Lifting the Reality TV Veil: The Real Housewives

Andy Cohen
Photo Courtesy of Digitas Photos via flickr

Andy Cohen certainly got it right when it comes to reality TV.  For those of you who don't know, Andy Cohen is the brain behind The Real Housewives franchise and BravoTV programming.  He went from relatively unknown TV producer to celebrity host of Watch What Happens Live!, Real Housewives producer, Real Housewives Reunion host, author and BravoTV executive.  To put it simply, Andy Cohen is the face of BravoTV.  Cohen found television gold in Housewives.  He described seeing women living "behind the gates" thinking it would be fascinating to document their lives.  The reality TV boom had arrived and the airwaves were ripe for a hit.

And what a hit he had.  The Real Housewives took pop culture by storm.  What started as one show grew into a franchise.  The original show launched as The Real Housewives of Orange County.  The ladies of the OC were so successful there are now franchises in Beverly Hills, Dallas, New York, New Jersey, Potomac and Atlanta (not to forget the defunct D.C. and Miami franchises).  The franchise has even gone international with BravoTV hitting the airwaves in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.  The Real Housewives of Melbourne and Ladies of London have become hits in their own right.

What we, the audience, loved was the peek inside their private lives.  It was fascinating to see women with money, power and, in some cases, royal titles running around exclusive circles.  Not to mention the fact that the interaction between the ladies was epic.  Cohen has mentioned that the winning equation is usually when the women have prior relationships or at least know each other prior to coming on the show.  It brings to the show an entire history of real issues to exploit.  If you watch the New Jersey franchise you know exactly what he means.

Unlike the Housewives, many of the first reality shows were aimed at teens and young adults.  A perfect example is the original reality TV show, MTV's The Real World which debuted in 1992.  The next generation arrived with shows like The Hills and Laguna Beach.  It was later exposed that some of those shows were soft-scripted with producers texting lines to the cast as they had conversations on camera.  It was even exposed that many of the relationships were faked for the show.  The Housewives franchise, however, brought something different.  First, the cast was made up of women not girls.  Second, real things were happening on these shows.  We watched families grow as new babies were born and saw marriages disintegrate before our eyes.  We watched Bethenny Frankel go from no-name skinny chef to founder of the Skinnygirl empire.  We loved some and we loved to hate some, but it was great TV all the same.

Season 3, New York Housewives
Photo Courtesy of Chief Fashionista via flickr

Then something changed.  It began with Jill Zarin and Bethenny Frankel on Season 3 of The Real Housewives of New York City.  The wives of New York City made up the first spin-off of the Housewives franchise and, along with the original OC ladies, were trailblazers for each new city that came along.  In Season 3, Jill Zarin, a wealthy outspoken star of the show, learned her BFF, break-out star Bethenny Frankel (a struggling chef and the only non-wealthy person on the show), was getting her own show and moving on without her.  An infuriated Zarin tried to ice-out Frankel from the show.  From the moment the cameras went up, Zarin made it clear she was at war.  The other wives admitted that Zarin had sent them messages telling them to refuse filming with Frankel.  Zarin did not want to give Frankel a "platform" to further her success.  Ultimately, the plan backfired as Frankel went on to Skinnygirl fortune and Zarin was eventually fired from the show.  But something was hatched, nonetheless.

As reality TV has grown, so has the influence of production, editing crews and even the wives themselves.  Honestly, it's not as much about reality as it is about entertainment and producing a show.  I have always suspected that production forced the wives to hang out with each other and attend the same events.  I knew many of the lunch dates and parties were manufactured for the show.  They need the interactions after all.  Former New York Housewife, Alex McCord, has described the interference played by production on her show The Real Deal with Alex McCord.  But that was nothing.  Now each wife has her own producer, who are at every event along with the cameras.  Production shapes what topics are talked about, what topics get filmed, and even what time certain cast members arrive to events (they have been known to make certain cast members purposely late to create drama).  But it doesn't stop there. 

New York Housewife Bethenny Frankel;
Photo Courtesy of Boss Tweed via flickr

The cast is also now involved in shaping the "reality" that is caught on camera.  The icing-out technique, for example, is a favorite tactic of the wives.  As I explained earlier, Jill Zarin was the mastermind behind this technique which has caught on like wildfire.  The wives, especially the break-out stars and fan favorites, have realized they can dictate who is cast on the show.  They throw a fit with producers, refuse to film with certain cast members and encourage other cast members to do the same.  First, Zarin tried it with Frankel.  In a strange twist, on the latest season of New York, Frankel herself attempted to ice-out veterans Sonja Morgan and Countess Luann de Lesseps.  New Jersey's Teresa Guidice iced-out her own family members, Melissa Gorga, Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri.  Then Beverly Hills' Lisa Vanderpump and Kyle Richards iced-out Brandi Glanville and attempted to ice-out Lisa Rinna.  Most recently, OC housewife, Heather Dubrow was shown in an un-aired scene storming out of a group dinner, demanding to talk to producers and refusing to film with newbie Kelly Dodd.  She made it very clear she wanted Kelly off the show.  The stars are attempting to control the show, right down to the casting.

In addition to that, the cast now fights to fill certain manufactured roles that are now embedded in the show.  If you watch enough, and sadly I do, you will see certain themes and code words pop up across all cities in the franchise.  For example, there are now roles that are manufactured on each show.  You will hear stars from several different cities refer to themselves as "Lucy and Ethel."  New York's Jill Zarin and Bethenny Frankel, New Jersey's Teresa Guidice and Jacqueline Laurita and Beverly Hills' Lisa Vanderpump and Kyle Richards have all referred to themselves in this way.  You will also hear the phrase "frick and frack."  Atlanta's Phaedra Parks and Porsha Williams and New York's Countess Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan proudly take that moniker, just to mention a few.

In addition, code words are created for the cast by production.  The best example is the term "friend."  Because not all of the women enjoy hanging out with each other, it became confusing about how to refer to the other wives while on camera.  Obviously, the term "castmate" would take away from the reality of the show.  Therefore, you will notice that the wives from every city refer to each other as "friend," especially during the reunions.  The wives now speak to each other in code in order to stay in "reality" on camera.  Not only is it evident that the wives strategize off-season about what will be talked about on camera, and more importantly what will not, they also make pacts with each other creating "teams."  Many of the ladies have capitalized on this by selling "Team Jill" or "Team Bethenny" style t-shirts. 

Beverley Hills Housewives Vanderpump and Richards
Photo Courtesy of Greg Hernandez via flickr

The collusion between production and cast is going to be the eventual downfall of The Housewives franchise.  The reality TV veil was lifted for me during last season's reunion, Season 6, of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  Beverly Hills is home to the master manipulator herself, star Lisa Vanderpump, who also acts as executive producer on another BravoTV show, Vanderpump Rules.  Vanderpump has got this game down to a science.  I watched last season's reunion and suddenly saw, quite clearly, the manipulation tactics at work.  In fact, Lisa Rinna called Vanderpump out on some of them which explains the ice-out that subsequently occurred.  The worst example was Vanderpump's use of Kim Richards, who has a serious addiction problem, to make Lisa Rinna look bad and Kathryn Edwards (who Vanderpump wanted on the show) look good.  It ultimately did not work, as Edwards was axed from the show, but it nearly ruined my love affair with the housewives.  I can now see all of the tactics at work as the show airs and it certainly removes the mystique.

The lack of reality on reality TV has made the forum lack luster.  We loved watching the wives at events or raising their kids, forced to deal with those they do not like.  Now they simply get each other written off the show and destroy each others characters.  The Housewives franchise is a well-produced, well-oiled machine.  The manufactured culture of the show that has developed, however, will eventually be its downfall.  Production and cast interference most likely marks the beginning of the end of the level of success shows like the Housewives have seen.  Sure, they will stick around, but they will never be the same unless execs like Andy Cohen put an end to programming control by cast and production teams.  If not, reality TV such as the Housewives will simply become regular, old TV.