The year was 2007 and I was fourteen years old when I tuned into a reality show called Keeping Up with the Kardashians on the E! Network. I was so excited to watch this show and see what all the hype was about. The middle sister, Kim, was gaining a lot of exposure after her “home video” with Ray J and hitting all of the L.A. hot-spots with the likes of Paris Hilton. I remember loving the show about Kim’s family and the silly situations they got themselves into. I thought the show was really funny and I loved how the family was extremely close and cared about each other. Don’t get me wrong, I knew this was not one of the most intellectual programs on television, but it was a guilty pleasure and I would tune in each and every week to follow the glamorous lives of Kim, Kourntey, Khloe, Kris, Bruce and the other 10,000 family members that I do not have the energy to mention.
Flash forward to 2013 and we are still “keeping up” with these Kardashians. The show still remains highly promoted by E! and I am hard-pressed to pick up a magazine that does not feature at least one of the family members on the cover. Loyal viewers tune-in week after week to catch new episodes of the show, and in between seasons, re-runs are never hard to find. I, once a loyal viewer, am officially fed up with the exposure of this family. The show I once loved as a fourteen-year-old, now annoyed me to no end as a twenty-year-old adult. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I tuned into an episode last year in which Kim called a beautiful mansion “unlivable”. I cannot pretend to enjoy watching this family, with more money that I can imagine, fighting over designer clothes and getting into arguments with each other that always seem to be resolved in the final minutes of the episode. How many more arguments can oldest sister Kourtney get into with her boyfriend Scott? When will Bruce and Kris stop bickering? How many more times do we have to hear Khloe call her husband, Lamar, “Lammy” in her baby voice? ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
It’s not only Keeping with the Kardashians that I have had my fill of, the family also has what seems like 80 spin-off shows including Kourtney and Khloe take Miami, Kim and Kourtney take New York, Kourtney and Kim take Miami, etc. How many cities can these sisters “take” with each other? To be honest, the only spinoff I’d want to see is “Mason and Penelope Take Daycare” (I cannot deny the cuteness of Kourtney’s kids).
This is not me saying that the Kardashians are not smart business people who have been extremely effective in making a name for themselves. The family clearly knows how to keep interest in their show as well as in their clothing lines, makeup lines, etc. I personally enjoy the Kardashian’s style and credit the sisters in helping to make curves desirable again. However, I think the worshiping of reality stars is getting really old and I think we could all use some new, relatable people to keep up with.