Entertainment For This Real Housewife

Everyone needs a little harmless guilty pleasure. Mine is watching The Real Housewives shows. I happened upon the New York one by accident last year. I was ironing and turned on the tv as background noise. Fifteen minutes into it, and I was hooked. The NY women were on a vacation of some sort, and arguing with one another. I listened intently and felt a bit scandalous, like I was eavesdropping through a backyard fence.

A few weeks later, the Real Housewives of New Jersey premiered, and I have watched two seasons of that “train wreck.” The DC Housewives are about four episodes along, and the Beverly Hills franchise begins in October. Oh, so many more episodes! Oh, so much more entertainment for my cerebral cortex to process!

Now before you judge me as shallow and slothful, let me say that I record the episodes and watch them while I workout. And I’m very purposeful with my time on most days. I have children who keep me busy, volunteer work, a program of spiritual transformation, and I’m writing a book. But a girl’s got to unwind, you know?

In reading some blogs about The Real Housewives, I see I am not alone in my fascination with this series. So what is the appeal? Personally, I find people fascinating. I love to study them and observe what makes them tick. And the Real Housewives series gives me an upfront, personal view right smack into their homes and personal lives. Some of the women are sadly dysfunctional with behaviors that make me cringe, and, money and notoriety aside, I wonder whatever possessed them to allow themselves to be filmed. From what I’ve read, the shows have caused stress cracks in already shaky marriages, and have set their children up for embarrassment and ridicule. But a few of the women are kind and giving and wise, and I learn from them by watching the way they relate to their friends, work out their conflicts, and own their stuff. It’s like free counseling.

Let’s call if science. I’m just doing my science, folks. And it’s a lot more fun than it was in high school!