Big Rich Texas

Is Big Rich Texas just another Real Housewives? Well, yes and no. All the drama, shallowness and figurative hair-pulling on Real Housewives can be found on Big Rich Texas, only it’s more magnified with the addition of being ridiculously petty. The few things that can’t be found are the “genuine” (or as genuine as superficiality can get) mother-daughter relationships and the Texas backdrop. Other than that, the shows are one and the same. But is that such a bad thing? Well not if you’re already a fan of Real Housewives. Otherwise, it’s one big headache away from changing the channel.

The women on Big Rich Texas are just as persistent on keeping up appearances as their tamer counterparts on Real Housewives, only they fail to some extent. They try to look sincere in public by putting up a carefully crafted façade, but they are truly just as shallow and pretentious as ever. Even more so, several characters occasionally slip up in public and show their ugly side. It is as though there is no shame in casting themselves in a bad light. Pam, Connie, Melissa, Bonnie and Leslie are the five main women of this show, while their daughters (or in one woman’s case- niece and goddaughter) provide a boost to the drama. They are supposedly in Dallas, Texas, and the circle of women is to be found mainly at the local, exclusive country club.

Pam is the uptight, queen-bee of their social scene in Dallas. She has power in their country club, and is the one the ladies must impress. She makes her daughter out to be an angel that would never do anything bad, when in reality…well, no one knows. It’s all so scripted and superficial. Connie is a rather dull ex-cheerleader who owns a consignment boutique and plans most of the parties for their country club. Her daughter is a wannabe varsity cheerleader who seems to have no interest in the show. There is nothing outstanding about Melissa or her daughter; they are bland and typical, yet somewhat neutral. They just move with the crowd.

Bonnie is a bit of a firecracker. She is a well-educated professor, and is known as “Botox Bonnie” among the catty women she hangs out with. Her daughter has many tattoos and is rebellious. The two of them are a breath of fresh air, but that breath is not enough to save this show from the other women’s atrocities. Leslie and her pageant-girl niece recently moved to the area, and are new to the Dallas social scene. Her niece seems like a brat behind a good girl disguise, much like the other girls, with the exception of Bonnie’s daughter. Leslie says she likes Bonnie when no one else is around, but continues to talk badly about her behind her back. It’s all highly superficial, and reminiscent of high school drama. The women seem to have never outgrown that awful stage.

The ladies come across as shallow and fake, not to mention disagreeable and full of themselves. The entire show seems like a farce, totally scripted and not at all representative of the true Dallas elite. For starters, the country club displayed in the show is not actually in Dallas, it is in Fort Worth. Not only that, the country club isn’t very elite either. It costs around five thousand dollars annually to belong to the club, which is much less than the actual elite country clubs in Dallas.

The drama on the show seems so staged, and it’s hard to believe that the women are in fact a part of the biggest social scene in Dallas. If by “the biggest social scene in Dallas” they mean “party of five, plus daughters,” then it may be correct. However, it’s unlikely that all of the Dallas socially elite is comprised of such a small group. It’s like one clique in high school thinking they are the be-all and end-all of everyone and everything else, when really they are next to nothing.

So for fans of Real Housewives or even Dallas Divas & Daughters, this show is for you. For all the rest of you who can’t stand such shows, and are annoyed with shows that lack substance and genuineness, or only feature air-headed characters whose main concerns revolve around fake drama and partying, then this is really not the show for you.