Shaunie O'Neal created a monster. The reality TV producer, who is suffering a bitter divorce with her baller husband Shaquille O'Neal, is unhappy with the direction her brainchild show Basketball Wives is taking. “When I started the show I really just wanted to follow this group of ladies around. We all have a common bond; we understand each others' lives. It started as that. Since then, it’s taken on a life of its own,” O’Neal told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I never imagined it would be a group of ladies fighting and arguing that way that they do. That was never part of the plan.”
The Miami-based show follows a group of former NBA wives and girlfriends as they deal with the perks and pressures of their high-profile relationships. Basketball Wives reached a new peak by bringing in 4.2 million viewers on last week's episode--a milestone that O'Neal feels conflicted about. “I hate that it has to be a fight or an argument that gives us 4.2 million viewers.  I hate that, but it’s something where I’m working as hard as I can to show some type of balance, because it is there. We’re going to try to do more of that in season four,” she said. “I know that people love the fighting and the arguing, but I do want to have some positive in there somewhere.”
If she succeeds in revamping her own show, Shaunie hopes to start a trend among other producers and networks. “A change needs to be made somewhere in these reality shows. If I can be the start, I would like to be a start in showing some balances,” she said.
As praiseworthy as O'Neal's vision for a more wholesome Basketball Wives is, as long as the show's ratings are tied directly to the number of drinks thrown in someone's face on each episode, she'll probably be fighting a losing battle.

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