Who loves the Real Housewives?  I’m not talking real, real housewives here, the ones we possibly are, or perhaps grew up with, and know and love.  I’m talking Bravo Television’s version, the Real Housewives of Orange County,  New York, and currently, Atlanta.

Okay, I’ll go first.  Me!  I do!  I LOVE those ‘real’ housewives, in all their over the top showy displays of excess glory.  I adore the unabashed, unapologetic, in your face ‘reality’ of it all.  These women, these housewives, as they’re called, seem to have staff for every little aspect of their ‘ordinary’ lives.  Some of them don’t even want to hear complaints about the staff, cuz well, they have a staff member for that.  How real are the real housewives really?  Who cares - it’s Bravo!

Or maybe it’s the Bravo editing I enjoy, the way we come to believe we ‘know’ one of the wives, maybe even relate to one, and then, suddenly, wham, Bravo throws a curveball.  Said housewife is more, or less, than what we may have initially been led to believe.  Your favorite housewife might not be as shallow as you initially thought.  Heck, she’s created her very own foundation, which she wants you to donate merely tens of thousands of dollars to, in a single evening no less.  No wait, make that a million, what’s a few zeros, huh gals?

Well, that’s just part of the fun, right?  It’s hard not to get caught up in the dynamic of the neighborhood.  The drama, the infighting, the fashion, the cars, pools, summer homes in the Hamptons, private planes, and oh yeah, more cars.

So what, is what I say.  I still love them, and I know I’m not the only one.  Yeah, on a human scale, their ‘problems’ might seem trivial to the rest of us.  Gee, poor thing, left off the guest list at yet another huge social bash.  Let’s see, what else - husband got the wrong diamond watch for the birthday, but the one he got will do, heck, it’s even better!  Not getting along with their stylist, personal assistant,  publicist, trainer, housekeeper, butler, etc.?  No big deal people!  The agency will send someone else over pronto!

Seriously, I love them.  They are as human as you and I.  They have big hearts that pound beneath those cosmetically enhanced chests of theirs, don’t they?  Sensitivity exists in those huge brains under those carefully crafted highlights and haircuts, created in the comfort and privacy of their very own in home salons.  But all that is just maintaining their image remember.  It’s all about keeping up with the Jones’, and be fair here -  the Jones’ in the housewives worlds must be SUPER JONES’, as the Jones’ go.

Oh sigh, that made me tired there just thinking about that kind of living, that kind of pace, schmoozing, deal making, and social climbing.  What I mean to say about the Bravo Housewives is that I’d much rather watch them, than actually BE them, or live like them.  Am I a big hearted housewife?  Sure - why not?  Only minus the gowns, the valets, the butlers,  private jets, and well, the pool guy too.

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