The British public has an insatiable appetite for reality TV. “Big Brother” is still on screens after 25 years. There are countless reality TV shows where wealthy people have aggressive passive arguments on the salad, or discover that their partners have business (although I suspect that they would have discovered it anyway, since there is a shooting team).
However, for some time, there has been a surprising lack of innovation in this genre. Of course, there are new competition reality TV shows like “race around the world”, but in the specific genre of “people dealing very publicly with all their dirty laundry”, little has changed for some time. “Made in Chelsea” is about to start its 29th series. “The only way is Essex” is about to start 34th. And although there were countless American dramas streaming in the United Kingdom, from “Too Much” to Lena Dunham to the soapy political series “The diplomat”, only a few reality TV shows have made the same transatlantic jump. An exception being, of course, Alan Cumming, saying in an attractive way “Muurrrdderrrr” of his Scottish castle on “The Planors” we
So far. “Real Housewives” is launching a series from London. The franchise, which started in Orange County, follows the lives of wealthy and prosperous women. The stories explore friendship, rivalry, sorrow and difficulties, distribution members being so open and transparent on all that you cannot help but look. The franchise is known for its arguments between distribution members, such as the Time distribution “Real Housewives of New York”, Aviva Drescher, has removed its own prosthetic leg and threw it through the table in mid-argument. There are also intrigue with high issues that you have not seen, such as the arrest of Jen Shah by Salt Lake City for his role in national telemarketing fraud. So, as you can imagine, with a new British series, the marketing word game around distribution reversing tea is endless.
This is not the first time that “home women” have been going through the pond. “Real Housewives of Cheshire” has honored British screens for more than a decade. Another in Jersey lasted only two seasons, but none managed to trigger a cultural conversation beyond the viewers of the British channel relatively niche on which they both broadcast. “Real Housewives of London”, brought to the screens of the Hayu reality streaming platform, feels more an ambitious (and expensive) effort to change all of this, with production, much more in line with its other iterations in the United States.
However, the launch of a British programs version is never an easy task. Freshly out of the success of the reality TV show “SELL Sunset”, Netflix attempted a similar British series entitled “London purchase”, but the properties that are too expensive (and probably quite ugly) did not stay well with viewers in the middle of a cost of life crisis. The only reaction he caused with viewers was that they wanted to eat the rich.
“Real Housewives of London” is not afraid of similar extravagance, but it is doing. For what? Because everything is camp. One of the housewives proudly has a legacy swan called Gertrude. Camp! All are unconscious of the existence of the very good public transport network in London, persistent to drive in a constant stationary traffic. Camp! A small dog called “Monty True Madness” is expected on Paw and Paw so much (a dog cannot be expected by hand and at the foot, it is a dog) that he wore everywhere, with his legs touching only the ground for a few seconds in the first episode. Camp camp!
In fact, “Real Housewives of London” does not at all resemble a specific title. It’s more like “Real Housewives of Belgravia with a little Chelsea and the campaign.” Good luck to them sailing in a British street which does not have a Balenciaga store on it. The scenes often turned into ridicule. The skin care entrepreneur, Amanda Cronin, was presented to viewers with the admission that she is in fact “a really private person”. Before you even have time to answer with “Amanda, do you know that you are on” Real Housewives? “” You learn that Portia, one of her friend’s dogs, has just had a face. While you launch Chatgpt on your phone and ask AI if the labradors can have facials (apparently they can!), Juliet Mayhew presents himself with an outfit that fell from the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth I of the 16th century. Without reason. It is never explained. Scenes like these continue for the rest of the episode.
Inevitably, almost all housewives take a long time to boast their proximity to the royal family, as if you are becoming more royal, the more you are geographically, you are at any time. If that fails, they recommend a tenuous link with dead historical figures. Did you know that the partner of the Mayhew event planner, Tiggy, is a distant parent of William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace who lived from 1270-1305? You don’t do it?!
In accordance with the Housewives brand, there are lining cited in the range of constant arguments. An argument on someone’s alcohol consumption was replied by “How have you fired in your body in the past five years?” In a trailer that followed the first episode, a stormy argument leads to a dramatic cry of “Return to Paddington!”, Which has already become an internet despite the episode that had not yet spread. He shouldn’t need to be pointed out, but I will do it anyway – I think it means the station, rather than the bear.
Until now, nothing I have written above in this review is a criticism of “Real Housewives of London”. In fact, that’s why it works. It’s more and very stupid. However, a challenge is whether the British version will be able to support such bizarre arguments and unnecessary situations with high issues that made the original franchise so appreciated.
The first dispute in “Real Housewives of London” is on someone who returns with his dentist rather than a situation that occurred before the cameras start to roll. It was delivered in a way so complicated unnecessarily that at one point, I almost stopped looking to determine what was really going on by writing everything on paper, attaching it to a cork panel and linking these papers with rope. However, it was not the problem. The argument was surprisingly forced and stuck in the plot rather than spread naturally, even if on reality TV, everyone knows that reality can be anything but.
It is difficult to train at the moment because there was only one episode available to preview, but there may be a cultural challenge that “Real Housewives of London” will have to navigate. In Great Britain, we are less inclined to throw wine on the faces of the other during animated arguments. In fact, instead of screaming, disputes often remain unresolved, sometimes for decades, because we do not communicate our frustration to the person who offended us in the first place. This often results in pure hatred towards the other individual who bubbles in our subconscious, sometimes without the other person knowing that there is something wrong. Only mutuals know any conflict because Snark and the jokes are shared with each other on WhatsApp.
It is this culture that “Real Housewives of London” will have to navigate in or force a path. Believe me, this culture is deep. Honestly, it makes you proud to be British.
