This September is the month of Mormon mania. Bravos The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City premieres on September 18, where the women will attempt a second act after their stunning victory over Monica Garcia. However, the premiere will face competition from a new reality project: Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wiveswhich hits streaming on September 6. Since the release dates are timed to coincide, these shows will inevitably compete with each other. It’s a full-blown reality TV Mormon competition.

Comparing is easy Mormon women And RHOSLC; Hell, Mormon women even has its own Whitney and Jen, although this Jen doesn’t teach Elizabeth Holmes prison fitness classes. Mormon women also uses the Bravo structure to its advantage; like Sell ​​sunset, Mormon women tears the Housewives-Style of confessionals and group tours.

Some of the conversations are practically identical: RHOSLCHeather asks Lisa if she is a Mormon and runs a tequila company, while Mormon women‘ Jen shames Jessi for her drinking. It’s not Hulu’s first dip into the Bravo pot either; they’ve already done the terribly boring Vanderpump Mansionand produce the docu-comedy Stassi says. Add to Mormon womenone could easily think that Hulu is only after Bravo’s money.

In many ways, however, Mormon women is better than RHOSLCFirst of all, the actors are actually members of the LDS Church. RHOSLC promised religious inquisition: The season one trailer began with the cast praying to God and then teaching the tenets of Mormonism, like faithfulness and honesty. That ploy largely failed. Lisa is the only God-fearing Mormon in the cast, but she’s far from the Salt Lake norm. Heather and Whitney (and briefly Monica) are ex-Mormons, but their religious reckonings are more vengeful than thoughtful. Every time Heather mentions her experiences with the church, it feels like a ploy to set up another edition of Bad Mormon and its unnecessary continuation.

The Mormon women The cast is actually made up of Mormon wives. Sure, some of them are more liberal than others. In an early episode, the group splits into the more devout and the less devout, with traditional wife Whitney calling out Demi’s less devout sex habits (somehow related to Fruity Pebbles?). Jen is so religious that she wears underwear to protect the sanctity of her marriage. The closest thing these wives have to drugs is the laughing gas they inhale while getting Botox injections.

Because so few of the housewives are actually Mormons, RHOSLC never really tries to examine life in Salt Lake City. The course of the show revolves around the scandals: Jen gets arrested, Mary possibly runs a cult, Monica runs a troll account. Mormon womenon the other hand, stays in the culture of the city. Long sequences are spent explaining the women’s lemonade orders (they always have a huge cup in their hands containing a goddamn mixture of Dr. Pepper and coconut cream). At Jen’s baby blessing, the crowd prays to Jesus Christ in a shockingly serious moment; all RHOSLCThe clips of “churchgoers” seem voyeuristic at best.

Joshua Applegate/Bravo

Funnily enough Mormon women has enough scandals under its belt to keep up RHOSLC. The show is built on sex. These wives, who went viral on TikTok by creating their own pseudo-hype house called “MomTok,” made national headlines for their “gentle swinging.” And yet, within the show, this husband-swapping quickly fades into the background. Mormon women is much more interested in human relationships and LDS culture, while the vibrant past simmers beneath. Compare that to RHOSLC Season 2, which can be differentiated in terms of the pre- and post-Sprinter models.

Like a good Housewives Series, Mormon women has main characters and supporting cast. The show centers on Taylor Frankie Paul, whose story is sprawling. Taylor revealed the group’s swinging on TikTok Live, divorced her husband, started dating her new boyfriend Dakota, was arrested and charged with domestic violence, immediately got back together with Dakota, and became pregnant with Dakota’s child before the wedding.

Of course she was a Page Six device. In this respect, Taylor is very similar to RHOSLCis Monica. In a prophetic X-post, Sam Greisman wrote, “Monica and her mom are too loving for Bravo, I think.” Taylor has the same TLC-level messiness.

And yet Taylor fits in Mormon women in a way that Monica never did RHOSLC. The women gather around Taylor in the midst of their personal crises; even before Heather’s receipts and evidence, Monica seemed outside the Housewives bubble. Don’t worry, the MomTokers were still able to excommunicate a friend: The relatively normal Whitney is kicked out in the end, not for misbehavior, but for lack of care. There is still a contingent of loud RHOSLC Fans who mourn the loss of Monica; perhaps they would be happier with the way these women handled Taylor.

Fred Hayes/Hulu

If Mormon women has one flaw, and that is a relapse into Kardashian-isms. The women speak with insane vocal power and coo drawn-out sentences full of pompous nothingness. They are also almost entirely identical; telling Demi from Jessi or Jen can be a daunting task. And in a cast of eight, some of the women disappear entirely. Both Mikayla and Layla are title characters without a hint of a plot.

RHOSLC has an explosion problem, as audiences learned the hard way. The boom, like Jen Shah’s arrest, is must-see television. The episodes, like the entire third season, are terribly boring and over the top. With season 5, fans are waiting with bated breath to see if RHOSLC can break the cycle by following up the Monica debacle with something actually tasty.

Mormon womenoffers the antidote. The show approaches LDS culture with a little more curiosity and demands less drama from its topics. Where RHOSLC is meant to be stared at, Mormon women is intended to arouse curiosity. After eight episodes of world-building in Utah, you can’t help but listen with an open ear.