Gallery Girls, Episode One: The Real-Life Girls of Girls

All images via Bravotv.com

Before the HBO series Girls debuted in April, critics anticipated a Brooklyn version of Sex and the City. Then the show actually aired, and it became clear that this story about women in New York was very different -- for better and for worse -- than the story of Carrie Bradshaw.

That's the first of many things Girls has in common with Gallery Girls, the reality show on Bravo tracking the lives of young women in the New York City art scene, including two native Miamians. The stars of the show -- a group of art interns and struggling independent gallery owners -- compared themselves to the likes of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda several times during last night's series premiere. But the reality is much different. They're more like Girls' Hannah Horvath in that show's premiere episode, before her parents cut her off financially: spoiled, unskilled, and lazy, unsure how they'll achieve their dreams of art world stardom but certain they'll do it somehow.

Is it easy to hate on these privileged women? Oh hell yeah. But a few of the girls of Gallery Girls have compelled us to keep watching -- especially Miami's own Liz Margulies.

The show opens, and we're introduced to its cast. Angela says she grew up watching Sex and the City, and always wanted to live Carrie's life. Okay, there's problem number one. Where were your parents while you were watching a show about women getting laid during your formative youth? We grew up watching The Wonder Years, and all we ever wanted to be was Winnie Cooper.

We meet Angela at Milk Studios, where she's posing in various states of undress for fashion photographer David Schulze, who cheers her on as he's shooting by saying what sounds like, "that's so incredibly Asian!" Angela is Asian, so that statement is technically accurate, but still a weird compliment. Thanks for noticing, white guy!

Angela says she's a model and a waitress but what she really wants to do is be a photographer. Her parents are doctors and don't approve of her New York City lifestyle. We're sure they'll change their minds once they get to watch her flashing her boobs at photographers on national television.

Next, we meet Kerri, who's moving into her new apartment in Greenwich Village with her mom, who looks like every Midwestern mom you've ever met. Mom wears a bulky sweater over a turtleneck and light wash jeans, dyed blonde hair, and her name is Jean Lisa, so you know that a) she's adorable and b) probably makes a killer meatloaf. Kerri's leaving her job as a personal concierge to intern in the art world. But can we get a spin-off about Jean Lisa?

And then there's Amy, aka Amy Poliakoff, a Miami girl living on the Upper East Side on her parents' dime, and interning for free. She wants to make it big in the art world, which is going to be difficult if she's going to wear dresses with giant bows on their chests all the time. She takes a bubble bath as a voice-over explains why she lives on the Upper East Side: it's safe, it's clean, and there are lots of cute boys in sweater vests. And here we thought Mama Jean Lisa would be the whitest person we'd see on this show.