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When Keeping Up With The Kardashians finally announced its 20th – and final – season in 2020, fans of the series and one of the most famous families in America mourned. Whether you were a religious viewer or breezed in and out for the momentous occasions (the Kanye proposal, that time Kourtney pulled newborn son Mason out while being filmed), KUWTK really did change the game for reality television and redefined celebrity culture.
The reality TV series finishing up was never going to be the end of the Kardashian family making headlines, but what we didn’t expect was a deal with Hulu alleged at over $100 million for… pretty much the exact same series, just on a different network. Of course, there were the cleverly-worded reasons for the move. Described as “updated and a little more intimate” by Kim Kardashian to Variety, the series was marketed as a grown-up, sleeker version of the original with a sharp focus on the sister’s professional affairs. Unlike KUWTK, we see the women as the celebrities they are, not just the sibling relations they have at home.
What we got, though, was much the same. Sure, the premiere episode (the series is currently airing on Disney+, with episodes dropping weekly) featured some expensive-looking drone cinematography that flew us through each Kardashian-Jenner home, catching us up on all the newness – Travis is at Kourtney’s! The kids are all grown up! Kylie is pregnant! It’s clear The Kardashians (they’ve dropped the “Keeping Up With” for Hulu) is positioning the series as a more premium offering, matching equally slick productions like Selling Sunset.
But when it came to the actual content, I was pretty disappointed. For example, why is Scott Disick still a regular star? Kourtney has more than moved on from the notorious playboy, and while it was great to get a behind-the-scenes look at her PDA-filled love story with Travis Barker, Scott was still front-and-centre, still singing the same tune like the ultimate broken record – he misses Kourtney, he is struggling with her new relationship, blah blah. Quite possibly, we’ve seen Scott have this same conversation with either Kim or Khloe in every single season (plus, probably, many episodes of the spin-off shows). I’m bored, because it never goes anywhere.
Tristan Thompson is also still around, and Khloe is once again explaining their semi-on, semi-off partnership. After all the toxic drama he’s brought to her life, it’s difficult to watch her smooth things over and continue discussing expanding their family – another conversation that’s been going on for years on these shows. Kim is probably the only family member breathing fresh life into the series – she’s about to appear on SNL, which we know is where her Pete Davidson meet-cute happens.
So, are we bored of the Kardashians? Does this new series have a place in a TV-streaming world where chaotic shows like Too Hot To Handle and gritty reality series like Cheer exist? I honestly think it’s less that I’m bored of the Kardashian family, and more that there is nowhere left for this show to go. Kim, Kourtney and Khloe have had kids.
Their relationship dramas play out extensively on social media to the point where we don’t really care much about what happens on screen months later.
Maybe if Kendall and Kylie were picking up the mantle and revealing everything about their lives, we’d continue to be hooked. But both the Jenner sisters are notoriously more private than their older siblings. Kendall has even refused to air any of her relationship with NBA star Devin Booker on the new series.
What I feel has happened is that life, even extremely rich, celebrity life, does plateau in terms of excitement.
Sure, this family vacations in the Maldives and throws glittering parties every other week, but at its core this is a show about family and relationships, two experiences that don’t really deliver constant drama if things are healthy. Really, we should be happy that The Kardashians has become boring – it means Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kylie and Kendall’s lives are going well. It’s like I want them to take a break from living their life on live-stream, even though their choice has been to stand directly in front of the camera.
Maybe that is what feels a bit “done” about The Kardashians. These days, we gravitate toward high-intensity reality TV that showcases a snippet of a life. Love Is Blind takes us on whirlwind romances, Below Deck gives us workplace drama. In contrast, The Kardashians tries to make up for its lulls with incredible intimacy, but it feels uncomfortably voyeuristic peeking behind the Kardashian curtain in 2022, even though they themselves are giving us this all-access pass. How much access is too much, you know?
The series is still in its early days, and knowing the Kardashian family there is every chance that they (well, momager Kris Jenner) still have some bombshells up their sleeves to deliver. I’m just not sure we really want them the way we used to.
