It is and I'm sure that reasonable, rational, intelligent people (such as Buffistas) know that it's not really honest true housewives, but I'm cranky and have chosen this as my thing today.

Down with rich housewives! A pox on their Prada!

I think a lot of shows give a distorted picture of what "real" life is. I mean, how many of them show people having to actually work at a job (not something exciting, but the boring kind most of us have), deal with finances, cope with commutes, deal with children who have meltdowns and aren't constantly spouting off sassy one-liners, etc.? Going by a lot of them, you either have an exciting job with life-or-death situations all the time or an office where you wander in and schmooze, with an occasional gesture to work. That job pays enough that you can live in a nice place with spiffy furniture and, when your friends drop by, you always have food and drink handy. grr

I mean, how many of them show people having to actually work at a job (not something exciting, but the boring kind most of us have), deal with finances, cope with commutes, deal with children who have meltdowns and aren't constantly spouting off sassy one-liners, etc.?

But how many people would watch a show like that? Most people want to watch people with idealized lives, or else shows like Cops, where they can watch people who are bigger fuckups than they are...

Roseanne and Malcolm in the Middle were more reality shows. At least in my housewife experience.

From Slashdot:

Doctors affled by girl who doesn't age

Whoa. My first thought was "maybe she's a harbinger of a race of humans who will live to be 1000."

Real Housewives of the OC being crazy wealthy sort of makes sense. I think the area is commonly regarded has well monied.

New Jersey, however... its a whole state. Some parts have crazy money but Real Housewives of Essex County or Bergen County just doesn't have the same ring to it. They could have named it Tacky With Cash (And Just Enough Mob Connections That We Can All Say, "Ooooooooh!" But Not So Many That We Risk Loosing Fingers When We Exploit Them).

Roseanne and Malcolm in the Middle were more reality shows. At least in my housewife experience.

I was going to mention Roseanne. I didn't watch a lot of it, but it seemed remarkably grounded in actual life.

But how many people would watch a show like that? Most people want to watch people with idealized lives, or else shows like Cops, where they can watch people who are bigger fuckups than they are...

Hee! And right here we have the difference between US telly and UK telly: US telly tends towards rich people with glamorous jobs, exciting lives, swanky cars and posh houses; UK telly tends towards working class people with no jobs, miserable lives, knackered old cars and rented flats.

American Soap

British Soap

Hee! And right here we have the difference between US telly and UK telly: US telly tends towards rich people with glamorous jobs, exciting lives, swanky cars and posh houses; UK telly tends towards working class people with no jobs, miserable lives, knackered old cars and rented flats.

And in Australia it's about comfortable middle-class families with high school kids that live near the beach.

New Jersey, however... its a whole state. Some parts have crazy money but Real Housewives of Essex County or Bergen County just doesn't have the same ring to it. They could have named it Tacky With Cash (And Just Enough Mob Connections That We Can All Say, "Ooooooooh!" But Not So Many That We Risk Loosing Fingers When We Exploit Them).

Even Franklin Lakes, the town where most of them live, isn't all like that. It's a fairly well-off town, but I had plenty of friends who lived there whose mothers were not at all like the people on this show. And one of the Housewives lives in Wayne -- I was cracking up last night when the Franklin Lakes ones referred, somewhat derisively, to "Your Wayne friends."

And all of them, while insisting that they have no mob connections whatsoever, keep coming out with statements like, "You do that to me again, and I'll show up at your doorstep -- and I won't be alone," or "Let me tell you something about my family -- we're thick as thieves, and we protect each other to the end." (Well, three of them that there have been accusations about deny it. The fourth, when directly asked about whether she was involved with a Colombian drug cartel, replied something like, "Of course I'm not answering that. Do you think I'm an idiot?")

Then there's the fifth one, who hasn't been questioned about any mob stuff on the show, but has been shown quite a few times buying about $100,000 worth of furniture or something and paying for it in cash, which seems suspicious, though I'm not quite sure what it's suspicious of.