“The ‘Real’ ‘Housewives’ of ‘Atlanta’”
October 8, 2008 at 6:45 pm by Helen Herbst in A&E
“Image is everything in Atlanta.”
“In Atlanta, money and class give you power.”
“Everybody wants to be in Atlanta. It’s hot!”
These are just a few of the tips I picked up watching the premier of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” last night. It was all news to me, and I’ve lived in Atlanta my whole life. (Marietta, technically, but if these women — in their 15,000-square-foot mansions in the gated communities of north Georgia — live in Atlanta, then so do I.) I’ve never had money or class or a cake in the shape of a Louis Vuitton bag, but I’ve still managed to scrape by. And it’s definitely true that Atlanta is hot. Sometimes very hot.
The show tries to paint Atlanta as a “black Hollywood,” an angle that surprised and nearly delighted me (at the very least, it provides a different backdrop than in its “Real Housewives” predecessors “of Orange County” and “of New York”). This notion is perhaps the truest idea expressed in the first episode, though it’s as misleading as the show itself.
The titular “Real Housewives” are Lisa, DeShawn, NeNe, Kim (the token white woman) and Shereé. Most of them live in huge, echoey houses overlooking rolling vistas in grand suburbs. They’re married to — or divorced from — NFL players, NBA stars and real estate moguls. Kim’s boyfriend/benefactor is an unnamed, unseen celebrity — a multi-millionaire she refers to as “Big Papa” (not, I discovered through no research, that same Big Daddy from Bravo’s “Top Design”). Those who are married with kids, hire nannies, governesses, maids, estate managers. There’s hardly any actual “housewife-ing” going on. The women are, as Bravo promised, superficial spenders with “class,” but little etiquette. They choose purses over principles, and each one considers herself a success. They are by no means bad women; they’re simply misled.
I was raised by a real housewife of Atlanta. She moved from Chicago with her airline-employed husband to be near Hartsfield. She settled into a brown house in a good school district. She had a child (her third) and a divorce (her second). She had a drinking problem and the determination to overcome it. My mother took care of my sisters and me without a lot of money, without a governess. She worked overnights stocking shelves at Kroger, and as a clerk at now long-defunct video stores. She was an artist — a fairly well-known and respected artist, but an artist nonetheless — and a steady job and comfortable lifestyle were foreign concepts.
We were never rolling in dough. We were never rolling in style, but she provided for us and managed to put herself through school, even as the walls crumbled around her. She is now out of Atlanta, working on her second master’s degree. She’s been sober for 18 years. I still live in that (slightly crumbly) brown house (though the school district has changed), on that foundation my mom gave me. She was real in a way no reality can touch.
These “housewives” are so unreal, even their purses have been Botoxed. I’m a little insulted that these women, entertaining though they are, are now the diplomats for our fair city.
If there really were truth in advertising (tongue-in-cheek approach duly noted), the show would be called “Six Uncommonly Rich Women, Some of Whom are Married, Who Live within an Hour-and-a-Half of the Atlanta Perimeter.”
(Photo courtesy Bravo TV)
October 8th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
“Six Uncommonly Rich Women, Some of Whom are Married, Who Live within an Hour-and-a-Half of the Atlanta Perimeter.” – Funny, but it wouldn’t sell.
Frankly, I think it’s a lame show that does nothing for “reality”. Oh well, so much for “reality tv”…
October 8th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
It might be nice if one of the women actually lived in Atlanta. So the rest of the country is supposed to be enthralled by 5 suburbanites shopping at Belks and eating at Chilis?
October 9th, 2008 at 12:26 am
As someone who pay taxes to the city of Atlanta, I’m appalled the city doesn’t sue Bravo for slander.
If this show were to attract anyone to our city, I wouldn’t want those kind of people.
Of course upon arrival they would take one look at the real Atlanta, hop in their Escalade and safely retreat away to Alpharetta. Only to return for Lenox, Phillips and flights to and from Hartsfield-Jackson.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I feared this show would be a disaster as soon as I watched the 30 min. preview several weeks ago, and the debut episode didn’t disappoint. I’m not even from Georgia, and I know those aren’t “real housewives” of Atlanta–if you consider Duluth part of the city (I don’t). It reminded me of MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16″ where the only change was age–not attitude, maturity or class. I’m embarrassed that these women are representing my city, and I shall not be watching again.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Honestly why are you all hating on these women you can’t get mad because they’re doing something that you want to I’m happy for them “get that money” one thing about BLACK PEOPLE they’re always putting each other down it’s just entertainment gosh let it rest I live in Miami and I love the show girls do your thang if it’s real or not love yall
October 25th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
If You have that much time to critique these women and their lifstyles…There is no wonder you don’t have their MONEY! Stop Hating…You would exchange your lifestyle for theirs in a HEARTBEAT!
October 25th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
If You have that much time to critique these women and their lifstyles…There is no wonder you don’t have their MONEY! You would exchange your lifestyle for theirs in a HEARTBEAT!
October 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I KNOW THAT’S RIGHT!! I LOVE NE-NE…I WISH SHE WAS MY PLAY- AUNTIE..lol
October 29th, 2008 at 5:17 am
The thing is that these women are soooooo New Money it’s disgusting. That’s why they hate on eachother. It’s disgusting. Is it because they are black that they seem so new money? All the other seasons were much more classy. This season has an actual hooker (Kim) who takes money from an un-named man (big poppa), geez that’s what hookers call their pimps! I can’t wait til the original ladies of the OC come back!
November 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
that shouldnt be any haters i was watchim the show today
March 27th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Even though this show is entertaining, it might be painting a negative picture of our find city.
September 18th, 2009 at 9:23 am
The show is entertaining, but people shouldn’t take it as true representation of what the people of Atlanta (or burbs) are like.
September 18th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Tardy for the party much?