The gossipy antics, exaggerated drama and girlie cat fights of “The Real Housewives” has found its place at Wash. U.—no, hopefully not on your freshman floor—in the form of WUTV’s latest series, “The Real Suitemates of the South 40,” a comedic parody of the hit Bravo television franchise. Featuring four distinct personalities—Claire (Reede Goldberg, freshman), Brittani (Mari Hattenbach, freshman), Shadow (Alex Rutherford, freshman) and Morgan (Lindsay Tracy, sophomore)—the five-minute pilot episode shows what unfolds when all four girls try to catch the attention of the hot Residential Advisor visiting their suite for a “suite-on-one.”

Those who watch any of the “Real Housewives” series (whether they would openly admit it or not) will recognize the style: quick back-and-forth dialogue, short talking heads with each character and shots that pan over other cameras and equipment for a reality-show feel. While the show is scripted, the goal is for it to appear like the melodramatic “reality” that characterizes “The Real Housewives” instead of morphing into a sitcom.

“We wanted to recreate it as a parody as closely as we could, but we also wanted it to be funny and relatable,” business manager of WUTV and co-executive producer of “The Real Suitemates of the South 40” Ross Arkin, junior, said. “Not only the style of it, but things like the logo and the graphics are all taken right from the show, so that people who watch really get what we’re doing.”

The show is part of WUTV’s new direction this year to include more serialized content, similar to the new “Wash U News.” The writing so far has been a collaborative effort, with the pilot written by Evan Gates (freshman) and Alexander Chen (freshman), as well as Hattenbach and Tracy. Arkin notes that the group is working toward improving the writing, with the first episode serving more as a proof-of-concept.

“One of the first things we did in formulating concepts was made sure we understood all of the motifs of the ‘Housewives’ show,” Gates, co-executive producer and director of the pilot episode, said. “I actually sat down and watched more ‘Real Housewives’ than I ever thought I would. The interviews, the music, the way the characters act, the situations they’re put in and the whole exaggeration of things—we took that and put our own spin on it.”

The video quickly became one of WUTV’s top five most-watched videos of all time, breaking 1000 views on YouTube in less than a week. Arkin and Gates note that they are working toward streamlining production so that different students are writing scripts for future episodes far in advance, with the opportunity to then direct their own episodes. The second episode, written by Tracy, will come out during reading week and the third episode, written by Chen, will be released early next semester.

“The episode in January will be about sorority recruitment, and another idea we’re working on for the future is an episode shot entirely on the circ,” Arkin said.

While the personalities of the main four characters will carry throughout the series, the episodes are designed as one-offs, without an overarching plotline connecting them. Gates says that this will allow the team more creativity as they solidify the concept and also make it easier for other students to engage with their work.

To the skeptics out there, Arkin says to stay tuned: “There’s more to these characters than you’ve seen so far—we’ve come up with intricate backstories for each one of them, and things will begin to get moderately deeper as time goes on. We’re also looking into taking advantage of the reality format to get more meta.”

To watch the pilot episode, visit WUTV’s YouTube channel.

Editor’s Note: Lindsay Tracy is a writer and star of “The Real Suitemates of the South 40” and is the Copy Chief for Student Life. She was not involved in the writing or editing of this story.