NYC Tabloids Gets Defensive About Reality Show Mocking NYC Rich

Hahahahha! The New York City press (as represented by a couple of tabloids) is getting all defensive about something really inane - the new Bravo reality show The Real Housewives of New York City. "We're not like that!" they yell, or rather, "Our Wives are not like that!"

First the Post...




DON'T BUY THIS 'WIVES' TALE - New York Post:

March 3, 2008 -- NEW YORKERS, prepare to be insulted. Also get ready to be disgusted and en raged.
These are just some of the feelings likely to rise up inside you if you watch "The Real Housewives of New York City," a new reality TV show starting tomorrow night on the Bravo cable channel.

It's not likely you'll be shouting "Bravo!" after getting a look at the five status-hungry, money-mad matrons whom Bravo has chosen to represent New York City before a national TV audience.

Thanks, Bravo, for bringing this great city - with its more than 8 million residents representing every known corner of the globe - down to the level of brain-dead Orange County, Calif. - the land of lookalike McMansions where the first "Real Housewives" series was spawned.

On that show, viewers got a chance to gape open-mouthed with amazement as a group of bleached-blond Stepford wives bragged about their breast implants and face-lifts.
Were they fairly representative of Orange County's "real" housewives? I wouldn't know - I don't know Orange County from the Orange Bowl.

But I do know New York. And while the five "housewives" of this new Bravo series (one of whom is not actually a wife) surely represent a certain kind of woman who lives here, they in no way represent the vast majority of women - married or single - whom most of us know.

Okay. Adam wants to emphasize that the women on The Real Housewives of New York City are not, in fact, "real" New Yorkers.

The NY Daily News, too!



Poor excuse for N.Y. 'Housewives' - NY Daily News:

Just a few more programs like "The Real Housewives of New York City," and television will be able to start a whole new 24/7 channel.
We'll call it "Ridicule the Rich."

Only thing is, it would be nice if future programs in the genre would be a little better than this one, which is as shallow as its subjects.

"The Real Housewives of New York City" follows five women through their New York lives, which isn't a bad premise, except that saying these women represent "New York housewives" is like saying Alex Rodriguez represents the New York working class.

Same issue. Is this news to them that Reality Shows are not statistically representative of the populations described in their title?



At least the NY Times takes a look with a bit more comfortable remove:

At the moment there is a glut of series focused on high-heeled and high-stepping New York women, notably “Lipstick Jungle” on NBC and “Cashmere Mafia” on ABC, which could mean that television shows about lifestyles of the rich and famous are recession-proof. If nothing else “The Real Housewives of New York City” helps test the market.