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"I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives

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otherginger
11/05/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
My father, Harvard/MIT grad rocket scientist of 75, confessed to me he thought he'd watch two minutes of an Orange County episode and was confounded to find himself sucked into the entire episode (I did not ask if the cleavage helped - this is my DAD). The housewives are repulsive and yet fascinating - in fact, the more repulsive (hi, Kim!) the more fascinating. Anyway, I watch em all. Not ashamed. I enjoy feeling superior to people who have lots more money than I do. #therealhousewives
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maybeimamazed02
11/05/09

@otherginger: My mom has a master's degree and a high-profile marketing job. Guess who got me and my sister watching The Girls Next Door? #therealhousewives
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lurkerbynature
11/05/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
I can give a pass to schadenfreude, the prurient interest in watching people act horribly, and the feeling of "well, at least I'm notthat bad." They might not be the most noble reasons for entertainment, but they're valid.

The idea that these characters are any sort of "archetypical women," however, I find completely offensive.
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Breamworthy promoted this comment Edited by lurkerbynature at 11/05/09 8:06 AM lurkerbynature was starred lurkerbynature was unstarred

rednrowdy
11/05/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
cohen, like joe francis and his franchise, would defend the show to his death because it makes him money. #therealhousewives
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BeckySharper
11/05/09

@rednrowdy: exactly. #therealhousewives
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Diziet_Sma
11/05/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
Can't stand these shows. It's lowest common denominator television that validates and encourages their juvenile behavior and generally horrible values - extreme greed, extreme competitiveness, extreme vanity, extreme materialism etc. Yeah, I said it.
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Edited by Diziet_Sma at 11/05/09 1:01 AM Diziet_Sma was starred Diziet_Sma was unstarred

first man
11/05/09

@Diziet_Sma: I don't know that it validates and encourages the behavior so much as it calls these people out. At least, that's the way I see it because I could NEVER act like these women. And honestly, after seeing all of the shit that happened in Atlanta, I have really been watching myself with what I say about other people. It may be a weird source of inspiration, but the Real Housewives has kind of changed how I view my relationships with other women. For the better. Yes, it shows these women being complete asses to each other but maybe it's important for people to see that. Sometimes examples of what NOT to be are just as important as images of what we SHOULD be. #therealhousewives
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Diziet_Sma
11/05/09

@first man: The fact that the show even exists is a validation, and the producers undoubtedly encourage their worst excesses: such is the nature of 'reality' TV. I hear what you're saying about the way you watch it - and hey, each to her own; it's only a matter of personal taste - but not all its viewers are as intelligent and thoughtful as you, or most Jez commentors, for that matter. I'm sure there are many who watch it and actually aspire to be like those women. *Shudder*
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Edited by Diziet_Sma at 11/05/09 2:11 AM Diziet_Sma was starred Diziet_Sma was unstarred

BeckySharper
11/05/09

@Diziet_Sma: It totally makes fun of their competitiveness, greed, materialism, etc. Those women look like fools and are held up to public ridicule and contempt for their behavior. I don't think it glorifies them at all--except perhaps in their own minds, which is part of why the joke's on them. #therealhousewives
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Diziet_Sma
11/05/09

@BeckySharper: I guess that kind of humor is so obviously and clumsily set-up that I don't even find it funny; just tedious. Still, it would be a boring old world if we were all the same.
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Edited by Diziet_Sma at 11/05/09 5:36 PM Diziet_Sma was starred Diziet_Sma was unstarred

Kayleigh R. Carter
11/04/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
"Yes, the Real Housewives are full of themselves, but it's kind of exciting to watch women who are unafraid to assert how important they are."

But they aren't important, and no matter how many times they assert that they are, it never becomes true. I suppose that's why I don't find it exciting, or liberated, I find it pathetic.

Example: every tweet ever from Kim. #therealhousewives
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hughman
11/04/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
i'm probably hooked on the shows because after all their whining, posing, unrealistic grandstanding and drunken outbursts i keep hoping for the scene where i see their behavior come back to bite them in the ass and they majorly fail. will that scene ever come? probably not and if it does dribble onto the screen it certainly won't live up to the comeuppance i feel they deserve. #therealhousewives
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jigglyball
11/04/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
Archetype? Unless desiring your 15 minutes of fame has become an archetypal quality, I don't think that word means what he thinks it means. #therealhousewives
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Penny
11/04/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
I find no reason to watch this show, or The Hills, or whatever else. However, I also find no reason to judge others for doing so. It's not like I am sitting on my vintage leather chair smoking a pipe and drinking scotch while I read Shakespeare every night. #therealhousewives
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femme-bot
11/04/09

In reply to "I Would Defend This Show To My Death:" Evaluating The Real Housewives
"Independent women"? Don't most of them live off of rich boyfriends or husbands? #therealhousewives
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