Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills Season Premiere Ratings Bonanza

By Alexis Tereszcuk - RadarOnline.com Senior Reporter

The numbers don’t lie -- it looks like tragedy really does sell.

In the aftermath of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong’s husband’s suicide, the season two premiere of the Bravo show was a ratings bonanza, with 2.2 million total viewers which is a 42 percent increase from the season one premiere RadarOnline.com has learned. 

According to Neilsen Media Research data the show was also up 51 percent in the 18-49 year old demographic, the target audience for a show, with 1.5 million adults tuning in to the premiere.

Russell Armstrong’s tragic suicide in August was a touchy situation for the network, and they addressed the matter by having the housewives, minus Taylor, open the show with heartfelt tributes to their former co-star. 

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Bravo edited Russell out of a few episodes but the executives have decided to air footage of Taylor and Russell’s marriage counseling sessions on this season.

Taylor and Russell both agreed to have their marriage counseling sessions filmed.

"Bravo has made the decision to air their marriage counseling sessions. Taylor is supportive of the network airing the therapy sessions. Bravo will be looking at those sessions and doing any necessary edits if needed, given Russell's suicide. Both Russell and Taylor were filmed individually during their sessions. Taylor's will definitely be airing, although it's likely that Russell's individual sessions won't be," a source close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com.

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