Wayne might be fascinated with Cheaters, but I have my own guilty pleasure TV indulgence: Bravo’s the Real Housewives of Orange County. It plays off the success and popularity of other shows of similar, though fictional, ilk: ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Fox’s cancelled series the O.C. The Real Housewives, however, is a reality show following the lives of real women.
The show’s name is sort of a misnomer, though. Some of the “housewives” don’t stay home at all. They not only work but are incredibly successful. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, two of them –Jeana and Vicki– own their own businesses and are really the breadwinner’s of their families.
Speaking of bread and dough: these ladies live large. Very large. They personify people who’ve achieved and live the American Dream: they have big houses (and oftentimes own more than one), drive fancy cars, wear designer clothes, and are bedecked in the finest jewelry. They hang out with glamorous people, attend and throw many parties, and they do it all on TV.
Their lives are fascinating, sure, but what’s most appealing about the show to me is the women’s personalities. They’re all different, yet they also exude the same air of entitlement and confidence.
Yet, even though they lead privileged lives full of luxury, their lives are far from perfect and so are their marriages and kids. Most of the time they’re so hung up on themselves, even when they’re trying to appear otherwise, that they don’t make enough deposits in those other relationships to really make them functional much less successful.
Take Vicki’s marriage for instance. Her husband wants more of her –more time with her, more time to enjoy her, more of her attention. But she’s a confessed workaholic. Her life is doing business. Which is fine, but there should be a balance and that’s all her husband is asking for. She hears him, but she doesn’t always honor him. (In her defense, the woman’s loaded with energy. She’s the kind to go crazy if she doesn’t have half a dozen balls up in the air at once.)
Jeana’s husband is absent most of the time, but I don’t know if it would matter if he was there more or not. He seems lost in his own world and uninterested in anything his wife is doing. They’re about as disconnected of a couple as they come and it’s really surprising –and an oft asked question– that they’re still together.
There are three other housewives too: Lauri’s marrying for the second time, Tammy was new last season, and Tamra’s new this season. They have issues too because in the end they’re all striving for what the rest of us are striving for: to live up to the myth of the perfect woman. They want to be the prettiest, smartest, best wife, best mom –and it just doesn’t exist.
But it’s fun to watch them try.
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