Think back, it’s mid-August and us Selling Sunset fanatics have binged the third season in a maximum of 24 hours, leaving our reality television obsession fulfilled, but only temporarily. Reality TV is a bit like fast food, it fills you up, but then you’re hungry soon after. So whilst the millions were protesting for a Season 4, Netflix tried to appease our reality-tv-induced-rage with another glossy real estate series, Million Dollar Beach House.
The trailer advertised it as a ‘Selling Sunset 2.0’ vibe; there was the slew of stunning glass-filled houses which I’ll never be able to afford, there was good looking brokers bickering and it was all set under the bright sunshine of the Hamptons. But there was a few things missing from the reality TV potion for success, entertainment included.
To start with there actually isn’t any *real* drama. Yes, I know that real probably isn’t the right word to use to describe Selling Sunset, considering that a large portion of it is very much staged. However, you can tell that the roots of the drama are real, I mean absolutely anyone in this English speaking world knows that Chrishell and Christine do not get on, and the drama of Chrishell’s divorce was very much real. Whereas MDBH somehow manage to make a whole six episode series about Noel and Peggy disagreeing over a showing where Peggy says Noel was rude. Yep, the whole series. That would only get about a minute of airtime in the drama-fest that is Selling Sunset!
I’m not sure how long the production of this show took, but it feels very… rushed. Sure they’ve cast nice looking brokers, but they haven’t cast brokers with bundles of personality (sorry!), which has made for a rather stale show considering that personality is the at the core of any reality show. In the whole six episodes there are no dramatic fights, no storming out of pool parties, nothing!
I appreciate that on a programme which based on real estate, real estate does have to be included. However it just felt like it was a bit too much real estate, and too little reality. Perhaps Jason Oppenheim should just transfer his Netflix contract over to Million Dollar Beach House! We all love drooling over the houses, but that’s literally all they think, speak and breathe. Even the open house parties are all about the houses! Anyone who knows anything about real estate reality TV knows that the open house parties are just backdrop to the dramatic fights! But not in the Hamptons apparently, here’s it’s all come and look at the house, have some canapes and go home.
Well Netflix, that’s just not what we signed up for.