Thursday, August 13, 2015
Keeping It Real
Another season of Real Housewives of New York (or as urban sophisticates allegedly call it, RHONY) has come to a close. Before I get into it, I want to make clear that I do not really consider myself a person who “watches” the Real Housewives. I’ve only done the past few seasons of RHONY and the one season of Beverly Hills that featured Lisa Rinna and Eileen Davidson, both of whom I remember from the days when Days of Our Lives (or DOOL, if you will) was truly insane. We’re talking like pregnancy faking, live burying, demonic possessing insane. But anyway, the point is that my interest in the housewives is casual at best, even if it might seem super intense and obsessive based on everything I say here.
Full disclosure: I have also seen various housewives of other cities in their appearances on Celebrity Apprentice, which I also want to make absolutely clear I do not “watch.”
Anyway, this season was all right. I mean, I kind of lose all credibility because I really enjoyed last season, which was the lowest rated ever, and featured like four episodes of a vacation in Montana. But I thought this season was a step up from that. I was previously rather unfamiliar with Bethenny (if not her alcohol), but I enjoyed her running commentary on all the other women. Clearly everyone is afraid of her and it’s something to behold. Carole seems to have had some truly excellent work done, and provides a nice laid back counterpoint to everyone else’s hysteria. Sonja is like a Tennessee Williams character played for laughs, though there comes a point in every season where I genuinely become very concerned about her mental health. Heather seems kind of redundant now that Bethenny’s there, Kristen has always just kind of stood there blinking, and Dorinda is at least an entertainingly incomprehensible drunk. The Countess and I have a complex relationship, but I do admire her statement jewelry. And Ramona’s always made me nuts, but at least she’s somewhat more grounded now that she’s been publicly cheated on and dumped by a man who just last season wrote and sang a horrible lite jazz number in her honor.
These are my thoughts. Now I can hopefully use my brain for more important things. Although I do still have the three-part reunion special to contend with.
