Developed as the third installment of The Real Housewives franchise, it has aired fifteen seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women residing in and around Atlanta, Georgia.

Previously-featured cast members include original housewives NeNe Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Shereé Whitfield, Lisa Wu, and Kim Zolciak-Biermann.

Subsequent housewives include Kandi Burruss, Claudia Jordan, Kim Fields, Shamari DeVoe, Eva Marcille, Marlo Hampton and Sanya Richards-Ross.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta has received moderately favorable reviews from critics and has been recognized as a "guilty pleasure" by several media outlets.

[4] The first season premiered on October 7, 2008, starred Nene Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Sheree Whitfield , Lisa Wu and Kim Zolciak-Biermann .

The seventh season, which premiered on November 9, 2014, saw Williams demoted as a friend of the housewives, alongside Demetria McKinney, while Claudia Jordan was introduced as a main housewife.

Whitfield also returned as a full-time cast member for a third time, along with the additions of Sanya Richards-Ross as a Housewife, and Monyetta Shaw-Carter being introduced as a "friend of the housewives".

[42] On June 14, 2024, it was revealed that Moore would immediately cease filming Season 16 indefinitely, due to allegations of an incident in which she knowingly distributed sexually explicit material depicting fellow cast member Brittany Eady.

[43] On July 29, 2024, it was announced that Phaedra Parks would be returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta, after a six-season hiatus as a full-time cast member for the sixteenth season.

[45] Meanwhile, Zolciak was revealed to be dating a publicly unknown boyfriend nicknamed "Big Papa",[45] and later decided to pursue her aspirations of becoming a country music singer.

[47] Whitfield attempted to launch her own fashion line and organize a lunch for the women to reconcile,[49] although both ventures proved unsuccessful in the finale of the first season.

[56][57] The third season saw the exit of Wu as a Housewife, and the introduction of Bailey and Parks,[58][59] while Leakes and Zolciak reconciled as the former contemplated divorcing her husband Gregg and the latter began a lesbian relationship.

[65] The fourth season begins with Hampton being introduced as a 'friend of the housewives', as Zolciak was in the middle of her first pregnancy by her boyfriend Biermann;[66] she later gave birth to their son.

[67] Leakes continued divorce proceedings with Gregg,[68] while Whitfield found herself in financial difficulties after her ex-husband failed to pay child support.

[74] The fifth season saw Whitfield exit as a Housewife for the first time and introduced former Miss USA Moore and football player Kordell Stewart's wife Williams,[75][76] Leakes reconciled with Gregg and pondered the possibility of remarrying him.

Williams realized her marriage to Stewart was not salvageable as the season commenced,[82] while Leakes became upset with Moore after the latter went against "girl code" by inappropriately communicating with Nida.

[83] Moore moved out of her rental property after being evicted, while Leakes returned to Atlanta full-time after her television series The New Normal was canceled.

[84] Burruss struggled to manage the conflict between her estranged mother Joyce and her longtime boyfriend Todd Tucker,[85] although they attempted to reconcile as the couple became engaged and began planning their nuptials.

Williams claims she has a source that says Burruss and Tucker conspired to rape her using drugs; this accusation leads to a feud between them, as well as tensions within the group due to its severity.

Marcille prepares for her wedding while also juggling her living situation as she seeks for her family’s safety when she gets surprising news about her daughter’s father’s whereabouts.

Burruss and husband Todd celebrate the opening of their new restaurant while also promoting their live show “Welcome to the Dungeon”, which was inspired by allegations made about Burruss-Tucker and Williams in season nine.

Burruss focuses on acting while awaiting the arrival of her baby girl after her and Tucker decided to go through the surrogacy process and clashing over differing parenting methods.

Bailey is eagerly waiting for her boyfriend Mike Hill to pop the question and attempts to rebuild her relationship with Leakes after not speaking since the season eleven reunion.

Growing pains her relationship with husband Daly eventually come to a head after the charity event, which leads to Moore filing for divorce before the ladies trip to Greece.

Moore and Williams discuss newfound issues and the ladies get candid about “Snakegate” which leads to Leakes closing her computer and not continuing the show with the rest of the cast.

Writing for Common Sense Media, Melissa Camacho spoke favorably of the series' emphasis on "a successful and powerful segment of the African-American community" that appears to be frequently neglected by the popular television.

[92] Tim Hall from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer commented of his general distaste for reality television, particularly describing The Real Housewives of Orange County as "utterly ridiculous".

"[94] Hanh Nguyen from Zap2It shared a similar sentiment, criticizing that the "showy elite and rampant consumerism" that the women regularly display "seems rather out of touch" given the United States' economic hardship, although she elaborated that the program "[is] not by any means boring, but you do have to be in the mood to watch.

Writing for About.com, Latoya West commented that the "self-absorbed" nature of the housewives may become irritating to viewers, but noted that the series' "divalicious drama might be addictive.

[98] Writing for Today, Leslie Bruce commented that The Real Housewives franchise in general rose to prominence for its depiction of "foul-mouthed, often catfighting and always self-promoting" women, and stated that they "dominate water-cooler discussions [...] by showcasing at times the worst of female behavior.