The comic geniuses of "Real Housewives" - The Real Housewives | Atlanta, New Jersey, New York, Orange County - Salon.com:
Maybe I'm biased because I'm over 30 and I wasn't raised with the Nickelodeon and Disney TV show model (which features performers that are the same age as their target viewers), but my taste preferences have always skewed toward entertainment starring, well, grown-ups. I may be in the minority, but I just find adults over 35 more interesting. I grew up with "Designing Women," "Murphy Brown" and "The Golden Girls" on TV, and watching "Troop Beverly Hills," "Working Girl" and "Steel Magnolias" in the theaters. Leading roles that would, today, be played by Gwyneth Paltrow or Rachel Bilson then went to genuine comedic ingénues like Julie Hagerty and Joan Cusack. The '70s and '80s were kinder eras to character actresses -- before the time when somehow, Cameron Diaz became considered a "comedienne" -- and the popularity of shows like "Real Housewives" prove how hungry audiences are, still, for personalities, not just the Photoshop-perfect skin-having and body fat-deficient mainstays of Us Magazine's "Who Wore It Better?" feature.
