So far there are only three exit strategies for the women who star on Bravo’s popular Real Housewives franchise. Most Housewives are fired for being too boring (Deshawn Snow), too crazy (Danielle Staub) or otherwise bad for the show (Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, and Kelly Bensimon in one fell swoop). Then there is Bethenny Frankel – the exception that proves the rule – who created the Skinny Girl liquor brand and sold it for a reported $120m. And then, of course, there is jail. Just ask Teresa Giudice.
NeNe Leakes, from the Real Housewives of Atlanta and one of the franchise’s biggest stars, is trying to change all that. She is leaving the show after seven seasons, seemingly of her own accord. “My contract is up and I just think this is the right time,” she told People magazine yesterday. “This is my opportunity to spread my wings and do different things.” In the article she says she starts filming a new “primetime television show with a big legend” this week. Could it be Kim Kardashian, whose wildly famous game Leakes just joined?
Leakes was the breakout star of the first season of Real Housewives of Atlanta and has remained colorful, flamboyant and utterly quotable. For fans of the show, shouting her rejoinder “I’m very rich, bitch,” is a sure way to end any argument. And let’s not forget her epic feud with co-star and former best friend Kim Zolciak, which culminated in a blowup in the back of Zolciak’s tour bus. (That sentence is sort of the sine qua non of Real Housewives recaps.) Throughout it all, Leakes was always a fan favorite and as quick to laugh at herself as she was to embrace the wild side of reality fame for the cameras.
Of all the Housewives trying to parlay that fame into successful brands or entertainment superstardom Leakes has probably done the second best (behind Frankel, of course). She had an arc on Glee as a sassy swim coach when the show was at the height of its popularity. That lead to a regular role on NBC’s The New Normal, which was canceled after one season. She’s also appeared on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice.
Leakes seemed like she was over being on Real Housewives for the past few seasons, acting like she was too good for the show and her co-stars, many of whom she fought with on a regular basis. She tried to maintain her role as the ringleader (and the only original cast member left) but was often outshone by Kenya Moore, the show’s nearly insufferable, but compulsively watchable villain.
This news comes at a delicate time both for the franchise and Bravo as a whole. The Real Housewives shows have been dipping in popularity as of late. Last year, the New Jersey chapter was averaging 2 million viewers, still healthy for cable, but down from its 3.5 million height. New York City’s viewers were down to 1.3 million for its sixth season, but the premiere of the seventh season was up to 2.2 million thanks to the return of Frankel, a Hail Mary pass to keep it on the air.
Atlanta is the most popular of all, but this year the penultimate episode of the season drew 3.2 million viewers, down from 3.7 million the previous season. The only franchise with a mostly black cast (there are currently no black cast members in any of the other cities), Atlanta anchors a Sunday night on Bravo that includes other popular shows with black casts like Married to Medicine, and Blood Sweat and Heels. If NeNe goes and the ratings continue to slip, it’s bad for Bravo’s entire Sunday night. Bravo has had a problem generating hits lately, with none of their shows catching on like its run of successes that started a decade ago with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Project Runway, Top Chef, Million Dollar Listing and all of these darn Housewives. Its recent forays into scripted dramas, Odd Mom Out and Girlfriends Guide to Divorce, have been well-reviewed, but not the kind of hits that the network needs.
But Bravo won’t be without NeNe forever. She and Zolciak will bury their respective hatchets and reunite for The Road to Ritches, a cross-country road trip where the women drive from Atlanta to Los Angeles and a possible return to the pair’s fun-loving antics that made them so much fun to watch in the first place. It’s not quite the exit that NeNe was hoping for, but it should be something to help launch her career a bit further. And if her new legendary show doesn’t pan out, I’m sure Housewives producer Andy Cohen would have her back on the reunion couch in no time. Hey, if Bethenny did it, NeNe can’t be far behind.
