Overview and casting

The Real Housewives of New Jersey was first announced when Bravo released its 2008-09 programming on April 15, 2008. It was later announced that the series would debut on May 12, 2009, with Caroline Manzo, Jacqueline Laurita, Teresa Giudice, Dina Manzo, and Danielle Staub as the cast. For the first time in the franchise, the series followed housewives who are related to one another: sisters Caroline and Dina are married to brothers Albert and Tommy Manzo, and Jacqueline Laurita is married to Caroline and Dina's brother, Chris Laurita. Dina and Tommy Manzo would later end up separated.

With the first season averaging 2.55 million total viewers, Bravo announced the renewal of the second season on October 6, 2009. Season 2 premiered on May 3, 2010, with Dina Manzo departing the series after the seventh episode. Part 1 of the second season reunion garnered 3.9 million viewers, making it the highest-rated episode of the season — at the time — of its airing and the second highest rated episode of the franchise after the January 30, 2011, episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

The third season renewal was announced on August 31, 2010. It was later revealed on September 7, 2010 that Danielle Staub would not be returning to the show. Season 3 premiered on May 16, 2011 as a 90-minute episode, as well as introduced new housewives Melissa Gorga and Kathy Wakile. The third season delivered the highest rated season premiere in the network's history and the highest rated season premiere in The Real Housewives franchise but was later surpassed by The Real Housewives of Atlanta. After season 3, The Real Housewives of New Jersey was the only The Real Housewives series within the franchise that featured a main cast who were all married, until The Real Housewives of Miami also met the criterion starting with its third season. Season 4 was announced on June 7, 2011, with the fourth season premiering on April 22, 2012. All of the Season 3 housewives returned in Season 4.

Bravo announced that Season 5 would premiere June 2, 2013, with same cast returning. Kim DePaola and Jennifer Dalton joined the fifth season as a "Friends of the Housewives". The fifth season reunion was filmed on September 4, 2013, and took 15 hours to complete.

On October 13, 2013, Caroline Manzo announced that she would not be returning for Season 6. Jacqueline Laurita also departed the series, In April 2014, Bravo announced that the sixth season would premiere in mid-2014. while Dina Manzo returned. On May 14, 2014, Bravo announced that The Real Housewives of New Jersey would return for its sixth season on July 13, 2014. It was confirmed that Dina Manzo would return with new additions Amber Marchese and twins Teresa Aprea and Nicole Napolitano joining as main housewives. Kathy Wakile was demoted to a recurring role and made numerous appearances during the season, as well as took part in a reunion show. Former housewife Jacqueline Laurita appeared in multiple episodes as well. On November 11, 2015, Amber Marchese announced that she would be departing from the franchise.

In February 2016, the series was renewed for a seventh season, confirming the return of Giudice, Gorga, and Laurita. Dina Manzo announced that she would not be returning for the seventh season, due to her relocation to California. Dolores Catania and Siggy Flicker were confirmed as new cast members; Kathy Wakile and her sister Rosie Pierri will appear in supporting capacity.

Timeline of housewives

Housewives	Seasons
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Current main housewives
Teresa Giudice	Main
Jacqueline Laurita	Main					Friend	Main
Melissa Gorga			Main
Dolores Catania			Guest				Main
Siggy Flicker							Main
	Former main housewives
Caroline Manzo	Main
Dina Manzo	Main			Guest		Main
Danielle Staub	Main
Kathy Wakile			Main			Friend
Teresa Aprea						Main
Amber Marchese						Main
Nicole Napolitano						Main
	Friends of the housewives
Kim DePoala	Guest			Friend			Guest
Kim Granatell		Friend	Guest
Rosie Pierri			Guest				Friend
Jennifer Dalton					Friend
Penny Drossos					Guest
Victoria Gotti					Guest

Episodes

Main article: List of The Real Housewives of New Jersey episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	10	May 12, 2009 (2009-05-12)	July 9, 2009 (2009-07-09)
	2	18	May 3, 2010 (2010-05-03)	September 6, 2010 (2010-09-06)
	3	21	May 16, 2011 (2011-05-16)	October 23, 2011 (2011-10-23)
	4	24	April 22, 2012 (2012-04-22)	October 21, 2012 (2012-10-21)
	5	22	June 2, 2013 (2013-06-02)	October 20, 2013 (2013-10-20)
	6	19	July 13, 2014 (2014-07-13)	November 20, 2014 (2014-11-20)

Spin-offs

The series' success has resulted in a development of multiple spin-off series:

• Caroline Manzo, who was part of the original cast of the show, quit the series before its sixth season. Manzo later disclosed that she was involved in the production of a new show, Manzo'd with Children; the show was eventually picked up and premiered on October 5, 2014. The reality series follows the daily life of Manzo and her family: husband Albert, sons Albie and Chris, daughter Lauren, and sister Fran. The show was subsequently returned for a second season, which premiered on August 16, 2015. In April 2016, the series was renewed for a third season.

• The second spin-off, entitled Teresa Checks In, aired in October 2015. The three-episode television series chronicled the life of the Giudice family and how its members dealt with the aftermath of Teresa Giudice's being sentenced to prison. The series featured some of the cast members of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, including Melissa Gorga, Joe Gorga, and Rosie Pierri.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]