Comparing Apples to Oranges (and Peaches)
Apr 15, 2009
I am a huge fan of Bravo's various Real Housewives series, and in watching the three different strains of the show--New York, Atlanta, and the OC--I often find myself mentally comparing the ladies with each other. Today I plotted them all on the graph below, which charts them against two axes: likability and ambition level. I also labeled each woman with an apple, orange, or peach to make it easier to identify them by their respective cities. (Click to enlarge and view the full-size version.)
Some notes:
- Unsurprisingly, the Shiftless/Unlikeable quadrant is the most heavily populated. In fact, only four housewives received "Likeable" rankings at all: Jill, Bethenny, NeNe, and Lynne. I realize that even those four could be controversial, particularly Lynne and NeNe. But I liked poor, dumb, sweet Lynne and delighted in NeNe's slightly-evil-but-usually-funny attitude, so they received the coveted "Likeable" rating.
- DeShawn is at absolute zero: neither likeable nor unlikeable; not particularly hardworking, but (thanks to her charrrrrrrrrity), also not particularly shiftless. Although this made her the blandest, most boring housewife of all, it also made her extremely useful to me in terms of graphing the other housewives. If I was having trouble deciding which side of the line to put a certain housewife on, I could ask myself, "Do I like her more or less than DeShawn? Does she work harder than DeShawn, or not as hard?"
- According to my system, Kim Zolciak (Atlanta) is the most shiftless housewife in all the land. This sounds about right.
- Kelly Bensimon (New York) is the most unlikeable housewife of all, followed closely by Ramona. Being the most unlikeable person in this group is quite a coup--especially for someone new to the show. Way to go, Kelly. You are a truly unpleasant person.
Feel free to provide your own analysis. I know I am not the only person who watches this show.
Are you claiming that LuAnn's contributions through her manners books and charity work are not worthwhile?
Also I like how DeShawn is not interesting enough to get above (0,O).
Spot-On. Spot. On.
Posted by: James Buchanan | Apr 15, 2009 at 10:07 PM
I quibble with a few small ratings (Gretchen is way more likeable than stupid/overly lax mother Lynne, and Ramona should probably be just over the hardworking axis) but generally I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've done. Bravo!
Kelly is totally the least likeable. Did you see her running in the street in this past week's episode? What a moron. Which leads me to the suggestion that you add/change the hardworking axis to an axis of stupidity.
Posted by: The Mayor | Apr 16, 2009 at 10:20 AM
This is awesome. And you're exactly right that Bethenny is highest on the likability scale, she's the only one who seems to have an inkling at how ridiculous this whole thing is.
Posted by: Jerome | Apr 16, 2009 at 05:09 PM
OMFG excellent rating tool! However, I have very strong feelings against Alex. She is like a stupid, lost little chihuahua, always running around whining and yipping. Don't. Even. Get. Me. Started. On. Her. Flaming. Husband.
Posted by: m2m | Apr 16, 2009 at 05:29 PM
One more point of discord: I like Jill more than NeNe.
Posted by: James Buchanan | Apr 16, 2009 at 07:45 PM
Hi guys. There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.
I am from Guinea and also now am reading in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "The skinheads, and edward's lift in single, may primarily be serious of other roller."
Thank you so much for your future answers ;). Aurora.
Posted by: Aurora | Sep 05, 2009 at 06:19 AM