Delightfully Imbalanced

9. Phaedra Parks (ATL, Seasons 3-present): "Is Phaedra for real?" might be one of the most important (and equally unknowable) questions in the Housewives universe. After all, she is a lawyer. Just because she was Bobby Brown's lawyer doesn't change the fact that she went to law school and passed the bar and all that. At the same time, she exists on a different planet than the rest of us, from her odd side-ventures (the mortuary biz!) to her faux-pious interviews. Just how in on the joke that is Phaedra Parks is Phaedra Parks?

8. Sonja Morgan (NY, Seasons 3-present): Well, we're entering year three of Sonja's nervous breakdown, and we somehow have still not entered Too Real territory. Mostly because of her unflappable attitude. Even when she goes super crazy, she generally ends up on the "boozy, lusty, loopy broad" side of the line, which is a good one. Just don't call her a double dealer or you'll see YOUR ASS where it ends up.

7. Ramona Singer (NY, Season 1-present): She's probably a good nudge away from officially burning out, but every time it looks like we've gotten to the bottom of Ramona's (right) well of bug-eyed crazy, she pulls out some more. Also worth noting, Ramona is equally adept at playing the villain as she is playing the hero, making her the Gene Hackman of Real Housewives.

The Elites

6. Nene Leakes (ATL, Seasons 1-present): She's a crazy person, a disingenuous shit-stirrer, and she's mean. She probably fits into every category in this piece, except for "One-Season Wonder" and "Deathly Boring." But she has come to define the Housewives in a very real way, and honestly, watching her leap out of the reality sphere into The New Normal and subsequently come crashing back down has been pretty compelling.

5. LuAnn DeLesseps (NY, Seasons 1-5 + recurring): The best part of watching The Countess operate is knowing that she just can't help herself. She's one of the more image-aware Housewives of them all, and she really wants other people to like her. Which means that she must truly believe in all her etiquette nonsense, because she keeps harping on it even though she knows it makes her look bad. See also: speaking easily decipherable French when trying to cover up her tryst with the Johnny Depp pirate in St. Bart's.

4. Vicki Gunvalson (OC, Season 1-present): Vicki Gunvalson is the original housewife, and narrowly avoided the Terrible People tier only because of her endurance on the show. She also might be one of the few housewives that sees the show as an achievement. It says a lot about a person, a grandma no less, when they have the ability to irritate you into rooting for Slade and Gretchen.

3. Tamra Barney (OC, Seasons 3- present): Tamra has had some of the best one-liners out of the whole Housewives franchise (Jesus Jugs™), and she has a keen sense of which housewife to turn on each season. Watching her flip the script on Vicki after their ya-ya sisterhood season was particularly delicious. Tamra might win best supporting housewife because she seems to need drama and silliness from the other women to thrive (not something Tamra would want to admit). Her solo, mini-spinoff was kinda boring — again, being called boring isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it might offend Tamra.

2. Bethenny Frankel (NY, Seasons 1-3): Even if The New Normal had run for six seasons on NBC, Bethenny would be the top success story of the Real Housewives franchise. As the most financially dubious of the fabulous circle of people cast for the New York show (well, maybe not more dubious than Alex), Bethenny leveraged her fame exactly right and ended up making an insane fortune for herself off of the Skinny Girl brand. She also managed to weather the traditional spinoff-backlash from the other women, coming out as the unquestioned winner in her feud with Jill. And she got out of the game in three seasons, the exact right number of seasons anyone should spend on these shows. Bethenny WON Housewives.

1. Lisa Vanderpump (BH, Seasons 1 - present): While things are going south for ol' Vanderpump in the current season — Pump Puppet Brandi finally turned on her — she's without a doubt one of the most successful housewives of all time. With her cheeky British accent and goofy little dog, she's managed to parlay Housewives into a Bravo spinoff about the sexy young people who work at her restaurant (Vanderpump Rules), a stint on Dancing with the Stars, and a wedding special for her spectacularly boring daughter.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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