The Real Housewives of Orange County is a
reality television program on the
Bravo network, set in
Orange County, California. It is the first and seminal installation in the
The Real Housewives of... series. Created by
Orange County producer and
Coto de Caza resident
Scott Dunlop,
with music by
Chuck Hammer, the show was initially set primarily in the
gated community of Coto and followed the lavish livestyles of five "
housewives" and their families who resided within Coto
McMansions, with the exception of one housewife, who lived in a Ladera Ranch townhouse. This housewife exception-to-the-rule was used in Season 1 as a foil to the extravagant lifestyle of the other four housewives, who lived "behind the Coto gates". The show is a voyeuristic look into the wealthy lives of these housewives, as they shop, get plastic surgery, gossip, fight and live lavishly. The construction-real estate crash, the beginning of which coincided almost exactly with the first season's broadcast, has since trimmed the housewives' lifestyles with job losses, evictions, mortgage defaults, foreclosures, and marital stress—all recorded in progressive seasons of the show. Some have seen the show as a parable of the economic bubble and crisis as it portrayed a lavish consumerism, with American families living beyond their means, only to find themselves in serious debt when the economy soured.