Have The Kardashian’s Finally Run Their Reality Show Course?
The Kardashians’ E! reality hit series Keeping Up With the Kardashians kept everyone laughing, shocked, and thoroughly entertained for 14 years, along with delivering iconic lines. Yup, the family’s matriarch Kris Jenner even filed to trademark “You're doing amazing, sweetie!” Sadly, the family called it quits on E! after a glorious (and very well-rated) 20 seasons. After a brief one year hiatus, the family came back with a new Hulu series called The Kardashians. But perhaps the dramatic ending to season 20 of Keeping Up With the Kardashians should have been the family’s ultimate finale on reality tv.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying this — especially with a 31% Rotten Tomatoes score and a whopping 2.6 average on Google reviews — but the Kardashian family has officially run its course with reality tv. Their new Hulu series is boring — a word I’d never thought I would have to use when describing this family. Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe are adults now and seemingly much more mature than their 20-something selves from when they first started filming their preceding reality show. I know, I know, that sounds horrible to say, but immaturity, bad decisions, no kids, and sister fights made for remarkable reality tv. Mix in their ever evolving roster of famous friends, beaus, and work, Keeping Up was unstoppable. Although the Kardashians certainly live a life of luxury, audiences could still relate to this close-knit family on the original show. Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney would have the standard fights all siblings have, all while their mom tried to keep a level head. Kris and Caitlyn Jenner had their marriage troubles in conjunction with raising little Kylie and Kendall Jenner. Keeping Up With the Kardashians quite literally had the perfect mix for a show that had a never ending story line.
By the time The Kardashians premiered on Hulu, viewers were ready to get the inside look at Pete Davidson and Kim dating in the midst of the media problem that is Kanye West, Travis Barker and Kourtney getting engaged, and Tristan Thompson fathering an illegitimate child while he and Khloe had begun the surrogate process — and we got nothing. I speak for all of us when I say I think we’ve all fallen for the Kardashian-Jenner trick by now — they give us glimpses of their family affairs and drama on social media and tabloids, enticing viewers to want more and watch the show. Normally, it worked, but after three seasons on Hulu, it’s confirmed that they’re not showing us anymore than we already know.
They don’t divulge in their drama anymore. After years of this family airing their dirty laundry on screen, maybe they’re finally tired, but as a viewer, it just doesn’t make for good reality tv. We don’t see or hear about Kim and Kanye’s struggle of a marriage and divorce anymore, there’s no more hilarious hijinx from the infamous Scott Disick, and the only siblings who still appear on the show are Kim and Khloe. The only storyline this season has been regarding Tristan’s affairs — yawn. It’s a tired storyline and hypocritical at that. They gave no flack to Scott while he continuously cheated and dated women far younger than him, all in front of Kourtney, meanwhile Kanye was somehow allowed to bash the family on all media platforms. Oh, and let’s not forget Travis Scott’s concert “incident.” Tristan apologizing is more than any man has done for this family and I’m not here to watch the endless apologies he has for each individual family member because they simply don’t want to disclose any other information concerning their personal lives.
Instead, it seems as though they’re trying to push a new narrative at viewers that we don’t want to accept after their beloved E! series. After Kim’s stint of “get your ass up and work,” the Kardashians are playing damage control and showing just how “hard” they work every episode, every season. It’s all more tone deaf than usual, especially for the Kar-Jenner family who lives in the lap of luxury.
With all of Kris’ employees, I mean kids, having built their families and not revealing anything more than the tabloids for loyal viewers, The Kardashians’ series is aimless. It's not an escape so much as a reminder that this family is wealthy beyond any of our imaginations. There’s no denying the Kardashians and Jenners have built an empire, but now it’s time for them to continue without cameras.
