We’ve all been guilty at one time in our lives of considering the Real Housewives franchises to be a bit of frivolous, mindless television. Fine. But why so do many people continue to watch it — and specifically why are celebrities so damn obsessed with it?

Some of your favorite comedic and dramatic actors, supermodels, and personalities simply cannot get enough of the Bravolebrities. Danny McBride confessed to the New York Times that he watches it to relax, Jennifer Lawrence compulsively texts Andy Cohen about her favorite ‘Wives, and Chrissy Teigen has made her love known so much so that she ended up right smack in the middle of the drama on this season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Sarah Paulson and Elisabeth Moss nearly peed themselves when RHONY‘s Dorinda Medley surprised them on Watch What Happens Live, Michael Rapaport dedicated an entire chapter of his book to ranking his favorite Housewives, and Casey Wilson and Danielle Schneider pour their love into a podcast, Bitch Sesh, which has become the official must-listen Housewives recap (no tagging though!).

So we spoke with five Hollywood insiders to get their take on how they got into Real Housewives, who their favorite Housewives are, and why they don’t feel guilty at all about their obsession for it. In the age of never-ending news and prestige TV, what is it that keeps these actors, hosts, and producers returning for more taglines and even more drama in cities all over the US?

HOW DID YOU GET INTO WATCHING REAL HOUSEWIVES?

Some people jumped right in. Others were a bit hesitant. Here, our insiders explain how and why they got hooked on watching these fabulous women.

LESLIE GROSSMAN (actress, American Horror Story: Cult): I never watched professional wrestling as a kid, and my husband was obsessed with it and he tried to explain to me why he loved it. I feel like it’s a little bit like professional wrestling for grownups. There’s an air of hyperreality and artifice, but underneath it there is some truth.

DEANNA CHENG (actress, the upcoming Heathers TV show, producer of Comedy Central’s Unsend, co-host of How To Be Less Old podcast): I think it filled that Sex and the City hole for me, to see the women in New York eating at the different great restaurants and dressed beautifully. I remember LuAnn being stunning and just being fascinated by them. That was my way in. I just loved getting back into seeing women in New York living life and having these female relationships unfold.

BRYAN SAFI (actor, Young & Hungry, co-host of Throwing Shade podcast): For me, it’s truly seeing an ensemble of female characters who are completely flawed being portrayed on television. A lot of the time you see it in theater. Someone like Tennessee Williams was attracted to those kinds of women. I feel like sometimes in scripted television, women have to be pretty perfect. Especially when the Real Housewives started I think they had to be pretty perfect. And you really see the good, the bad, and the ugly in all these characters.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I think what initially drew me to the franchise, with Orange County, was that I truly couldn’t believe that these people had such an undying quest for fame that they would do this. That they would put themselves out there in this way. These shows wreak havoc on marriages, on families, and it’s all for the endgame of fame for fame’s sake. Because a lot of these women already have money. Yes they want to expand their brand and there’s always more money to be made, but people like Vicki, who was the OC OG, she already had a thriving business. Obviously she’s used it to grow the business, but I guess I just couldn’t believe that these people would put themselves out there like this to be so judged and ripped apart and have every aspect of their life filmed. But at the same time, it’s also so compulsively watchable. You cannot take your eyes off of it. It is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. And my smartest friends are the ones who love it the most.

PAUL JAMES (actor, Greek, The Path): There’s something really sad about it, all the friendships that have died and the marriages that have ended, but you can’t stop watching.

MICHELLE COLLINS (former host of The View, host of Fresh Batch podcast): When the show started, a big part of it was the wealth, and looking at how wealthy people lived. They were so extravagant and it was fun seeing the parties they went to. It’s obviously evolved since then into being much more just about catfights and competitiveness. But it’s a nice escape to get away from your bullshit fights with your friends to see even more innocuous dumb shit on TV.

PAUL JAMES: Being on a reality show is sort of a ridiculous concept, unless it’s like The Amazing Race. You’re gonna be a bit ridiculed. I mean, the stuff that people do on Real Housewives, it’s crazy. It doesn’t make any sense.

BRYAN SAFI: Everyone always talks about the divorce rates on these shows, and it’s like, well, no, these are women who married into money or married into something, who found their own voice through the show, who are all of a sudden making their own money, making their own decisions, of course that affects a marriage. I think in a good way.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: Also, I just want to say a blanket statement. Don’t ever do a vow renewal, particularly if you’re a Housewife, because you might as well just do your vow renewal and then immediately sign your divorce papers. Because that is the step now, if I’ve ever, ever heard one.

WHICH CITIES ARE WORTH WATCHING (AND WHICH AREN’T)?

Not all Housewives franchises are created equal. Some have outlasted others (RIP, Miami) and some are always worth returning to. These are the moments that kept jaws ajar — and why Dallas has emerged as a top city.

MICHELLE COLLINS: Oh, yeah. I was an OG OC fan.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I was a little late to the game on OC, but once I was locked in, I was really locked in. A friend of mine was like, “You gotta watch this show. It’s these women in Orange County, and they live in these insane McMansions, and you gotta watch it. It’s like a reality show where you just watch their lives.” And I was like, “Well, who’s going to care about that?” And I watched one episode, and I was like, “Oh, my entire DNA has now been changed because of this, and this has become my biggest priority.” So as soon as I got into OC, every single new one I was in from the very beginning.

DEANNA CHENG: I’m not a huge OC person, while I have probably watched the majority of it. But I’m not, like, super dialed in to OC. So for me it was New York, and I think that led into New Jersey, and then we of course go to Atlanta from there, and then Beverly Hills. We go where the road leads us.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I started watching it at the beginning, and my mother is also a huge fan of pretty much every season and city. I stopped watching some of the cities because it just got to be too much. I think the fights started blending for me, like everything seemed similar because it’s basically high school, except with rich, plastic women.

BRYAN SAFI: I started with New York season one. I remember thinking that it wasn’t what I thought it would be because back then I remember being extremely resistant to any reality television and I thought that it was just bringing the culture down a notch. Then I remember watching the Real Housewives of New York season one, and I remember being totally fascinated by Alex and Simon. Just the social-climbing thing and how I hadn’t really seen that before. And then Bethenny talking about everyone on there. Also it was specifically with the New York Housewives, but they all had jobs and were career women in their own right, and still were these fancy women who were not afraid to just stoop to the lowest level and just pick at each other. I had just never really seen anything like it.

DEANNA CHENG: I was thinking back to when I first started watching, and it was on a flight from LA to New York on JetBlue. It was New York. I saw it the first season. I probably saw one of the first episodes.

MICHELLE COLLINS: Well, listen, I live in New York. Obviously New York Housewives are fantastic.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: So this is really hard, it’s a definite Sophie’s choice because I feel like they’re all my babies, and I feel like it’s not fair to pick one baby over another baby. But my main jam just has always been and will always be New York. I think every one of those ladies is iconic and they deliver season after season, year after year, day in and day out. I love them all so much and it was just confirmed that they’re all coming back for next year, and I am thrilled.

PAUL JAMES: Atlanta and Beverly Hills are my two favorites and I like New York as well.

BRYAN SAFI: Season three of New York, which is Scary Island, did everything for me. By the way, if you go back and see that now, it doesn’t seem like much. It doesn’t seem like the watershed moment that it really was then — that really, I think, changed the game for Housewives by taking it to a level, which was almost frightening in its reality.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I watch New York, obviously Beverly Hills and OC. I kind of fell out with Jersey a few years ago and I hear it’s really good again, same with Atlanta actually. I stopped watching those two because I find that the majority of the Housewives start to annoy me or are boring. I’m just like, I’m not getting anything out of this. When I lose someone to root for, I sort of lose the show. With Jersey, who was left to root for? Half of them are in prison. But now, I know that they brought in Siggy Flicker, who is hilarious. I want to get back into it.

BRYAN SAFI: Beverly Hills is my least favorite, and I wonder if it is because I’m now in this city, I know those types of people, I know where they hang out, and I am repulsed by it. By the way, I’m so disgusted by them, and I am, again, fully caught up. Maybe it is showing the worst of every city, and it just happens that, you know, Beverly Hills I know the best, which means I like it the least.

PAUL JAMES: Beverly Hills feels like the richest one: they have the houses, they’re living this crazy life. In Atlanta, the houses are smaller but they’re having more fun. New Jersey, the houses are real tacky and over the top. New York is like that cool city, when you watch it, you’re seeing stuff about the city. But it’s fun that they [each] have their own unique flavor. When they don’t tap into that, like Potomac, there’s not many black people in Potomac which is the funniest part of that show. They didn’t tap into anything unique, they tried to, but it’s false because a lot of them aren’t members of that society they’re trying to be in.

BRYAN SAFI: After Scary Island, I was like okay, I’m watching all of them. I remember watching the season one Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion, which again was a catalyst moment for that series of taking that to another level of the “close your legs to married men” and all of a sudden it became quotable. After those two moments, I went back to the beginning and I think I’ve watched everything through.

DEANNA CHENG: I don’t think I was really connecting with other people on it at first. And then you just start talking and you find that almost every woman is watching.

BRYAN SAFI: But the Real Housewives of New York, to me, seem to be the most real. They are mostly self-made, and also anything sets them off. They are ready, they’re just triggered constantly with everything, and they make up so fast. They barely hold grudges. Orange County, those women are not used to fighting, so Shannon and Vicki will hold grudges for years, because their culture is just to keep it inside, versus Atlanta and New York. Those women cycle through it because they say what’s on their minds at all times.

PAUL JAMES: That’s why Atlanta is so good because, even recently when Kenya was talking about, “They used to be against me and now they’re for me,” wonderfully still delusional, but they seem to have more fun. Once they stop having fun, then you want some fights, but you want them to still have fun.

DEANNA CHENG: One thing that’s great about Atlanta is that they tend to have fun regardless of how bad shit gets. They’re able to laugh, they’re still able to crack jokes.

BRYAN SAFI: It’s so funny, I’ve noticed that all of my friends’ straight husbands or straight partners that are men love Beverly Hills and hate New York, and I never really understood why, because New York is my favorite. And I realized, oh, because the women on Beverly Hills are glamorous and rich and beautiful, and the women on New York show up to that set usually eating something, you know what I mean? They’re always noshing on something, but they don’t care if they’re wearing sweats or makeup. They’ll just show up. Hair up, no makeup, they don’t care. And that’s what I love about it, they don’t have a glam squad, versus Erica Jayne and all those Beverly Hills women who come dressed up to the nine.

MICHELLE COLLINS: Oh, and I started watching Dallas. I actually hadn’t watched it for a season and but I’m friendly with a lot of Housewives podcasters, and they were like, “Don’t even watch the first season. Start at season two,” so I did, and I’m happy I did. You know why? It’s new people to hate. Isn’t that a good feeling? New people to hate is a good feeling. Like, Brandi, she’s awful.

PAUL JAMES: Is this what Dallas is like? I want to see them shooting, I want to see cows I want to see oil money, I want to see what makes rich people in Dallas ridiculous.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: While New York is still my number one, I think that Dallas has been a revelation. I don’t know if there’s ever been a city that’s come in as hot as Dallas has come in. I think that LeeAnne Locken is a discovery of the ages. I will watch any minute of footage with LeeAnne Locken. The first part of the reunion [this season], was so fantastic. I love D’Andra and her mother, I love all of it. Dallas is really closely becoming my second, which I’m really surprised at. That really shocked me.

PAUL JAMES: They take themselves a little too seriously sometimes but it’s great entertainment. It’s great drama. I was watching Atlanta and it started with NeNe yelling and it’s like, you couldn’t write that effectively. The level of emotion and looks, I don’t know how that works.

BRYAN SAFI: I don’t know that I could jump in now, honestly, having followed these women for so long. My partner, he’ll dip in and out of New York, but any time I turn on any of the other seasons, he’s like, “This is so brutal.” And I’m like, “But you don’t understand, I’ve known these women for years, it all makes sense to me how it escalated to this.” It’s like someone saying, “Why do you fight with your sister?” “Because I’ve known her for like 35 goddamn years.”

HOW DO YOU WATCH REAL HOUSEWIVES IN 2017?

With cords being cut left and right, gone are the days where people would turn to Bravo and leave the channel on all day while they took care of home chores. So how is the show being watched these days — is it full attention, dissecting every on-screen eye roll? Or is it simply background noise? We got an idea of just how microscopically this show is watched — and why spouses avoid it at all costs.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I want to just preface this by saying that I feel like I never have enough time to do everything, yet I sure manage to watch every single episode of every franchise of the Real Housewives. I squeeze that time in. If I’m working or have something else to do, it’s on my TiVo. But I have DirecTV, so I can get [the east coast feed], if the show starts at 8, it’ll be on at 5. So if I’m home and it’s on, I’m watching it at 5 o’clock. Because I just love it and I don’t want to wait.

PAUL JAMES: I usually watch it on my computer the day after and then I put it in my kitchen as I’m cooking. I don’t know that I sit down and watch it while I’m doing nothing, maybe sometimes Atlanta. It’s on in the background the day after, I don’t DVR it. But I usually do watch every one of Beverly Hills and New York and Atlanta.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I DVR it. I have a laptop open for most shows, and it’s, I realize, a problem because I don’t know who anybody is on Game of Thrones. I watch it every week, but I don’t know the names of anybody because I’m also writing emails. I’d say I’m a little more involved in Housewives.

DEANNA CHENG: I just really focus on my New York, my Atlanta, and my Beverly Hills, and now I’ve just got into Dallas. And I know they’re on Hulu, but I still feel like they’re not on Hulu in the way I need them. [Note: Most past seasons are available on Hulu, with current season on Bravo Now, Amazon Video, and iTunes.]

PAUL JAMES: My friend is an exec at NBC, and he said, “When people come home from work, a lot of times they want some TV they can fold their laundry to, or cook dinner to.” There is a reason The Big Bang Theory has millions of viewers. It’s because it’s not serialized. You can come in and you can come out, that’s why people love Law & Order, it’s hard to focus in the world we have today. I have Game of Thrones and after that after that I need something light.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: So here’s what’s funny, is that my husband, he just hates it. It makes him nuts, he hates it, he thinks it’s the worst that mankind has to offer. So I tend to watch it like, huddled in my room. And I close the door, and when he comes in I’ll pause it because even the sound of their voices makes him insane. He’s like, “Ugh, these women!” It makes him so angry. But he watches endless hours of golf, which I find mind-numbingly dumb, so for him that’s fascinating. He and I just don’t see eye to eye on this. I have a daughter who is 11, and this is going to sound terrible, but I don’t really want that on in front of her. I think she’s too young to be watching it. I don’t want it to influence her, just like I would never allow her to watch the Kardashians. So I do shield her from it.

BRYAN SAFI: I wait until my partner goes to sleep because he truly cannot bear it. And then I watch it by myself. I DVR it, full attention. I usually wait until the weekend to get through a few of them all together. It just happens that the sound of their voices drives my husband so crazy that I can’t put it on while he’s awake. Like a fucking addict. Do it in the deep of the night.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: Now that I’m explaining it, it really does sound like it’s a drug addiction where I’m locking myself in the bathroom to do that by myself.

PAUL JAMES: I do feel a bit embarrassed about how much joy I get about watching these people act terribly on-screen.

DEANNA CHENG: When I first started watching I had TV, so I would watch it religiously. Not too many other activities going on while I watched, pretty intense viewing. I’m not watching it in the background, for sure. But now, I don’t have an actual television, so I do buy the seasons like a dummy. I’m sitting here buying seasons. So that’s why I don’t see everything.

PAUL JAMES: Increasingly in Peak TV times, there’s all this great stuff, but when I see a preview for it, I’m like, I don’t have time to get into that. I just don’t have the energy and the focus, and something like Real Housewives can come on and you can be engaged but also focus on other things.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: But the best thing ever is when I can watch it with a friend. Like, if I’m with a friend and we both haven’t watched it and it’s on the DVR, we’re like, “Ah! You haven’t watched OC either? Oh my god!” and watch it together. That’s the best. But normally it’s alone.

PAUL JAMES: Most of my friends do not watch it and they laugh at me when I do.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I’m never embarrassed about my TV choices. I’m very open. I watch Wheel of Fortune, I don’t mind, you can judge me for that. I’m obsessed with 90 Day Fiancé now, which I think is the new big show. And I’ll find that slowly everyone secretly watches it but no one talks about it. I feel like that’s how Housewives was at the beginning. And I feel like a lot of men watch it without admitting it, which I find to be annoying. Everyone should be very open to it. There’s nothing to hide, you know?

BUT DOES IT STRESS YOU OUT SOMETIMES?

As the show has gone on to address some pretty serious topics (cancer, domestic abuse, divorce) the Housewives have gotten realer than anyone expected them to. In between tears and brawls and all that over-talking at reunions, is the show ever a bummer?

DEANNA CHENG: It definitely can stress me out. I think that when it gets super toxic — like Brandi Glanville for me got really, really toxic on Beverly Hills. Whatever her last season was, I was really like, I’m feeling sick. I can’t deal with her anymore. And luckily she got cut. I love a good fight as much as the next gal, but sometimes what happens is they’re just mad. Because they do the scenes, they’re mad about what happened last season, there’s not enough fresh blood, there’s not enough fresh story lines, and then people are just defensive, and they’re not having fun.

PAUL JAMES: It’s totally escapism. I watch baseball every day, I watch a lot of cartoons. The news stresses me out intensely. But what else stresses me out is Ozark, not Housewives.

BRYAN SAFI: It actually never stresses me out. First of all, it really bothers me when anyone judges anyone on what entertainment they like. And it really bothers me, the phrase “guilty pleasure” because we live in the worst time in America right now, and there is something so refreshing about turning on something that really is so meaningless, and they fight over not being invited to a party or about, my god, faking cancer — twice. It’s so nuts that, to me, it’s only a comfort. I don’t think I could watch it if it stressed me out. Meet the Press, that stresses me out. This is nice. This is like, I don’t know, old America.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: It is not stressful to me at all, and I have to tell you. I love a reunion so much, it’s like a hit of dopamine to my brain. The first five minutes of a reunion, I like to see who is sitting on what couch because now we know how the lines are being divided. Like the Dallas reunion, it was one of the best reunion shows I’ve seen. The most explosive was the final Atlanta Housewives, but that was real and that was serious drama and I felt terrible for Kandi. But I particularly love the reunions. It was like when I was a kid, I would watch Batman, the Adam West Batman, and every once in a while Batgirl would be on. You never knew when she was going to pop up, that’s how the reunions make me feel. It’s like taking a Xanax for me. I turn my brain off, and it’s relaxing. It really is. And the more they fight, the more insane it is, the more my pleasure receptors in my brain are getting activated. What does that say about me? That’s terrible.

PAUL JAMES: I just watched I, Tonya and at the end it really has something to say about how we as Americans, we do love someone to hate. Not that we hate the Housewives, but we love to point at someone and say, oh they’re worse than us.

WHO ARE THE BEST HOUSEWIVES?

With the addition of Peggy Sulahian to OC this year, there are officially over 100 women who can count themselves as Housewives. However, we all know some make a bigger impact than others. From meme-able moments to literally saving Puerto Rico to Sia wigs, these are the Housewives doing the most — and it’s the best.

BRYAN SAFI: You know how RuPaul’s Drag Race has All-Stars? I wish they would just do one season of All-Stars of Real Housewives. For me it would be NeNe, Vicki, LuAnn, Ramona, LeeAnne, I think would be my five.

PAUL JAMES: I wish they would get all the good ones put them in Chicago and film that.

DEANNA CHENG: My favorite Housewives would have to be, I think it’s a tie between Shereé and Bethenny.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I mean, Sonja and Ramona are iconic, Bethenny is a legend, there’s just so so much good stuff.

DEANNA CHENG: New York is my whole heart. Bethenny, I have had a fraught relationship with. Sometimes I turn on her, no doubt. But I think what she brings is so strong. She’s able to propel things forward in a way that I don’t think you can count on all Housewives for. I just love her testimonials. Same with Shereé. Shereé’s testimonials, for me, are pure 24 karat gold. Her testimonial work makes me pee.

BRYAN SAFI: Bethenny is someone that I don’t love necessarily on her own, but in an ensemble she’s just brilliant. I love her.

PAUL JAMES: A couple people are doing it, like Bethenny or Erika, to help their brand and I get it.

DEANNA CHENG: Bethenny, she can really be a sourpuss, but by the time we’re in our tequila tastings in Mexico, she is drunk, naked, in the pool with Ramona, and mascara down their eyes, hugging and loving on each other, we’re back to having fun. So I prefer it when we’re having fun.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: The humanitarian work that Bethenny Frankel is doing singlehandedly has blown me away. First of all, I have so many loves in the franchise, but to me, Bethenny is so brilliant. Besides the fact that she’s the best at reunions, she does the best confessionals, she’s amazing on camera, she lays it all out there.

DEANNA CHENG: Bethenny has been phenomenal. Her work that she’s done over the last few months, I’m blown away by.

PAUL JAMES: Bethenny’s great television. I would ever want to be at a party with her, or like a plane. Same thing with NeNe. The ones that know what the game is and how to play it really well, I like them.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: Also, please take note of Shereé’s Sia confessional wig, which I’m very into. I’m hoping that they cut back to that confessional many times over the season.

DEANNA CHENG: Oh, dear. Is that going to be with us all season? That’s so bad. I’m shocked that nobody stopped that. Because she’s gorgeous and she looked great in everything else, but that — she will throw out a hairdo that will bring you to your knees. I don’t know what to do with her Sia look. I really don’t.

PAUL JAMES: I think Ramona Singer is a real tough one, too. She’s just, gosh. I don’t understand how it is possible to be her, to be that unaware. I guess there’s something beautiful about it, just live your life, don’t get a fuck. But she’s always tough for me.

DEANNA CHENG: Tamra and Vicki are still in their crusty old fight. I could care less. I like when they’re having fun together.

PAUL JAMES: You see when it’s done real well when a new character is integrated, so when someone isn’t good it really stands out. Erika Jayne really came in pretty seamlessly.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: NeNe is so savvy and really hyper-aware of exactly who she is and who she is to the show. Obviously she left and came back. She’s well aware of the franchise and I think incredibly brilliant in the way she chooses to market herself. What I’ve noticed is, she now speaks almost entirely in meme-able sentences. It’s always these incredible one-liners which I feel like she’s had a writing team help her with. Everything she says is iconic and can be easily translated into a meme.

PAUL JAMES: I think Teresa is just terrible. I don’t even care. I don’t even think she’s good television either. There’s nothing redeeming or good about her. I don’t think she likes her sister-in-law [Melissa Gorga], her sister-in-law doesn’t like her. It’s just getting so ridiculous.

DEANNA CHENG: I think without LeeAnne, I would be all the way out. Because I can’t deal with the two, sorority girls that are talking baby talk and are mind-numbing. But LeeAnne is a character that was built, made, created to be a Housewife. Her carny past, the fact that she has violent anger in her, that she denies and has a friend who is always trying to quell her craziness. She comes out with stuff, always off camera, they always have to keep her mic’ed at all times. Because what happens when she thinks she’s off camera is so amazing. She’s a real shining star that’s emerged, and I feel great about her.

PAUL JAMES: Those people believe the hype. Anyone shouldn’t believe their hype. Most them don’t have a talent, Kandi not withstanding. You’re famous for nothing. That is a thing now that people are, so that’s fine. It’s the Instagram culture. Make your money, feed your family.

DEANNA CHENG: And D’Andra — you’re not going to find that character anywhere. That’s the kind of woman we need to see out there in the world.

PAUL JAMES: The thing I really like is that Kandi’s hard but she has this vulnerability that I really appreciate and it’s a genuine vulnerability. It’s like you can see the hurt that she feels. She feels real, as real as she can be on a reality show.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I still can’t get over how beautiful Cynthia is. She’s so completely beautiful, so gorgeous.

PAUL JAMES: I used to love Caroline Manzo and I just have not enjoyed Jersey since she left. I liked her family. I tend to really like some of the normal ones. I like Kyle Richards a lot. I like Carole Radziwill. I think there’s something to be said for getting in there and keeping your head down. Not being boring, but not being crazy. Erika had a crazy moment but she’s pretty awesome. You’re gonna show a little of your life, you’re not gonna act too crazy. I like those ones.

DEANNA CHENG: I went back, I had to hit refresh at the Shereé and her party planner. That fight may go down as an all-time best. It has so many levels. Once she says casually, off the cuff of big, giant sunglasses, “Who gon check me, boo?” It’s very strong work. Beautiful work from Shereé on that. And then his reaction, because he malfunctions. He like, short circuits. And she goes, “You okay?” And then it’s on. His coworkers are peeking in. They first peek in and they see that they’re getting a little heated, they close the door. And then after the “Who gonna check me, boo?” now we’re screaming, they open the doors just to be like, “Are we okay?” Their heads are popping in.

MICHELLE COLLINS: [LuAnn’s] whole blowup was just fascinating. Part of me wonders how much of it was real, because it just felt so perfect. Her constantly bragging, [Tom] looking like, you know, Meerkat Manor, constantly peeking around doorways with those bug eyes. Then them having that divorce and it being so dramatic, it felt too perfect. It’s almost like something Andy Cohen literally Fantasia-ed on a mountain top. I was like, how is this really happening in real life? [Her Watch What Happens Live episode] it was like in a Hamptons backyard, he didn’t even shave. It was like, oh my god, hungover, like, “Oh, you’re divorced? Come over.” Filmed on an iPhone 7 or whatever, “Let’s take care of this.”

WHICH HOUSEWIVES DO YOU MISS ON THE SHOW?

Obviously, not all 100+ ‘Wives are still in play. So who made their mark in previous seasons? These are the women that are missed, in varying degrees, but not forgotten.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I do miss the drama of Jill Zarin, and I’ve met Jill, and she’s Jill. Who you see is who you get. But I think it’s one of those things where I think I want her back on the show, but then three episodes in I’m like, “You know what? We’re good.” I want an appearance by Jill, much like in Scary Island.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I loved Alex, her husband was the hotelier, Simon. The two of them were so outrageous, and I really do miss them.

BRYAN SAFI: Okay, so I would say Camille. I would say Jeana. I liked Jeana. I’m just so glad Bethenny is back because for me, New York was sort of unwatchable seasons four, five, and six.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I have to tell you that actually I miss the original OC cast. I think they were perfection. Like Jeana, Lauri, obviously Vicki’s been there, she’s like the Terminator at this point — she cracked opened and walked through the field before any of these other ladies existed, you know?

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I actually really miss Heather on OC. I thought she was a phenomenal addition to that cast, and I’m sad she’s gone.

BRYAN SAFI: My favorite Orange County is when Gretchen was on. And Lynne. I loved Lynne.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: Of course I miss Gretchen, but you know who I miss that’s controversial? I miss Alexis Bellino. I loved Jim Bellino and their whole thing, and her plastic surgeries and her trying to be a new woman. All of that I loved, and I loved the controversy. The controversy between the ladies was so good.

PAUL JAMES: Caroline Manzo. I enjoyed the way she talked and I enjoyed her no-nonsense.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I miss Jacqueline on New Jersey. Jacqueline vented. When Jacqueline went after Melissa, that was serious, and that was personal. I miss Jacqueline’s personal brand of crazy, and I also loved how she was not there to play. She was there to settle scores and get revenge. I think she was an excellent shit starter.

HAVE YOU EVER MET ANY HOUSEWIVES?

We had to ask our insiders if they had any inside info on the ‘Wives. Here, they explain the encounters, professional and otherwise, where they really ran into a Real Housewife, and exactly how it all went down.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: Here’s how I feel. I want to meet them, I want to talk to them for three minutes, and I want my picture, and that’s it. I do not want any real friendship, I do not want to go behind the curtain, I don’t want to go there. I need them to stay who they are.

DEANNA CHENG: I went to a New Year’s Eve party at Bravo years ago, probably about six years ago, and NeNe was there. I went alone, it was a very strange thing. I was single, I didn’t have New Year’s Eve plans, and I just went. A friend of mine got me in there, I was dressed up by myself. NeNe was bigger than life. She was amazing. I took a creepy picture. I’m drunken and looking up at her like she’s a goddess.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I was at this amfAR Gala, Cheyenne Jackson invited me as his guest, it was such an amazing evening. Cheyenne and I are sitting on a bench at this gala at someone’s backyard that was like a city park. And who do I see walking towards me? Bethenny Frankel, who I acknowledge as our current president. So I just, I had to meet her. And Cheyenne was pretty psyched too. She walked towards me, and I basically just stood up. I was like, “Hello! Hi! I’m sorry, you need to stop for one second.” And I think that because it was a protected environment — we weren’t on the street, we were at an invited gala — but Cheyenne and I basically sandwiched her between us and I forced her to talk to me. She was so lovely and funny and great, and I basically just shouted at her that she is incredible, that the work she’s done, she just did all this amazing stuff for Puerto Rico, she whipped out her phone and showed me these massive ships. She was like, “We have four leaving tomorrow.” I’m so in love with her, and she’s actually someone who I genuinely would want to be friends with, but again, you know, I don’t know that I want to pierce the veil. But she was incredible and that was a wonderful interaction.

DEANNA CHENG: I tried to take a picture with Kim [Zolciak Biermann], but again, I was drunk because I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t know what to do with myself, with my body. So I proceeded to drink and then harass Housewives. Kim, I was cozied up to her, and I was smiling and in a posed position for quite some time, and she goes, “Where’s the camera?” and I hadn’t set anyone up on the other end to like, take the picture. And I was like, “Oh, god,” and I didn’t have it together. So that was unfortunate.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I went to Colton Haynes and Jeff Leatham’s wedding, and Lisa Rinna was there, and I clocked her and I was like, “Copy that. That’s Lisa Rinna, I’m definitely going to approach her later, but maybe I’ll let her have a cocktail first. I’m not going to bum rush her.” And I was sitting down on a couch looking at my phone, and she plopped herself right down next to me and said that she’s a huge fan of American Horror Story, and she was like, “Hello, I’ve been meaning to introduce myself. My name’s Lisa. I think you’re great on the show.” I was stunned and I, again, shouted back at her in her face, “No no no, I’m obsessed with you. You’re the best! You’re Rinna, you’re incredible.” So we had a lovely interaction and she couldn’t have been nicer.

BRYAN SAFI: Oh my god, I remember when I met Shannon [Beador], I did my full Top 5 Housewives, she was in there at that point. And then I mentioned Vicki, and this was before I knew everything was going on with them, and she gave me a look that practically turned me to stone, and I was like, “What is happening here.”

MICHELLE COLLINS: I’ve met most of the New York ones. I was on Bethenny’s talk show, and I have met her a few times. I have bought Skinny Girl, it has not worked.

PAUL JAMES: I met Kyle at a gifting suite before I ever knew who she was. I remember her smiling at me and I was like, oh man that lady’s smiling at me and a couple weeks later I figured out who she was.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: My other one was, I was at the Ritz Carlton for my birthday lunch and I saw Heather [Dubrow]. She was sitting at a table, and I came up just as a fan and she had no clue who I was, and I was like, “Hi Heather, I’m sorry to bother you, may I please have a picture?” And she was very nice. She was like, “Of course!” Very sweet. I did confirm that she does still speak to Tamra. I had to get that out.

BRYAN SAFI: I’ve met Shannon, and I’ve met Dorinda, and I’ve met Gretchen. And, by the way, I did not seek these women out. It was totally random. Totally random.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I will say that I have met some of them, and all the people that I’ve met have always been like beyond nice. I had lunch with Dorinda, which was obviously a very big moment for me. She was Dorinda. It was like Colonial Williamsburg. I was like, oh my god, I’m in it. It was so fun.

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LESLIE GROSSMAN: And then NeNe, who I met because I guest starred in the pilot of a show called The New Normal, which NeNe was on, so I spent a couple days with her, because for the pilot we did some table reads and there was a cast dinner. I saw her at the Entertainment Weekly pre-Emmy party, and I don’t think she had any clue who I was. And again, I forced her to take a picture with me. I would never bother Madonna, you know what I mean? I would rather die than go up to Denzel Washington, because I would never want to bother him, but I would be freaking out. A reality star? I’m like, “Hi, I need my picture.” I need it and I need it now. I’m unabashed and unashamed in needing to get my pictures.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I think I’ve met NeNe, yes. Because any of the ones who break out and then do other projects, you know, I’ve worked on talk shows and they’ve come on and I’ve met them. Oh, I’ve met Kyle Richards, she’s very sweet. Kyle is great. They’re all nice when you meet them because they’re “on.”

PAUL JAMES: I would love to meet Kandi because I was a big Xscape fan when I was a kid, I just think she’s cool.

DEANNA CHENG:. I almost just tweeted Kandi because I’m super into the Xscape docuseries. That’s really fun to watch. So I almost just tweeted her to be like, “I’m loving,” you know? [On Bethenny’s Instagram] I’m just writing like, “I’m proud of you.” I was busted by my friend Shira who saw me. Because that’s the thing with Instagram now: the people you follow, it puts their comments up front and center. So you can no longer like casually cornball. People will find you and be like, I see you just casually complementing Bravolebrities. It’s not a great look.

MICHELLE COLLINS: My new dream is to really see Tom. I’ve been to the Regency probably four times in the last six months hoping to run into him. I was picturing an old school wooden bar, Upper East Side chic. It’s literally the bar at the Loews hotel, which has like every piece of furniture from Wayfair. It’s not fancy at all. It’s truly like a HoJo and they have like $25 martinis. But I will say, in conjunction with that, the best people watching. Like, 20% prostitutes, 40% old rich guys, and the bartenders and the staff, they are like so lovely. I’ve only ever had great times there because the staff is so great. They also have delicious free popcorn, so I do go. That’s a big sell for me. But I’ve not seen Tom. I have seen a lot of hookers and old men, which is, in a way, like seeing Tom.

THE BIGGER PURPOSE OF REAL HOUSEWIVES (YES, REALLY)

Is it a reality show? It sure is. Is it ridiculous and over the top and at times completely asinine? You know it. But there’s something more to this show, to these franchises, that means something to viewers. Here, we get a little emosh about bonding over Bravolebrities and the surprising impact Real Housewives has had IRL.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: How is this different from someone being a sports fan, for instance? Okay, so let’s say you follow football obsessively, or you’re a huge baseball fan. How is that different? I feel like people who are sports enthusiasts would look down on somebody who’s a Real Housewives enthusiast. And look, they have a point, that’s athletic, and it takes skill, and you’ve got to have an actual talent to be on a sporting team, and I get that. But I would argue that these ladies also possess a very specific talent. And it is that they can make themselves compulsively watchable. And if they’re not, they get cut. The ones who make it are champions in their own way. So I guess a finale and a reunion, it’s sort of like my playoff for the World Series.

MICHELLE COLLINS: [I watch] definitely to be part of the conversation, as embarrassing as that sounds. It’s killing me actually that I don’t watch Jersey and that I can’t get into it with people on Twitter.

BRYAN SAFI: The Real Housewives passes the Bechdel Test every time. There are two women, in a scene, talking to each other with names not talking about men. I mean, listen. Are they garbage? Sure. But there’s also something very refreshing about watching them. And there’s no better dialogue on television. You just don’t see people talking like this to each other in anything scripted.

MICHELLE COLLINS: I watch it for laughs, for the comedy aspect of it. It’s a dark comedy. They travel and they fight. When they’re dressed up in drag and they get into throwdown fights about who’s a good mother, that is comedy.

PAUL JAMES: When it’s on, I talk about it with my mom because she loves it.

MICHELLE COLLINS: It’s like 90% of what I talk about with my mother. I don’t know if I’d have such a good relationship with her if the Housewives weren’t in our life.

DEANNA CHENG: Look, as we talk about this, do I think watching the Housewives is good for us as women? No. Probably not. But if you have a group of friends who enjoy the same thing as you, I think some of it is just the absurdity of it. If you enjoy comedy, there’s a lot going on. If you’re trying to mirror any of your behavior after any of the Housewives, other than Bethenny and her work out there with Puerto Rico, I think you’re in big trouble. But it is so much fun. And it is so much fun to just talk about with your girlfriends and laugh over, and just have this shared experience of pure nonsense is just really fun.

LESLIE GROSSMAN: I also want to say that there’s no better bond than finding out that somebody is also a superfan of Real Housewives. Like, “What was up with that makeup in that confessional? Oh my god!” It can take so many different turns.

BRYAN SAFI: And when you really think about the influence on the culture it has, for instance, when you watch Hillary debating Donald Trump, and they get a question that is, “Say something nice about each other,” that’s an Andy Cohen question. This show has changed everything in America, and it’s truly shocking. But for me, it’s only a comfort. I love watching it.

Where to watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills