TONIGHT, Bravo launches their latest reality show, “Million Dollar Listing” – set in the ridiculously wealthy suburbs of L.A. where a million dollars is probably the starting salary for butlers.
Focusing on several brokers from two real-estate offices, the series takes us inside a few fascinating deals, which could happen or could fall apart faster than Michael Jackson’s nose.
And speaking of bad plastic surgery – this show is loaded with it. Many of the women, whether they are clients or brokers, whether they are over the hill or haven’t even started to climb, look strangely, sadly and bizarrely alike.
L.A. blondes with too-tight faces and boobs so big and fake they look like inflatable life vests. And those lips! Someday there could be a citywide tragedy if all those lips start popping all at once.
Half the fun of watching this show is the horrifying plastic surgery, the hair, the nails, the inappropriate clothing. Just great.
But what’s even more interesting is that although some of the women look scary fake, the women of “Million Dollar Listing” work hard for the money and are all decent sorts, very likable.
And the men are, too. See, it is possible to love pushy salespeople.
In the first few episodes, we meet a few of the agents – such as Scotty, “The Schmoozer,” a chrome-domed former club promoter who dances when he makes a deal; Lydia, “The Condo Queen,” the top condo-seller who puts her own wedding on the back burner to get deals done; Madison, “The Rookie,” who’s learning the ropes; Dia and Ray, “The Diva & Mr. Nice Guy,” a married couple who deliver a one-two punch; and Shannon, with the inappropriate nickname, “Bombshell.”
The deals include selling the homes of a desperate divorcee and a really difficult gay man who thinks his fixer-upper is a palace and wants to move to Mexico because he hates President Bush.
Extremely watchable too are the open-house events where L.A. freaks of every variety show up – including one woman who has fake boobs so giant she’s taller lying down than standing up.
Who knew real estate could be so riveting?
Oh, I know: All the millions of people who’ve made money on real estate – which by the way, has never included me.
Maybe that’s why I find this show so delicious.
Or maybe it’s just really fun to watch people earning their daily bread. And we’re talking really big loaves here – one broker has sold $100 million worth of real estate every year for the past five years.
That’s enough dough to feed everybody!
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“Million Dollar Listing”
[***] (Three stars)
Tonight at 9 on Bravo
