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Television|‘Real Housewives’ Changed the Way We Argue. Blame the Memes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/arts/television/real-housewives-memes-bravo.html
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In March 2006, Bravo aired the first episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” ushering in an era of reality television that’s become inescapable — even if you don’t watch the shows.
That’s because the “Real Housewives” franchises (they now include New York City, Atlanta, Dallas and Dubai, with another, “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” on the way), and the tendency of their cast members to tease, yell and flip tables when they get together, are irresistible to anyone who knows how to make a meme. Traded on social media, in emails and texts, they are a way of communicating for those who speak their coded language.
Often the clips show just a few seconds taken from one episode, and they don’t always make sense stripped of their context. How do they become memes with staying power? When a cast member’s “veneer falls and their vulnerability and humanity comes through,” said Sherri Williams, an associate professor in race, media and communication at American University. “That, along with the amplification of social media, creates a moment of truth and a meme.”
Those moments, which Tanya Horeck, a professor of film and feminist media studies at Anglia Ruskin University, defines as “little bundles of affect,” thrive on the internet. “People who haven’t even watched the show can understand those memes,” she said. “They can use them because of how legible they make certain emotions.”
These are some that, over the past 20 years, seem to have taken on lives of their own.
‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’
The table flip.
Video
Circa: 2009
Origin story: An enraged Teresa Giudice upended a dinner table at LuNello, an upscale Italian restaurant turned reality TV landmark in Cedar Grove, N.J., during a heated group argument over a book written about Danielle Staub. The table flip, which sent red wine and food flying, put an end to the back and forth and brought this franchise’s first season to a dramatic end.
