CHARLESTON, S.C. — The first glimpse viewers had of Patricia Altschul on “Southern Charm,” a Bravo reality show about the lives of the rich and reckless in Charleston, was consistent with all of her future on-screen appearances.

A martini glass in her hand, and hair arranged in what her friend André Leon Talley describes as “Veronica Lake-style coiffure,” Mrs. Altschul enters her son’s bedroom to complain about his guitar-playing.

“My head is vibrating,” Mrs. Altschul says. “I could feel it in my teeth.”

“It’s rock n’ roll, Mom,” responds Whitney Sudler-Smith, her 40-something-year-old offspring and the creator and executive producer of the show. Mrs. Altschul goes on to express her distaste at the “trail of women” Mr. Sudler-Smith brings through her house, a historic property in downtown Charleston that she bought for $4.8 million in 2008. Mr. Sudler-Smith offers a solution: “a stabbin’ cabin” in town.