Every Monday night, fans of Charleston tune in to Bravo’s Southern Charm to check out gorgeous footage of the Holy City and the antics of the show’s fun-loving and hard-partying local cast (which includes a few Cougars).
Reality show columnist Liz Foster ’97. Courtesy of The (Charleston) Post and Courier.
And then every Tuesday, many of these same fans check out a newspaper column written by The (Charleston) Post and Courier’s Liz Foster ’97, who provides a sassy weekly roundup of the reality show. Depending on your point of view, it’s a toss-up as to whether the show or column provides better entertainment.
For the uninitiated, Southern Charm depicts the lives of a handful of friends in Charleston whose lives curiously seem to involve only each other. Also strange: the cast members seem to have a drink in their hands any time of day or night, weekday or weekend. The result is a lot of drama, with frequent fights between cast members, all of which Foster dutifully, and sometimes gleefully, recounts in her column.
Not one to pull any punches, Foster calls ‘em as she sees ‘em. Consider her assessment of bachelor and impresario Shep Rose, who volunteers to walk the runway as a tuxedo model in Episode 4 of the show’s second season.
“Bless his heart,” writes the College of Charleston alumna. “He’s a tall man, so it’s just a lot of limbs waving around. He should probably stick to his day job. Whatever that is.”
Southern Charm’s Craig Conover ’10. Courtesy of Bravo TV.
Not that it’s all sass. Foster can be sweet, too, like when she wrote that fellow College alum Craig Conover ‘10 looks so dapper that it seems he “fell right off a GQ cover.”
Beyond Conover, it should be noted, Southern Charm also stars alumna Landon Clements and has featured junior Greg Keys, Mr. College of Charleston 2014, who seems to be showing up everywhere these days, including Darius Rucker’s music video, “Homegrown Honey.”
And one more local star on Southern Charm needs to be mentioned: the City of Charleston itself. Foster credits Southern Charm for making Charleston look stunning, filled with breathtaking people, flora and buildings.
“My eyes pop every time,” says Foster, who is a native of nearby Murrells Inlet and works as the senior news clerk and a staff writer at The Post and Courier. “Charleston is beautiful every single time, no question.”
Landon Clements. Courtesy of Bravo TV.
And though some Charlestonians might complain the show’s cast does Charleston few favors in the publicity department, what with the reality show featuring drunkenness, unplanned pregnancy and many heated arguments, Foster says the cast’s actions can be viewed through a positive lens.
“Everybody has flaws and everybody has insecurities, no matter where you are on the social spectrum,” says Foster. “There’s vulnerabilities everywhere, there’s a little bit of crazy everywhere, there’s a little bit of common sense everywhere.”
Foster compliments the cast for having thick skin, and notes that a certain amount of armor is necessary for herself as a journalist, too, given the vitriol that is frequently injected into the comments section of online newspaper articles.
“People say really mean things,” says Foster. “You have to embrace the silly and not take yourself too seriously.”
Before working for the newspaper, Foster had jobs in childcare, primate care, and the mortgage industry. Then, in 2012, she found her calling in the newsroom of The Post and Courier. Now, there’s never a day when she’s not eager to head to work in the morning.
Junior Greg Keys (right) with singer Darius Rucker.
And beyond her Southern Charm column, Foster sometimes writes articles that celebrate the lives of Charleston residents who have recently passed away, including a dentistry and genetics professor, a former prisoner of war, and a man who enjoyed dressing up as Santa Claus each holiday season.
This approach, says Foster, allows her to capture their lives in a manner that is difficult for a standard obituary to do.
“Everyone is special, and everyone has a story to tell is how I see it,” says Foster, who you can follow on Twitter.
