"Real" Housewives?

I was over at my parent's house the other night and caught the finale of The Real Housewives of D.C. on Bravo.

I've never really watched much of the reality shows on Bravo as they just don't really seem to interest me, but my mom watches this one from time to time and had it on.

I was drawn into it as this episode featured the Salahi couple "crashing" the State Dinner at the White House last year and I was interested to see how they got in and then the aftermath, as I don't really recall hearing what the outcome was. I had no clue at the time it happened that they were part of this reality series.

Anyways, it was interesting to see how these women interacted with each other - only one, Stacie (who seemed to be the most genuine one on the show), seemed to actually be friends with Michaele Salahi, while the rest seemed to hate her and gathered together in anticipation to watch the trials, etc that were on C-SPAN.

Cat, the British chick married to a White House photographer, was pretty amusing as she seemed to have no sensor on her mouth, speaking her mind without thinking twice. Granted, she had a right to be pretty pissed off - having an association with the Salahi's, she was uninvited to the White House Christmas dinner that she had been looking forward to for a long time and there was talk that her husband's job was now in jeopardy.

I don't get how these women are considered to be Housewives of DC when the fact is, only one of them actually resides in DC! Sure, they're all active in the DC social scene, but 3 of them live in Virginia and another seems to live in a suburb of Maryland. At least live in the city you're supposed to be "representing."

And really, these women seem to be more Trophy Wives or social climbers than actual housewives. My mom's been a housewife for 26 years now, raising both me and my sister while my dad worked. Housewives cook and clean, they take care of the kids running them to and from, they do the grocery shopping... these women on these "real" housewives shows live in elaborate, expensive houses - they show them in the kitchen from time to time, but I really doubt they do all the cooking and cleaning themselves - odds are they have maids or help. They seem more concerned about spending money decorating their elaborate homes and getting together with these other housewives whom they probably don't even really like, just for the cameras to boost their social status! Sure, my mom goes out for coffee once a week with friends and she has her Bible study stuff twice a week, but she does that while my sister is in school. She does some sewing and costuming on the side, but the majority of her time is spent running around with family or making sure the house looks decent for when my dad is home.

I once caught an episode at a friend's of that Bethanny Getting Married show, in which I guess she's a former one of these housewives and she has a live-in nanny to help take care of her newborn baby, bringing the kid to her in the middle of the night for feeding so she doesn't even have to get out of bed! Seriously - be a real housewife and do it yourself!

Granted, I've only seen one episode, but I think if you're going to do a show about "real" housewives, then really do a show about REAL housewives - follow some regular, everyday mother's around for a bit and show the world what a REAL housewife looks like.