When Reality Becomes Too Real

Oh the good old days! When ignorance was bliss and we basked in the glory of the riches and drama that propelled the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills above the ranks to the most successful show in the series. Oh how the mighty have fallen! The tragic suicide of Russell Armstrong, the insecure and troubled husband of Taylor Armstrong, has undoubtedly cast a large black cloud over the future of the show and perhaps the series as a whole. I have to admit that I am a desperate fan of the Real Housewives franchise. The New York version is fun because I live there and so I am committed to watching it do or die. New Jersey and Orange County are the tackiest of them all and making fun of the ridiculous outfits, homes and accents is time well spent. Atlanta overflows with catfights and threads of betrayal and both Miami and D.C even though now defunct also provided their own special brand of entertaiment. And we can’t forget the songs that were born from attempts of some castmembers to realize dreams that were clearly better left unrealized. But its now hard to escape the reality of Reality TV. Not everyone is Nene! Sometimes having your life on display for everyone to scrutinize and analyze can be too much to handle for most and Russell Armstrong obviously had a lot on his plate and was dreading the upcoming season, knowing that the juicy content BRAVO couldn’t wait to showcase would inevitably the death of him. And it was literally. Maybe this is the beginning of the end of this franchise and others like it. Its fun watching but as we now know it’s less than fun being the star of the show.