Television studios love creating reality TV shows. Reality TV is inexpensive to produce and there seems to be a built-in audience for the genre–people who watch one reality TV show can be expected to flock to another reality show.

VH1, the studio that brought you the lump of burning hot mess known as “Basketball Wives,” has created a new program focused on the ex’s of famous men, simply titled “Hollywood Exes.” Another show on the network is “Mob Wives.” Apparently all women who marry famous–or infamous–men can expect a second career as an actress playing themselves on a television show.

But I digress.

I happened to catch a bit of “Hollywood Exes,” which features Nicole Murphy, the ex-wife of actor/comedian Eddie Murphy; Sheree Fletcher, the ex-wife of actor Will Smith; Jessica Canseco, the ex-wife of baseball player Jose Canseco; Andrea Kelly, the ex-wife of R&B crooner R. Kelly; and, finally, Mayte Garcia, ex-wife of singer Prince (or should I refer to him as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince? –’cause I don’t know how to type that symbol he was using for identification). Considering that all of the women featured on “Hollywood Exes” are actually ex-wives, while several of the women on “Basketball Wives” have never been married, one has to wonder who is in charge of creating show titles over at VH1.

After watching the first episode of “Hollywood Exes” I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. Sheree Fletcher, who also happens to be the mother of Will Smith’s oldest son and is now re-married to former professional football player-turned-pastor Terrell Fletcher–which makes her a “first lady” in churchspeak–is the goody-two-shoes of the show. Whenever any of the other ladies start to act a little wild, Sheree is the one to bring things down a notch back into the realm of respectability.

The first thing I noticed about Nicole Murphy is that is she is strikingly beautiful, and seems very down to earth. In one scene Nicole is having brunch with her friend Sheree and she begins discussing her ongoing lawsuit against a friend who cheated her out of millions of dollars that she had gained as a settlement in her divorce from Eddie Murphy. Initially, Nicole didn’t think she could go forward with the lawsuit because of the embarrassment that would surely come from fighting such a battle in public, but she was eventually decided in favor of the lawsuit after hearing about how often stars are cheating out money by so-called friends, family members, and business associates but decide to pursue legal regress in order to avoid the publicity. I think Nicole’s decision to handle this situation so publicly is admirable and will hopefully encourage other people to properly vet the “business associates” that they will be entrusting with millions of dollars.

Andrea Kelly is the wild child; she’s the most colorful of the ladies when it comes to personality but she is also a business woman and professional dancer. It’s Kelly’s love for dance that has brought her to L.A. to start over with her own dance company. Jessica Conseco is also a beauty, and a business woman. Mayte Garcia is just ready to find Mr. Right, get married, and start baby making.

The ladies have good chemistry with each other and some of them have been friends for years. Unfortunately at the end of the first episode teaser clips show future scenes of a few of the ladies getting into an argument or two, suggesting that at some point someone will end up throwing water in someone else faces. Which is unfortunate, because the ladies all seem to be a (relatively) classy bunch. Perhaps when you put friends and a few strangers into an artificial environment where they are forced to spend time with each other for the sake of creating a reality show it can be virtually guaranteed that they will eventually get on each other’s nerves and tempers will flare.

This show has the potential to be far more positive and uplifting than any of the other reality shows on VH1. Here’s to hoping that the show takes wings and demonstrates its potential to be quality programming before anyone starts throwing wine glasses.