The long-running Bravo franchise encompasses countless shows, but public opinion is shifting, and viewers aren’t as interested in toxic drama as they once were.
Consequently, viewing figures are falling across the board.
Earlier this year, The Real Housewives of New Jersey caught a lot of heat for taking a hit in the ratings.
Season 14 attracted an average of 732,000 viewers and a 0.19 rating among adults 18-49, down from the 880,000 and 0.26 rating the previous season secured.
However, we must stress that Season 14 aired without the typical three-part reunion.
For reference, the three reunion episodes for Season 13 were the only episodes that season to crack a million viewers, so there’s every reason to believe that the erosion year-to-year may not have been substantial had Season 14 had a reunion.
With The Real Housewives of Dubai, The Real Housewives of Orange County, and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City all currently on the air and not coming close to RHONJ’s numbers, critics may have been too hasty in ruling the series out.
RHONJ’s reboot may not make many changes
These shows make up a lot of viewing post-airdate through Peacock and DVR, but you can spot the pattern in the deterioration of live viewers.
With Andy Cohen and those closest to RHONJ teasing a reboot of sorts earlier this year, there’s now a genuine possibility that the changes will be minimal because the show is still outperforming every other city aside from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
RHOBH has long been the diamond of the long-running franchise, but with every other show taking a hit, it will be interesting to see how it holds up when it returns to Bravo later this year.
There was much criticism for RHONJ this year, but network executives and producers may be worried that ratings could dip more season to season than anticipated if the wrong casting decisions are made.
With this tremendous divide between the cast of RHONJ, there’s a good chance the ladies could repair their issues if producers give them an ultimatum to hash out their differences or be let go.
Losing big personalities could harm RHONJ
Despite viewers calling for changes, parting ways with one of the big personalities like Teresa Giudice and Margaret Josephs could alienate too many viewers, causing the numbers to take a big hit.
Despite being one of the most polarizing faces on reality TV, Teresa has many fans who have been invested in her storyline for over a decade.
A complete revamp of RHONJ was a foregone conclusion just a few months back.
Now, the network’s decision to delay casting Season 15 seems more like it could have been to take a wait-and-see approach to assess whether the other shows lost viewers.
We can only wait for news on the series’ future, but it will be interesting to see whether or not we enter RHONJ Season 15 with fewer changes than anticipated.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey is on hiatus at Bravo. Stream Seasons 1-14 on Peacock.
