Why The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is the best show on television right now
And no, I will not be addressing counterarguments.
I am currently in mourning for the end of an era.
No, it’s not the end of my child-free era. Nor is it the end of the holiday season, which—even a few weeks out—still feels like a bummer, if I’m being honest.
At the moment, I am grieving the end of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, season four.
Obviously, I’m not actually in mourning—but when there are so many real things in the world to be sad about and when my own daily routine as a new mom feels both tiny and scarily big, it’s kind of fun to have something super low-stakes to feel big feelings about.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of what might be considered “bad” or “low-brow” pop culture, especially of the reality television variety. This ardent fandom was the inspiration for a whole series of posts in this newsletter: Pop Culture Confessions. But when it comes to the Real Housewives and, more specifically, the most recent season of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (RHOSLC), I can’t pretend to be all ~not like other girls~. There has been so much buzz around this year’s episodes that it feels like a stretch to pretend that admitting my love for them should be some sort of filthy confession.
Instead, I’m here to argue that the team behind this season just might have given us THE best show that we’ve had in… a while.
I see your prestige TV. I know you love Succession and The Bear and all the other shows getting fancy critical attention this awards season. But the producers, editors, and cast of RHOSLC have been doing God’s work, as far as I’m concerned—which is fitting, considering the fact that the show’s emphasis on various religious traditions was a major part of its pitch to viewers when it premiered in the fall of 2020.
I’ll talk more about season four—which has, devastatingly, come to an end this week—in a moment, but first, let’s talk briefly about how we got here.
I’ve enjoyed RHOSLC as an extension of the Housewives franchise more or less from the beginning, but many have said that it had a rocky start—and that it’s gone through a handful of other rocky stages since then. The second and third seasons were, admittedly, a little boring. As a person who isn’t generally looking for big action in my shows, I don’t find this to be a problem. I’ve always loved the cast of characters that Salt Lake City brings to the table, and given my long-time fascination with religion (a subject for another day), the faith of it all never fails to be an additional draw. Still, RHOSLC has made some big mistakes when it comes to casting. Over the years, they’ve—rightfully—taken heat for failing to fully investigate several cast members whose history of racist social media posts and legal issues only came to light once the involved parties were in the Bravo spotlight.
These decisions have added up to a bad look for the show in the past, and I’m sure there was pressure to deliver big-time when the new season premiered in the fall.
Good news: I think they pulled it off.
Currently Reading: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Things took a turn for me with Fourth Wing and I ended up making the bold choice to DNF it at 89% complete… but I’m not ready to give up on my post-baby mission to get out of my reading comfort zone with some buzzy, escapist books beyond my usual genre! I just started A Court of Thorns and Roses last night and I’m hopeful it will be a bigger hit than Fourth Wing. TBD!
And it’s not just me who thinks so. Variety reported 2 million viewers of the dramatic finale episode, constituting bigger numbers than the show’s drawn since the first season. I’m no industry expert, but I have tuned in to enough pop culture commentary to have it on good authority that these are much bigger numbers than most programming hopes to get these days.
Anecdotally, I can also say with confidence that people—my friends IRL and reality TV commentators online alike—have been eating up the fourth season of RHOSLC. The memes, tweets, and other posts have been *chef’s kiss*. Like I said, I’m not trying to be all ~not like other girls~. On this point, I am actually just like lots of other girls.
Unique take or not, here are some of the reasons I’ll argue that it’s the best TV in the recent game… and why I’m so sad it’s over:
Angie K’s pink dog, Celia. We are NOT talking enough about this hilarious creature who has no idea she has been unwittingly subjected to an absolutely absurd hairstyle. Celia may not be a “key player” per se in RHOSLC, but I’m here to introduce some new reasons to celebrate this show, no matter how minor. One of my favorite games this season was looking for Celia and observing Angie’s hilarious way of interacting with her.
The huge twist at the end. Oh, did you expect this to come before Celia the pink dog? If you’ve been watching RHOSLC recently, you know that I probably feel silly including this here because… duh. Everyone with a following and a Twitter (sorry, X) account is screaming from the virtual rooftops about the Monica revelation and how it’s made the show stand out from the pack of other Bravo franchises. I would, of course, be remiss not to echo these claims. What a way to wrap things up!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Getting It Alli Together to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.