Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Bravo
Like most long-running television series, every great Real Housewives franchise has its peaks and valleys. While it’s hard digesting an awful season in the moment, all it takes is some slight recasting or some changes in production to make viewers forget all the dullness we previously sat through. Sometimes, what we initially consider low points in a franchise later become the reason a show is our favorite.
That said, I can’t imagine ever wanting to revisit this utterly drab season of Real Housewives of Potomac, which has fallen in quality severely since its stellar season premiere. While Potomac is one of the few franchises that has gradually gotten funnier, juicier, and more iconic as the years go by, Season 7 has offered viewers nothing but (failed) orchestrated takedowns, weird lesbian panic, and an unspoken beef between Karen Huger and ex-Housewife Charisse Jackson Jordan. And don’t get me started on Robyn Dixon’s prenup discussions!
It’s not that these women aren’t still ridiculously funny, savagely shady, or charmingly tacky. Rather, Potomac is suffering from what I always considered to be Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s downfall from the start: These women know the game too well and are in full self-producing mode.