I developed a somewhat unhealthy addiction this fall television season. I typically pride myself on being above the really bad television trash, but I totally caved this fall. I've been keeping this problem to myself, but when I found out that I had company with Anderson Cooper, I figured "what the heck?" Yes, you know what I'm talking about: the genius trainwreck that is the Real Housewives of Atlanta. I sometimes will let 3 or 4 episodes of Gray's Anatomy go by and then it will occur to me that I have to watch it on abc.com, but I didn't miss one solitary second of Real Housewives (and neither did my fantasy football-addicted, political junkie husband, I might add). How could this happen to me? Where have I gone wrong? Can I delude myself that the show is an intreaguing anthropological experiment, thus having some semblance of educational value? Not a chance. The real reasons I tune in on Tuesdays at 8pm are these:
1) Kim, the token white chick who wears the wig (see inset photo), has an unbelievable talent for making Dior look like Forever 21 or possibly an adult entertainment outfit (see inset photo), is dating a married guy she calls "Big Papa" (who is really Atlanta real estate developer Lee Najjar, whose son is friends with Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt of The Hills fame, if you believe blogs like "The Frisky"), and refers to the screeching tone-deaf sound she makes when she opens her mouth as "this God-given singing talent";
2) the over-the-top NeNe, who has arguably demonstrated the best parenting skills in my humble opinion, recently found out that the man she calls Daddy is not really her father, has an irrepressible desire to allow her breasts to run free at all times, is married to a real estate investor who lost missed his true calling as a minister, and "BAM!" is a "free bird" -- I do like this one for sure;
3) Sheree, the soon-to-be ex-wife of pro football player Ed Whitfield, loves to talk about how classy she thinks she is, decided spontaneously to start a fashion line, perennial frenemy of NeNe, and allegedly has a "secret daughter";
4) DeShawn, everybody's friend and the token NBA wife, started the DeShawn Snow Foundation (something to do with girls' self-esteem) and decided spontaneously to throw the "Night of a Thousand Stars" gala to raise $1 million -- bless her heart, she ended up losing tens of thousands of dollars that night, but she gets points for trying;
5) Lisa, the newlywed and allegedly the ex-wife of singer Keith Sweat (seriously, what woman could take a lifetime of listening to "Twisted", "Nobody", and "Grind on You" ?), I used to think of her as the boring one until she threatened to flip Kim over the couch on the reunion show, and after seeing the outfit she wore (hello, shoulder pads!!) to NeNe's "Big Hats Brunch" I had a strong desire to nominate Lisa for Bravo network's fashion makover show What Not to Wear.
Like I said, a genius trainwreck. I can hardly wait for the second season and there is a possibility that I will consider purchasing the series on DVD so that I can enjoy the trainwreck over and over and over for years to come (which I will naturally hide behind a stack of Masterpiece Theatre DVDs -- I'm still not proud of this). As for the above-mentioned Gray's Anatomy, it is teetering precariously on the edge of jumping the shark and becoming less believable than General Hospital -- seriously, when Izzy started having sex with the phantom of her dead fiance, I had to draw the line.
