‘The Gossip Game,’ hip-hop dames dish

“I am guilty of being entertained,” says Kim Osorio, the editor of the hip-hop magazine The Source, commenting on a loud, crude argument between two of her co-stars on the new VH1 reality show “The Gossip Game.”

Perhaps Kim, being a working mother, has never had time to watch any of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” shows or any of VH1′s knockoffs of that franchise, such as “Basketball Wives” and “Mob Wives.”

If she had, she would have been more guilty and less entertained, having recognized the new show’s trite format: A group of female acquaintances meet in small groups to discuss one another, finally gathering at a spurious party where two of them who dislike each other have a huge fight.

Most of us have seen plenty of those shows, so most of us will be bored. Since “The Gossip Game,” which focuses on seven journalists who cover hip-hop gossip, portrays many of these working women as being just as petty and vain as the idle-rich wives on those other shows, all women should be insulted.

In fairness, “The Gossip Game,” which premieres next Monday, April 1, at 9 p.m., does spend a little time with its subjects at work. For example, Sharon Carpenter, a Brit who formally worked at BET, goes to her job at a web site called Global Grind, where she finds her co-workers watching tape of an interview she did with an athlete. They mock her for seeming “horny.”

She goes to complain to her boss, the hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, who asks for a hug and tells her that she looks pretty and smells good. Then he checks out a picture of a model on his computer.

Kim, who says she often works from home, tells her husband of her plans to broadcast an all-women round table about hip-hop on The Source’s web site. He asks if the show is going to be called “Bitches With Opinions,” suggests the women dress attractively and then says he still wouldn’t watch it.

If the show is trying to say in these scenes that women are deserving of more respect, too many of the other scenes argue the opposite. Jas Fly, a freelance writer who has a column on Vibe.com, ambushes K. Foxx, a radio host on Hot 97, and Angela Yee, a host on a rival station, Power 105.1, by setting up a simultaneous interview.

Rather than walking out, they take the bait and trash-talk each other’s place of employment. K. Foxx says that Power 105 is a watered-down version of what Hot 97 used to be; Angela suggests that the most popular DJ on Hot 97 should be allowed to retire.

Kim says that there is a pecking order in the gossip business, with the TV reporters at the top, the print journalists in the middle and the people who write for their own blogs at the bottom. As if to bear that out, the two bloggers on this show come off the worst.

Vivian Billings, a wife and mother who runs HipHopGossipSite.com while holding down a day job at a hospital, is seen discussing a possible story with Angela: It seems that a married friend of Vivian’s went to a party at the apartment of a radio personality whose professional name seems to be Star. (This show isn’t getting any real stars to appear on camera.) The friend allegedly slept with Star and got pregnant.

In a squirm-inducing scene, Vivian confronts Star, who is also her cousin. He says that the woman in question is “ghetto trash” but tells Vivian to do him a favor and publish the story, reasoning that “you’re nobody unless you have a scandal attached to your name.”

Vivian has a beef with a blogger nicknamed Ms. Drama, whose real name is Candice Williams and who runs MsDramaTV.com. In little get-togethers sprinkled throughout the show, the two of them meet with the other stars so they can explain why they don’t like each other — the reasons will remain inscrutable — and to set up the episode’s final confrontation.

As usual in this type of show, the big blow-up occurs at a dubiously motivated party. Angela is supposedly hosting an event for hip-hop bloggers at a bar, and of course both Ms. Drama and Vivian are invited.

After Ms. Drama makes a big dramatic entrance, Vivian refuses to talk to her, and Ms. Drama accuses Vivian of being “offstandish.” Like a good editor, Kim corrects her and tells her the word is “standoffish.”

Vivian says that Ms. Drama is “ratchet”; Ms. Drama calls Vivian “sasquatch”; and Vivian says something about making Ms. Drama’s face resemble a pit bull’s. Angela says she wishes they wouldn’t fight in front of her sponsors. Sharon looks as if she’d like to sink through the floor.

Sharon’s reaction is a normal human one. It’s too bad that more viewers won’t have it as well.