Why is Madame Bovary so Famous?

Emma Bovary is an idiot and the men she deals with are scoundrels, fools or twits. It kind of felt like a reality TV show set in an earlier time. The details of the habits and items of every day life were fascinating as historical images. The trouble Emma gets into because of her unrealistic expectations reminds me of a modern spoiled teenager. Exasperating. And although I would have sympathized with how the chemist disparages the church and proclaims the virtues of science, he comes across as an arrogant buffoon and possibly evil in the extent of his self-absorption.