Real Housewives & The Art of the Emotional Bleed
When is too much enough?
Real Housewives and Bravo in general is my favorite reality TV show genre. I’m not really into competition shows, though I went through a Bachelor phase at one point, and was obsessed with this season of Love Island USA. I don’t watch TLC, don’t care for the Kardashians anymore… I’m a Bravo watcher through and through.
I live for the iconic moments, for the memes, for the story. I love a good, juicy, emotional plot like Jen Shah getting arrested on camera or Teresa coming home from jail. I recently rewatched the Brooks cancer scam season of Orange County and was stunned that this all played out in front of cameras to watch.
However, in recent years, a lot of Housewives franchises have just gotten a little too dark. Jersey got to the point where they canceled the reunion and are reshuffling the cast. Sexual assault allegations nearly took down Potomac, and Kenya Moore was fired mid season for showing alleged revenge porn.
Between the arrests, the accusations, the lawsuits…it’s all becoming a little too much to classify as escapism.
On the flip side, there are franchises like NuRHONY and Dubai that are getting their sea legs; we’re essentially in the 2nd season of these two shows and people are complaining left and right that it’s boring, it’s missing a spark, something isn’t quite enticing enough; those statements are enough for me to tune them out and not trust their opinion.
RHONY hasn’t even premiered yet and people are complaining based on the trailer; There is still a lot of groundwork to be laid. We don’t know these women, they hardly know each other so of course the issues and drama are entirely surface level.
The major compliant that I see constantly being made is that these women are overproduced, too reserved, or not willing to lay their cards on the table. The drama is petty, like Lesa Milan wanting to buy Caroline Stanbury’s mother’s house or Sai complaining that Erin only served cheese at her party…. but honestly, at this point, I’d take cheese complaints over seeing Shannon Storms Beador shake and sob over her ex boyfriend suing her while sitting across from his new girlfriend any day of the week.
I’d rather watch Brynn call out Ubah for modeling for DressBarn 100x over before ever seeing that picture of Shannon’s bloody face again.
There is no need for these shows to be so dark, to be so sad. I do not need these women to bleed out on TV for my entertainment. I feel like I’m at a circus, demanding the animals dance for me. It feels gross, it feels wrong, and I’m done with it.
Why can’t we just enjoy rich, beautiful women fight over food, houses, and rumors without the law getting involved? Without people getting hurt? Why can’t we watch them have fun, get drunk and be silly? What ever happened to that being the core of Housewives?
I don’t need the tears, the tantrums, the lawsuits…I just want to watch people have fun, go on trips, and talk shit. Nothing is ever that serious and I wish the rest of the Bravo creators would get on board because their anger towards petty drama is going to ruin a good thing.
I also think it’s important to note that not everyone franchise needs to be a copy & paste of each other; if Orange County is really dark right now, it’s nice to have some pettiness with Dubai. With Salt Lake City coming back right after a killer 4th season, I think it’ll be good to counteract that with New York that might be a little less exciting but still fun to watch.
I do not want to watch Tamra call Shannon a drunk anymore; I don’t want to watch Alexis discuss videos of Shannon’s DUI, and I want Shannon to stop crying and shaking. It’s not fun anymore and Housewives should be fun.
Next time you want to complain about petty, boring drama, think of Shannon Beador.