"In the words of the esteemed founder of the Reality Television Arts and Sciences, Brian Moylan, most fights on Housewives are not really about whatever the ladies are talking about on camera, but are really about the show and the power struggles around what is going on behind the scenes, namely, compensation. When the girls locked in on Denise Richards in Beverly Hills, a big part of that was because of the seven-figure paycheck she commanded while barely filming."
"Because I am incorrigibly nosy, I can generally immediately glean what the subtextual shade of any scene is about - odds are I've already listened to the obscure podcast posted in the recesses of the official subreddit months ago - I am primed to understand the actual tension onscreen. For example, it was clear in the premiere of Potomac that Stacey was putting Keiarna on notice with the "you've been trying to come around for years.""
Most reality show conflicts reflect compensation-driven power struggles and income hierarchies behind the scenes rather than the onscreen topics. High pay or spinoff opportunities provoke resentment and targeting, exemplified by the backlash against Denise Richards and Kim Zolciak. Hierarchies created by income inform alliances, exclusions, and public shade through blind items and social posts. Social-media crumbs, obscure podcasts, and subreddit chatter often reveal subtext that explains onscreen tension. Specific examples show rising stars calling out perceived desperation in colleagues seeking camera moments, while some seasonal conflicts remain opaque despite subtextual clues.
Read at Vulture
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]