The Reluctant Whore

The New York Post reports that at the premiere party for the TV show “The Real Housewives of New York City”, the predictable money envy reality show spinoff of “The Real Housewives of OC”, a bunch of the Manhattan matron guests were overheard in the bathroom complaining about how terrible the show was.

"That sucked, it was horrible," said one jealous housewife. Another responded, "These women do not represent New York. This show is a joke."

I watched it last night actually and it was exactly the same crap as you normally get from reality shows set up so viewers can be equal parts intrigued, amazed and self righteously disgusted at the behavior of rich people. I mean, you could more or less create the same show in any city in the US – especially when you consider how much editing has to do with it. Here’s a preview:

The show has nothing to do with portraying what New York life for the rich is like. It’s just a fake drama infused show about life for the rich. It’s the same show as the one in LA and it’s the same show as the one done a few years ago called “Rich Girls” about that totally pointless girl Jamie Gleicher.
To be fair though, those Manhattan matrons in the bathroom might have been right. All of the women in the show seem to have moved in and up in Manhattan recently. The one with a title only has it because she married her husband. There are no hard core old money freaks like from the Astor or Vanderbilt families on this show. The real old money Manhattan families are full to the brim with insane, disconnected indulgent, weirdoes and they’d make much better TV than this surface oriented schmaltz. My guess is that none of the actual old money Manhattan socialite types would actually consider touching a show like this with a ten foot pole anyway. I think that’s the difference between New York and Los Angeles. In New York, they’ll do their thing but there is a little more reserve. They like to induce eating disorders and nervous breakdowns the old fashioned way; through years of subtle passive aggression and psychological torture. The way it should be done. Hair pulling and slapping is so gauche. [source]