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The Housewives

The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives

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From Brian Moylan, the writer of Vulture’s legendary Real Housewives recaps, a table-flipping, finger-pointing, halter-topping VIP journey through reality TV’s greatest saga....

In the spring of 2006, a new kind of show premiered on Bravo: The Real Housewives of Orange County. Its stars were tanned, taut, and bedazzled; their homes were echoey California villas; and their drama was gossip-fueled, wine-drenched, and absolutely exquisite. Fifteen seasons on, RHOC is an institution, along with The Real Housewives of New York, Atlanta, New Jersey, Miami, Potomac, and more. Over the years these ladies have done a lot more than lunch, launching thirty-one books, a cocktail line, two jail sentences, a couple supermodel daughters, Andy Cohen’s talk show career, 36 divorces, 14 albums, a White House party crash, and approximately one million memes.

Brian Moylan has been there through it all, in front of the screen and behind the scenes. The writer of Vulture’s beloved series recaps, he’s here to tell us the full story, from the inside scoop on every classic throwdown to the questions we’ve always wanted to know, like - what are the housewives really like off-camera? (The same.) How much money do they make? (Lots.) He has a lot to say about the legacy and fandom of a franchise that’s near and dear to his heart, and inextricable from pop culture today.

A must-have for any fan of real drama and fake [redacted], The Housewives is the definitive companion to an American TV treasure.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"In The Housewives entertainment journalist and self-proclaimed Real Housewives anthropologist Moylan provides a complete history of the franchise, which thanks to interviews both on and off the record with members of the production team as well as current and former housewives is both painstakingly thorough and incredibly juicy...In the words of former Housewife Bethenny Frankel, Moylan truly “mentions it all.” (Booklist, starred review)

©2021 Brian Moylan, Zachary Wagman, and Meghan Houser (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
Art Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV Heartfelt
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so much more in depth than I was expecting for a book about reality tv, so pleased I bought this, housewives has always been an obsession of mine and this felt like a backstage pass

A must buy if you love housewives

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It’s such a light hearted and easy read. It’s a lot of fun as well as being very well researched.
I will say, there’s not a huge amount of tea or new info on specific housewives, but I was hooked the whole way through.

Definitely recommend for fellow fans, primarily if you’ve seen a few different franchises!

Perfect for die hard fans!

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Loved it… just now need a next edition for the last 5 years too please Brian!

A must for a real housewives fan!

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Some interesting behind-the-scenes insights.

Also includes factual errors and mispronunciations of the names of key associated figures.

The narration is amateurish and rushed. The author seemed unfamiliar with his own work.

In summary, I would not recommend this title as an audio book. It has value in print.

Narration - Intolerable

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Loved this book! I’m a huge housewives fan but don’t have anyone I know to talk about it with, so this felt like one big gossip session!

Loved this book!

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