NewsdayValerie Kellogg

The Housewives evolve. Yes, watch what happens, if only for the richer plot lines, smarter dialogue and more pressing matters of the day.

Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser

The show promises to raise a number of real issues, from race relations to gay marriage. You probably wouldn't vote these women into political office, but they do seem to be above hair weave-pulling. Good for you? I wouldn't go that far. But despite its best efforts, "Real Housewives of D.C." is educational TV.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

The Washington housewives, in short, look and sound a lot like their predecessors in New Jersey, New York, Atlanta and Orange County, Calif., and they fit into the same caricatured roles. It’s the setting--and the surreal blend of reality-show characters and button-down Washington--that gives this soap opera more of a kick.

Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard

The Salahis are the attraction here. Judging from the season teaser, the show will spend the entire season building up to the infamous dinner-crashing scene, to which the Bravo cameras appear to had access. Remember, a fame whore needs your attention to survive. Look away now.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

Housewives D.C. offers neither a portrait of Washington insider society, to which its stars have no access, or even an unvarnished look at any person's real life. People are more complicated than this, and (for much of the day) more normal--what in this context would be called "boring."

People WeeklyTom Gliatto

Sorry, this one doesn't click. [9 Aug 2010, p.35]

VarietyBrian Lowry

It's a particularly galling group--one that, alas, will probably reward Bravo's misdemeanors in aiding and abetting this sorry exercise.