In its second season, "Southern Charm" appears to be climbing the reality TV ranks towards the 1-million viewer mark and gaining acceptance in the BravoTV lineup.
RealityTea.com reports the show, which features a bunch of young Charleston-ites who, in their own words, suffer from "Peter Pan" syndrome, posted 927,000 viewers for the most recent episode that aired on March 30.
The group's "good ol' boys" include Thomas Ravenel, a former politician and "playboy" who was imprisoned on cocaine charges, Shep Rose, a cute beach bum trust-funder, and Whitney Sudler-Smith, who is trying to find himself through music and the restaurant business.
"There are so many distractions and things to do other than being a responsible human being," says Craig Conover. Conover graduated from Charleston School of Law, but during the early episodes of season 2, he had not taken the state bar exam and does not want to work.
"I'm sick of people giving me s--- about not taking the bar," he tells viewers.
Meanwhile Ravenel, 52, was the South Carolina state treasurer, but resigned six months after his election when he was indicted on cocaine charges. He spent 10 months in a federal prison. During the show's early episodes of season 2, he announces a run for state senate.
The big storyline revolves around Ravenel and the drama related to the relationship with his 21-year-old (former?) girlfriend named Kathryn Calhoun Dennis. After season 1, where the two had a pregnancy scare, season 2 opens with a baby crying and the realization that the two chose to actually have a new baby. But friends are worried that Calhoun Dennis will never get the ring because of Ravenel's wandering eye and desire to chase women.
It is not known if Ravenel will ever actually make an honest woman out of Calhoun Dennis. And in the latest episode, she calls him out for taping a political commercial that features him dancing with a bunch of women. In real life, earlier this month, Ravenel was spotted kissing another woman, and he told the Daily Mail Online in an exclusive interview that he had broken it off with Calhoun Dennis.
Cameran Eubanks -- a Southern Belle and new real estate agent who acts as narrator on the show -- is probably the most sensible of the bunch.
But the real star of the show is Sudler-Smith's mother, Patricial Altschul, a Charleston socialite who has a keen wit, as well as a taste for a morning martini in bed in her feather-trimmed robe. Her dry comments about the group of overgrown adolescents are biting, but accurate.
Mother Altschul is certainly not the only one on the show who likes to imbibe. Most of the activity on the show is centered around afternoon parties on the plantations and evening events where the mixed drinks flow like water.
"Southern Charm" airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on BravoTV.
