The Real Housewives of Melbourne

The Real Housewives of Melbourne
Genre	Reality Television
Based on	The Real Housewives
Presented by	Alex Perry (Seasons 1-3)
Starring	Lydia Schiavello Gina Liano Andrea Moss Janet Roach Jackie Gillies Chyka Keebaugh Gamble Breaux Pettifleur Berenger Susie McLean
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	37 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Kylie Washington Lisa Potasz
Producer(s)	Euan Jones Virginia Hodgson Philippa Rubira
Camera setup	Multiple
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	Matchbox Entertainment
Distributor	NBCUniversal International Television Production
Release
Original network	Arena
Picture format	576i (16:9 SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	23 February 2014 (2014-02-23) – present (present)
Chronology
Followed by	The Real Housewives of Auckland
External links
Website
Production website

The Real Housewives of Melbourne (abbreviated RHOMelbourne) is an Australian reality television series that premiered on 23 February 2014, on Arena. It was developed as one of the international installments of The Real Housewives, an American television series franchise. The series chronicles the lives of several women living in Melbourne, Australia.

The series originally focused on Gina Liano, Jackie Gillies, Andrea Moss, Janet Roach, Chyka Keebaugh and Lydia Schiavello; the current lineup of housewives consists of Liano, Gillies, Roach, Schiavello, Gamble Breaux, Pettifleur Berenger and Susie McLean. Of the original housewives, Moss left after the first season, whilst Keebaugh departed after the third season concluded. The remaining housewives joined in later seasons: Breaux and Berenger in the second, and McLean in the third.

Its success has allowed for the development of The Real Housewives franchise by Matchbox Pictures and similar spin-off series based in Auckland and Sydney.

Overview and casting

The cast at the 2016 Logie Awards.

The Real Housewives of Melbourne follows both the professional and personal lives of several women living in Melbourne, Australia. The reality series premiered on 23 February 2014. The show's premiere gathered 542,000 viewers, the largest audience for Foxtel program of reality genre.^[1] The cast of the first season of the show included six women, Gina Liano, Lydia Schiavello, Janet Roach, Jackie Gillies, Chyka Keebaugh and Andrea Moss. Moss departed the series after one season.^[2] The series is considered a "runaway success" for the network, the first season averaged about 428,000 viewers per episode.^[1]

On 8 May 2014, the series was renewed for a second season.^[1] Brian Walsh, an executive director of Foxtel, discussed the renewal, "There is no doubt that The Real Housewives of Melbourne has been a game changer for Foxtel. The incredible reaction to our Housewives, including the blockbuster ratings, the huge social media impact and the overall buzz surrounding the series has meant the decision for another season was a very easy one."^[1] The season premiered on 22 February 2015; Andrea Moss was replaced by two newcomers, Gamble Breaux and Pettifleur Berenger.^[3]

The series was subsequently renewed for a third season. All the housewives returned from the previous season with Susie McLean joining the cast.^[4]

It was confirmed on May 8 2016, that original housewife Chyka Keebaugh would not be returning to the series.^[5] On May 11 2016, Schiavello revealed there would be a fourth season but filming may be delayed to film The Real Housewives of Sydney first.^[6] A month later in June, 2016, Liano also confirmed there would be a season 4 and the filming delay for the Sydney series, adding that "the original girls are out of contract now. They haven't approached us to renegotiate contracts yet."^[7][8]

Timeline of housewives

Episodes

Broadcast

In the United States, the series premiered on 3 August 2014, on Bravo, the same network that initiated the The Real Housewives franchise.^[9] The series returned for a second season on 5 March 2015.^[10] However, unlike season one which aired during daytime on Sunday, season two aired during prime time – the first of the international The Real Housewives series to do so.^[10][11] In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on 6 November 2014, and airs on ITVBe.^[12] In Sweden TV3 started airing the first series in early January 2016.^[13] The series returned to Bravo for a third season on July 22 2016, but now airing during prime time on a Friday. ^[14] In Canada, the series started airing on Slice in August 2016.^[15][16]

Reception

In the United States, the premiere episode attracted 414,000 viewers, a 39% increase to the timeslot compared to the month prior.^[17] The second season premiere, which for the first time saw the series air in primetime,^[10] grew on the prior season's premiere scoring 534,000 viewers.^[18]

Awards and nominations

Potential spin-offs

In September 2014, Real Housewives producer Matchbox Pictures announced that they were considering filming Real Housewives in a second location – namely Sydney or the Gold Coast.^[20] In addition, a Judge Judy-type show has been considered starring Real Housewives star Gina Liano, with a pilot episode filmed in December 2014.^[20][21] In September 2015, it was again reported that producer of the series, Matchbox Productions, was possibly searching for potential candidates for a The Real Housewives franchise to be based in Sydney, or the Gold Coast.^[22]

On February 27, 2016 it was revealed that the producers were looking for potential cast mates in Brisbane.^[23]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Real Housewives of Melbourne.

• Official website
• The Real Housewives of Melbourne at the Internet Movie Database
• The Real Housewives of Melbourne at TV Guide