If you thought “The Real Housewives of [Insert Random Locale Here]” were a tawdry, tumultuous bunch, wait ’til you meet “The Hotwives of Orlando.”
The new comedy, available for streaming Tuesday on Hulu, aims a satirical mirror at the franchise that put Bravo on the reality television map. Created by writing team Dannah Phirman and Danielle Schneider, “Hotwives” depicts the lives of a half-dozen privileged women (plus a wannabe “hotwife” played by Phirman) who thrive on finger-pointing, social-climbing, air-kissing and back-stabbing in central Florida.
Phirman and Schneider, speaking to The Post by phone from LA, say they are devotees of the Bravo franchise. “It really became sort of our soap opera, if you will,” Schneider says. “It was like what we just did at the end of the day — watch these terrifying women hate on each other.”
But Schneider adds that “Hotwives” is “a project born out of love,” rather than a take-down. “We sort of admire them — they have balls, they’re brassy, they’re fun,” she says. “We think of it more as an homage than a parody.”
Schneider, who grew up in south Florida, says they chose Orlando for its faux glamour built on “new money” and McMansions — and the “Hotwives” themselves reflect that. “It looks good, but it’s built over a swamp, and kind of flimsy and cheap,” she jokes. “I think these women are sort of like swamps that have been made to look beautiful.”
The stellar “Hotwives” cast includes Schneider as Shauna Maducci, an Italian shopaholic; “Saturday Night Live” and “Happy Endings” alum Casey Wilson as deluded trophy wife Tawny St. John; Kristen Schaal (“30 Rock”) as former child star Amanda Simmons; Angela Kinsey (“The Office”) as clueless Bible-thumping weather girl Crystal Simmons; Tymberlee Hill as Phe Phe (pronounced “fay-fay”) Reed, an attorney who equates belittling with honesty; and Andrea Savage as vivacious cougar Veronica Von Vandervon.
Kinsey tells The Post that before taking her role, she wasn’t a fan of the “Housewives,” so she prepared by watching some past episodes.
“I was really physically uncomfortable,” she says with a laugh.
“It’s awkward, cringing moments where these women get in fights and then they would have to sit through, like, a whole meal together. And then they’re friends again the next day,” she says. “It was pretty fascinating to watch.”
But while the “Hotwives” are basically modeled after specific “Housewives” cast members — or amalgams of several — Kinsey didn’t want to simply do an impression of Crystal’s inspiration, former “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member Alexis Bellino. She instead remembered something her former “The Office” co-star Steve Carell told her about getting cast on that show.
“He purposely didn’t watch the BBC ‘Office.’ He had to be his own person within that character and not try to emulate or do something someone else did,” Kinsey says of Carell’s take on Michael Scott, the “Office” manager role originated by British comedian Ricky Gervais. “I thought it was really good advice, so I watched more [‘Housewives’] for the tone of what those shows were about.”
The creators don’t know how many of the “Real Housewives” have already caught wind of their series, although Schneider says representatives of former New York cast member Jill Zarin approached them about a part too late in production to write her in.
But the “Hotwives” do apparently have one key supporter: “Housewives” executive producer Andy Cohen.
“Andy Cohen is our god! We heard through the grapevine he had seen the trailer and thought it was so funny and so great,” Schneider says. “He sort of blessed the project.”
Now both Schneider and Phirman are dreaming of actually meeting — and working with — their reality idols.
“We’re hoping that after our series comes out that maybe more of the ‘Housewives’ will want to be involved,” Phirman says. “Or we can go to their houses and have lunch.”
To which Schneider, thinking of a particular Beverly Hills housewife, wistfully adds, “What I would do to share a glass of rosé with Lisa VanDerPump …”