Are any of the "Real Housewives" Franchises real?

I have been an avid fan of Bravo and have been a loyal fan of Real Housewives of Orange County since the show began in 2006. I've seen the many changes in cast members, the crazy reunions, and have seen at least one episode of every spin off city that followed. The cities I enjoy watching the most are Orange County, Beverly Hills, New Jersey, and recently Atlanta.

I have to admit The Real Housewives franchises really helped me get through most of my pregnancy in 2010 and early 2011 being as I had horrible morning sickness the entire time and spent a lot of time in bed. So I've seen the drama, the fights, the table flipping, plastic surgery, cast member changes, etc. I wouldn't call myself and expert but I'm pretty knowledgeable in all things housewife related.

I'm currently following New Jersey as I record it onto my DVR every week, so earlier today I while my daughter was napping I watched last nights episode, for those of you who follow it, you know about the drama in Napa that ensued between Teresa and Caroline. After it was over I watched a special episode of What What Happens Live with both Teresa and Caroline giving their sides about what went down that night in Napa.

While watching I started to think, "I've been watching these shows for awhile, since 2006 and each season it seems like they go out of there way to make it more extreme than the last. There are usually more fights, more drama, more chaos, than the previous season." So then I have to ask myself and everyone else caught up in any of the cities from the Real Housewives franchises, "Just how real are these shows?" It's called the Real Housewives of "whatever" but is it really real? Do the women on these show accurately portray what a true housewife is? 

The show follows some of the wealthier women of America in their daily lives interacting with their "circle of friends" and families. The housewives are supposed to be "married" although they've had women who weren't actually married on there since the beginning (Lauri, Jo, Bethenny, Kim, etc.) so should the unmarried women even be considered housewives? After all they aren't married. Well I'm not really one to judge considering I'm currently not married and I feel like a housewife. 

Regardless of the name, do these women even embody a real American housewife? Most families in America are middle class, educated, working, with kids. There are plenty of stay at home moms out there but it's a lot less prevalent then it used to be. And with a poor economy it's becoming even less and less as previous stay at home moms have been forced to go back to work. A real housewife doesn't have 3 nannies,  one for each of her kids, doesn't go on shopping sprees weekly, we don't get a chance to go on lavish vacations for weeks at a time, and we don't meet our friends for lunch and dinners on a daily basis.

And don't get me started on the drama, my family has its share of drama and fights over typical things, living situations, sibling fights, and the occasional financial fight when someone asks to borrow money. You would also never see me pretending to be someones friend to their face and then talking about them behind their back like that, just trying to stir up trouble.

You can tell that most of these women were never friends, and probably didn't even know about each other until the show.