TVSquad

You know, if it weren't for these stupid laws we have in place, I think my idea for a reality show in which rich, beautiful people are fed to sharks would do quite well in the ratings. Apparently, though, delving into the lives of the affluent and vacuous is still a popular concept, so brace yourselves for what's being described as a new "docu-reality" (or any number of similar hyphenated words) series in the vein of Desperate Housewives. On June 13, CBS will debut Tuesday Night Book Club, which will focus on seven women living in Scottsdale, Arizona who get together once a week to discuss the trials and tribulations of being beautiful and not having any real problems. Although, I must admit my heart does go out to Jamie, the wife who can't decide whether to stay married to her husband and sleep with other men, or divorce him and sleep with other men. That is a conundrum, I must say.

After having been transfixed by last night's episode of The Sopranos, I was pretty much in the mindset that anything following the show would be a tremendous letdown. Well, the premier episode of Big Love certainly did not come remotely close to The Sopranos, but I was still rather intrigued by what I saw.

Now we all have to remind ourselves that when we watch anything on TV, we have to accept dramatic (or comedic) license and have to suspend reality. In the case of Big Love, you're going to have to kick reality out of your house. When you watch this program, you have to constantly remind yourself that this isn't real--at least you don't think it is. It's hard to believe in this day and age that polygamy still exists, and in this particular case, that it seems almost normal.

Bill Henrickson owns a chain of home improvement stores, and he is doing his best to keep his own house in order. Make that three houses in order, because he has three wives--Barb, Nicki, and Margene--and seven children who all live together in a trio of houses joined by a common backyard. It doesn't take long to see who among the three wives seems to yield more of the power. Barb aka "Boss Lady" pretty much runs the entire show, and comes across as the most logical wife of the bunch. Nicki seems to be the most unstable (if you can believe that) of them all, constantly seeking out attention and making her jealousy over Barb rather obvious. Margene, the youngest wife, trips over herself to get Bill's attention, and is ready to satisfy him at every opportunity. Bill manages to move from house to house to house to wife to wife to wife to family to family to family without much effort. Just picture a typically dysfunctional American family and multiply it by three.