The History of Bravo’s Real Housewives Franchise

Premiere date: October 8, 2008

Current cast members: Kandi Burruss, Cynthia Bailey, Phaedra Parks, Kenya Moore

Former cast members: NeNe Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Lisa Wu, Sheree Whitfield, Kim Zolciak-Biermann, Claudia Jordan, Porsha Williams

Spinoffs: Don’t Be Tardy, The Kandi Factory, I Marvel of NeNe: The Wedding, Kandi’s Wedding, Kandi’s Ski Trip

Best tagline: “I don’t keep up with the Joneses, I am the Joneses.” —NeNe Leakes

Best fight: Sheree plotting she and NeNe were about to have a “grown woman conversation” about some money matters, but it quickly devolved to NeNe epically screaming “I am very rich, bitch!” and storming away. There have been tons of fights on this show, but this is the one that you remember thanks to antics like both of them simultaneously calling people to verify their tales; it was hilarious chaos, absolute mayhem.

Wait, maybe this is the best series in the franchise! It has the best quotes (“Who gon’ check me, boo?”), the largest fights, and the most spinoffs. Larger than life personalities made the clashes more extreme, but absurd moments like Kim driving around with a cocktail and dating a loaded mystery man named “Huge Papa” heightened the insanity. Like it or despise it, this is the show that gave superstar NeNe Leakes to the world. Attorney Phaedra Parks married an ex-con (currently back in jail), had a child, and then had the most over-the-top christening in the history of the world. NeNe divorced Gregg, only to remarry him in a spinoff. Porsha Williams, granddaughter of civil rights pioneer Hosea Williams, had the nerve to question WITH A STRAIGHT FACE who drove the Underground Railroad. There is literally never a dull moment with this crew.