Watching the train wreck that is “The Real Housewives of Orange County/Atlanta/Beverly Hills/Miami/New York/New Jersey” is the sustenance that gets me through each week. I don’t look up to these women in any way –their behavior is appalling –but with every hair pull and plastic surgery jab these women make towards one another I find myself not being able to turn away from the TV.
I have never gotten into a fight with a girl in my entire life. No scuffles on the playground during elementary school, no mean texts sent in middle school, and zero run-ins with Regina George in the hallways of my high school. I will never have to worry about throwing down with another woman for the rest of my life with the amount of hours I have logged watching “The Real Housewives.”
Lying down on my bed in my pink fluffy robe, eating crackers off my chest, I get all the aggression and anger I have ever felt in my entire life out watching these “ladies” debate issues that are not exactly the world’s biggest problems. Will NeNe Leakes ever forgive Kenya Moore for not attending her wedding due to an old boyfriend being there on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta?” Will Lisa Vanderpump ever manage to control her overly dramatic staff at her restaurant Sur on “Vanderpump Rules?”
These are the deep and powerful questions that keep me awake at night.
Okay, so this franchise is as frivolous as it is pointless. It follows a trend that has only become big in the last 10 years, which makes everyday people into reality stars. As you watch each season progress, there is one thing that becomes clear: The women’s clothing and estates are getting more and more expensive.
Executive vice president of the “Bravo” network and the show’s creator, Andy Cohen, is estimated to have paid each housewife of Orange County $10,000 per episode when the show originally premiered on March 21, 2006. Eight seasons later, the housewives’ salaries range from $30,000-$100,000 per episode.
These women are not your typical housewives sitting at home and making dinner for their husband and kids. Most of the women own their own businesses or have jobs, which only adds to the thousands of dollars they are being paid to do the show. Needless to say, the wives are the ones bringing home the bacon, making more than $1 million dollars each year.
With six different branches of the “Real Housewives” franchise the shows have spawned spin-offs such as “Tamara’s OC Wedding” and “Bethenny Ever After.”
Though not everyone enjoys the housewives as I do in the privacy of my room with my stash of crackers, you would be surprised at some of the people who do watch this “trashy” show.
“I do love a little ‘Real Housewives’ now and then,” Michelle Obama said on “Live! With Kelly and Michael.”
When describing her Super Bowl performance last year, Beyonce quoted Kenya Moore from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” when she said “It was fierce, honey. It was ‘Gone with the Wind’ fabulous.”
If these powerful women are watching “The Real Housewives,” then I think it’s all right if everyone else does, too. Perhaps minus the pink fluffy robe and Ritz.
