By Barb Oates
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Move over, New Jersey — Texas is making a run for the reality-series spotlight. Of course, Texans would be aghast at any comparison to Jersey’s reality ruckus. After all, they’re far more genteel than those spray-tanned nitwits, right? Well, maybe the moms, but not necessarily the daughters. Viewers will meet a group of Dallas socialites in Style Network’s new Big Rich Texas, debuting Sunday, July 17.
Fans of any of the Real Housewives variations will enjoy this insider’s look at the richest of the rich and their offspring in this hourlong docu-soap that follows a group of mothers and their daughters who are all members of the affluent Woodhaven Country Club located in Fort Worth. These women have taught their daughters what they need to know — from putting together head-turning outfits to attracting the right man to edging out the competition.
Although cast members are not as closely connected as some of the Housewives are, the Big Rich ladies were aware of each other.
“We weren’t all best friends because each lady has their own group of buddies they run around with, but we knew of each other,” says Pamela Martin, one of the cast members. “We all have very different dynamics, parenting styles, clothing styles, just the way we operate out there in the business world. Everybody has a different professional background but we are all extremely different.
“The interesting part is the different dynamics between the mothers and the daughters – the show is about mothers and their lifestyles but it also goes back to the mothers and their relationships with their daughters,” Martin says. “There are very different parenting styles, different philosophies on relationships one would have with their children. I think that’s what is going to be very interesting. Most women with daughters and children are going to be able to identify with that.”
As we’ve learned from other shows that combine lots of hormones, wealth and ego, drama comes along with that package.
“There’s one daughter on the show where the mother apparently has allowed her to tattoo the C-word on the top of her foot,” Martin shares. “I’ve personally had an issue with that because I think it’s the must vulgar, insulting word that any woman could hear or say. … So I’ve asked the mother to take her to the laser surgeon to have this taken off, or make her wear a sock or do something about it. The mother’s basically, ‘Oh well, you know, let’s have another cocktail and talk about it.’ That’s not my style or parenting philosophy, so I kind of have a problem with that.”
As for Martin’s college-sophomore daughter, Hannah, she tries to stay clear of the drama. “There’s definitely drama between the girls. I’m so anti-drama it’s not even funny,” Hannah says. “I kind of try to stay out of it, but if someone personally attacks me or is rude to me, I’m not going to lie down and cry. I stand up for myself.”
Wherever that drama takes us this season, Martin promises, “We won’t go New Jersey Housewives on people — that whole table-throwing thing and physical violence. And, Hannah’s resolved to not go Jersey Shore.”
What the show does focus a lot on is the life at the country club. Martin also shares that cameras go outside the club walls too, including when “Hannah hosted a party at our house for our friends, while I was in Spain, we had my birthday party at the mansion at Turtle Creek a few weeks back so they’ve been out and about town filming some nice events we’ve all been involved with. Lot of great views of Dallas.”
So what inspires women of wealth and prestige to open their lives up for the whole world to critique?
“Everybody judges you whether your life is on TV or whether it’s your neighbor across the street. I think the whole world lives vicariously through Gladys Kravitz, if you know what I mean. They’ve all got a little bit of that in them and everybody wants to see the Charlie Sheen in everyone, here and there. For us, were just kind of like whatever. I work in marketing [for a U.K. company], I do sports marketing. I have a fiction novel [Hard Whispers] that’s [now released], were kind of out there anyway in the public eye. When you live well and have a lot of really good things people want to know who you are and what you’re doing. You don’t have to be on a TV show for people to pry. There’s always going to be haters and people judging so why not have fun with it.”
And that we will!
you white wemen think that you know it all well i want to get married and show you how to live a good life
if they ever do a big poor texas I would be the star LOL.. I live in a small town just north of dallas.. So if I could ever have lunch with Bon I so would…
way*** to go ladies
I love the Big Rich Texas ladies, well all but Pam she is a snot. I wished I was rich and on the show. I would love to hang out and have lunch with Bon… Why to go ladies Love u all BUT NOT PAM….
Why does Hannah look like a Transvestite? if her mother is so Rich…. do a make over on her daughter “Please” that is one Ugly person!!!!
OMG in Texas (yep I am a Dallas girl transplanted to the UK) those kind of women ( not ladies) are called WHITE TRASH WITH MONEY. YUCK!!!!!
They bear NO resemblance to the real deal and are so disgusting as to be fascinating.
Sad to see a Ft. Worth club prostituting itself, only slightly less than all those women full of Botox and shamelessly posing….all for the camera.
Ral Texans have much more class and are wayyyyyy more subtle and cool.
I just want to say the show is an insult to the DFW area….Wood Haven is in Fort Worth Tx. . The show is fake…..those women are fake…..
Good Lord. I didn’t think it was possible to sink lower then depths of the “Housewives of New Jersey” but these Texas creatures make N.J. look downright sophisticated!
These women and their daughters are uncouth white trash. Somehow these people managed to get enough capital to qualify for Upper Middle Class and now they are walking around like royalty ala The Beverly Hillbillies.
Social climbing, bleached hair, uneducated, vulgar, mean-sprited, surgically altered freaks. They are so ugly! They remind me of that poor mentally-ill woman who had surgery to make herself look like a cat. These people are emotionally shallow and unstable, who are playing a superficial, childish social game. Perhaps they missed out on that drama in high school?
That country club is a joke and the “fashionista” club -OH MY GOD. A tacky group of nutjobs run by a dolled-up senior gay man in a technicolor dreamcoat of buffoonery. And, no offense, but, no Dallas Fahionista is going to have a group-much less one with black people in it, or people who dress as if they are going to perform in the ring of a circus.
The show is good for a jaw-dropping laugh but, these poor clowns that are on the show, are not in on the joke. Sad. These people are incapable of introspection. There is a meter in the narcissist’s head, it ticks and tocks, a metronome of self-reproach and grandiose, unattainable, fantasies.
Their “Diary Room Confessions” are so fake. They sound like they are reading them off of cue cards. The producers must be new at this or something. They should watch some Real Housewives to see how it’s really done. No way they would drive to Ft Worth to attend that Country Club, I’m guessing the Club needed the money and so they agreed. I’m also sure all of the filming is done when the club is closed and the Real members are not around. Just like the Gatsby hair saloon on Jerseylicious.
THIS SHOW IS AWFUL AND DISGUSTING TO SAY THE LEAST, BUT IT IS SOOOOOOOOOOO FUNNY —I WAS TRYING TO FIND SOMETHING TO WATCH AND THIS WAS ON ??????
I KEPT WATCHING TO SEE WHICH MOM AND DAUGHTER WAS THE MOST STUPID —THEY ALL WON —-I WILL SAY –THIS KEPT ME FROM BEING BORE FOR AN HOUR —
CAN’T WAIT TO SEE NEXT WEEK PERHAPS ONE MAY HAVE LEARNED A FEW MANNERS BUT THEN IF THEY USED THEM THAT WOULDN’T BE ENTERTAINING WOULD IT?
P.S. I’ve known REALrich people with class in Texas (& elsewhere). These are NOT in that group. Texas has some of the finest folks you’ll ever meet.
I watched the show, first out of curiosity (I’d lived there in the late 50s, & it’s very different there, now), & just for something to watch.
First I had a LOT of trouble figuring out who was whom! Is it a law in places like that for women & teens to become bleached blondes??
Okay. I watched enough to know I can’t stand Pam. She’s so snooty & catty she’s pathetic. I’ve never liked her sort. She needs to get a life.
Next thing I noticed is what a BORING life these people lead! Sit around the pool & gossip. Do some meeting. Golf. More gossip. Brag a lot. Have illicit sex with the golf pro. More gossip. Behave like petty imbeciles. Show off your wealth, or pretend wealth–who knows–who cares? BORING!!!
I sort of like the woman who “adopted” the pageant mom’s daughter. I hate pageants, but hey, it’s someone’s cup of tea, obviously.
And then we have that complete airhead teen with the tattoos on her chest, the BIZARRE (& ugly!) makeup & hair–isn’t she the dimwit who wanted a gun–a PINK one, mind you–because she had fantasies of being a spy?
Bah. I’m not sure. I don’t remember. It was all too meaningless to MY life, which is real. I can only take so much vapidity before I change the channel.
Wake me up when it’s over, okay?
These women aren’t even wealthy, so it’s ludicrous to advertize them as wealthy Dallas women. Using a country club in Ft. Worth for a Dallas show is also over the top.
The characters are not even interesting, nor are they particularly fashionable, something Dallas is known for.
And Pamela Martin? What a witch that woman is; she makes no comments unless they are catty putdowns of everyone on the show. She’s not even that attractive and has the manners of a person from the hood. No way is she in any social scene in Dallas; she’s too unpleasant.
Talk about lack of Southern charm? That’s Pam Martin Duarte. But she isn’t alone; the entire show is clueless and has no class. Cancel it!
Ha! Typical common Texas trash. To call Texans genteel is like saying the Kardashians are classy. Texas is a DUMP. I would sooner move to Biloxi, Mississippi. New Orleans had culture when Texas had agriculture, and the Cowboys suck!
Ya I guess Katrina probly felt the same about New orleans !!!! O and would that be why the niglets down there came to Texas after Katrina washed there trailers away !
I am an MBA student and I tested this as a project. It actually is possible to have several houses in several States and have apartments because you would have renters. Therefore, from these apartments, you would have credits from you expenses in which you could pay your debts each month. If these apartments are kept filled, then you would be able to pay your manager (another expense), utitlies (expense), yearly fees (expense), etc. Houses: Are they being rented out or leased? If so, this would be extra money. If not, focus on apartments only. It can be done depending on the number size of apartments (they can be large-from 2 story and I heard of some being condos and some in skyscrapers). It all depends on location. We have to start small and work our way up. I’m not saying that she does have apartments, but if she does, then this is probably the way she went. After all, she did state that her husband died in Seattle and left an estate that is still being dealt with. It does not mean that she was the one that started the businesses. This could mean why she seems a bit confused. I think he may have been the business guy in the dealings. Not her.