Free Republic

To put it concisely: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are sustaining the illusion of propriety, the Real Housewives of New York are abandoning it. “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “The Real Housewives of New York City” air one day apart. As the spring unfolds, this proximity is creating a contrast that illuminates the two basic categories of a “Real Housewives” franchise. It’s all about opposing tensions. For the Beverly Hills housewives, the central tension is between the illusion of propriety and the women’s varying abilities to maintain it. Even Denise Richards and Erika Girardi, both of whom...