Money Can't Buy You Class - or an Interesting Story Line

With the "Real Housewives of New York City" season finale behind us, I had to ask myself, just why do I watch this show? I'm not particularly interested in the lives of "housewives" or (in this case) so called society housewives, or "social register" type society (and their wannabees) in general. I really don't watch the other Bravo TV "housewives" shows, other than the occasional string of Orange County episodes. My apologies, it's not so sunny here on the East Coast so it can be nice to see the sun shining on all that blonde hair. And with Orange County you don't expect much more than blonde hair, boob jobs, and botox. It is what it is.

I am really more of a "Project Runway" fan, and Bravo TV really only came on my radar when "Project Runway" was created. I watched from the first season, participated a little on the Bravo TV message boards, and watched endless reruns. I even received a DVD of the first season as a Christmas gift. I still am angry that Austin Scarlett didn't make it in to the final three to show at Fashion Week, and I still think that it was Project Runway's best season ever, but for the presence of one Wendy Pepper.

I was devastated to hear that Project Runway might be cancelled, and fretted while whatever went on behind the scenes transpired resulting in Project Runway moving to the Lifetime Television Network. I was so Project Runway hungry during this period that I even enjoyed watching "The Fashion Show", Bravo TV's Project Runway replacement. Okay, so I only enjoyed it a little, because let's face it, it really wasn't very good at all. But I love Isaac Mizrahi and there is so little programming for creative people out there. In short, I made do.

I was disappointed though, when Project Runway finally returned because it was set in (eek) Los Angeles. Not that I have anything against Los Angeles. But when I think of fashion, I think of either Paris or New York. No offense, LA. LA is more music and movies and celebrities, not fashion. In the second season on Lifetime, Project Runway (hooray!) returned to New York where it belonged. Which brings me back to the Real Housewives of New York City.

Isn't there more to New York City than the Upper East Side or the Hamptons? Back and forth, back and forth. What do these women do other than gossip about each other? Isn't there anyone or anything else in their lives to talk about in a city as amazing and diverse as New York City? For example, Alex McCord mentioned that she "just opened 2 retail stores," What? Where? For whom? Were they her stores? Is she some sort of fashion rep since she lost her job after last season? And Bethenny. A book? What is she doing exactly with Skinny Girl? At least we saw her working a few times - giving a lecture to promote her book, handing out sandwiches for Pepperidge Farms, driving her silly little Skinny Girl VW bug. I'm not as interested in the PETA shoot because, quite frankly, I doubt they would have asked her to pose if she weren't on Real Housewives. Much as I doubt Kelly Bensimone would have been asked to pose for Playboy. In other words, not pretend work that came as a result of being on a reality show. Cutting a cheesy pop record or books on etiquette? Please. Like either or those would have happened or sold anything without the show. I want to see real women doing real work. Making it, not making it, struggling, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not so much. I mean, isn't that what New York is all about, for real?

So I realize that why I like (or used to like) the New York City Housewives is because of New York City. Not because their lives were so fabulously interesting. I mean, you can only attend so many luncheons, charity events, and horse shows. Even the fashion shows, which normally for me are a highlight and definitely a reason to tune in, were merely a backdrop to silly drama and bickering about what? Who remembers and who cares? The shuttling back and forth to the Hamptons is dizzying, and quite frankly, the place looks boring. So much is happening in Brooklyn, one of the housewives is even living there. How about shuttling across that bridge every once in a while? Oh, and maybe do so while not fighting about some silly disagreement to spoil it. Or allow one cast members view of a fashion show there as "classless" to translate.

I don't know what's going on with the decision makers at Bravo TV. I know there is a certain segment of people who do go for the throwing chairs or upturning tables type drama. But some are a little more sophisticated than that. Maybe not much, but maybe just a little. And so I worry about something that is just around the corner, that I should be really excited about, and that is "Work of Art: the Next Great Artist". I should be excited because art and fashion are really two things that just aren't represented on more mainstream television. This is why Project Runway was such a hit. Bravo tried to replicate Project Runway with The Fashion Show and missed, and it seems (at least from the previews) that it is trying to do the same with "Work of Art." Why oh why, Bravo, are you intent on reducing art making to a game show? I mean, fashion is hard enough, but art? Are the artists/contestants going to be given ridiculous (and possibly humiliating) challenges, then systematically voted off the the island until the "next great artist" (according to reality tv executives) remains? Where will the finale be? The Met, the MOMA? Will anyone have them?

Wouldn't it have been better to combine what IS a hit for Bravo TV i.e. the Housewives formula and put an art spin on it. Like find a group of artists that are connected somehow in, hmmm, New York City maybe, and show how they interact? Show us how they live, show us how they work, play, party. Show us if they make it or not, how they get by, maybe a real art gallery, art show or two? I'm sure there would be no shortage or drama there. And certainly no shortage of willing participants. But if you can't do that, Bravo, at least when you are choosing your "housewives" for whatever city or local, try to remember the word "real." The upper east side isn't the only part of NYC, just as all the women in New Jersey aren't Italian Americans hanging around beauty salons. So if you're going to be real, then be real, not ironically real as it is now. You know, put some reality in to your reality programming. Short of that, I can only hope that "Work of Art: the Next Great Artist" will at least be set in New York City, where it belongs.