Another season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta has come and gone, minus the three-part reunion, and our favorite Georgia peaches didn’t fail to bring the drama. With The Real Housewives of New Jersey still on hiatus for the foreseeable future, it’s unlikely they won’t renew the Hotlanta franchise, but will all of the ladies come back as well, and more importantly, should they?
Cynthia Bailey
Color her bitchy. Bailey had some very mean girl moments this season. She still pales in comparison to former bestie, Leakes, but Bailey appears comfortable being out of NeNe’s shadow and running with the beautiful people (Moore, Jordan).
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Bailey hit a new kind of low when she started spreading the gossip that Phaedra was cheating on husband, Apollo Nida. This accusation was based strictly on texts Nida showed Bailey’s husband, and RHOA with a penis, Peter. Then Cynthia ambushed Phaedra with the intel at a group dinner.
Cynthia’s husband, Peter, uses every opportunity to elbow in and use the show to garner himself, and his often ill-fated businesses and projects attention.
Cynthia doesn’t bring the charisma or the memorable one-liners that her cast mates do. She’s a pretty face, but her personality just isn’t dynamic enough to make her a standout. This installment is in need some fresh meat (Demetria anyone?), and Cynthia wouldn’t be missed, not by me anyway.
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Kenya Moore
Kenya must have been worn out after going toe-to-toe with Brandi Glanville on Celebrity Apprentice because she didn’t bring nearly as much drama this season. Moore did provide a great deal of unintended comic relief with the development and filming of her pilot, “Life Twirls On.” Watching Moore’s vanity project come to fruition was like driving by a car crash, you don’t want to look, but you can’t help yourself.
Kenya is best when she brings the cray cray. I don’t buy the new Kumbaya Kenya. The real Kenya needs to stand up; the one who gets offended being called “Kenya Moore Whore” but accused Phaedra and Porsha of playing fast and loose with their vajayjays.
I don’t foresee Kenya becoming the female Tyler Perry anytime soon, and an over-the-hill beauty queen has to pay the bills, so the only way Moore won’t return is if Bravo doesn’t extend an invite. But, for the love of God, can we please, please retire the word twirl?
It’s time for the last original RHOA cast member to make her exit. NeNe has been very vocal that she’s over her cast mates and all the negativity. NeNe has been pursuing other projects, pretty successfully, for years.
Bravo recently announced NeNe’s getting a spin-off that will reunite her with longtime frenemy, Kim Zolciak.
I wonder if Bravo dangled another spin-off in front of Leakes as a bribe in return for her agreeing to remain on RHOA, or if the network, painfully aware that NeNe is over sharing the spotlight with the other ladies, scrambled to find a project for the Bravolebrity, so she wouldn’t take her talents elsewhere altogether? Bravo loves the ladies who keep the Housewives name in the headlines and an inescapable part of the pop culture landscape, and NeNe certainly has held up her end of the bargain in that area.
As long ago as last May, at a the NBCUniversal Upfronts, NeNe said she’d be happy to do a lot of things, but being a full-time Housewife wasn’t one of them but that didn’t mean she’d abandon cash cow Bravo. But her co-star, Kenya Moore, remains confident that NeNe will be back for more. She tweeted as much just a few weeks ago.
I’ve had my fill of NeNe and NayNay. Girl, bye.
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Phaedra Parks
I don’t think Phaedra showed the best judgment returning in the wake of Apollo’s latest crime spree. In typical Phaedra fashion, she made lemonade out of lemons whenever she could, and still found time to run her law practice, be a mama and throw some impressive shade.
The other ladies have nothing on Phaedra when it comes to putting someone down. Parks can cut a girl to the quick without even raising her voice. Just ask Demetria, who wasn’t even sure she’d been hit until long after Phaedra left the building.
Phaedra is pretty much a single mom now, and she may choose to stick with her day job and ditch RHOA, so she can focus on her boys. She can’t run the risk of her character being called into question (Mr. Chocolate?) in front of millions when dealing with a custody battle.
I think the Atlanta cast needs a bit of an overhaul, and nobody’s offering Phaedra a spin-off. With Apollo tucked away in prison, Phaedra’s story arc has pretty much run its course.
Kandi Burruss
It’s impossible not to love Kandi because with her, what you see is what you get. She’ll speak her truth and prefers to put it all on the front porch instead of talking trash behind someone’s back, usually. It appears NeNe Leakes is pretty peeved at some of the comments Burruss made about her this season. If NeNe didn’t run off every time she was confronted, maybe she and Kandi could have had it out face to face.
Bravo doesn’t look to be dismissing or demoting the singer/songwriter/entrepreneur, if and when RHOA returns for season 8. Her third spin-off, The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Kandi’s Ski Trip, premieres Sunday May 17. The three-part series chronicles Burruss and her husband, Todd Tucker, and their respective extended families taking a ski trip to Colorado.
Watching Kandi and Todd go to couples’ counseling was almost as agonizing as watching their trip to the fertility clinic where they met with Married to Medicine‘s “Dr. Jackie.” The cheesy cross-promotion gave the whole thing a manufactured feel.
Kandi is more settled, or possibly sedate, than in earlier seasons. She may have thrown a few Bedroom Kandi parties, but Burruss is at her best when she’s in “Kandi Koated Nights” mode. I want less beleaguered, sex-deprived homebody next time around and more midgets, music and cutting-edge sex toys.
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Porsha Williams
For someone who was demoted from a full-time cast member,to “friend” this season, we sure saw a whole lot of Williams this season. Long gone is the meek and mentally stunted wife of Kordell Stewart. Okay, the mentally stunted part hasn’t exactly been disproved. This Porsha is a woman I want to see more of, and I don’t mean her weird Pocahontas-type get ups.
If Porsha got demoted for her lackluster storylines, she’s certainly made up for it with her alleged exploits off camera of late. I’d like to see Porsha welcomed back into the fold, but we’ll have to wait and see if she remains on the peripheral, returns full-time, or disappears into oblivion. Williams is confident that all the buzz she’s generated on social media will earn her a promotion.
Claudia Jordan
Jordan has been a mixed bag. She’s beautiful, smart and accomplished, and she isn’t one to back down when provoked. Hell, she’s done a bit of pot stirring herself, especially when it comes to grande dame, NeNe Leakes.
Claudia was comfortable putting the other ladies lives on blast, but aside from some scathing accusations during a heated argument with Leakes, Jordan’s managed to keep the details of her somewhat checkered past pretty well under wraps.
Claudia went to great lengths to bring peace to the war-torn group, Claudia and Porsha may have buried the hatchet long enough to co-plan a girls’ getaway to the Philippines, but they’ve pulled them back out and are swinging them at the season 7 reunion.
Claudia is a worthy RHOA addition, and she says it her tagline, “I’m here to stay.”
The first part of The Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion airs Sunday at 8pm.
(Image Courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
