‘Real Housewives Of New York’ Ditches Half Its Cast, Still Won’t Be Very ‘Real’
Oh Bravo! The station that can find a million different way to market crazy, rich people is shaking up the cast of Real Housewives of New York. They’ve fired original cast members Jill Zarin and Alex McCord, as well as new-comers Kelly Bensimon and Cindy Barshop. That means the only remaining ladies are Countess LuAnn, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan. Apparently, the increasingly boring New York edition of Housewives needs a little spicing up.
I don’t know a single thing about the new ladies joining the remaining three housewives. But I’m pretty positive that it won’t make the show any more realistic or relatable for actual housewives. We sit and laugh at the drama-filled Jersey ladies and clueless Orange County originals. But even though we all know (hopefully) that these women are obviously playing it up for the camera and creating drama for ratings, calling these shows “reality TV” does a serious disservice to, well… reality. In fact, take a peak through Bravo’s line-up and you’ll see that almost every show they air takes a wealthy group of people, makes them look insane and pretends that this represents an entire class of the population. Flipping Out is crazy, rich real estate people. Pregnant In Heels is crazy, rich pregnant ladies. Millionaire Matchmaker is crazy, rich lonely people. And Real Housewives, in every single city it’s located, is crazy, rich women.
No matter what people you add to that mix, I guarantee that they’ll be ostentatious in their wealth and loose in their screws.
I think the reason that these shows irk me so much is because they congratulate grown adults for acting like the worst spoiled teenagers imaginable. The reward women for screaming, shooting and infusing drama into every second their life. They make temper tantrums and meltdowns seem like acceptable adult behavior. Along with shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms, we guffaw at these women’s ridiculous antics and downright horrible parenting, but we’re still telling them that it’s ok. We guaranatee them a longer career in craziness, simply by tuning in and watching the train wreck.
There are lots of people who rag on reality TV, but it continues to get ratings and spawn more and more series. The Real Housewives seem to be about 10 percent real and 3 percent housewife, yet they’ve had shows in how many major American cities?
I’m a little sad that four of these ladies lost their jobs, if only because it signals to the incoming round of women that they must be a little bit more psychotic interesting if they hope to keep their jobs. Can you get much more interesting that Kelly Bensimon? I guess we’ll found out next season.
