Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Once famous for flipping dinner tables on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, reality star Teresa Giudice and her husband Giuseppe “Joe” were recently sentenced to one and three-and-a-half years in jail respectively. When Giudice and her husband pleaded guilty to numerous counts of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in March, Bravo’s cameras captured every drama-filled moment for the show’s sixth season.

Bravo managed to film the sentencing just in time for the season finale, which even showed Teresa’s enemies crying. Teresa and Joe may be convicted criminals, but it’s difficult to not feel for the couple throughout the season as viewers watch footage of their four young daughters celebrating what may be their last Christmas together as a family for a long time. Or when the eldest daughter looks at her mother and says “I obviously know what’s going on. I’m old enough to comprehend and understand what’s going on,” as tears stream down her face.   

Most reality shows in the vein of Real Housewives just feature dinner parties gone wrong and screaming matches, which viewers avidly consume. Networks are willing to show almost everything, regardless of the impact on its cast members, until their viewers get upset, lash out on social media, or threaten to stop watching entirely. What viewers will or won’t watch matters immensely to networks; in fact, they seem function as the networks’ sole “conscience.”

There is of course content that producers will not air, though "that varies from production company to company," a reality-television producer who asked not to be named said in an email. "Personally, I believe a producer, and then in turn the network, will air anything that does not put them at serious risk of lawsuit.”

Producers set few boundaries when it comes to airing non-litigious content with potentially damaging consequences for its stars. MTV found itself facing backlash after the series premiere of Jersey Shore when trailers for upcoming episodes showed Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi getting punched in the face at a bar by a stranger. The network pulled the footage after receiving complaints from viewers about depicting violence against women. Producers give viewers what they want to see, but at a certain point the audience begins to empathize with the cast members and turns on producers.

Showing Snooki being sucker-punched is extreme, and viewers objected. But if viewers don’t care, then the networks essentially have free rein to show what they want.  Take the case of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Former cast member Taylor Armstrong discussed on-camera her husband Russell’s physical abuse toward her and her five-year-old daughter throughout seasons one and two. Then three weeks before the second season premiered and just one month after Taylor filed for divorce, Russell committed suicide. While season two was packed with stories of Taylor’s abuse, Bravo suddenly found itself being blamed for Russell’s death, as critics said that the network unfairly portrayed him and drove him to suicide. The producers did edit out some scenes, like Taylor buying lingerie to spice up her marriage, but still showed a dinner party she attended with a black eye. One housewife asked her “Is this what it took for you to leave?,” to which Taylor responded “Unfortunately.” For Bravo, pushing the envelope proved beneficial—the second season of the show has so far had the highest ratings of the show’s four-season run.