The “Not So Real” Housewives of Atlanta

By Sarah Matheny on August 13th, 2009

• Share
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 2 Comments

There has been more buzz surrounding Bravo’s Real Housewives series than Britney on a Starbucks run (triple shot caramel macchiatto much?).  So when my husband had to work late on a Thursday night, and the kids had earned themselves an early bedtime due to an attempt to turn the cat into a finger painting masterpiece, I settled in with a glass of red wine and my DVR remote to see what Kim, Ne Ne, Sherree, Kandi and Lisa were all about.

My conclusion (and I’m channeling Mike Myers as “Linda Richman” on this one): the Real Housewives are neither “real” nor “housewives.”  Discuss.

• The “Housewives” are not shown caring for their children.  The only direct mother/child interaction I’ve witnessed this season was when Kandi explained to her daughter that she was getting a new daddy, and six new stepsiblings.  That went over well.  The other reference I’ve heard to “kids” was when Kim said that God could strike her kids dead if she was lying about spreading rumors about her “friend’s” husband being broke.  Yeah, I do that all the time.
• The “Housewives” are not shown caring for their homes. To be fair, Sheree was folding some laundry at the beginning of Episode 2, but NeNe quickly talked her out of it and convinced her to meet for drinks and to bawl out Kim instead.  Definitely priorities I can relate to.
• The “Housewives” are not shown caring for their husbands. In actuality, only two of the Housewives are wives at all.  The most foreign aspect of this, for me, has to be the time, money, effort and high-end makeup smearing tears that have gone into Sheree’s planning of an elaborate party to celebrate the end of her marriage.  The fight she had with her party planner over his lack of attention to her demands was epic.  Cripes, I didn’t even have a wedding planner and though we ran out of food and had our cake collapse, I only bawled out the deejay after he started playing TV theme songs.

Though, I can’t say with any confidence that The Real Housewives of Atlanta are true to their show title, I don’t think “The Wealthy Whackjobs of Atlanta” is quite as compelling of a title.  No matter what you call it, though, I’ll be tuning in.