"Real Housewives" Franchise Needs a Face Lift

When the "Housewives" franchise began with the "Real Housewives of Orange County" show, it was entertaining and fun to watch. With the sorry state our economy is in, it was nice to take an hour out of our lives each week to watch a group of wealthy women spending time together and opening up their lives to the public. The interaction with the women spending large amounts of money and having cocktails in the middle of the afternoon was somewhat like watching a real life soap opera. I thought the show was originally based on affluent married housewives that lived a lavish lifestyle and were thrown in with a group of ladies that were living a similar life, but many of the ladies now are single so that doesn't make them a "Real Housewife". It takes away what the show was supposed to represent and has moved in another direction - just another reality show.

I was happy to hear that the 'Real Housewives' franchise was done expanding - The Miami and DC shows were not worth another season so I am glad they were dumped from the line up, however they still have a lot of work to do to retain the current fans and increase thier viewers. Great job on the firing of some of the New York cast, BUT they should have given "The Countess" a pink slip too. She comes across as pompous, arrogant and simply boring and I can't bear to listen to one more episode of her trying to sing. Get rid of her and bring back Alex and Simon. I know Alex was recently trying to find her inner strength and went way overboard with her behavior, but at least they were one of the most entertaining couples in the Housewives franchise. I would also let the OC and Atlanta cast go!!! They are yesterdays news! Now when I tune into these two shows I don't know whether I am watching "The Bad girls Club" or "Basketball Wives". I know we all enjoy girls getting controversial, catty and nasty sometimes but these two shows have gone way beyond that. The only ladies on the Beverly Hills cast that are worth watching are Lisa, Camille and Adrienne. The sisters arguments (Kyle and Kim) are getting ridiculous and frankly just flat out old. Camille, Lisa and Adrienne truly represent what we picture when we think of REAL Beverly Hills housewives so if they add a few more women to the cast they will probably have one of the best shows of the franchise with this group.

The New Jersey Housewives used to be my favorite. I loved watching the Jersey show because it represented family. With all of the broken families in our country it was beautiful to see that families actually still gathered together to cook huge delicious meals and sit down for Sunday dinner. It was entertaining at first, but it started to go downhill. (They did a good job getting rid of Danielle - way too much negativity!) Dina and Jacqueline quit the show, which I thought was a good decision for them and the viewer. Now they need to pink slip Caroline Manzo. Ugghhh…I can't take anymore of her "Caroline Rules"….boring know-it-all has run it's course! They should base the New Jersey show around Teresa's family. Keep Teresa, Melissa and Kathy and pull in some other family members. Yes it would still have drama, jealousy and the normal rivalry but it would represent the true Italian Jersey family. It was absolutely ludicrous when all the ladies were getting pissed off about the introduction in Teresa's new cookbook. When Teresa said that everyone thinks she is funny like Lucille Ball, she truly believed what she was saying. You could tell that she seriously thought she not only put out a new cookbook but a cookbook with comedy! You can also tell that her friends and family are extremely important to her. Her biggest problem is her mouth, she doesn't know when to shut up and keep her comments to herself - but as the ladies always say "That's what makes Teresa-Teresa".

The "Real Housewives" franchise needs to get to work on making some modifications so we can continue to enjoy the NEW and IMPROVED real life soaps. They do not want this to become another "Jersey Shore" or "Kardashians" where we see the same people doing the same things each week. Everything in life demands constant maintenance and the Housewives franchise is in need of a major overhaul!