There is something about reality shows that aired between 2006 and 2009, that is just so delicious. Call it the last golden age of pop culture. Say pop culture died in 2008, though I think it actually had its last gasp in 2013.
Give me Sky Tops.
Give me the old purple backdrop from the KUWTK.
Give me Heidi’s original face.
Whenever someone asks me where to start watching a Housewives franchise or any other reality television show, I recommend catching whatever is currently on air. I also recommend after the conclusion of said season, to pivot to the first season in the respective franchise. Then, in the case of the Real Housewives, I recommend to go all the way back, to 2006, to watch the OGs…
my top five picks for old school reality
- Before there was LuAnn, Bethenny, Alex, Jill, and Ramona, Bravo gifted us with several tanned women of various socioeconomic levels who were sporting Sky Tops. Lauri, Jo, Kimberly, Jeana, and Vicki earned their spots in the pop culture pantheon when these ladies gave us our first look inside (and outside, we see you pre-George Lauri) the gates with the Real Housewives of Orange County and network television was never the same again.
- I will never get enough of the first two seasons of The Hills. I only want to watch Heidi’s original face or something not so far off from where it started and Lauren being put in her place by Lisa Love and toiling in the Vogue closet. There was something less produced than the later seasons after the girls moved into the new apartment and then the new house and added Lo and Stephanie and Kristen to the cast. Keep your Spencer. Keep your Brody. Give me Jordan. Give me Brian. Give me Jason. And Heidi’s old Saturn.
- Who could forget the maiden or sophomore seasons of Keeping Up With the Kardashians? Kris Jenner pulled a fast one there, marketing her family to Ryan Seacrest based upon the notoriety of her favorite daughter’s S-E-X tape with a C-list rapper. And now? For better or for worse, she is the matriarch of a family who now has generational wealth. Re-watch for the school picture day premium option confessional backgrounds and what I believe to be the best Kardashian / Jenner house, that one story (my knees love a one story) home with the sage green and red living room furniture, Kris’ Milly New York dress collection (actually enviable), and appearances of Dash and Smooch.
- Whereas the OGs are from the O.C., the women from Manhattan (and Brooklyn, I see you Alex McCord) made the Real Housewives a franchise. The first season captured a pre-2008 financial disaster New York City, a very specific moment in time before the financial house of cards collapsed. Two important things to note: Save for the moment that LuAnn snubbed Bethenny’s first boyfriend, Jason’s driver, the former Countess has a flawless first season and Alex and Simon are the only couple still married.
- The City is the last, chronologically, on this list and I only love the first part of the first season while the girls were putting in the hours in the DVF public relations department and the cast was being terrorized by Nevan. With the casting of Olivia Palermo, the spinoff of The Hills rode the coattails of the year of Socialite Rank which was quite the wild story. Watching Whitney and Olivia try to work together and the latter being the reality cast member everyone loved to hate, made for what felt like then-appointment television that is still fun to revisit.