Image Credit: Evans Vestal Ward/Bravo
There were so many reasons I loved the first season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. After sitting through a lackluster follow-up to the first season of Real Housewives of New Jersey and the utterly atrocious Real Housewives of D.C., Beverly Hills offered a cast of entertaining, eccentric, and lovable — or lovable to hate — characters. There was the constantly feuding Richards sisters. The near-divorcée Camille Grammer. The refreshingly normal — but incredibly plastic — Adrienne Maloof-Nassif. And, of course, Jiggy. Adorable, wonderful Jiggy!
Yes, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was the ultimate guilty pleasure. But now, days in front of its Sept. 5 premiere, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll feel even more guilty watching the series. As we’ve all read by now, Russell Armstrong — estranged husband of Beverly Hills cast member Taylor Armstrong — tragically committed suicide earlier this month. And though Bravo did re-edit its Housewives footage, and plans on airing the premiere alongside suicide prevention PSAs, I’m still having a tough time seeing the light and airy show as anything but dark. Most of the fun of watching Housewives was the fantasy of the whole series: Here were women so outlandish, so spoiled, and so bejeweled, they seemed to have more in common with fairy tale Evil Stepmothers than human beings. Armstrong’s suicide squashed the fantasy. Housewives seems real now.
Of course, some might argue the premiere would serve TV fans well. After all, it will certainly prove that money doesn’t buy happiness, and offer help for those suffering from suicidal thoughts through its newly added PSAs. Still, peeking in on one family’s drama leading up to a great tragedy — it just feels like invasion of privacy beyond the tightly edited artifice of today’s “reality” TV shows. So, my short answer: Yes, I’ll tune in to Housewives premiere, but you better believe my finger’s going to be prepared to change the channel. Bravo might be able to change the episode’s content, but it can’t change the fact that the premiere is going to offer viewers an uncomfortable viewing experience.
Will you tune in, PopWatchers?
Follow Kate on Twitter @KateWardEW
Read more:
‘Housewives of Beverly Hills’ will air next week — and with suicide prevention alerts
Bravo to re-edit ‘Housewives of Beverly Hills’ due to Russell Armstrong’s suicide
Russell Armstrong to mother before suicide: ‘They’re just going to crucify me this season’
it’s a shame what happened but it doesn’t change my opinion of these women, the series, and the network.
Which is…?
I’ll continue to watch. Russell was a selfish, pompous ass in the first season. Now with the most recent stories of abuse it doesn’t surprise me that he finally committed the most selfish act of all. I miss Lisa and Kyle’s quips and hope they can help Taylor through this continued nightmare that he put his family through.
Taylor spending 50K on a birthday party didn’t help his finances. Water seeks it’s own level and Taylor is proof
And during the WWHL right after the episode, Andy Cohen will reveal it was all a marketing ploy. “JK guys! Russell’s totally ALIVE! Can you believe it?! OMG where’s Jiggy? Zoom in on Jiggy!”
I will watch just to see the hot body of brandi glanville on there Hope she gets a major part. cause I usually don’t watch shows like this. Bet she can bitch-slap with the best of them
Of course I’ll watch. I’m just sorry they felt they had to edit it. Bravo is not responsible for this very disturbed man’s choice.
Would he have killed himself if his life wasn’t about to be portrayed so negatively in front of millions of viewers? Maybe not Bravo specifically, but certainly the show had something do with this man’s decision.
I get that his portrayal on tv probably was an additional factor for his decision but at what point did Bravo FORCE him to sign up for the show? I personally don’t think that mentally and emotionally stable people tend to sign up for reality shows (or are not chosen because they don’t make for entertaining tv) I’m not sure there would have been a different outcome for him even if he had not done the show.
You and I don’t know how bad of a creative (and possibly fictional) edit they were going to show. It would be tasteless for them to produce and probably uncomfortable for us to watch them trash the guy. If they made him look really bad, it might even come across as if they caused the guy to lose all hope.
Russel signed up for both seasons. He wasn’t bothered by it, he was bothered by his own inadequacies and selfishness. In my opinion, there wasn’t a need to re-edit because it is a reality show and this is a very ‘real’ situation – probably one of the few REAL scenarios on these reality shows.
When they signed up for season 1 Bravo owned them for the next season.
Camille wanted off the show because she feels she was portrayed as a hateable woman … not representative of who she really is.
Camille hired famous Larry Stein who has repped Rob Lowe, Eva Longoria, Timbaland and many other celebs, to sit at the bargaining table with Bravo.
According to Camille’s deal, Bravo had the right to either pick up her option for season 2 or cut her, but the contract didn’t give Camille the right to walk. Stein went to Bravo and argued the network misrepresented to Camille the way she would be portrayed and therefore she was fraudulently induced into signing on.
Stein got Bravo to give Camille an out in her deal, allowing her to walk.
I’m not necessarily fascinated by the womean, but there’s no reason not to watch. As much as my heart goes out to Russell’s family, he knew the state of his marriage when he signed up for the show, and he had resources to seek help. I hope they can respect the family, but I hope that they don’t gloss over his death like he was never there. I think that would be the worst thing to do.
I agree. I’m going to watch, and I’m not going to feel bad about doing it. There’s no way they can not address his death, and I actually think that they will handle it as tastefully as they can.
No i won’t watch because i have more then a ounce of taste & functioning brain cells.
I agree.
No, I won’t watch. At first I LOVED the Houswives series. but it has gotten progressivly darker. They pit friends against friends, family members against family members. The only shocking thing is that Russel was the first victim. Would anyone have been suprized if Kelly Bensimone did the same thing? No. As soon as I heard someone from RHBH committed suicide, I knew who it was. Danniell from RHNJ was another likely candidate. It used to be fun, but now it’s sick.
I watched a few episodes, but after awhile, it just felt like watching was part of the problem, not a solution. After all, these women are supposed to be friends, and yet treat each other horribly. Just didn’t want to be a part of that.
Shame on you, BRAVO! I loved Season 1, too, but after the incident, to not do the right thing and scrap the season is SHAMEFUL! All in the name of GREED. BRAVO had a chance to save face a little bit, but if they go ahead with the plan to run this season, the repracussions could be much more far reaching than they realize. A VERY BAD MORE by BRAVO.
“MOVE”… not “MORE. Sorry bout that.
RA could not bear the consequences of his actions. Why should Bravo lose money because of that? Why should they feel shame?
I’m not a teetotaler by any stretch of the imagination, but when all the drama trumped on these shows is due to alcohol consumption or being a bunch of attention-starved losers, how “entertaining” is it? Oh she doesn’t like her but she’ll go to her party, they all drink, and now its time for the prompted confrontation.
How is this any different from the Jersey Shore or The Real World?
I’ve been a reluctant fan of the franchise but I’m just WORN OUT. There are too many, they all bleed together, it’s all becoming redundant. And now it’s become uncomfortably sad. I’ll probably find something else to watch.
Absolutely agree. I’m worn out, too, for the same reasons. I finally reached my breaking point with this past season of Orange County.
I will watch. Mr. Armstrong was not the reason most of us were watching. While I am very sorry for his family and friends, it shouldn’t affect most of the show.
So EW will you recap this, then drop it mid-recap as you did NY and NJ? Without a simple sentence or two to your (previously) loyal readers, explaining why?
I might just use the tragedy and the whole mess to final quit Real Housewives once and for all. It’s time and this could be a catalyst to let me do that.