Real Housewives of Orange County

Five seasons ago, when the hit BRAVO Network series "The Real Housewives of Orange County" debuted, it was a show about five upper income housewives and their families living in mini-mansions inside the tony Orange County, Calif., gated community of Coto de Caza. In seasons one and two, most of the shows revolved around the ladies going to lunch and gossiping about each other, their spouses and their children. Most wives and spouses worked in businesses directly involved with or related to the then-booming Orange County real estate market.

A show about something

By season five, the Orange County real estate bubble had popped and this show about nothing became a show about something: the dying American Dream. It's become a real-life reenactment of Aesop's Grasshopper and the Ant fable.

Vicki Gunvalson, the longest running of the Housewives, is the embodiment of the Grasshopper, a Type-A self-made insurance business tycoon who works hard and plays hard. She is also cast as the series "villain," the self-centered chief gossip instigator.

The Ants are the housewives and husbands who have been suddenly trashed in the real estate marketplace. Lynne and her construction business husband, along with their two children, have been evicted from their posh Laguna Beach rental not long after she had another expensive plastic surgery procedure. Tamra, a once-prosperous real estate professional, and her husband are on the rocks because of finances. Yet both Tamra and Lynne still go to lunch and gossip despite their drastically changed economic circumstances.

Other Cast Members

The other Orange County Housewife stock character is the young hussy mistress as group intruder. Season four's Gretchen and boyfriend Slade, the 40-something Coto de Caza resident slacker, are barely hanging on.

Alexis is season five's newest pampered Housewife/Ant, married to a building contractor who appears to still be financially successful. She is already clashing with Vicki the Grasshopper, who remains industrious and has become much less of a party animal now that the bubble has burst.

Stay tuned.