CALL it the finale that never was.
Bravo has added two more episodes to “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” which supposedly wrapped its season Tuesday night with Teresa’s table-tipping temper tantrum.
Now, in addition to tonight’s episode, “The Last Supper,” and next Tuesday’s reunion episode, Bravo has added a second reunion special (airing next Thursday) and a “Lost Footage” episode airing July 9, which is the best of the rest — unseen moments from the series and the reunion shows.
“You’ll see how it begins and you’ll see how it ends — you’ll see the entire thing… with a really surprise ending,” says Andy Cohen, Bravo’s senior VP original programming and development who’ll host the reunion episodes.
“You’ll see the kids’ perspective and hear from everybody around the table,” he says.
The reunion show was taped about two weeks ago at a small North Jersey sound stage, near the hospital where Jacqueline was about to give birth. Before the taping, all the women were sent copies of the two final episodes to bring them up to speed. Ultimately, there was enough to make two one-hour shows — one next Tuesday and a second next Thursday night.
“We dig deeply into mob allegations, and I think Caroline has an incredibly emotional defense of her family,” says Cohen.
“I grilled Danielle pretty hard about the allegations that came her way.”
It also begs the question as to why Bravo decided to wrap “RHONJ” after only six episodes in the first place — and why the “finale” ended just after Teresa’s meltdown.
“We typically do a conservative first order for a first season of a new docuseries,” says Cohen.
“With the first season of ‘Atlanta’ we only did six [episodes]… and ‘New York,’ I believe, was the same thing.
“It’s about protecting the franchise and protecting the ‘Wives’ and just kind of making sure we don’t overdo it. You can never predict what’s going to happen.”
And ending Tuesday’s finale in the midst of Teresa’s tantrum?
“It was jaw-dropping for all of us at Bravo and we were waiting for the rest of the world to share in our watercooler excitement,” Cohen says.
“We just thought it was such a powerful way to go out and you’ll be surprised [tonight] to see what happened.
“From a narrative sense, we felt it was a sense of closure.”
It certainly paid off in viewers: Tuesday’s 10 p.m. finale snared nearly 3.5 million viewers — a new single-episode record for the “Housewives” franchise across-the-board.