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The June 16 season finale set ratings record with 4.6 million viewers

BY LINDA MOSS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Several years ago HBO's "The Sopranos" put New Jersey in the national spotlight, as the mob show created a sensation, won awards and was praised to the high heavens by TV critics. This year "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" has viewers and the media buzzing about the Garden State, with its depiction of bad behavior like table-flipping, tacky taste in mansion décor and the relations of a large Italian-American family.

Audiences and TV critics alike were captivated by this particular iteration of the "Real Housewives' " franchise, with the Jersey housewives turning out to be a ratings winner and surprise hit for the cable network Bravo.

Some TV experts said that "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" was enthusiastically embraced by viewers who still miss, and crave seeing, Tony Soprano and his murderous, but amusing, crew. Viewers, perhaps buying into stereotypes of ethnic groups and the state, seem to love watching Italian Americans who live in North Jersey.

In fact, "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" has turned out to be the most popular, highest-rated of the four "Housewives'" series so far. And revelations about one of the show's housewives continue to make headlines in the tabloids, creating plenty of publicity for the series.

Christian Barcellos, executive producer of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," said the show's big success was a bit of a surprise to Bravo.

"But this was definitely a great cast," Barcellos said. "It's definitely been a fun peak of the franchise for us."

For example, the final episode of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" on June 16 garnered 3.5 million viewers its first airing at 10 p.m. and another 1.1 million for its encore at 11 p.m., for a total of 4.6 million viewers. It was the highest-rated season finale for any of the "Housewives'" franchise shows.

This week Bravo, sensing more ratings' gold, expanded the reunion show for the popular Jersey housewives into two parts. The first part aired Tuesday, and the second part will air tonight, Thursday night. The first part of the reunion — where most of the women shed angry tears and hurled accusations back and forth — drew nearly 3 million viewers, the most-watched "Housewives'" reunion ever.

The Jersey "Housewives" series grabbed viewers with its twists and turns, and its "balance of drama and comedy," according to Barcellos.

At first blush, a New Jersey version of the "Housewives'" format would seem an unlikely audience pleaser. The show's formula has been to chronicle the lives of self-indulgent, status-conscious, overdressed rich women of a certain age in glamorous, upscale settings, including Orange County in California, New York City and Atlanta. New Jersey isn't like those other locations, but it made sense for Bravo to go there, according to TV historian Tim Brooks, co-author of "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows."

"When you build a franchise like that ("Housewives"), you have to keep topping yourself," Brooks said. "You need to make it seem fresh. Setting it in New Jersey, the perceived land of smokestacks and garbage dumps, is completely unexpected. But there are estates out there. I was surprised how glamorous they made New Jersey look."

Robert Thompson, professor of TV and popular culture at Syracuse University, noted that "New Jersey is part of a lot of punch lines," and that the Jersey version of "Real Housewives" "could have been the weakest of all."

Nonetheless, viewers were drawn in by Bravo's batch of aging Jersey girls and their chemistry: sisters Caroline Manzo and Dina Manzo, who are married to brothers; Jacqueline Laurita, whose spouse is Caroline and Dina's brother; Teresa Giudice, the one who tosses a table in an angry rage; and drama queen Danielle Staub, a randy troublemaker whose shady past is revealed during the show.

Audiences watch reality shows like "Real Housewives" "to feel superior," according to Thompson, who enjoyed and tuned in to all six regular episodes of the Jersey housewives. Such programs "are all about kitsch, camp and irony," and setting "Real Housewives" in New Jersey "boosts the level of campiness and kitsch," Thompson said.

The show turned out to be a guilty pleasure that many couldn't resist. Even The New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley admitted her affection for the Jersey housewives, describing them as "deliciously vulgar heroines."