Filed under: Television, News, Celeb Updates
Make no mistake about it, 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' is Bravo network's highest rated series in the franchise for a reason these southern belles know how to bring the drama.
Although the highly-anticipated third season won't officially kick off until early October, already cast members have been in the news for a variety of reasons. Lisa Wu-Hartwell will only appear in three episodes before making her exit and two new housewives -- entertainment attorney Phaedra Parks and former model Cynthia Bailey -- will join 'Housewives.'
And, no season of the 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' would be complete without a fight between Nene Leakes and Kim Zolciak.
There's lots in store this fall for the women of the Peach state.
According to a spokesperson for the network, the lively series, which includes 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta,' 'The Real Housewives of New York,' 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey,' The Real Housewives of DC' and 'The Real Housewives of Orange Country,' will appear on NBC Local Media stations and Hearst Television stations nationwide.
So there's plenty of time to catch up.
Season two of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' averaged over three million total viewers - making it the highest rated season of the 'Housewives' franchise at the time.
The new season of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' will air on Oct 4 at 9 pm EST.
But, here's an early look at the ladies of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta:'
Cynthia Bailey:
The self-proclaimed 'Supermodel' has graced the runways of Paris and Milan fashion weeks. In addition to a movie role opposite Sandra Bernhart and a guest stint on 'The Cosby Show,' the Alabama native has a ten year old daughter, Noelle.
On this season of 'Housewives,' after being engaged three times, Bailey grapples with finally tying the knot with her boyfriend of three years, Peter Thomas -- the founder and promoter of the notorious 1990s hip-hop festival, How Can I Be Down?
She also finds a friend in Leakes, as the two women both deal with relationship issues with the men in their lives.
Phaedra Parks:Since starting her own Atlanta-based boutique entertainment firm, The Parks Group, P.C., Parks has represented a who's who of entertainers and athletes, including "King of R&B" Bobby Brown.
A friend of Dwight Eubanks and Kandi Burruss, she arrives on the Housewives scene under scrutiny due in larger part to her younger husband, Apollo, who just finished a prison bid for a 'white collar crime.' Of his time incarcerated, she says,"He's no different from Martha Stewart and people need to get over it."
And, even though she's expected her first child with Apollo, it's going to take a lot of time to please the other Housewives.
Kandi Burruss
On the new season of 'Housewives,' we find the former Xscape frontwoman coming into her own.
After the tragic murder of her fiancé A.J., she' s still pursuing a music career and now spending a lot of time speaking to fans on UStream, where she's calling herself 'The Dr. Ruth of the Internet.'
She's bouncing back musically with a new record deal and working on her relationship with her father who has cancer.
This Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter and mother of one is also not biting her tongue about her co-star Kim Zolciak's talent, or lack thereof, saying "Kim has one single and she's acting like Lady Gaga." So there's no telling where their friendship will head this season.
Kim Zolciak
By now, the world knows that this bubbly 'Tardy For the Party' crooner has moved from dating Big Poppa to dating a woman.
In the trailer for the new season, she flat our states, "I slept with a woman. Call it gay. Keep it movin'." And, though there's no telling whether that relationship has fizzled or not, she's performing her hit dance track around the country opening up for Burruss' summer promo tour and still keeping her love/hate relationship with Leakes going, as the two women are seen almost coming to blows aboard a tour bus.
Nene Leakes
Talk about transition. This outspoken Housewife seems to be having the roughest year out of the bunch.
In addition to having an entertainment reporter position with a local news channel in Atlanta, she's trying to hold her family together.
Her eldest son, Bryce, was arrested for drug possession and her husband, Gregg, who is no longer working has gone behind her back to do some 'business deals.'
The author and blogosphere mainstay has no problem letting her hubby know, "I have never cheated on your ass. I have never done you wrong ever.'
Though they were spotted together at the 2010 Essence Music Festival last month, it's anyone's guess whether divorce is in her near future.
Sheree Whitfield
Since last season, where Whitfield divorced her footballer husband and downsized homes, she's discovered she wants to be an actress.
In addition to working with an acting coach and auditioning for roles in Atlanta, she starts dating a doctor, all while still juggling raising two kids.
No word of her fashion line, She by Sheree, which debuted last year at New York Fashion Week.
Reality Bites
Terrell Owens
Affiliation: 'The T.O. Show' on VH1
Side note: Alabama's very own football star simply known as "T.O." -- literally let it all hang out for the photo shoot promoting his new reality series, in July 2009. The show revolves around his life off the field as he searches for love, repair family relationships and make the move from Dallas to Buffalo.
VH1
Ray Cunningham
Affiliation: 'College Hill: Virginia State University' on BET
Side note: One of the more memorable characters from the Black Entertainment Television network reality ranks, Cunningham has become an openly gay LGBT advocate, budding actor and busy blogger, who was featured in Adam Bouska's groundbreaking NoH8 Campaign, which assembled California notables responding to the state's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. Cunningham was also cast in acclaimed filmmaker Maurice Jamal's new forthcoming TV project 'Friends and Lovers.'
Adam Bouska
Miss New York
Affiliation:'Flavor of Love' and 'I Love New York' on VH1
Side note: The upstate New York drama queen competed for hip-hop hype-man Flavor Flav's love twice and was rejected both times.
MC Hammer
Affiliation: 'Hammertime' on A&E
Side note: Stanley Kirk Burrell seems to have done it all: Joined the navy; won Grammy Awards; danced for KFC popcorn chicken; fathered six children; wiggled his manhood in a Speedo bikini on a music video; went bankrupt; became a preacher; and now doing reality TV. 'Hammertime' is a look inside the family life of the man formerly known as one of the riches entertainers of his era.
A&E
Keyshia Cole
Affiliation: 'The Way It Is' on BET
Side note: In an interview, thuggish ruggish rap icon Young Jeezy claimed that the hip-hop soul songstress asked him to marry her but he turned her down.
Mo'Nique
Affiliation: 'Charm School' on VH1
Side note: While promoting the movie 'Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins,' Mo'Nique told Oprah Winfrey that co-star Martin Lawrence once gave her invaluable advice about show business.
Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth
Affiliation: 'The Apprentice' on NBC and 'The Surreal Life' on VH1
Side note:The former White House staffer proudly became the superbitch of reality TV.
Tyra Banks
Affiliation: 'America's Next Top Model' on UPN and The CW
Side note: A supermodel of the highest degree, the Inglewood, Los Angeles native sought power behind the scenes and inked a lucrative deal to produce projects for Warner Bros. Television.
Snoop Dogg
Affiliation: 'Snoop Dogg's Father Hood' on E!
Side note: In March 2008, Snoop released his ninth solo album 'Ego Trippin.'
Harlem Heights
Affiliation: BET's latest reality show revolving around young, black, urban professionals.
Side note: Created by MTV industry insiders Randolph Sturrup and Kurt Williamson, the show features a diverse cast of eight young adults from various backgrounds with Harlem as its backdrop.