Keeping Up with the Kardashians
Keeping Up with the Kardashians is an American reality television series which focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner blended family. It aired on the E! network between 2007 and 2021. The series focused mainly on sisters Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian and their half-sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner. It also featured their parents, Kris and Caitlyn Jenner, and brother, Rob. Partners of the Kardashian sisters also appeared on the show. Its premise originated with Ryan Seacrest, who also served as an executive producer. The series premiered on the E! cable network on October 14, 2007, and ran for 20 seasons over the span of almost fourteen years, becoming one of the longest-running reality television series in the United States. The final season premiered on March 18, 2021.
Keeping Up with the Kardashians was universally panned since its premiere. It was often criticized for the high degree of emphasis on the "famous for being famous" concept, and for appearing to fabricate some aspects of its storylines. However, some critics described the series as a "guilty pleasure" and acknowledged the family's success. Despite its negative reviews, Keeping Up with the Kardashians attracted high viewership ratings, becoming one of the network's most successful shows and winning several audience awards. The series' success led additionally to the creation of numerous spin-off series, including: Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, Khloé & Lamar, Kourtney and Khloé Take The Hamptons, Dash Dolls, Rob & Chyna, Life of Kylie, and Flip It Like Disick. The network also broadcast several television specials featuring special events involving members of the family and friends.
On September 8, 2020, the family announced via Instagram that the show would end in 2021. The series concluded on June 20, 2021. Nearly a year later, the family returned to reality television for the Hulu series The Kardashians, which premiered on April 14, 2022.
Background
and Kristen Houghton married in 1978, and had four children together: daughters Kourtney, Kim, and Khloé, and son Rob. The couple divorced in 1991. In 1991, Kris married retired Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner. In 1994, Robert entered the media spotlight when he defended O. J. Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman during the O.J. Simpson trial. Kris and Caitlyn had two daughters together, Kendall and Kylie. Robert died in 2003, eight weeks after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer.The Kardashian sisters began appearing in the media spotlight more often. In the early 2000s, Kim worked as a personal assistant for hotel heiress and reality TV star, Paris Hilton. During her employment for Hilton, Kim briefly developed a very close friendship with Hilton during a high point in Hilton's fame. This friendship helped boost Kim's personal fame by allowing her to occasionally appear in episodes of The Simple Life which featured Hilton. Kim and Hilton's close friendship ensured that Kim would appear in public, notably in paparazzi shots, with Hilton. Kim also worked for several other celebrities in the early 2000s, further boosting her fame and connections. Notably, in 2004, Kim became a personal stylist for singer Brandy Norwood. She eventually developed into a full-time stylist, and was a personal shopper and stylist for actress and singer Lindsay Lohan.
Khloé, Kim, and Kourtney ventured further into fashion, opening a high fashion boutique Dash in Calabasas, California. Throughout Kim's early career, she was involved in some high-profile relationships including Brandy Norwood's brother, singer Ray J, and later, singer Nick Lachey. In 2005, Kourtney starred in her first reality television series, Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.
In February 2007, a home sex tape that Kim made with Ray J in October 2003 was leaked. Vivid Entertainment bought the rights for $1 million and released the film as Kim Kardashian, Superstar on February 21. The release of the sex tape was a major contributor to the rising fame of Kim Kardashian and her family.
Production
Development
The idea of creating a reality series originated in 2006 when Kris Jenner showed an interest in appearing on a television show together with her family. Jenner commented: "Everybody thinks that could create a bunch of drama in their lives, but it's something that I felt I didn't even have to think about. It would be natural." Producer Ryan Seacrest, who had his own production company, decided to develop the idea, having the popular family-based show The Osbournes in mind. He hired a camera man to visit the Kardashian's family home to film them having a Sunday barbeque: "They were all together—as crazy and as fun as loving as they are," Seacrest described the family after seeing the tape. He later initiated the series by sharing the tape with E!, an American cable network which features mostly entertainment-related programming, and reality television series; the show was eventually picked up. In August 2007, it was announced that the Kardashian and Jenner families would star in a yet-to-be-titled reality show on E! described as a "new non-scripted family sitcom", being produced by Ryan Seacrest and Bunim/Murray Productions. The series' announcement came one week after Paris Hilton and her friend Nicole Richie announced that their popular E! series, The Simple Life, was ending.The show, titled Keeping Up with the Kardashians, premiered on October 14, 2007. The reality series centers around the members of the Kardashian-Jenner blended family, focusing on the sisters Kourtney, Kim and Khloé. Most episodes have very similar structure: the family "show off their privileged lifestyle and maybe get into one or two minor family squabbles before ultimately wrapping things up with a monologue that reinforces the importance of family," as noted by Caroline Siede of Quartz. Harriet Ryan and Adam Tschorn of the Los Angeles Times described the reality series as a: "Hollywood version of The Brady Bunch -- the harmless high jinks of a loving blended family against a backdrop of wealth and famous connections". Kim Kardashian described the beginning of filming the show, "When we first started , we came together as a family and said, 'If we're going to do this reality show, we're going to be 100 percent who we really are.'". She further commented on the show's authenticity by saying that the network "has never once put anything out there that we haven't approved of or accepted". The series was renewed for a second season one month after its premiere due to high ratings. Seacrest described the show's success: "At the heart of the seriesdespite the catfights and endless sarcasmis a family that truly loves and supports one another The familiar dynamics of this family make them one Hollywood bunch that is sure to entertain."
The following year, Keeping Up with the Kardashians was picked up for a third season. In April 2012, E! signed a three-year deal with the Kardashian family that kept the series airing through seasons seven, eight and nine. Keeping up with the Kardashians was later renewed for a tenth season which premiered on March 15, 2015. In February 2015, it was announced that the show had been renewed for four more years, along with an additional spin-off series, making it one of the longest-running reality television series in the country. In terms of the show's future, Kim Kardashian has commented that the reality series could go for an indefinite number of seasons saying that she: "hope it goes on for as long as it can." Keeping Up with the Kardashians, including its spin-off series, has become the cable network's flagship show and its most lucrative franchise. "It has changed the face of E!" said Lisa Berger, the network's executive producer. "We were a place to report on celebrity; we weren't a place to break and make celebrity, which is now the whole idea of the E! brand." The show's success contributed significantly towards building the "Kardashian brand", or "Kardashian Inc." as it is called by The Hollywood Reporter. "These shows are a 30-minute commercial," Khloé Kardashian admitted in 2011, in response to a suggestion that the television series is used to promote their retail stores and endorsement deals.
On August 3, 2017, it was announced the show's 10 year anniversary would premiere on September 24, 2017, following the show's season 14 premiere. On August 24, 2017, it was announced the family had signed a $150 million deal with E!. Kim Kardashian announced on Twitter that the family would begin filming Season 16 the following week in August 2018.
Series overview
Cast
The reality series revolves around the children of Kris Jenner, and originally focused mainly on the children from her first marriage to deceased attorney Robert Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob. Kris' children Kendall and Kylie from her subsequent marriage to American athlete Caitlyn Jenner have also been featured on the show since its beginning. Kourtney's boyfriend Scott Disick has also been appearing frequently on the show since the first season, as well as on the show's spin-offs. Cast members also include numerous friends and other acquaintances of the family members, most notably Malika Haqq and Jonathan Cheban who joined Keeping Up with the Kardashians in the second and third seasons, respectively.Most of the Kardashian sisters' significant others have appeared on the reality series. Kim's relationship with football player Reggie Bush was featured on the early seasons of the show when they were dating; after the breakup, Bush commented on appearing on the show saying that he never felt comfortable being followed by cameras, adding: "I do it because it's important to ." Rob's relationship with singer Adrienne Bailon has also been documented on the show when they were dating from 2007 to 2009; although Bailon later admitted that the decision to appear on the show, and be associated with the family, hurt her career. Kim's eventual husband Kris Humphries first appeared on the show during the premiere of the sixth season; their relationship was chronicled throughout the season and ended with the couple's wedding special "Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event". They eventually went through a highly publicized divorce; Kardashian's former publicist later claimed that Humphries was allegedly set up to be portrayed on the show in a negative way and that the short-lived marriage was staged for the cameras as a ploy to generate money.
Khloé married basketball player Lamar Odom during a fourth-season premiere aired in 2009. He later had a major role as part of the supporting cast from the fourth series, though he ceased appearing following the breakdown of the marriage. He later returned to the show during the conclusion of the 11th series and subsequent 12th season following his collapse. Kim's latest ex-husband Kanye West made his first appearance on Keeping Up with the Kardashians in July 2012 during the seventh season when he started dating Kim. However, West initially did not continue to appear. He explained the reasons for not appearing on the show later: "You know, the amount of backlash I got from it is when I decided to not be on the show anymore. And it's not that I have an issue with the show; I just have an issue with the amount of backlash that I get." He also criticized the show for its cinematography and further complained about the way how the show is filmed. Despite this, West increased his appearances from the 12th season onwards and undertook a more prominent position from season 16 onwards. Rob's fiancé Blac Chyna undertook a recurring role throughout the 12th season. In the eighth season, Caitlyn Jenner's sons, Brandon and Brody Jenner, as well as Brandon's wife at the time, Leah, joined the cast for regular appearances following Brody's cameo in season 1 and Kim's Fairytale Wedding. Khloe's boyfriend Tristan Thompson made recurring appearances on the show whilst they were together from Season 13 to 16. Although absent for most of season 17, Thompson began reappearing from season 18 onwards, undertaking a prominent role in the final season.