The Real Housewives of Orange County

Seriously? This is what society sees as "entertaining?" What's so entertaining about this? It's nothing but a bunch of episodes of a bunch of drama queens with their mindset stuck in high school, always bickering and complaining of the stupidest little thing possible. Seriously! They need to grow up! What's so interesting about them? Someone just kill off this show already.

I do enjoy this show, and I can only chalk it up to "guilty pleasure". As a woman who has as much money as them I am not envious of their money, but it does make me feel good to know that I don't present myself as a fake bimbo hungry for 15 minutes of "fame". It's always nice to know that at least you don't portray yourself as badly as others do. Also, having always been a natural beauty, I marvel at the frozen faces these women want to have as well as the overblown lips and fake boobs. At least they give the plastic surgeons something to do! I don't care one way or another what they do with their faces, but it does bother me that they slaughter the English language so much.

Tamra, in particular. She held up her shirt tonight and said "you have to show your tots". Of course she meant tits, but she thinks it's cute to say it as a cross between "tots" and "tats". Because you know, that's Valley girl talk and that is going to make her look young, right? That's her reasoning. Tamra, wake up and realize you are in your 50's now and you can stop the "cute talk" and your kids might not be so embarrassed! Also Gina seems like a nice girl. She is probably going to stop slouching so much after watching herself on this season. She could cool it with the vocal fry. If you don't know what vocal fry is, google it because it is driving me really super crazy! I like Gina and Emily seems sincere as well.

Finally, for any young people out there watching this show please know that this is NOT how the real world is, people DO grow up and become intelligent, loving people who do not act like arrested development, personality disorder junior high school women like the stars of this show act. Don't despair; junior high does not continue on forever. It's just that these women have chosen to act this way for one reason or another and the producer Andy Cohen does not want intelligent, talented women to be shown on reality TV.

Once I'd seen the trailers for the show I knew it would be hard to watch and hard not to!

As for the complete reality of the show - which is like the other shows, doubtful - I can only draw a distinction in themes: in reality TV, the " little guy'" is pitted against an adversary larger than life, the message being that the little guy can win against the odds, that we are all, in some ways, heroes. This show gives the opposite message: that we are all victims of forces beyond our control. The show is bittersweet because these women, their communities, their families, are incapable of rising above the clichés and traps of too much cash, too much free time...and too much high hair!!

It is hard to stomach so much tackiness without a trace of irony or humor ( Footballer's Wives deals with the same kind of characters, but better). These women are deadly dull, and marriage looks less like a sacred institution worth protecting, and more like a form of prostitution! Thank god for the gates which keep them inside, an effective quarantine for the rest of us. I chuckled when I heard one of these dames complain about downgrading to a 2500 sq. ft home!

But as I considered it- or tried to consider it seriously - I decided that for women such as these that would be a calamity, which is disgusting if it weren't so pathetic. Conspicous consumption? how about contemptuous consumption! And where is CPS? Shouldn't they be alerted to the abused children in these gilded cages? But all this said I do think the show should be watched if only for its shock value: evidently hair hoppers and 80's has been skeezers do win out, even if no one else does. I hope this show does not see broadcast outside of America. We don't need another 5 reasons for the world to despise us

Vicki, I am also a woman in my 40's approaching 50 like you and I have got to ask you, what in god's name are you doing with a man like Brooks. I have never written anything on the internet ever, so this is a first but I watch your show and when I see you and Brooks together I honestly think I'm going to puke. Why when you are talking to this man you look and act like a 13 yr. school girl with tears in your eyes looking pathetically desperate. I'm sorry but you should know how you look because I feel sorry for you. You are a intelligent, smart and beautiful woman and I see you with this guy you had to buy teeth for who has not always been so nice to you and for sure has an agenda of his own. You look at him almost in every scene asking him "Oh Brooks what are we, do you like me, I need a boy in my life, help me Brooks, I love you, I'm so in love with you, why can't we be together, are we together, I don't know what we are, what are we. Oh dear lord Vicki really, and on top of that you are asking your daughter to try to forgive a man she thinks is a pig and a loser that she does not want her mother with on any level. I'm with Brianna on this one. I mean what is it about this guy, what is it you can't live without? It has to be one thing and its the same thing that would make you run from a guy like you were on fire if it was bad and tiny and you know what I'm talking about. It always comes down to sex. Nobody and I mean nobody stays with bad sex and if you or they do... somebody is cheating. Listen, I am just voicing my opinion like everybody else and I guess just want to see you spared misery and heartache. One more thing, if you do end up staying with this guy, just own it, please stop with the we hardly see each other, we don't talk that much, why are you hiding it. Goodluck,KB

I tried to like this show. This is supposed to be about five women living in Coto de Caza, an exclusive community near Mission Viejo,CA. Jeana, Kimberly, Vicki, Lauri and Jo.

Lauri is divorced, has three children and cannot figure out why her two oldest children have no sense. Lauri goes to juvenile court (son Josh is in trouble) looking like she's about to hit a bar. Lauri once lived in Coto and now she is out of the net living on the perimeter. Lauri seems pathetic to me. Her daughter Ashley is a ding dong and is apathetic. Josh seemed to exude almost a sad persona. His life isn't great and trouble follows him everywhere. Even so, you feel sympathy for him. No air time was given to the youngest child. Lauri has a penchant for hooking up with losers and doesn't grasp that this behavior has an adverse affect on her children.

Jo, from Peru (she speaks with no accent and is very California girl)is engaged to Slade. He has children from previous relationships and Jo just doesn't want to be a mother yet. She likes to drink and party which is a bone of contention between her and Slade. You know from the beginning that Jo has no business being anyone's fiancée at this point in her life. Jo is twenty-four and Slade somewhere in his thirties. Slade wants things a certain way and Jo cannot conform herself to be a housewife and mother. There is a put-up flirt scene between her and Jeana's son in one episode when he comes over to shoot bunnies out of Jo's flower beds. Slade walks in and quickly goes into caveman mode. You know that something is wrong with this picture. People who love each other don't act this way. Credibility of this couple went out the window in this episode.

Jeana and Kimberly are the true real housewives. They love their families dearly and even though I was disappointed in one scene where Kimberly and her friends are having a luncheon and one of her "friends" makes a derogatory remark about flirting with Puerto Ricans or considering them a step above other undesirables was, very off putting. I would have loved Jo to have been there because I'm sure that statement would not have been uttered. Kimberly and her husband are a nice couple with children. They have good children. The only cloud in the sunny picture is that Kimberly keeps getting melanomas. She has survived and doesn't want to leave her children and husband because "no one will love them as much as I do".

Jeana, former Playboy Playmate is now a middle aged wife and mother of three. Jeana is very likable and I would have liked for the show to have been about her and her family. Jeana works hard, loves her family. The only cloud here is the strange behavior of her husband Matt. He was injured in his baseball days and seems to wander in and out of scenes. Son Shane is trying to keep the Keough name firmly in baseball. Not much on this family other than the barbecue scene Jeana hosts for the neighbors and she and son Shane figure Slade and Jo's relationship dynamics out.

Vicki is the least likable. She is frenetic, and very A.D.D. She is into every aspect of her family's life. She is successful in the insurance business and Lauri works for her. She is a self described M.I.L.F. (as none of her son's friends ever mention the fact that they think that she is) and brags that she tries to keep her self fit. Vicki has a son and daughter. Her son doesn't seem to know the value of earning a dollar. Daughter Briana on the other hand, seems to have her head together. At least her mother taught her to be self sufficient.

The problem with this show is that even though these privileged people live in Coto, their houses look just like any other ordinary house in any city's upscale neighborhood. In one scene, when Jo and Slade break up, the cameras zoom in on Jo's canary yellow diamond engagement ring sitting in a large square box from Tiffany. Are they trying to suggest that the ring came from Tiffany? That box is just like the one where my Tiffany heart tag bracelet came in. Notice that Jo is wearing hers in the episode where she gets a job. Another scene of just plain manipulation of the show, is when Kimberly and her husband go shopping for another car. They show us a price tag of a vehicle that costs $152,000.00. They buy a Lexus but the price of that is never shown because hey...normal people can afford that too. I also disliked the flirt scene between Shane and Jo. That was just not needed and had no merit.

Jeana and Jo need to get themselves to a hair dresser and get their hair styled and updated. Kimberly, Vicki and Lauri need to get to a professional colorist and get their hair done in a natural shade of blond. Seems to me if you live in Coto, you should attempt to look and dress like you have money. I think that Lauri dresses like she's in her early twenties and her bosoms are always exposed. She is a sad commentary on an older woman trying to look younger. I do have to say that I hope that I can look half as good as Kimberly does in her tennis skirt when I'm her age.

All in all, I think this show could have been much better had it focused on Jeana, Kimberly and Lauri. These three had potential in having their home situations become more acceptable by a sympathetic viewing audience. You just can't muster up enough tears for Jo and Vicki's lives. They leave you cold.