‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ season 5 premiere review: Meet Kenya Moore

“Real Housewives of Atlanta” fans, rejoice: season 5 has finally arrived, and there is just as much drama as ever. Before we get into what actually happened during this episode, one minor complaint: why does this show have to air at 9:00, where it is up against “Dexter,” “The Good Wife,” and “Revenge”? This has to be the most horrible timeslot in all television right now, since there’s so much goodness happening at one time and not even a standard DVR can take it all in.

As for Sunday night’s premiere episode, it was really akin to a “where are they now?” episode, even if it was one that we really quite enjoyed. We saw Kim Zolciak (who is really only part-time this season) celebrating another pregnancy, Cynthia Bailey chugging along with her modeling agency, Phaedra Parks continuing into the funeral business, and NeNe Leakes even meeting with Ryan Murphy to talk about “The New Normal.” (Note to NeNe: if you are going to name-drop Tyler Perry, be sure you have the right phone number.) What makes this series so enjoyable is that all of these ladies are successful in their own right; even though they are Housewives, they are also women who work hard away from the show and will likely not suffer so much when it goes away.

Now, we must say hello to the only new lady featured in this episode in Kenya Moore. Is she entertaining? Definitely, but for right now it is hard to say whether she is really going to be someone actually worth rooting for, or just a lightning rod of controversy. Cynthia appointed her this week as a former pageant queen to be a judge for a Jet Magazine beauty contest, and she quickly rubbed the longtime star of the show the wrong way by acting like Simon Cowell. Why cut so many people down, Kenya?

This was overall a solid way to kick off the season, even if there really was not that much that we could say happened over the course of the hour. The updates were well-constructed, and there was enough of an introduction to Kenya that we know to expect some fireworks. We’re already much more invested here than we were in a lackluster season 4.

What did you think about the premiere