Tuesdays are an interesting night for me. It is the one night I actually look forward to watching television. More than that it is probably the one night I actually routinely watch television. I can be heard almost interjecting the comment "I don't know what that is, I don't watch television" daily in response to my friends discussing ABC's newest show that will last for seven weeks. I suppose I've never been much of a TV junkie, but it definitely lost whatever luster it held in me when the Reality TV revolution began and actual quality shows such as Friends found new homes on TV Land. As a result I have very little idea as to what people my own age actually like and follow. Though I have a very good idea as to what Yuppies and senior citizens are up to after reading an abundance of New York Times articles and Turner Classic Movie weekly digest e-mails with my newfound spare time.
Of course I do watch television here and there. I usually get ready in the morning with the Today show, keep up to date daily in the afternoons with news and sports by watching ESPN and CNN for a half hour each at the gym, and remind myself I am not the only one who appreciates blunt honesty by watching Chelsea Lately before bed. Oh, and of course there is always Sex and the City that I don't consider television so much as it is a survival guide to my day. I just keep a disc of it in my DVD at all times and stop whatever I'm doing when a rerun comes on TV. Once in a great while though a show will catch my attention that I will actually schedule into my weekly schedule. One of those whiles has come. Or should I say returned, and done so brilliantly. Worst part of all it is a reality series. If anyone could do it though, Bravo could, and they have done so with The Real Housewives of New York.
I know of all the reality shows this may just be the most unrealistic, but that is just the problem. I really do believe these women live like this as unrealistic as it is to the average American's lifestyle. That's why it's so captivating. I'm sitting there wondering whether I want to be like them or just glad I don't have to be friends with anyone whose name I could not pronounce. Their social calendars are so full, their catfights so petty, and their wardrobes so glamorous. Of all the shows to become completely enamored with there seems to no be no good reason why this one. Yet every Tuesday at 9:00 I am just laughing away at LuAnn's hypocrisy with manners and wishing with all my might that I can be Jill and Bethenny's third musketeer.
Oddly enough I read a quote tonight that appeared in my Gmail inbox. It was from indie-folk singer Ani DiFranco who apparently once said, "Art may imitate life, but life imitates TV." Sadly I find this true. These days there are one too many Michael Scotts out there to tell who has been watching The Office and I think we are still seeing the effects of what happened to faithful Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's Simple Life followers. So really what I guess this all means is you should either be expecting a book on manners and etiquette or a health food line out from me any day.
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