Do I Secretly Want to Be a Real Housewife? [NewlyNested]

I’m obsessed with The Real Housewives and quickly that franchise and Andy Cohen have been ruining my life.  Okay, that’s a little over dramatic, but I follow the ladies of the franchise with a kind of interest that is embarrassing.  In fact, it’s something that my husband regularly makes fun of me for.  Do you watch any of them?  Then you would know what I’m talking about: the drama, the lifestyle, all of it, crazy ridiculous and that is why it is so entertaining!

My first experience with The Real Housewives was The Real Housewives of New York. I was fascinated by Jill Zarin’s attitude, Roma’s Singer’s hate for Alex’s husband Simon, that there was a Countess living in New York, and finally that Alex was seriously a crazy social climber.  Now in their fourth season they have managed to get even snarkier and downright bitchy towards each other.  I must admit that the Bethany/Jill fight almost lost me as a viewer in the third season, especially since I had grown to love their relationship in the second season when Bethany stayed at Jill’s house.    All these petty fights and lavish details make for good television, but what is it about the reality TV franchise that I like so much more than all the others?

For one each city that is featured in the Real Housewives is actually different (as a teenager I also loved Real World and it didn’t matter which city they were in, the storylines were always the same).  Atlanta is really all about the drama, Orange County is about lifestyle, New York is about charity and etiquette, New Jersey is about avoiding Danielle Staub, and the rest of them were just boring.  I think the differences in the cities help the viewer buy the illusion that this world is really true.  That is false though, because these things are so contrived — even Jill Zarin admitted on Watch What Happens Live on Thursday that some of the words they put in a scene were said to a producer at a different time than they were showing on the episode.

I also think a part of me kind of wants to be a Real Housewife.  Lunches, shopping sprees, elaborate parties and trips—kind of sounds awesome.   But if that was my reality than I would spend way too much time arguing over whether or not white is an appropriate color to wear to a wedding (which was some of the biggest drama offered on Thursday’s premiere episode of RHONY).  On second thought, I’ll save the drama for my television viewing, and in real life, concentrate on enjoying the simple things.

Are you excited that The Real Housewives New York is back?  You can catch it Thursday nights on Bravo.