Anyone else watching Real Housewives of Atlanta?

Cafe Society
1

It’s on Bravo. It’s my first experience with this reality series. Previous series focused on “housewives” in Orange County and New York City. It’s sorta like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

I guess it’s a guilty pleasure – emphasis on guilty more than pleasure. The women are either married to or divorced from or being supported by pro athletes or sugar daddies, except for Nene – I don’t know what her husband does.

One of the women (Kim, divorced mistress of someone she refers to as Big Poppa) fancies herself a country singer. None of her friends have ever heard her sing, and it’s pretty obvious that Kim might look good on an album cover but has no musical talent whatsoever.

Another (Sheree) talks incessantly about how beautiful and independent she is, and how her divorce settlement needs to be “seven figures” so she can maintain her lifestyle, which includes a man who comes to her house to sell her more shoes. (She says she has 1000 pairs of shoes.) She wants to design a clothing line.

Deshawn has two kids, a huge home, and is having trouble finding a personal assistant to help her with her estate manager, chef, nanny, stylist, etc. She also has a “foundation” to “help inner city girls with self-esteem”. She recently threw a fund-raiser that cost $30K. She raised $10K but was seriously hoping for $1 million. Her poor husband (with the checkbook) supports her efforts but has a hard time not rolling his eyes at some of her ideas.

Nene has a nice husband, an older man who seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Nene’s oldest son is about to leave for college, so Nene took him to a fashion consultant. Nene’s pretty cool, actually, but needs to do something about her boobs. There’s some drama going on with Kim, Nene, and Sheree of the junior high “If you’re my friend you can’t be her friend” level. Nene has just been told that the man she thought was her father might not be her father, so she’s getting a DNA test.

Lisa doesn’t get much screen time, maybe because she’s not quite as far out there as the others. She says she sells real estate, but so far fall we’ve seen is her walking around a palatial home with a potential buyer and saying “Isn’t this awesome?” She also wants to start a designer jewelry line. Her husband is nice – even made her some chicken soup when she was sick.

Here’s a link to their bios – http://www.bravotv.com/Real_Housewives_Of_Atlanta/season/1/bios/index.php

I’m wondering how the Atlanta women measure up to the women from prior seasons.

Anyone else watching?

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I cannot—simply reading descriptions of the show in various reviews made my stomach turn. I’m lucky enough to be local, though, so it doesn’t take much time out and about in public to encounter women like this. Thanks to my wife’s former cleaning business, we’ve had firsthand experience with the same sort of folks (i.e., nouveau riche black female wives/concubines of celebrities living in upscale suburban Atlanta) and I will avow without hesitation that they are among the most abject, unendurable, and truly horrible people alive on this planet.

Hope you enjoy the show, though!

3

Yes, I’m watching, sadly enough. My take:

I want to rip Kim’s wig/shitty extensions off her head.

I want to tell Sherree that, no, she’s not hot, she looks like a man.

I want to tell DeShawn that money doesn’t equal class.

I want to tell NeNe to shut up.

I want to tell Lisa that taking a ginormous handbag to a party is stupid.

4

Okay, I’ll fess up. I’m watching. Purely for the objective of feeling superior.

I find Kim the most detestable. Not only do I want to just hack off all that “hair,” I think it’s absolutely horrible how she’s teaching her young daughters to whore themselves out for money. “Big Poppa,” indeed. Word on the internet is that he’s anonymous because he’s married, so she’s a homewrecker as well as a prostitute.

DeShawn seems harmless if a bit dumb. I love how she’s “like a single mother with no help.” (Except for the cook, the driver, the housekeeper, the governess *and *a nanny, etc.) I almost felt bad for her when the benefit actually lost money. She’s just so clueless.

Kim…has an awesome husband. And I want a bowling alley in my house, too! She seems pretty likeable, but I read that she lost custody of her kids to her ex (Keith Sweat.) That’s pretty unusual, so it makes me wonder what side of her we’re not seeing.

Sheree is just a bitch, straight up. Desperate to feel superior to everyone around her, delusional about her own importance. Not nearly as “classy” as she thinks she is. (General wisdom says that if you have to tell people all the time how classy you are, you probably…aren’t.)

NeNe’s my favorite, because she seems pretty down to earth (comparitively). Except yeah, not liking the “I hate Sheree so you have to too! Wah!” thing. But I like the way she talks to her kids, and I like her husband. She just needs to buy a bra, and she’ll be all set.

5

I’m watching it reluctantly. I’m behind and I’ve got a few episodes on my DVR to get through. I also watched Orange County and NYC. While those shows had their tacky moments, several of them, this show takes the cake. It’s a complete train-wreck, but not the one you really want to turn your head and watch. This show proves w/out a doubt, that money can’t buy class, style or grace. I’ve never seen more tacky homes and furniture in my life. It looks like they are all in a race to see who can have the most roof points/crests on their garish homes. I’m still trying to count the number of them on Deshawn’s house. From the exterior, I prefer Sheree’s home. Of the two episodes I’ve seen, Lisa is by far my favorite. I feel sorry for the old money ladies of ATL when I watch this show. If they’ve seen it, they are cringing at how their city is portrayed!

6

You forgot vapid. I think that’s why I keep watching – waiting to see if there’s any substance to these women. But I suppose if they were anything but catty and grasping and materialistic, the producers wouldn’t let us see it. Where’s the fun in that?

And aren’t you also a little bit relieved that you don’t feel compelled to maintain that cockamamie “lifestyle”?

See, I’m at a disadvantage here, because I don’t know anyone who wears extensions and I don’t know what they’re supposed to look like. I only know that Kim’s hair looks like it came off a Barbie doll.

Poonther, I think in the first episode Deshawn said that she only spent three hours with the architect who designed and furnished her house. Maybe it’s the architect’s fault. Or maybe three hours was enough time for the architect to know the kind of style that Deshawn was looking for.

7

My God, yes! I will admit that I just don’t get it. Who would purposefully choose to live that way? Always worried about how you look, if you have the latest clothes, if someone’s house costs more than yours, if the right people come to the party you just threw for yourself. I mean, to me, that seems like a living hell. But these women act like they love it. I know, different strokes and all that, but I just find myself having a hard time believing that they’re really happy living like that.

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I wonder too. It doesn’t leave much time for anything else, if you’re always keeping up appearances – especially when the appearance is so contrived.

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I just thought of another question: is there any way in hell that Kim is 29? I had her pegged for 38 or 39…

Also, DeShawn was a complete moron for (a) having the fundraiser at her house and (b) not selling tickets to the fundraiser.

10

I can’t judge age anymore, unless the person is in my age group. Kim says she and her ex-husband were high school sweethearts. If they married young (really young), she could be in the 29-32 range. Do you think maybe it’s the makeup that makes her look older?

Exactly right on Deshawn’s fund-raiser. There should be seminars for the nouveau riche to keep them from making such expensive mistakes.

Over at TWOP they’re saying Kim’s townhouse is on the market. Think maybe the wife of her sugar daddy’s been watching TV? Wouldn’t you love to be her divorce lawyer? Same for Sheree’s ex.

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Bingo! I sure that’s the answer. She’s an easy read. When I get a chance to watch another episode, I’ll pause the DVR and count the number of roof peak’s on Deshawn’s house and report back, unless someone else already knows that number?

Yeah in dog years!

12

Anybody see last night’s episode yet? I’m watching right now and just cracking up at Kim’s “singing” lesson. The woman canNOT sing! I can’t believe she’s delusional enough to think she could actually have a singing career.