Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Lenah and I have been following the hit E! reality show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” for a while. It’s partly because there is nothing much else on TV to watch, partly because it’s entertaining and partly because it has been research for my celebrity crash novel Hollywood Ass.

If you have been living under a rock or on the moon, I will explain the Kardashians for you – it’s a famous half-Armenian, half-American family who run a little empire with a clothes brand (and I think a few sub-brands), perfumes, TV spin-offs, and lots of miscellaneous merchandise. The family got famous in part due to the now deceased father, Robert Kardashian’s involvement in the OJ trial. He was OJ Simpsons defense attorney.

I don’t remember all the details (you can read about it in Kris Jenner’s book), but then Kris Kardashian and Robert Kardashian got divorced, she later married decathlon Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner and even later Robert Kardashian (Sr.) got sick and died. Left was this crazy family composition where Bruce and Kris brought four children each (Kris: Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Robert and Bruce: Casey, Brody, Brandon and Burt). This crazy, high society family was obviously going to be entertaining to watch thought one producer/friend and asked Kris Jenner if she would consider having a camera team follow them around. How could she say no? A reality show was born.

Jeez, I wasn’t about to go into that kind of detail. I sound like a Kardashian scholar. The reason I wrote this is that I find the whole reality show and sort of artificial creation of celebrities very interesting. Normally you would be given a TV show because you’re famous, you wouldn’t be famous because you’ve been given a TV show. If you know what I mean.

Anyways. We’ve been following the Kardashian clan and it’s been an interesting ride with the addition of the colorful Scott Disick and Kim’s marriage drama with Kris Humphries and now Kanye West. It’s not art or even very intelligent – it’s just pure (and slightly strange) entertainment.

How long can they keep going with a series like this? We’re in season 8 now and the TV audience is very demanding. When will people get tired of the Kardashians? Some reports state the numbers are dropping, which they have to eventually. But the Kardashian fanbase is massive as well as the Kardashian bashers, so I don’t think they’re going to pull them off air soon. Especially since E! seem to have trouble finding new success stories (at least looking at their current output).

It’s actually quite funny/scary how divided people are around the Kardashians. Go to any decent-sized “news source” and scroll through the comments and you will find people either really LOVE or absolutely HATE them. I guess the Internet is too easy to hide behind.

Kind of like a chunky Hollywood ass - a Kardashian ass.

What are your thoughts and feelings around the Kardashians? Please share.