The Reality of Real Housewives and other "reality" shows.

The Real Housewives of New York reunion shows are coming to a close tonight with Part 3 of the explosive get-together. Thankfully, we still have the Real Housewives of New Jersey, where we switch out Psycho Kelly for Psycho Danielle, FUN! RHONJ is less one housewife now that Dina has quit the show. But never fear, the Real Housewives of DC is due to start Aug. 5th and the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is still in the works. From the way it looks there will never be a need for a Real Housewives fix, the franchise is growing almost daily. The way it's going we will always a Real Housewives show running constantly.

  So can I say, what the heck is happening here? What is our fascination with these shows. The original OC version is still going strong and has continued to reproduce this formula at an increasing rapid rate. As an avid watcher of this guilty pleasure I can say that part of it is seeing how the other half lives. These women are usually pretty well off or at least pretty comfortable. I like the fashion and surface stuff like that. But I also like to see how other people act. I am a consistent "TV Yeller" as I call myself. I will talk back to the TV all of the time. There is ALWAYS an opportunity to do that when watching these shows, like when someone is talking from the other side of their face. It kind of makes you look at your own friends. In my case I thank god that none of my friends are like some of these women. Sheesh!

  Reality shows came about mainly because of a writers strike 20 years ago and they seem to have become the norm these days. Reality shows fall under several different classifications. It used to be "challenge" shows like "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race". Then we have the granddaddy of all reality shows, "The Real World" which pretty much started as a psychological study on putting a variety of people with different backgrounds under the same roof and seeing what they could teach each other (having them fight certainly didn't hurt), then you have "Big Brother" which is the psychological experiment combined with the "challenge" show, only on lockdown. Each of these shows, including the "real housewives", is a study in human behavior. Truly fascinating when you get beyond the obvious drama. You see how many people see the same exact things differently. You can also see the variety of people from good to bad to ugly to downright delusional. The backstabbing is truly sad, but it is also truly sad to see how many seriously mentally ill people are out there, who are not getting help, and don't see how badly they need it...I'm talking to you Kelly Bensimon and Danielle Staub!

  So what IS the reality of Real Housewives and other reality shows? That each of us in our own way are people watchers, we like to see how other people handle things in our lives, how they interact with THEIR friends, their problems or situations, and truthfully in many ways to see how our lives compare to theirs. Maybe ours aren't so bad after all. Maybe we don't get to take a yacht cruise to St. John's and stay at a villa, but then again most of our friends don't think they can sing and get an opportunity to cut a sucky record that your dog will howl to...."Money can't buy you class"..but maybe it can buy you some singing lessons Countess. Oy Vey! I prefer to keep it real and enjoy "watching" the real housewives as an escape and an opportunity to yell my opinion at the TV.

  I'm outta here, gotta catch my yacht to St. Lucia to cut my new single. Ciao!