Do the Kardashians still need a TV show? And do we still need to watch it?
Where Keeping Up With The Kardashians used to captivate, The Kardashians just seems to duplicate
TV Features Caitlyn Jenner
Now that season two of The Kardashians has wrapped on Hulu, we’ve got a lot of questions. And not about what happened this season, or what to expect in the next one. No, we’re actually trying to figure out bigger picture stuff here. Like just who this show is for, why the family keeps doing it, and whether we should still be watching.
When the Kardashians first graced our screens in 2007 with their E! show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, there was a sort of ramshackle charm to the whole affair. That likely sounds improbable to anyone who didn’t watch the first few seasons, and it’s incongruous with the glamorous Kardashians we know now. But early on the Kardashians almost felt like they could’ve been your own family. Sure, they lived in Beverly Hills and were casual friends with famous people, but besides that, they were a lot like the rest of us. Their family dynamic was chaotic, dysfunctional, and unfiltered, and it was genuinely fun to watch.
The storylines at that point were light and silly, like when they put a chicken coop in their backyard or when a pre-transition Caitlyn Jenner helped Kim get in shape for Playboy. Even the more serious stuff, like Khloé going to jail, was treated with humor and heart. The original theme song was adorable, with the infectious high-pitched whistling as it introduced each member of the family. Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé were humble boutique owners, Kylie and Kendall were pre-pubescent, and Kris had yet to trademark the term “momager.”
It’s a stark difference from where Keeping Up With The Kardashians ended up 14 years later. The old Kardashians wore pedestrian outfits from Dress Barn. The new Kardashians exclusively wore Balenciaga. The old Kardashians looked like they did their hair and makeup themselves. The new Kardashians looked like they had a team of hundreds working on them for hours. The old Kardashians got into their cars and distracted each other while driving. The new Kardashians flew on their private jets and talked about their packed schedules. Any ounce of relatability they had previously was gone. Keeping Up was no longer your typical family reality show. Instead, it became an inside look at the inner workings of A-list celebrities. This was even reflected in the show’s intro. No longer did it introduce Kris and her kin by name. It didn’t have to. You already knew their names. And that was why you were watching.
Same song, different dance
It didn’t come as a surprise when the family announced in 2020 that Keeping Up With The Kardashians was finally coming to an end. All of them had their own lucrative careers and seemed to be working non-stop. How did they even have time for a show? Plus, Kourtney had all but left and Kendall rarely appeared. It seemed that the Kardashians had outgrown their show just like they kept outgrowing their houses.
But there was a twist. What felt like a day later, they announced their new show: The Kardashians. It didn’t make any sense. Why make all that fuss about ending your show only to immediately announce a new one? How would this new show be any different than the one it was replacing? One of the ways, Kim told Variety, was that it would be more current. “We hated how long we had to wait … because once we got over something, we had to rehash it all over again,” she explained. It seemed as if the new show would be as close to airing in real-time as possible.
Of course, there’s still a bit of a delay. The Kardashians premiered in April, and its central storyline was about Kim preparing to host Saturday Night Live six months prior. Of course, we all know what happens: She does well and ends up hooking up with Pete Davidson, leading to the most confusing relationship of the decade (so far). You would be hard-pressed to find anybody who doesn’t already know how this story ends, as Kim and Pete’s every move became headline news.
Season two, which premiered in September, focuses on Kim’s attempt to wear Marilyn Monroe’s dress to the Met Gala while the Blac Chyna trial looms over the family. The producers are trying to make it suspenseful: If the dress doesn’t fit, Kim isn’t going to the Met Gala. Will she make it work, or will she sit at home watching TV like your pathetic ass is right now? Again, you know how it ends. She crash-dieted, lost 16 pounds, and wore the dress to the event with her then-boyfriend by her side.
Who’s watching?
So who exactly is this show for? Is it specifically made for people who just got out of jail or just woke up from a coma? For anyone who doesn’t fall into either of those categories, watching The Kardashians is like reading the history book after you fought in the war. We don’t need to spend weeks wondering whether or not Kim wears Marilyn’s dress to the Met Gala. We lived it! In this day and age, we are all Kardashian konsumers (sorry) whether we want to be or not. They have managed to force themselves so deeply into the kollective konsciousness (sorry!) that they don’t need a TV show for the world to “keep up” with them. By simply being living, breathing organisms in 2022, we are inherently keeping up with the Kardashians.
Think about it. The Kardashians arguably created the concept of the influencer, turning their Instagram grids into virtual billboards for everything from protein shakes to fake music festivals. It sounds like a sweet gig, which is why a Morning Consult study found that 86 percent of young Americans want in on it. Who wouldn’t want to quit their nine-to-five and make a living posting shirtless photos from a balcony in Ibiza? Kim is right that nobody wants to work anymore. And it’s because of her.
Many are even trying to replicate the Kardashian path to stardom by starting on a reality show. Look at The Bachelor, for example. Everyone claims they’re there to find true love—they’ll usually even gang up on at least one fellow cast member whom they deem isn’t there “for the right reasons.” Yet despite their heartbreak, they seem to have no problem selling diet pills and period subscription boxes on Instagram afterward. For wannabe influencers, reality shows today are what Saturday Night Live was for comedians before the internet: a launchpad for the next phase of their careers.
Why do the Kardashians keep doing this?
If reality shows are SNL, then the Kardashians are Kenan Thompson. You can’t help but wonder what they’re still getting out of it a decade and a half later. Can Kris not sleep without a mic pack attached to her waist? Can Kim not go to a doctor without broadcasting the appointment to the world?
Perhaps the real answer is actually a wholesome one. When the family spoke to Variety ahead of the new show’s launch, the outlet noted one of the ways the streaming series differed from its predecessor: It would more often profile the sisters individually rather than focus on getting them all together, a testament to how busy their lives are. Could it be that this reality show is the glue that’s holding the family together? Who knows if they would see each other as often—or at all—otherwise.
So who exactly is this show for? The answer seems to be that it’s for them. In a 2020 Ellen appearance, Kris said that Keeping Up gave her “the most amazing home movies in the world.” Caitlyn said the same thing in a YouTube video, adding that the show “made the family stronger.” The Kardashians have had their personal lives documented for so long that the kamera krews (last one, promise) and the massive paychecks from the show likely feel like second nature. To paraphrase Walter White, The Kardashians have a reality show because they like it. Because they’re good at it. Because it makes them feel alive. It may seem strange to us, but if it brings them together, makes them happy, and keeps fuel in their private jets, more power to them.
103 Comments
Really? They never should have had one in the first place. Vacuous nothings.
…you beat me
This is the only answer. 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving!
Exactly. How they gonna make gerbils illegal in California, but let all those Kadashians run wild?
And Ferrets. Can’t have one here in Cali yet Scott Disick was allowed to roam freely.
Exactly! Do you think Marc Singer would have been able to carry Beastmaster without those ferrets?
It always ticks me that Da Ah-hold when he was Govenator of Callie-forn-nyah worked with a Ferret in Kindergarten Cop… Yet refused to grant them pet status when the law was sent to his desk.
It’s just like abortions. Rich folk can get them even if is illegal, so they don’t care that the rest of us must live abortion, gerbil, and ferret free. Not that a gerbil mother needs and abortion; if she has too many kids she can always eat a couple.
I still don’t understand how they got a show in the first place. They were not famous before, right?
homemade porn
My favorite!
They were mostly famous for letting OJ hide in their house when the cops were after him.
Kim was a stylist to Paris Hilton (!) but she achieved more widespread notoriety* to a sex tape that leaked (eww) a few months before Keeping Up With… debuted and which she fought really, really hard to keep out of circulation, don’t you know.*an old-fashioned word for what many people now call “fame”
As far as I know they were only kind of known for being the family of Robert Kardashian, who was one of O.J.’s lawyers. And then what really “propelled” them to modern fame, as far as I’m aware, was Kim having a sex tape with Ray J.
You’re missing one last piece of the puzzle. In Caitlyn Jenners previous life, she was a world renowned athlete, or at least known well enough that it contributed to their fame.
I guess, but the show & marketing were all Kardashian focused, Jenner was more of an afterthought, I feel.
They got the show because Kim fucked Ray J, filmed it, and her mom (almost certinly) “leaked” it to get famous and rich.
These people were “relatable” once? Wtf?
What do you mean? Doesn’t every mother encourage her daughter to make a degrading sex tape when she realizes her daughter’s friend/employer got so much fame for it? And what obedient daughter wouldn’t immediately comply?
I’ll lay all of that at their very sturdy doors, but I’m also looking at the dimwits who made them popular.
They are everywhere (seemingly). *shudder*
EVERYWHERE
Some of us just jerked off and move on. We gave cum but no dollars
Damn beat me to it.
My mother’s a bit more old-fashioned. She told me to make a sex radio drama, released in twelve thrilling instalments.
You mean your mother didn’t help leak your sex tape so you could be famous?
Hell no. Dear God, no!
The answer to both questions is quite simply no.
I also think another question should have been asked: should the AV Club write an article about this?Same answer applies.
Yes, I used to think of this as my safe space away from that dross.
Exactly
NoAnd fuck noI have never understood the appeal of these awful people. And this is not coming from a place of snobbery. I have watched more junk TV that I can recall, including all seasons of Flavor of Love, Rock of Love and I Love New York
Same! I love trashy reality shows, and I’ve even resorted to finding them in other countries when I’ve watched all the available US ones.
But I have never, ever, ever been tempted to watch one second of this… “family.” (quotes because it’s really more a business than a family – and that’s not the worst thing I could say about them)
The only trash TV I am 100% guilty of watching is Springer and Maury lol, and I will never not love Maury.
If you have ever watched their show then you are a moron.
If people don’t watch, it will go away. Same with all the other garbage tv (the Bachelor, the Masked Singer, etc.). People are stupid. This is why when given a choice between democracy and fascism, 46% of the country is solidly pro-fascist (although they get mad at the word).
Please don’t malign all reality shows by putting them in the same box as this gross demonstration of ego and shamelessness.
ETA: I realize I just described a number of reality shows, but somehow this one just hits differently. And not in a good way.
Yes. It’s like Project Runway. If you make good clothes and are an interesting personality, you are in. If you don’t and you aren’t, you are out. Auf Wiedersehen.
Yeah, I hate reality shows, but a few of them have some vlaue, I guess. Like performance shows.
Maybe less pro-fascist than anti-Democrat. I suspect if most of the red half of America had to actually live under a Republican fascist regime, they’d hate it. Unless they got to be Commanders. Nobody wants to be a handmaid.
Here’s the thing: Nazis have a buy-in that most ppl find hard to resist: they give you power to rat out your neighbors to the police (usually over nothing) and essentially that gives you power over life and death. And that will be enough to keep the frail weak Nazi shitbags in power.
So some ppl are gonna be into that taste of power, and the ones who aren’t have no fucking choice. And everyone’s demoralized so they don’t think about a life outside of the Nazi monsters bc it seems inescapable.
We need to stop it now. It will get worse. They won’t back down until we push them back.
People are stupid, but people are also continually barraged with capitalist propaganda (advertising, both explicit and disguised). Who has time to get politically active when you’re exhausted from commuting an hour each way to a job that doesn’t pay enough, and spend money you don’t have on things you don’t need to solve problems that don’t exist because you see hundreds of messages every day telling you that you should?
Thankyou. While we could all stand to be more socially aware and engaged – myself very much included – let’s not pretend it’s easy, and let’s not pretend that there aren’t vested interests spending a lot of money to keep it from being so. Bosses keep pushing the idea of more work for the same pay (let’s hear it for the grind!), while the price of just surviving becomes more expensive day by day. At the end of all that slog, who can blame anyone for wanting some simple entertainment to check-out to?
Yep. That and social media. Pretty much sums it up.
How come no one ever wants to talk about the brutal Kardashian occupation of Bajor?
The Bajorans know what they did.
I’d much rather watch a reality show about Gul Dukat, honestly.
Real World style with Gul Dukat, Kira, Odo and Quark!
We kinda did. There was as much Dukat family drama as anyone on DS9.
Some people like having something playing in the background.
A sex tape is a weird thing to play while you’re vacuuming, but you do you.
I put a tape of someone vacuuming on in the background while I’m having sex.
They must be addicted to the attention. They havent needed to do it for the money for a looooooooong time.
Ya think? This all stemmed from their gross covetousness of the Hilton family, and a mama pimping out her daughter.
Yes, a family of humble boutique owners…whose paterfamilias was a high-powered OJ lawyer. Just like common folk, those Kardashians.
You give him too much credit. He was a rich guy who made his fortune publishing trade magazines and licensing music to movie theaters. He hadn’t practiced law in years. It’s likely that the only reason he was on the legal team was because he destroyed evidence for OJ.
They don’t need one. If they have one, you don’t need to watch it. If you feel a need to watch it, don’t talk about it. If you need to talk about it, you don’t need to bitch about it.
You’ve been so grumpy ever you got your Quantum MD.
I think the only people living and breathing this shit are people who are way too fucking online.
Hey, I resemble that remark. But I don’t care about the Kardashians. Except for plain, simple Garak, of course.
It took me a shamefully long time to get this joke.
Botique owner!
Whatever happened to the open threads? Much as I like talking about rich billionaires who are more plastic than flesh, I would also like to talk about what I ate for Thanksgiving with my AV Club cohorts.
We had pretty traditional fare. Turkey. Potatoes. All that. But we also had this really nice dish I’d never had before made from broccoli and cauliflower baked in a sort of cheese and creamer sauce. I don’t know what it was called, but it was a real standout I hope we have again next year.
It’s called Broc et Cauli Fondue avec le jizz
AV Club is more machine now than man.
Everyone knows you ate cock you dirty turkey
This entire article is a self-negating puff of nothing. Question: who is this for anymore? Answer: It’s for them, not for the audience?1) what a waste of words (and our time) for such a rote observation, and 2) you were asking what AUDIENCE still remains and why, because your article is for the viewers, not for the pointless Kardashian Industrial Complex. (Their needs are met well beyond any sane idea of what they deserve. You don’t need to add an unpaid PR flack.)This just isn’t an insightful or smart website anymore. But I come back periodically hoping the dearly departed will somehow rise from the grave anyway. Sigh.
“a self-negating puff of nothing”The AV CLUB
FIGHT THE EMPIRE!
It was quite a masterstroke to post this absolute nothing garbage article on the holiday weekend so all the commenters could come in and write the exact same thing about how they don’t like the Kardashian family.
Some people just really want to let the world know how much they don’t care about something.
I feel like that’s essentially how future historians will sum up the Internet Era.
To me, the early internet years will always be “nerds get mainstream acceptance, immediately shit the bed.”
Honestly didn’t know they still had a show.
I remember when A.V. Club was written by and for people who would never watch a reality show in a million years
The AV Club became TwoP so gradually I didn’t even notice, etc.
You have to remember that now the AV Club is written by and for people who need a “five burning questions” slideshow before and after every single episode of House of the Dragon. People who are baffled by the continued existence of shower curtain rings. People who are fucking pumped for Matthew Perry’s new book. People who are desperate to hear what Olivia Wilde has to say on any subject. You know, morons.
Was that before or after A.V. Club used to review every episode of multiple reality shows?
Before, obviously
So like 2006? I used to read every Project Runway and Top Chef review.
The old pre-G/O AVC used to review The Bachelor and So You Think You Can Dance, just to name 2.
Not sure anyone “needed” to watch it. Ever.I never have. Is it any good? Sounds like it’s super good.
1. They never needed a TV show.
2. No one ever needed to watch it.
I feel like this article is suggesting a sense of universality that may not be supported by reality. I knew that ‘Keeping Up’ existed, obviously, but I wasn’t aware it had ended or that a new show had taken it’s place. I knew about the Marilyn Monroe dress, but that’s mainly because I was interested in the historical preservation angle than anything else.If you want to ignore the Kardashians, you can. It’s neither a good thing nor a bad thing. But their antics are not as culturally significant as this article claims.
Betteridge’s Law twice in one headline!
I vote we ship them all off to an island and leave them there, never to return.
Monster Island?
“Like just who this show is for, why the family keeps doing it, and whether we should still be watching.”Answers: Idiots, money and fuck no.
Excuse me, need? Have they ever needed a show to begin with? They’re the poster family for what’s wrong with reality TV and what’s wrong with celebrity worship culture in America.
Luke! I am not the one to weigh in on this topic, since I’ve never been a fan. I just want to say that this is a cleanly written and professionally presented article. Thank you, it is sincerely appreciated.
SHouldn’t this be on Jezebel?
The question is why did anyone ever watch these media whores in the first place? Their 15 minutes of fame is way overdue!
Evrrything spins out from the show. No one needs to watch it, but without it would anyone care what they wore to the Met Gala. They are ‘the sisters that have that show’.
But where else can the people catch a rare glimpse of Kim’s silicone ass?
No and no
If there’s no longer a The Soup for an amusing 10 second clip so the rest of us don’t have to watch the whole show, there’s no god damn point.
They never needed a show. People never needed to watch the show they had. Yet these things happened. Thankfully I’m not stupid and I’ve never watched a single moment of KUWTK. And yes, I’m better than those who have watched it.
Were you watching it in the first place? Isn’t there kind of a tacit agreement to have writers here with good taste?
Have proudly never watching more than 5 seconds of this crap. Who are these people that they deserve TV shows? Cause they are rich & related to celebrities? I know a doctor related by marriage to Paul Rudd, can he have a TV show? We can watch him examine people’s feet. It’ll be a hit.