerated downhill slide since Nene Leakes was fired several seasons ago.
The cast took several major shifts, first Phaedra Parks, then losing Nene and the beautiful yet toxic Porsha Williams. Losing Nene’s over-the-top antics, and Porsha’s sex kitten appeal left producers with major holes to fill and, unfortunately, making the troubled Marlo Hampton a card-carrying peach holder was the wrong direction for the franchise. And now, the franchise may be unsalvagable.
Bringing Sheree Back Didn’t Work To Fill The Holes on ‘RHOA’
Aside from mistakenly validating Marlo Hampton, producers brought back the bone-carrying Sheree Whitfield, who picked up exactly where she left off when fired from the show the first time as a fashion stylist with no fashions. Instead of filling Porsha’s sexy stilettos, Sheree fumbled with business and her love life, leaving audiences feeling she would’ve been better off left as a relic in RHOA history. Sheree and Marlo teamed up in a foolish smear campaign against RHOA’s resident boss, chick Kandi Burruss, who finally decided she’d had enough with the franchise and was ready to turn in her peach.
In a recent interview with Variety, Kandi spilled the beans that housewives fans were extremely surprised to hear. “I decided I’m not coming back this year. It’s been 14 seasons, and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long, but during that time I had started working on a lot of other things, and I got some nice big projects coming soon, so I’m super excited about those things,” she stated.
Kandi Burruss’ exit came as a huge surprise, especially since she’d gone out of her way in prior years to let fans know that she had a great working relationship with Bravo and, specifically, Andy Cohen. Still, fans are speculating that Kandi’s intuition to get off the RHOA boat before the entire ship begins to sink was another smart career move. Without Kandi’s role as a trusted anchor, it’s unclear which way the season will go, even with Porsha Williams, nee’ Guobadia, confirmed to be returning.
Nene and Kandi were the longest-standing housewives and both provided a foundation for the remaining cast. Without the two matriarchs of the show, there is little substance left to build upon. Losing Nene didn’t necessarily mean the end of the series magic, but losing Kandi just as audiences have lost faith in the stability of the franchise could prove to be the nail in the RHOA coffin.
‘RHOA’ Has Had Unfortnate Exits of Beloved Cast Members
Before Nene’s exit, Phaedra Parks’ dramatic exit was necessary at the time, but left an indelible mark on the franchise. After being caught in a messy lie accusing Kandi of threatening to drug Porsha to convince her to participate in a sexual escapade, Phaedra was banished from the franchise. Although audiences were disappointed in her actions, Phaedra’s appeal to the show was undeniable. One part vixen, the other part intellect, Phaedra was an interestingly unpredictable character who transitioned from a self-proclaimed southern belle from Albany to a brazen socialite equipped with the bright lights of Atlanta under her feet and in total awareness of her power. Phaedra was a mind-boggling mix of legal counsel, sip-and-see etiquette, and freaky male strippers. Although audiences applauded Andy’s decision to let her go, no one has been able to fill her eclectic shoes since her departure.
It’s safe to assume Kenya Moore will be returning, but as amazing as she is for television, she’s never been the central character of the series. Kenya flits in and out as she sees fit, acting often as the confidant of the main character or, in Nene’s case, her unapologetic nemesis. It’s hard to imagine Kenya being a focal character for the franchise because she has never presented herself as wanting to embody that role. It’s clear that Kenya’s commitment to the franchise takes a backseat to everything else going on in her life, so it’s a long shot to assume she’d move from a strong supportive role to a main foundational role for Atlanta.
Porsha’s return is certain to be entertaining, mainly because of her new marriage to Nigerian millionaire Simon Guobadia. Fans will remember that Simon was introduced to the series several seasons ago, married to Porsha’s then-friend, Falynn Pina. Simon and Falynn’s marriage was riddled with infidelity on both sides and Porsha took the opportunity to trade Dennis McKinley out for the much wealthier Simon and to rid herself of an unnecessary friend in Falynn. Porsha maintained she hadn’t done anything unethical by pointing out that the friendship with Falynn wasn’t longstanding and by proving that the younger woman was cheating on her husband during the marriage. Porsha’s messy transition from Dennis to Simon was chronicled in the poorly received spinoff Porsha’s Family Matters, but audiences didn’t show enough interest to secure it for another season.
The short-lived series proved that although beautiful, Porsha was more fitting of a sidekick role than a main character, as she lost a large portion of her loyal fans when the cameras were focused on her full-time.
Another surprise in the cast shakeups was the rumors of Drew Sidora not returning for the upcoming season 16. Although catching Drew in blatant lies became fan fodder over the last few seasons, the announcement of her very messy divorce from troubled husband Ralph Pittman had fans believing producers would keep her around to see if the divorce would introduce audiences to a more truthful and vulnerable side of the talented actress.
Aside from divorcing her husband because of consistent infidelity on his part, Drew began flirting with a lesbian basketball player after taking a role in a movie about a heterosexual housewife seduced into a passionate affair with a lesbian co-worker. Audiences were almost certain Drew would return to season 16, or at the very least, answer for her contradictions in her lifestyle, but numerous sources continued reporting that Drew would not return to provide closure on her open-ended divorce or lesbian affair.
Losing Sanya Richards-Ross wasn’t as big of a surprise as the news about Drew, because, unlike her cast mates, Sanya didn’t have much drama in or around her Jamaican family. Sanya’s former NFL-playing husband was as trustworthy as a reality television husband could possibly be, and her family was tight-knit but relatively drama-free. Although Sanya boasted a strange loyalty to the problematic Marlo, she still brought very little drama to the cast and represented more of a solid Olympic champion than a messy reality TV character.
Newbie Courtney Rhodes didn’t connect with fans as much as producers must’ve assumed she would, even though she was willing to go up against Kandi without warning and then flip on Drew, her cousin by marriage, for camera time almost immediately. Courtney’s intentions to bring drama and shake the tables before connecting with fans didn’t serve her well and by the end of the season, she was relatively a non-factor.
‘RHOA’ the Most Culturally Relevant Characters on Reality TV
RHOA has enjoyed being one of the most successful, if not the most successful, housewife franchises on Bravo for many seasons. Although Atlanta came years after The Real Housewives of Orange County, the impact of the Atlanta franchise has had a much larger impact on pop culture. Except for former RHONY housewife Bethenny Frankel, RHOA has produced the biggest household name in Nene Leakes. Retaining music royalty with R&B legend Kandi Burruss also brought immediate credibility to the show.RHOA also produced the most spin-offs with cast members including Kandi, Porsha, and the unforgettable OG Kim Zolciak.
Unfortunately, the most talked about zip code in the Real Housewives franchise is currently suffering from too many changes to its core group too soon. Andy’s reluctance to connect with fans after rumors first began circulating was a major mistake. With the news cycle and audience, attention spans getting shorter by the day, the cast needs to remain connected with their fan base in the interim of the show’s off-season. Assuming fans will remain loyal to a show in this climate of reality content being spammed from multiple platforms and streaming services is a dangerous game. Pop culture critics still believe Atlanta influences everything, but unless Andy’s able to deliver a groundbreaking season 16 of RHOA, losing fan favorites such as Phaedra, Nene, and, most recently, Kandi could prove to be bigger than the appeal of the elite Atlanta zip code.
