The housewives who star in Bravo’s Orange County series have deluded themselves to a major fallacy: that people are laughing with them. Every woman in the show thinks their catty infighting, rampant insecurity, and shameless self-promotion are being hidden behind their false smiles and fake breasts, but there’s not a single sympathetic character here. Just when one of them seems the victim of another’s petty wrath, they go ahead and do something utterly reprehensible or demonstrative of their own incompetence. The women of The Real Housewives of Orange County, along with the housewives of the other series, represent the epitome of American stupidity and our priority of pretty things over merit. These women view taking care of their own kids two days in a row as a major inconvenience, or normal societal expectations of decency as beneath them. That we’ve given these women a mount from which to spew all sorts of mindless drivel speaks volumes of the plight of television and the country.
Call it insecurity because their wives are the focus of the attention or call it the capacity to tell when they’re being embarrassed in front of the world, but the husband’s treat the show very differently. An obvious air of hesitation tints every word they say in front of the camera, whereas the women of the show have completely given themselves over to lives of exhibition. It would be easier to disprove that they weren’t just doing this because they thought all celebrity was good celebrity, if they didn’t say and do such stupid things for attention. They also seem oblivious to the fact that half the people that associate with them do so to be on television.
The sixth season sees Tamra fresh off her divorce from her husband and making her way in her life. Vicki is going full steam ahead with her business. Gretchen Rossi resists reintegrating with the rest of the Real Housewives group. Alexis Bellino continues dealing with being an absentee mother. Finally, the sixth season marks the arrival (and prompt post-season departure) of Peggy Tanous as a new housewife.
These women lead loud lives of quiet desperation, and there’s no dignity left in the situation, assuming there was ever any to start.
DVD Bonus Features
Deleted scenes and two “special” reunion episodes are the only extras.
"The Real Housewives of Orange County: Season 6" is on sale February 7, 2012 and is not rated. Drama, Reality.
