Ex-wives and ex-cars

After I reviewed ABC's series "Ex-Wives Club" a week ago, I got some grumbly e-mails from a group I hadn't expected: defenders of muscle cars. Mmm-hmm. If you caught even a minute of the show, you probably saw a clip of the show's hosts (Marla Maples, Angie Everhart and Shar Jackson) helping a divorcee named Rebecca push what appeared to be her ex-husband's classic muscle car out of an airplane. The car dropped 10,000 feet, crashed onto the floor of the Arizona desert, and exploded into a ball of fire. A metaphor for lots of things, yes. And some readers wanted to know a) how this could happen, and b) why the world is not angrier about this senseless destruction. "Does Rebecca really feel better now that a piece of rare American nostalgia has been destroyed by her almighty power?" one reader asked.

I called an ABC spokeswoman to investigate, and she left a cryptic message on my voice mail last week, insisting that "the ex-husband was aware of that happening," and that "everything was legal and aboveboard." I also got an e-mail from a person claiming to know the ex-husband in question, who says the car tossed out the airplane was actually replica, and the original is safe in its Florida garage. Take this unconfirmed intel for what you will, but if it this brings hope to anyone's heart, I'm happy to pass it on. Meanwhile, I'm continuing to pester the ABC publicist, and will let you know what I find out. And can see what else gets destroyed (reputations? egos? Segway scooters?) when the show continues tonight at 9.