Yankee Rednecks

The irony in last night’s Real Housewives of New Jersey appeared to me at the end of the show. In the beginning of the show, Caroline’s family cooked a Southern meal and mocked Southerners. The editors did a fine job when they juxtaposed this to other cast members who were yelling, screaming and fighting and otherwise acting like a bunch of crazy ass rednecks. The cast members argued and fought at a Christening Party! A new cast member, Melissa, recently had a baby.


The main principals in the fight were Teresa’s husband and Teresa’s brother. I never knew Teresa had a brother. After seeing the discord between those two last night, I understand why the brother never appeared last season. The source of their ill-will is not clear. I guess we will hear more of those details as the season unfolds. We also know that Teresa and her sister-in-law, Melissa, do not like each other. Again, why , I don’t know. Maybe they were arguing over who was prettier. I thought it was hysterical when Melissa was making fun of Teresa’s accent. The new cast members’ have normal accents, so much so that it made Teresa’s accent sound that much more like Fran Drescher’s.

If these guys had accents like James Carville and didn’t have vowels at the end of their names, this show could easily be moved to CMT in a time-slot right after My Big Redneck Wedding. What kind of a lowlife gets in a fight after a kid’s baptism ( their own kid’s at that)? Everybody on this cast is related to one another. This sounds like another stereotype which would make the RHW NJ cast a perfect fit on CMT. These people, to put it simply, are Yankee Rednecks.

I am sure some readers are curious as to what a Yankee Redneck is and how does that compare to a regular garden-variety redneck. A regular redneck has parents, relatives and friends who are all rednecks. Their parents, relatives and friends were rednecks as were their parents, relatives and friends. Being a redneck is all they have ever known. They were born into it. They had no choice.

A Yankee Redneck is much worse than a regular redneck. They were not born into the redneck lifestyle. They know better and have been around better. The Yankee Redneck is worse than a regular redneck because he chose that life! They want to be a redneck.

Despite my belittling of the RHW NJ cast, I was riveted to last night’s episode. I know it is low-brow, trashy and had a Jerry Springer feel to it. But it was exciting and fun to watch. I thought with Danielle gone, the drama would have died off. I was wrong. This should be a dramatic season.