Picks and Pans Review: Designing Woman

By Tom Gliatto, LESLEY MESSER, KATE COYNE

UPDATED 12/13/2010 at 01:00 AM EST • Originally published 12/13/2010 at 01:00 AM EST

How I love Lisa Vanderpump on Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Doting on a dog so tiny it's closer to demitasse than teacup, she speaks in a throaty British accent-one we recognize fondly from a hundred fading character actresses-and sizes up the other women with an acerbic sanity reminiscent of Dixie Carter. One housewife has accused her of being "Machiavelic." Well, one can only hope so.