This is a Bravo series that is heavily advertised in between more worthwhile programs.

My annoyance with this show (that I have actually not watched – the commercials are enough) is that it gives the impression to those who don’t know New York or its citizens, the idea that all women who live there are self-centered, wealthy narcissists, snobs, elitists, and hedonistic.

One “housewife” makes the comment that she doesn’t feel guilty for being privileged. Bless her heart, I don’t care if she feels guilty or not, but she should never get the impression that her footprint is doing anything but leaving a dent in the mud. And, if by chance, she should lose her privilege as well as having age catch up with her, she will begin to understand what she really doesn’t have.

The actress who utters this comment is reading from a script. In her personal life, she is probably just thrilled that she got a part, any part. Maybe in private life, she takes care of her ailing mother.

The characters depicted in this offensive series are unreal. New York, of course, has more than its share of really beautiful women, but that is because beautiful women from other places (including Ohio and Nebraska, etc.) go there in search of a career or more interesting life than what they see in their home towns.

But when they get there, they don’t turn into hedonistic bitches. They carry their hometown values with them. They get jobs as secretaries, or take drama classes, or wait on tables while getting a degree, or marry a co-worker from the ad agency. They have children and move to the burbs and the new young ones come in and do the same thing.

But this group is still only Manhattan. New York is also four other boroughs – The Bronx (a foreign country, really), Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Housewives live there too. Some of them speak poor English, are raising 5 children and volunteer at their local church in their “spare time”. For the most part, they raise intelligent children who make them proud.

Many New Yorkers lost loved ones at the World Trade Center on September 11. People who will never find their way onto a runway were devastated and carried signs with details about their husbands or wives or sons or daughters or cousins or best friends, hoping someone would recognize the person and give them information. (Incidentally, triage centers set up in nearby hospitals were not overrun with injured survivors. There were hardly any.)

For 10 minutes, the rest of the country found a way to relate to New Yorkers. I hope they don’t forget the common humanity they became aware of during that awful time. I hope they understand “Real Housewives” is total fiction, and cheap fiction at that.

xx, Teal