Who’s that petite single New York writer I keep seeing on TV with the fabulous sense of style? You know, the one with the rocking bod and kind of unconventional face who so breezily mixes glamour with sarcasm and wit? I think her name starts with a C…
Meet Carole Radziwill—Emmy and Peabody-award winning journalist, New York Times best-selling author, and the closest real-life embodiment of the fictional Carrie Bradshaw that I’ve observed during my 11-plus years in the city. But here’s the rub: she’s a cast member of The Real Housewives of New York.
Ms. Radziwill’s story is quite interesting (you can read all about it in THIS excellent interview with Jacob Bernstein of the Daily Beast), and Andy Cohen’s decision to bring her on the show may signify the new frontier in reality entertainment. We’ve gotten plenty of enjoyment from watching Bravo’s silly and tactless housewives for the past several years, but it is possible that this mean-spirited fun has a shelf-life? Is Andy Cohen just brilliant enough to hedge off our possible future boredom by moving in the exact opposite direction and casting someone like Carole who, it seems, is just as aware of the inanity of the show as we are?
Though she appears to be enjoying herself, Ms. Radziwill remains fundamentally on the outskirts of the action, often appearing bemused and intrigued by the antics going on around her. In short, she is smart and self-aware, the exact opposite of what makes a good reality star. What’s interesting, though, is that her appearance brings up a whole new layer of existential questions about the concept of reality television. Most people I know would swear that they would never, just never, stoop so low as to be on a show like that. Okay, but what if you, like Carole, lost your husband to cancer and your two best friends in a plane crash within four weeks of each other? Would life seem different then? Is it possible that Carole knows something about the fleeting goofiness of life that most of us do not? Is she perhaps more insightful than us, not less?
The philosophical quandaries that grow out of reality TV are substantial. Our salacious desire to be a fly-on-the-wall—an obsession that is both age-old and distinctly of our time—along with the endless layers of complexity about what being watched does to a person are topics that can, and have, filled volumes. It’s like John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, filtered through a Bravo lens.
A large part of the fascination with reality television lies in the delusion. Watching women who seem to believe so wholeheartedly that they are classy and powerful and stylish and charming when they are so painfully not any of those things is like eating a box of sour watermelon candies—you cringe and clench and pucker and then suck down every last one. But then of course, once you’ve contended with the delusion, there are countless other layers to unwrap. How much, for instance, is the joke really on us? The situations may be pre-planned, but how much of the personalities are donned for the show? Is Countess LuAnn really a classy woman who is merely pretending to be a tacky woman pretending to be a classy woman? How deep can we go here?
There are also different levels of delusion among these reality stars. I’m willing to bet, for example, that Sonja is a notch smarter than she appears on the show. On RHONY, she’s a ditzy, over-sexed clown often dressed (this season at least) in teal feathers. She does not, however, allow her daughter to appear on the show, a fact that leads me to believe that her head is on straighter than some. And as a single mom with a lot of debt and few other professional skills (she was a restaurant hostess before meeting her ex-husband John Morgan, heir to the JP Morgan fortune), perhaps acting foolish on television is a valid option (or at least more valid than, say, prostitution or tax fraud).
[Note: I’ve also been watching these incredible five-minute web videos where ex-housewife Alex McCord dishes behind-the-scenes intel about the show after each new episode. She recently talked about a scene in which Sonja flirts grotesquely with her plumber. Alex broke it down: if Sonja is outrageous enough in her scene with the plumber, if she really puts it on, then the scene makes the final cut, the plumber gets exposure, and Sonja gets her leaky roof fixed for free. Ah ha! No wonder Sonja’s flashing her butt cheeks on TV!]
On the other end of the spectrum you’ve got someone like Ramona, a woman whom I am willing to bet nine out of ten psychiatrists would diagnose with Narcissistic and/or Borderline Personality Disorder. Her delusion factor is certainly the highest on the show, which is exactly why she’s often referred to as “reality TV gold.” We are laughing at Ramona, not with her, and consequently the ethics get a little dicey. As viewers, we derive pleasure from her inappropriate behavior, but that behavior might very well be the result of a real psychiatric issue. How wrong is it to put someone like Ramona on TV? How much do we hold Bravo responsible? Andy Cohen? Ourselves? And if Ramona is enjoying herself (not to mention cashing in), does any of this really matter at all?
Throw Carole into this crazy bunch (and the other somewhat more put-together newcomers Aviva and Heather), and you’ve got such a mixed bag of truth, deception, sincerity, illusion, artifice and irony that it may take years (and several more seasons) to unravel it all.
In the meantime, if you are as interested in the ethical-philosophical-existential aspects of reality TV as I am, here is a list of further reading and viewing:
1. Jennifer Egan’s 2001 novel Look at Me. In this National Book Award nominee, Egan tackles the questions of public vs. private life before the reality TV craze was even in full swing.
2. All of Alex McCord’s behind-the-scenes videos at rumorfix.com. It has gotten to the point where I look forward to these 5-minute videos more than the show itself. Is Bravo going to sue the shit out of Alex, or is this just another aspect of Andy Cohen’s plan to bring reality TV to the next level?
3. Carole Radziwill’s Bravo blog. There is no pretense and the girl can write. Here’s how she starts a description of a RHONY party: After a round of high-pitched “Hiiii’s,” like we haven’t seen each other in years… Compare it to the most recent one from the Countess.
4. Michael Patrick King’s (I can always bring it back to SATC!) grossly under-appreciated HBO series The Comeback. Lisa Kudrow plays a washed up actress actress starring in a reality series to jumpstart her career. It’s fantastic.
Emily Sproch is a writer and a Sex and the City tour guide. Each Friday, she chronicles the fine line between reality and fiction in her column “Almost Carrie.”
Anna
yep. they are laughing all the way to the bank. signed, someone who has never watched a reality tv show.
Laura Boling
You’ve just inspired me to care about reality TV, for the first time EVER! I’m forever bemoaning the entire genre (though half-heartedly concealing that I have scarcely ever *watched* any of it in order to lend validity to my judgements). Your commentary has piqued my interest, and now I am at least interested in the greater (as you so comprehensively put it) “ethical-philosophical-existential” conversation. Here’s to broadening horizons…
phyllis henry
I’m so glad to read that there is someone else who acknowledges and appreciates the value that Carole is bringing to this show. She is profoundly talented as a writer, and her blogs are a humorous view behind the scenes of what is often absurdity tv. I hope Andy Cohen will consider adding Carole-like housewives to his other shows as it is nice to have some real women included in the cast instead of those that provide “reality tv gold”.
Nari
This article is spot on! Very well written and had me laughing out loud and agreeing on every point. Thought I was the only one who had dubbed Carole as the “real-life Carrie Bradshaw”. Also spot on with the comments about LuAnn and Sonja.