Tuesday 6 September 2022 08:29 PM JACI STEPHEN'S hilariously acid review of Bravo's new reality show Real ... trends now
Real Girlfriends In Paris
Yes, as the American songwriter Cole Porter penned: I love Paris in the springtime, love Paris in the fall, I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles, I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles…
I lived there for seven years. I still love it. And, it seems, more and more Americans can't get enough of the City of Lights, as the phenomenal success of Netflix's appalling Emily in Paris shows. Emily in Paris stars Lily Collins as a twenty-something marketing executive (the only real joke in the alleged comedy), who leaves Chicago to take up her dream job in Paris.
When she can be bothered to work between taking selfies and dressing up, she's the toast of her industry because she thinks of doing things her colleagues obviously haven't thought about doing after decades in the job. She's also the target of every French man's affection.
In my seven years, I was lucky if a miniature poodle came sniffing around me, let alone a member of the male species. The closest I came to a potential boyfriend was a chess Grand Master, but as he beat me in 12 seconds flat, I wasn't optimistic about our future. I've had longer dates.
An enormous 77 percent of the viewers were women and put the show right up there with the country's most-watched dramas, despite its being as far removed from the real Paris as the Eiffel Tower is from New York's Freedom Tower.
My heart sinks that series three and four have already been commissioned. In Paris itself, where the series has been met with derision, you can almost hear the collective sigh of horror.
Last night, Bravo's new reality series Real Girlfriends in Paris premiered with its first two episodes. Any fan of Bravo (and I really, really am) knows that their reality is as unreal as real life gets - as it should be; I don't want to watch a show about me sitting at a desk all day. Staged arguments, absurd plotlines, characters with Eiffel Tower-sized egos – their shows are celebrations of the excesses and absurdities of people you'd never want to know in real real life.
Last night, Bravo's new reality series Real Girlfriends in Paris premiered with its first two episodes
It seems, more and more Americans can't get enough of the City of Lights, as the phenomenal success of Netflix's appalling Emily in Paris show
The six women featured – Adja, Margaux, Emily, Kacey, Anya, Victoria - claim that their show differs not only from Emily in Paris, but also from other series in the Bravo franchise such as Below Deck and Real Housewives. They say it's because they are genuine friends and also claim that as ex-pats living in the city, they are delivering a more realistic view of Parisian life.
On the strength of the first two episodes, I'd have had more fun being sent to the guillotine. Showrunner for both series is Darren Star – also behind the successes Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place and Sex and the City – but the feeling so far is that we're in for yet another bout of tedium in which the only nod to the real Paris is the name of the city in the title.
'Watch Six Women Take Massive Leaps of Faith in Paris' screams the website. Massive? It's barely a hop, skip and a jump. They are all stunning twentysomethings (with the exception of Anya, who is an ancient 32) who all went to Paris in search of the Parisian dream, but their leaps really don't seem to have been that massive.
Take Margaux. She grew up in Paris and has parents (divorced) who still live there. She couldn't even work out how to open the window of her apartment, and when Daddy came to visit (he's rolling in it, after selling a newspaper and investing in high end art), she bemoaned the fact that he was now giving her only 2000 month when 'I used to have 10k'. Dollars or Euros, who knows; but it wasn't enough for the poor lamb
