We officially met the ladies of Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006 (Jesus Christ – I've been following the lives of these bitches for 15 years?) and they're like family to me at this point; they're my rich, crazy aunts who are always a little wine drunk at a kid's birthday, and I love them endlessly. But when we first met them, they were intriguing strangers. Sure, we'd seen Desperate Housewives but we'd never seen anything like the women of RHOC; they were all alpha and wealthy, and the show gave us a peek "behind the gates" of their community.

Since then, the franchise has evolved, and so have we. The stars, as well as their viewers, are no longer rookies in reality television. Bravo fans are veterans.

In the beginning, back when we were all new to this, it was fine to watch Vicki Gunvalson shuffle around the four walls of Coto Insurance and go home and argue passive aggressively with Donn, but as the show progressed, so did the need for "storylines" and I think that's largely in part because of the demand. We needed new seasons, and we needed them now.

My theory is that this demand put pressure on the women to make things happen, whether it be a new wedding (take Tamra Judge and Eddie's, or even Gretchen Rossi with her "hollow" proposal since she and Slade Smiley are still not married); a new business such as Tipsy Girl and/or any of Ramona's skincare lines; or a woman in her mid 50s trying to convince us she wants another baby (I'm looking at you Luann de Lesseps). We were eating it all up, until we weren't.