In the Garden State of long, long ago, the perfect balance of fun, family, and fighting existed on Real Housewives of New Jersey. These days, every single episode revolves around a get-together, where the same exact argument always ensues. Rinse, ravioli, repeat. Needless to say, this series is no longer working.
In addition to the never-evolving storylines, this cast genuinely stands divided. Currently airing is RHONJ Season 14, where Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga won’t even speak to each other. As for their “teams,” Jennifer Aydin just tried to make peace with Melissa, but Rachel Fuda will likely never be able to do the same with Tre.
People need to protect their peace, so no shade on any of these circumstances. However, it isn’t great television anymore. I’m over it, and one search online of this city will tell you that I’m not alone here. In fact, if it were up to the majority of these voices that I found, this entire series would be axed.
It’s not too late to right this garden of grappling gnomes though. But clearly, some changes will need to happen. Here are a few ideas, and as for the rest, Bravo, we believe in you. Let’s not let New Jersey fall and sink into the deep end of Margaret Josephs pool, please.
Pausing RHONJ might be the best place to start
If these ladies cannot film nicely as one, then perhaps it’s time to take a pause. After the Season 13 reunion, where Teresa and Melissa vowed to never speak again, many viewers speculated that a break in filming would happen. However, Andy Cohen, the Real Housewives executive producer himself, shut that down via E! News, saying “I mean, we always take a break between seasons,” but, basically, nope.
Yet, RHONJ would greatly benefit from a season of downtime. In this period, perhaps the stars might realize how their lives would look sans the cameras. As many of them love the limelight, and the paychecks, this might force their hands, bringing them all back to the flipped tables to try and make it nice. Or not, but it’s at least a decent place to start when trying to think about ways to save our little bridge and tunnel besties.
A partial or complete reboot could also save RHONJ
When fans started to grow tired of certain cast members on Real Housewives of New York, a complete reboot emerged. This was met with mixed reviews because some epic characters were tossed out in turn. Now, let’s look at Real Housewives of Atlanta, where a partial reboot is underway. Only time will tell how this pans out for RHOA, but, could these same tactics be applied in New Jersey?
Bloggers are already diving into this question. This is because right now, a lot is going on behind the scenes within this cast. So much so that the Season 14 reunion has already been canceled. This is nuts, as we’re only a handful of weeks into this mess.
At the root of all of these arguments, clearly, two main families and their “teams” are at play. Because I love living, I will not allude to which one should get the boot.
That said, I’m also here for a peaceful agreement between these two stubborn households. The odds of this happening though are roughly 0%. Even still, the producers are clearly realizing that there are zero paths forward. Therefore, perhaps it’s time for a few, or even all, of these women to go.
Fun storylines will need to return
In the earlier seasons, there existed a solid balance between the basic and the bougie. We’d go from Teresa and her entire family making homemade tomato sauce in their garage, talking about their superstitions on menstruating women not being allowed to make red sauce, straight to a fancy gala at The Brownstone. It was perfection.
Now, we’ve got leaked stories on double-sided dildos and drug dealers, with warring families, and constant stripping and cheating rumors, all running amuck in New Jersey. It’s hard to pick out a fun scene right now. Honestly, the only decent ones so far center around Dolores and Frank Catania’s abilities to coexist, alongside the flashbacks of Teresa and Melissa’s “dorters,” both growing up before our very eyes on Bravo. In order for RHONJ to survive, these ladies have to bring back some of their former lighthearted storylines, because as things stand, it’s way too dark in this room.
Also, relatable narratives would be great
Back in the day, the storylines on RHONJ were also pretty relatable. Remember when Caroline Manzo had a cancer scare, and she opened up about leaving her children behind? This was a very real reality, which this series now lacks. We do have Jackie Goldschneider opening up about disordered eating, but apart from the talks on her new book, all we’re getting from her edits right now is where she currently stands with either Teresa or Melissa.
I hate it here.
We need to be able to relate to the people that we see on our screens, at least a little bit. So, let’s talk about how hard marriages are, or touch more on individual passions, hopes, and/or fears. There’s got to be more to this cast than just this one played-out feud. Right?
Let’s talk less about the husbands
Not helping matters are the husbands, whose anger further causes their wives to revenge and rally. In all of the other series in this franchise, the husbands are a sidepiece, so one final way to try and save RHONJ is to save our screens from these red-faced bruhs, and only pull them out for the laughs as needed.
Catch up with the Real Housewives of New Jersey on Peacock.
TELL US – IS RHONJ SAVEABLE? WHAT CHANGE(S) WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?