I Watched It - Can You Say Fake Everything?

Thanks to all of our friends and bloggers who linked up with us on Medical Mondays. If you forgot to link your blog, no fear, it is available until Friday at midnight. And while we are on the subject go ahead and mark your calendar for Monday May 6th when we do it all again! I love reading what you are up to and having a day set aside where we all come together. It's a great way to start of a new month.
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Have you heard all the buzz about Married to Medicine, the new and terrible show on Bravo? I had vowed to not watch it or give it any of my precious time, but after hearing so many of you talk about the show I felt compelled to see what the fuss was all about. Plenty. If you are curious, you can download the first episode for free on iTunes and add your take on the show. For the record I will not be watching any episodes - and certainly not paying to watch it. I will scratch my own eyes out before I do!

The show is pure fiction, there is nothing real about it. Anyone who believes that those four women represent real doctor's wives is just wrong. Dead wrong.

I don't know a single woman like them, or even close to them, nor do I ever want to. Maybe I haven't run into them because I'm not technically a "real" doctors wife yet, but I would imagine the percentage of doctor's wives who are like them to be 5% or less. They represent such a small segment. Hardly worth noticing except for that fact that now they are on TV where everyone (who has Bravo) can see them!

Sure, they tried to capture moments that we all have had, like our husband get paged at inconvenient times and having to leave date nights, etc. What woman who is married to a surgeon can schedule two date nights a week when she says he is on call 24/7, 365 days a year? Is he in solo practice? Don't know many orthopedic guys, or surgeons for that matter, that go solo and private. Maybe he is super special, or can't get along with others. I digress.

The producers went overboard. He got home when it was still daylight! And did you notice his phone? It's an iPhone, lots of us have them. But when I answer/make a call on my iPhone the screen doesn't show my apps page, it shows the call. Someone on set could have at least called him to make it look real. His acting alone couldn't sell it, they should have helped him out a little. Fakers.

More importantly, I think there might be something wrong with their marriage. I don't know about you, but if I welcomed my husband home wearing what she did, my husband wouldn't even hear his pager let alone respond to it. And he certainly wouldn't leave without... you know. My husband is a hot blooded man, not a robot. And the day he doesn't notice that I am wearing next to nothing when he comes home is the day I hire a private detective to follow him around and find out what is going on.

I am picking on her character, probably because she is married to a surgeon and I thought perhaps would have a better grasp of reality, and maybe the character I could relate to. Not so. Sorry Kari, you are making us look bad. All of you are.

And how about Mariah throwing a birthday party for herself because her husband was working. He is an ER doc, and works shifts! You couldn't find a day to throw your party when he wasn't working? Most ER docs work 10-12 shifts a month. That leaves a whole lot of month to work with. But then again maybe he is working double or triple shifts to pay for that house!

I have turned down many invitations because I didn't want to go alone, and have hired a babysitter to go out with friends when the husband isn't home to watch the kids. I get it, we do what we have to do. But throwing a lavish party without your husband. That isn't how I would want to spend my birthday.

I am sure something similar to each of these situations has happened in the past, but I prefer reality to be reality, even if it is boring - not scripted and staged. Married to Medicine is stripped of anything resembling a real life and has been replaced with botox, fillers, and designer labels. The show felt like an advertisement for Louis Vuitton, and this coming from a girl who doesn't know Louis.  Maybe they are a sponsor.

Which brings me to my other point. Did anyone notice that they all live in NEW houses? I went to Bravo's page and looked at their home tours. I would be willing to bet that every single one of the wives bought houses just before this show started filming. They don't look lived in, they are that new. Even the furniture is new. I could almost smell the fresh paint.

No offense to ER docs or psychiatrist's, but I didn't think you got paid that well!  Maybe we should rethink Neurosurgery, and go for something less demanding but apparently much more lucrative.

What I would really like to see is their financial statements. You know, the real stuff. Have they paid off their loans? How long have they been working? Are they living paycheck to paycheck? Are they in the middle of a lawsuit and need to make some fast cash? Warning: if they haven't already been sued I am sure some viewers in the Atlanta area have them targeted, they should be very careful. Are they in debt up to their eyeballs? Is a reality TV series their solution for making ends meet? Seems that way to me.

I don't buy for a moment that these gals were all friends and have a history together or that their husbands know each other, or travel in the same circles. Two ER docs, an Orthopedic surgeon, and a Psychiatrist. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.

As for a code of conduct and being a proper doctors wife? I didn't see much that was proper, polite or civil. I won't even acknowledge half of the stupidity on the show. And should anyone approach me and tell me that I am doing this whole doctor's wife thing wrong, I will know where they got their information from.

I understand that no one wants to acknowledge what real life looks like. It's not glamorous and doesn't make for very good TV. But the life they are portraying is reckless. Everyone involved in the show is giving the general public another reason to view doctors (and their wives) as rich, arrogant, superficial, and fake. In it for the money and the stuff. Thanks, that's just what we needed.