Best 'Real Housewives' yet?

Best ‘Real Housewives’ yet?

May 11, 2009 6:30 PM PT

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So it’s true. If you live long enough, you will find a ‘Real Housewives’ to love.

After all the head-shaking, hand-wringing, migraine-plagued years I have spent trying to understand the appeal of ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County,’ ‘ New York’ and ‘Atlanta’ -- the women are so phony and hateful, the men so bloated and ridiculous, the setups so stupidly obvious -- here come ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey.’ And they are just wonderful.

Maybe it’s the accent, that consonant-slurring, vowel-stretching rumble that says there’s nothing so terrible it can’t be solved with a slap in the head or another dollop of ricotta. Maybe it’s the opening: shots of the traffic and freeway signs so reminiscent of ‘The Sopranos’ you find yourself scanning restaurant scenes for Edie Falco. Maybe it’s the beefy, slightly sweaty husbands and their dismissive but still loving amusement as the cameras move in.

Or maybe it’s just that the women, two of them sisters married to brothers, their sister-in-law, their nice friend and New Jersey’s own Cruella de Vil are actually recognizable as human beings, even with their wads of cash and strange relationship with eyeliner.