MOB WIVES A RATTY SHOW THEY DID IT FOR THE CHEESE!

For most viewers, 'Mob Wives' offers a glimpse into another world - a world where a glimpse is more than enough.
Yo, the funniest thing happens on the TV Sunday.

It's this new show called "Mob Wives."

And the funny part is that I watched, like, the whole freakin' thing before I realized it ain't called "The Real Housewives of Staten Island."

It just oughta be. On account of we've seen this whole show before. We've seen these women before. They're just usually called "Real Housewives" of someplace or other.

We know the whole drill. They talk about how they don't trust some of their friends and they bitch about who gets invited to which party and they end up in a throwdown where they call each other a lot of names you can't say in the newspaper, or on VH1.

We also know the kind of woman who does a show like this. The kind who doesn't mind being filmed for having a phone conversation with her husband, who's in prison, repeatedly addressing her in anatomical vulgarities.

Or, to summarize more succinctly, these are unpleasant people in an unwatchable show.

Now it could be added that if this is what you want on TV, "Mob Wives" is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Imagine the angriest of the "Real Housewives" ratcheted up into overdrive.

There's also one keeper moment when Karen Gravano, daughter of famous mob informant Sammy (The Bull) Gravano, tells the camera that "People don't realize there's a downside to being in the Mob."

Really? Wow!

Karen is one of four women featured in "Mob Wives," though she's not really a wife. Apparently, "daughter" is close enough.

Karen has been living in Arizona, where her father was relocated after he sent more than a hundred of his former pals to jail. Now she's moving back to Staten Island to face her past, and did we mention she's writing a book?

The past faces she will meet include Renee Graziano, a former friend whose family cut the Gravanos off when Sammy turned rat. Renee's father, Anthony, was connected himself, and she grew up a mob princess. Her ex-husband is out of jail at the moment, but that's a fluid situation, so she's raising their son mostly alone.

Drita D'avanzo is waiting for her husband, Lee, to serve out his second bank robbery conviction, which could be another two years or another five. Who's counting? Not Lee. She and the kids are hanging in for the moment.

Carla Facciolo's husband is doing eight years for stock fraud and she doesn't feel like waiting, since she figures the marriage is over anyhow. By the way, she hasn't told her kids that Dad's in the Big House. They think he's just been away working the last few years.

All these women say they're the real victims here, an image that doesn't always compute. They're profane, contentious and come off hard as nails, given to saying things like if a man is good to his family, his crimes are not that important.

For most viewers, it's a glimpse into another world - a world where a glimpse is enough.

SOURCE http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2011/04/15/2011-...