Southern Belles: Louisville, premiere. Our Fair City!

A blue million years ago, a friend and I road-tripped cross-country from NYC to Phoenix. While we were in Phoenix, we went to this crazy faux-diner chain restaurant called Ed Debevic's (little did we know that there was one in NYC at the time). It was one of those places where the wait staff is purposely rude to you and the line chefs hop up on the counter and danced to "YMCA" whenever the juke box played it. At Ed Debevic's (there are still two in Illinois), I purchased a bumper sticker that said, "Who Hired All These Crazy People?"

Then a couple years later, I hung it up in my office because it was suddenly funny. "Who Hired All These Crazy People?" Because I hired all those crazy people. Get it?

Right.

So I'm thinking that the producer of "Southern Belles: Louisville" has that bumper sticker hanging in his/her office. Heck, I'm thinking every reality show producer needs that bumper sticker. "Southern Belles" doesn't stray from the formula.

"Southern Belles: Louisville" premiered on SoapNet on Thu, May 21. It follows Emily, Hadley, Julie, Kellie, and Shea-- five friends from Louisville. The tagline is: "Southern tradition meets modern ambition."

I don't know where to begin except to thank the producers of the show for making our fair city look super good. Seriously. And not only does Louisville look good, it's the Louisville I know, for the most part. (Okay, all the high society stuff, not so much). Good job, location scouts! Good job. (One day last fall, Roommate & I were at Jenicca's-- sniff, still miss that place-- as they were getting ready to shoot there.)

The five friends... they probably shouldn't be thanking the producers. I'll just leave it at that.

Of course I'm going to keep watching it. Though I'm not a fan (quite the opposite) of reality TV, I can't not watch. But rather than comment on the plot, I'll stick to the city. Next week, I'll make notes on Louisville locales featured in the show. I didn't think to do it with the premier. Off the top of my head, familiar sites included:

• O'Shea's (where they held the premiere party last Thursday)
• Heine Brothers (I think the Eastern Parkway/Bardstown one)
  
• Kentucky Derby Museum (where they held a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen fund and raised a paltry $3K)
• Clodhoppers
• Audubon Country Club
  
• A skating rink-- I think it's Alpine on Gardiner Lane
• The pawn shop across from the now-defunct Karma Cafe (exterior only)