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!

I'm Baaaaack!

Well, I know it's been 2 years since I've posted anything, so much has happened that I could write 10 blogs about it, but I am not....so here I am to tell you what's happening NOW!

Sad to say that two things happened that will make this blog a little harder to write but no where near impossible. First off, my Direct TV has been shut off. *sad face* I am on disability and couldn't pay for it anymore so down it went and my favorite pastime was in serious danger. However, the good news is that these days many of our favorite shows are now posted online. Some are easy to find, like GLEE! (Thank you FOX!) and some are a little more difficult (BOO CBS!). I have found many programs on www.hulu.com and on http://tvshack.net/.
So between those two and Fancast, which I haven't really had to use yet, I can still watch most of my favorite programs. I am saving Fancast for True Blood, which is an HBO show and Fancast is an HBO site. Some of these programs you have to wait a few days to a week for, and a couple of shows are on the same or next day. GLEE is available on fox.com and hulu, usually the next day. Makes me so happy! The Real Housewives franchise usually takes a couple of days and the most recent episodes are on TV Shack. The City can also be found on TV Shack within a day or two. Same with The View! And if you are a Soap Opera fan, those are on there, usually on the same day. :0

My other sad news is that my beautiful 42 inch Flat Screen TV has blown something, I have sound and no picture. Seems that according to the TV guy I talked to on the phone, from the Geek Squad, said that it will cost between $250-$500+ to fix....well for that price I'll buy a new one, an LCD this time instead of the Plasma TV I opted for originally. Big regrets there. So depending on what the exact part is that went out, which it will cost me a $150 visit just to find out, will determine what I have to pay. Well I don't think I'm going to go there. Especially since the technician thinks it's the higher priced problem. So anyway, at first I ended up watching a 19" TV which I haven't had as a main TV in like 30 years! Then, thankfully, my friend had an older TV that she used to have in her bedroom and that one is more like a 30"-32". The color isn't pure, runs a little on the green side...but it is definitely watchable and I appreciate it so much! So lately me and the fam have been watching DVD's, thankfully I re-watched True Blood season 1, just in time to get True Blood season 2, that I had pre-ordered months ago. Now my son is addicted to True Blood. :-) I love DVD's of TV shows! DVD movies are cool, but they are over too soon, but DVD TV series are the best and last a long time!

So this week will be pretty exciting with a couple of finales that I have been waiting for, like GLEE and The Real Housewives of New York City, as well as the season premiere of Drop Dead Diva, which is a new show that I LOVED last year! Not sure how long it will take for it to show up on either Hulu or TV shack, but I will be looking for it! Also, if you are looking for CBS shows, it is tough...they usually only release clips. However, if you are a big fan of some CBS shows, my personal favorite is Criminal Minds, you can watch most of them on TV Shack. I was so happy that my son turned me on to that site, I was going to cry if I didn't get my last glimpse of Dr. Spencer Reid for the season! So check it out. Also, a little hint when watching shows on computer. Let the show load a bit before you start watching so that you can get the full show without a bunch of starting and stopping, which face it is hella annoying. Also you can watch it full screen but many times that can be a problem on some computers. All in all it's great though if you are like me who would die without my TV....or my computer. LoL

Tune in tomorrow....cuz I'm back!!!!!