The Real Housewives

The Real Housewives
Genre	Reality television
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Running time	41–44 minutes
Release
Original network	Bravo
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Chronology
Related shows	...of Orange County ...of New York City ...of Atlanta ...of New Jersey ...of D.C. ...of Beverly Hills ...of Miami ...of Potomac ...of Dallas

The Real Housewives is an American media franchise that consists of several reality television series broadcast on Bravo. The shows document the lives of several affluent housewives residing in varying regions throughout the United States. The first version, The Real Housewives of Orange County, premiered on March 21, 2006; its success resulted in spin-off series located in New York City and Atlanta in 2008; New Jersey in 2009; Washington, D.C. and Beverly Hills in 2010; Miami in 2011; Potomac and Dallas in 2016. The subsequent installments have proven similarly successful, and have resulted in numerous spin-off series of their own.

International versions are also broadcast by several television channels worldwide. The first international installment that was developed is The Real Housewives of Athens that premiered in 2011; which lead to many other international installments located in Vancouver in 2012, Los Angeles (in French) in 2013, Melbourne in 2014, Cheshire in 2015, Auckland in 2016. Additional variants are planned for 2017 in Sydney and Toronto.

Conception

The Real Housewives was first announced as one of six reality television series ordered by the American television channel Bravo in May 2005.^[2] It was inspired by the scripted soap operas Desperate Housewives and Peyton Place, and would document the lives of upper-class women who "lead glamorous lives in a picturesque Southern California gated community where the average home has a $1.6 million price tag and residents include CEOs and retired professional athletes."^[1] The series was renamed The Real Housewives of Orange County in January 2006, and premiered on March 21.^[1]

In September 2007, Bravo confirmed the production of the series Manhattan Moms, which would "[follow] an eclectic group of Gotham socialites and their families."^[3] However, it was renamed The Real Housewives of New York City in January 2008, becoming the first spin-off from The Real Housewives franchise; it premiered on March 4.^[4] The third spin-off The Real Housewives of Atlanta was announced in June,^[5] and premiered on October 7.^[6] The fourth spin-off The Real Housewives of New Jersey was mentioned in May 2008 before the confirmation of The Real Housewives of Atlanta,^[7] although it premiered afterwards on May 12, 2009.^[8] The Real Housewives of D.C. was introduced as the fifth spin-off in October 2009,^[9] and premiered on August 5, 2010 and ended on October 21, 2010.^[10] The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was introduced as the sixth spin-off in March 2010,^[11] and premiered on October 14, 2010.^[12] In March 2010, Bravo has ordered a series titled Miami Social Club, which would serve as a reconstruction of the series Miami Social,^[13] the series was later re-titled to The Real Housewives of Miami and served as the seventh spin-off in the franchise,^[14] and premiered on February 22, 2011.^[15]

After the cancellation of The real Housewives of Miami, it had been almost five years that no new installments had been introduced to the franchise, until Bravo announced two new series on November 11, 2015, The Real Housewives of Potomac as the eighth spin-off and The Real Housewives of Dallas as the ninth.^[16] Prior to being announced, The Real Housewives of Potomac was initially titled Potomac Ensemble during its early production^[17] and premiered on premiered on January 17, 2016.^[18] During early production, The Real Housewives of Dallas, had originally been titled Ladies of Dallas, a potential spin-off series to Ladies of London.^[19] The series premiered on April 11, 2016.^[20]

Domestic installments

International installments

Series	Abbrev.	Country	Broadcaster	Series premiere	Series finale	No. of seasons	Ref.
The Real Housewives of Athens	RHOAthens	Greece	ANT1	March 4, 2011 (2011-03-04)	June 27, 2011 (2011-06-27)	1
The Real Housewives of Vancouver	RHOV	Canada	Slice	April 4, 2012 (2012-04-04)	April 9, 2013 (2013-04-09)	2
Les Vraies Housewives	LVH	France	NT1	March 18, 2013 (2013-03-18)	April 1, 2013 (2013-04-01)	1
The Real Housewives of Melbourne	RHOMelbourne	Australia	Arena	February 23, 2014 (2014-02-23)	N/A	4	[30]
The Real Housewives of Cheshire	RHOCheshire	United Kingdom	ITVBe	January 12, 2015 (2015-01-12)	N/A	4	[31]
The Real Housewives of Auckland	RHOAKL	New Zealand	Bravo	August 22, 2016 (2016-08-22)	N/A	1	[32][33]
The Real Housewives of Sydney	RHOSydney	Australia	Arena	2017 (2017)	N/A	1	[34][35]
The Real Housewives of Toronto	RHOToronto	Canada	Slice	2017 (2017)	N/A	1	[36][37]

Spin-offs

Appearances on The Apprentice

The Real Housewives franchise is closely associated with The Apprentice series. Bravo, of which The Real Housewives airs, is property of NBCUniversal.

.

Syndication

The first four series entered weekday broadcast syndication in the majority of United States markets on September 13, 2010, with episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County.^[45][46] The Real Housewives of Atlanta started airing episodes in the syndicated time slot on October 25, 2010; The Real Housewives of New York on November 29, 2010; and The Real Housewives of New Jersey on January 17, 2011. More episodes of Orange County and an encore of Atlanta finished off the season.

Game

In July 2012, Bravo released a social networking video game version of The Real Housewives of New York City titled Real Housewives: The Game. The game, now discontinued, was accessed as a Facebook application. Every week, after a new episode aired on TV, a new story was available on the game.^[47][48]

Parodies

The Real Housewives franchise has been parodied in television and film.

• In 2009, The The unReal Housewives of Kansas City began airing online on May 13, 2009, and went on to air a total of seven episodes. The online series was directed by Jon Davis, and starred Michelle Davidson, Meagan Flynn, Erin McGrane, Tasha Smith and Jennifer Plas. Davidson, Flynn and Plas also served as writers for the series.^[49][50][51]
• From 2009 to 2012, a sketch titled The Real Housewives of Late Night aired as a sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The sketch featured the men dressing up as their wives in a parodied version on The Real Housewives franchise.^[52][53][54]
• The 30 Rock episodes "Queen of Jordan" and "Queen of Jordan 2: Mystery of the Phantom Pooper" were done in the style of a fictional reality show called Queen of Jordan which parodied several personalities and events of The Real Housewives franchise, particularly The Real Housewives of New Jersey.^[55] The episode "Idiots Are People Three!" also featured Denise Richards parodying LuAnn de Lesseps's song "Chic, C'est La Vie" as "Ja'dore La Piscine".^[56]
• The Real Housewives of South Boston is a YouTube parody series created by Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs in October 2011.^[57][58]
• In 2009, Amy Phillips began impersonating stars from Bravo and many other celebrities on her YouTube channel and eventually began parodying the women from The Real Housewives. Since she began, Phillips has since been endorsed by Bravo and has made several appearances on Watch What Happens Live.^[59][60] In January 2016, Phillips parodied both The Real Housewives and Star Wars in Star Wars: The Housewives Awaken, during her segment Reality Checked with Amy Phillips, on SiriusXM's Radio Andy.^[61]
• On February 25, 2011, Third Degree Films released a pornographic parody film of the franchise, titled The Real Housewives of San Fernando Valley.^[62]
• The Real Husbands of Hollywood is a BET parody series created by Kevin Hart that premiered at the 2012 BET Awards show.^[63]
• The Real Housewives of Toys 'R' Us is a stop motion YouTube parody series created by Australian YouTubers Sam and Mickey. The series features Barbie and Bratz dolls as well as Mrs. Potato Head, in the format of The Real Housewives series, centered around being in the toy shop, Toys "R" Us. It has aired 3 episode since its initial episode in 2014.^[64][65][66]
• On February 26, 2012, The Real Housewives was parodied during episode 2 in the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice, during a task sponsored by Medieval Times. Contestant and star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey recreated her table-flipping scene from The Real Housewives of New Jersey in a segment titled The Unreal Housewives of Camelot.^[67][68]
• Saturday Night Live parodied The Real Housewives on March 3, 2012 with a sketch called Real Housewives of Disney guest starring Lindsey Lohan as Rapunzel.^[69]
• The series was parodied in August, 2012, with a musical titled The Real Drunk Housewives of the San Fernando Valley. The musical featured Rachel Reilly.^[70][71]
• On August 14, 2012, The Real Housekeepers of Long Island was released online as parody of the series, which created by Tyler Gildin.^[72][73]
• On October 12, 2012, a segment was published on Funny or Die, titled The Real Dragwives: Very Rich. The video is a parody of a scene from The Real Housewives of Atlanta, with Latrice Royale in the role of NeNe Leakes and DiDa Ritz in the role of Sheree Whitfield.^[54][74]
• In the 2013 film The Best Man Holiday, Melissa De Sousa's character "Shelby" is shown as a star of the fictional reality show The Real Housewives of Westchester.^[75][76]
• On January 23, 2013, The Real Housewives was parodied during episode 9 in the fourth season of Hot in Cleveland. Actress, and cast member of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Heather Dubrow guest starred as Nikki, the wife of Emmet (Alan Dale), who is trying to get on the fictional series True Housewives of Tampa St. Pete.^[77][78]
• Real Housewives of Benning Road is a YouTube parody series created Brooks and Amon Williams of Hardhead Films. The series premiered on April 17, 2013, and went on to air for 3 seasons. No episodes have been released since July 16, 2014.^[79][80]
• In February 2014, Michael Kulich produced a pornographic film called The Real Housewives of Westport featuring Nina Hartley.^[81]
• The musical parody The Real Housewives of Walnut Creek began showing from April 17, to May 11, 2014, at Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. The musical is created by Molly Bell, who also starred, and is presented by the Center REPertory and ^[82][83]
• The Hotwives is a parody series that premiered on July 15, 2014 on the video streaming website Hulu. First season focuses on Orlando, Florida and the second focusing on Las Vegas.^[84]
• In South Africa, a parody of The Real Housewives began airing in July 2014, titled Real Househelps of Kawangware.^[85][86] The series was added to the South African mobile streaming service ShowMax in October 2016.^[87]
• SBS 2's The Feed parodied the franchise in August 2014, with a segment titled The Real Newsreaders Of Sydney. The segment featured Sandra Sully, Lee Lin Chin and Natalie Barr.^[88]
• On October 29, Nerdist began airing The Real Housewives of Horror, which concluded on December 4, 2014. The series is written and created by Brea Grant, who also stars in the series, and is a mash-up of the horror movie genre and The Real Housewives franchise.^[89]
• On April 12, 2015, former Big Brother contest Wil Hueser, released a video titled The Real Housewives of Louisville on his YouTube channel, that went on to serve as the first season. On June 16, 2016, Hueser began airing a second season of his series. The series features Hueser parodying multiple women from Louisville, including his own mother.^[90][91][92]
• On May 4, 2015, The Real Housewives was parodied during the tenth episode in the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. In a mini-challenge titled Fake Housewives of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the contestants were challenged to create a tagline, replicating the taglines of The Real Housewives franchise, as well as replicating plastic surgery using tape.^[54][93]
• From May 24 to November 8, 2015, the Australian sketch show Open Slather frequently parodied the series with the sketch The Real Housewives of The World. The sketch featured prominent women in politics in the format of The Real Housewives. The cast included Marg Downey as Helen Clark, Gina Riley as Hillary Clinton and Magda Szubanski as Angela Merkel. In the same series, Gina Riley also played a parodied version of The Real Housewives of Melbourne cast member, Gina Liano.^[94][95]
• In June 2015, Dirty Cues Productions produced the parody The Real Housewives of Westeros, combining the popular HBO show Game of Thrones with the Real Housewives franchise.^[96][97]
• The Real Housewives of Melbourne was parodied on July 29, 2015 with an online segment called The Real Tradies Of Melbourne. The video was created to promote awareness for Tradies National Health Month. The video featured Shane Jacobson, as well a special guest appearance from original cast member from The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Andrea Moss.^[98][99]
• From January to May, 2016, a performance titled The Realish Housewives: A Parody toured cities across the United States. Each performance was titled "The Realish Housewives of [the city they performed in]".^[100][101]
• In April 2016, a musical parody of the series called Real Housewives of Toluca Lake had several shows at the Falcon Theatre, in Burbank, California. Molly Bell wrote the book, music and lyrics to the musical.^[102]
• On June 16, 2016, the franchise was parodied in episode 9 in the fourth season of Inside Amy Schumer. Amy Schumer parodied The Real Housewives' reunion with Andy Cohen making a guest appearance as himself, as the host.^[103]
• From July 16 to September 12, 2016, a parody theater piece called Housewives of Secaucus, a Suburban Travesty was shown in New Jersey and New York across several venues. The show also parodied reality television series Jersey Shore and Mob Wives^[104]
• In a collaboration with Bravo, Mashable began airing a mini series online titled The Real Housekids. The mini series began on August 1, 2016, and featured children recreating iconic scenes from the franchise. In total four episodes have been released, three featuring scenes from The Real Housewives of Atlanta and one featuring a scene from The Real Housewives of Orange County.^{[105][106][107]}
• In late August 2016, Real Housewives of Christchurch began airing as an online series. The series is deigned as a parody of The Real Housewives of Auckland and showcases everyday women, rather than the wealthy and polished women featured on the Auckland series.^[108][109] In September 2016, cast-members of The Real Housewives of Auckland, Gilda Kirkpatrick and Anne Batley-Burton, were featured in a video meeting with the ladies of The Real Housewives of Christchurch.^[110]
• In October 2016, a web series titled The Real Houseboys of Waiheke began airing as a parody of The Real Housewives and more specifically The Real Housewives of Auckland.^[111]
• On October 14, 2016, a parody video was release online called The Real Housewitches of Salem. The video parodied The Real Housewives as well as Hocus Pocus and Mean girls.^[112][113]
• On October 27, 2016, a scene from The Real Housewives of New York City, featuring Aviva Drescher throwing her prosthetic leg was parodied by Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 during the reunion for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars.^[114][115]
• In October 2016, a musical titled The Real Wicked Witches of Halloween Hills was performed over 2 nights on October 29 and October 30, at Westchester Broadway Theatre and Emelin Theatre in New York. The musical is created as family friendly Halloween take on The Real Housewives franchise.^[116]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Real Housewives.

• The Real Housewives of Orange County
• The Real Housewives of New York City
• The Real Housewives of Atlanta
• The Real Housewives of New Jersey
• The Real Housewives of D.C.
• The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
• The Real Housewives of Miami
• The Real Housewives of Potomac
• The Real Housewives of Dallas