I used to get a certain amount of snarky enjoyment out of the “Real Housewives” franchise. All that fake-y, pretentious social climbing and scheming—modern versions of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair mashed up with Trollope’s The Way We Live Now. But the most recent trainwrecks on the New York and New Jersey franchises have been bad enough that Michelle and I—who consume a prodigious amount of reality TV, often together via gchat—are giving up on the “Real Housewives” franchise. It’s boring except when it’s vicious, and a couple of woman appear to be genuinely mentally ill, which makes us feel icky and voyeuristic. Recently while watching “Real Housewives of NJ”, we both had the same response about twenty minutes into the show: “These people are all horrible assholes. I’m out.” We turned our TVs off. Because, really, if I want to watch horrible delusional assholes, Fox News is on 24-7.
I was starting to wonder if we were the only ones who felt that way, given that Bravo keeps cranking out new “Housewives.” Then I read the review of “The Real Housewives of D.C.” in today’s Washington Post. It’s by Hank Stuever, a fairly recent arrival to the Post’s Style section who’s mostly taken over from the reliably misogynist Tom Shales. I’ve got a Harpy crush on Hank, because he’s brilliant at picking apart all the sexist threads in television that most mainstream critics—especially male critics—either don’t notice or don’t care to discuss (read his review of “Hot in Cleveland” for a prime example). Not only is Hank’s review of the new “Housewives” extremely witty—almost as good as Richard Lawson’s epic “Real Housewives” recaps on Defamer—he accurately calls out nearly everything that’s wrong with the show, concluding that:
…the thrill has waned. The overall effect is one of mutual contempt — the Housewives hate one another, and the women who watch decide which woman they hate the most and which woman they hate the least. Men who like to watch women fight tune in, too, and the circle is thus complete: “The Real Housewives” imparts a sinking feeling that it’s made by and for people who can’t stand women.
The shark, it has been jumped. Time to watch something else.
I love Hank Stuever. He’s one of the best writers at the Washington Post.
The real question is why you started in the first place. Those shows are nothing but compendiums (compendia?) of hate-filled cliches about women.
@MM: Because I don’t believe all my television-watching habits must be in the service of intellectual and ideological uplift. Ergo, I chose my choice.
As Mr. Bennet said: “For what do we live but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?”
As Elizabeth might have said, “Dear Father, do not be surprised if that sport turns around and bites you in the nether regions.”
Ok, maybe not.
Have never watched a single episode. Aside from all the hoopla I’ve seen recently online about one of the housewives of one of the series’ that I’ve never watched coming out with a “sex tape” – THE HORROR!, I wouldn’t have known a thing about any of them.
I’m so weary of “reality” TV – with emphasis on the word reality. What would life actually be like without the presence of a camera? That’s reality.
I will say I don’t get the impression that Andy Cohen “hates women.” I just think he really likes money and success.
I still watch, I’m sure I’ll get bored at some point, just like I did with the (worse in my opinion) full slate of trashy VH1 shows. I’m not there yet though.
I’m still stuck on Survivor and that’s it. And usually just because of the way they treat each other. And it may just be an addiction to “I am way more normal/ethical/too smart to go on a show like this without DEET, than THESE people.”
it’s takes a lot of ovaries to admit, especially when you self-identify as a feminist, that not all of the “culture” (whether there are notions of “high” and “low”, “elite” and “mass”, etc) you enjoy/ed will necessarily uphold your feminist position.
I haven’t seen this franchise of shows you are talking about (I refuse to get foxtel, or pay tv in Australia – our FTA channels are pretty good).. but after having seen shows like “Temptation Island”, “Surviver”, “Big Brother”, I wonder if what is marketed as *reality tv* is more a name for a tv show that is unscripted and is full of silly people who make silly decisions in front cameras that goes to air without those same people being able to veto that same footage.
@Mackey: I think that definition of a reality show is pretty accurate. Come up with a loose pop-culture friendly concept, enlist some preening narcissists as your “cast” and let the camera roll. That’s entertainment!
If I refused to consume any pop culture unless it upheld my feminist politics/worldview, my world would be a dull place indeed. Reality tv, music, fashion, magazines all contain minefields of content that are not pro-woman. But that doesn’t mean I have to run away screaming—I’m plenty capable of judging for myself what I can/should tolerate in the name of entertainment.
For the record, I don’t go in for shaming other women about their choice of TV. I think most readers of this site are intelligent and fairly aware of all the themes and subtexts swirling around in the pop culture we consume. So a statement like “The real question is why you started [watching this show] in the first place” is problematic, since it’s not genuinely a question, just finger-wagging over whether I’m toeing what someone else sees as the feminist party line (and, of course, assuming that if I’m not toeing that line, it actually matters ).