Have been since 2000 (horrid new internet money, dahling). I surf a lot, look after my kid and bless every moment I dont have to work. They should do "House Husbands of San Francisco" - we're really boring nice people.

Must go check the home-made baked beans.

Joe

Any fans of Wharton or Austen MUST check out the NY Housewives. The first episode was just silly, but by week 2 it was getting seriously interesting in the interplay of personalities and class aspirations. Seriously, this show is amazing in what it says about NYC culture and quite entertaining, in a schadenfreude way.

no difference, except the Hamptons whores are the wives, and as such will not end up seeking medical care for AIDS at a free clinic on a bus. Also the children of the Rich Witches will go to private schools and be debutantes, instead of dropping out of school, being beaten/raped by mom's clients/boyfriends, becoming hookers themselves at the age of 12, etc. etc. etc.

In other words, all the difference in the world, and none.

The picture made me choke a little. I think I have to get a root canal while that one is on.

No need for 1,000 words; 2 will do: WHAT BS

ResNovae, you didn't read it all, did you? Otherwise you would know I don't want Havrilesky's job. I have a job. I just want her to do hers. Maybe you live in a world of retarded Internet snots (Ain't It Cool News, f'rinstance). I just drop by weekly to see if the rehab program is working, and frankly, she is improving. Slowly, but any progress is better than none.

Bravo10, you are a quitter. Havrilesky has proven that she is not entirely hopeless as a writer. She has actually written some columns over the last few months that could have been the product of an authentic human soul. It's a familar rehab tango; two steps forward, one step back. Just remember that her jokes are like the jokes told in group therapy; they are pretenses that there isn't turmoil under the surface, and are not helpful for her healing.

And tina schrier, thanks. I wouldn't bring my personal life into this if it wasn't crucial to the argument; I get no joy bragging about my sorrows. But sometimes it's needed. As you pointed out, the Real Housewives lifestyle has real-world consequences, for the wives, their husbands, and the people with their noses pressed up to the LCD screen observing them. It's not that they shouldn't be shown, but they should be shown with some critical perspective.

That's why it's so frustrating to see such stupid reality shows featured so regularly (and flippantly) in this column. It's really easy to make fun of people you think are your social or moral inferiors. (A lot of racism, sexism and other negative -ism's come from that.) It's harder to have compassion or concern for such people. And of course, if there is a day to avoid compassion and to mock any humanitarian concerns, it's Easter Sunday.

Right, kill the upper middle class, eat the wealthy, shoot all the women with nice shoes. Ok, let's do that. You know what pisses me off? The upper middle class fake hippy chick earth mothers at Whole Food. They're buying the same crap as everyone else everywhere else they just feel noble about it because their Crocs are as dirty as their hair.

What difference is there between these Hamptons whores and the hookers of that ABC doc that tomreedtoom described?

I appreciate your letter. It won't get you very far with the particular crowd of people who haunt the Salon threads, but I appreciate it.

Here's something else to chew on; while the bitches of Real Housewives are meeting and socializing for the sole and express purpose of stabbing their own friends in the back, their husbands are out using prostitutes like the ones you saw on the ABC special as their fuck toys. Oh, I'm sure they can still afford them while they are teenagers and they look pretty good, but the girls end in the gutter which you describe.

An entire class of sociopathic exploiters, and people have nothing better to do than desire to emulate them. This has been the blindness and tragedy of the American middle class. And I can understand how you feel about your brother.

That a giant storm comprised of shit would fall on all of those assholes on the photo at the front of this article. Those folks aren't the kind of wildlife I'd like to watch on T.V., those are the kind of people I would enjoy watching fall into the jaws of death.

To AlienLoveSong (above), I notice you posted. If I didn't have silly shows to watch, I couldn't take care of my demented mother, cope with a 20-something still at home, run a business, and educate people with my insightful blog comments. This is my vacation! St Barts, it's not.

Firstly, I am no confederate of tom, but your defence of the johns of prostitution, as if they are sympathetic victims, rings about as true as a defence attorney's opening argument in the trial of a nine-time DUIer--really, the john is the victim?

Anyway, while I am a fan of "I like to watch," Heather, I am getting off the trolly if next week's column has more reality tv shit. If you persist in writing about it every week, post-strike, then you are not up above it--you are down in it. As funny as you are, and I like your writing and perspective a great deal, it is getting old. I now think there is no excuse anymore. I am really uncomfortable feeling like I am on tomreed's side. gross.

Stop supporting these clowns.

I'm sick to death of people complaining about these shows and yet they continue to watch.

Get A LIFE, read a book, see a movie, do some volunteer work, something to add some value to the world.

While I've never seen what sounds like a really horrendous show centered on self-centered rich women in New York, I do watch Big Brother. Few others posting seems to have done so. Of course it's a shallow kind of contrived "reality" but damnit, it's kind of fun to follow. I think Heather has forgotten several earlier seasons if she thinks this one has the nuttiest and most nearly insane occupants. This crowd is generally attractive, mild in their little personal contretemps, and even includes some interesting people. Just last year the genuinely lunatic father-daughter pair of Dicks--yeah, that was their last name--puts this year's players to shame in the insanity scale.

Big Brother is one of those secret pleasures you enjoy but do your best to conceal your viewing of it from all your friends. And on occasion you even find a relatively nice person to cheer for; this year it's James, a kid who wears a pink-dyed mohawk haircut and took time off for the show from his passion of riding his bicylce around the world.

When you find yourselves in depair or rage over the latest poliltical news, a dip in the Big Brother tank ain't all that bad. And it's a lot cheaper than another therapist session.