‘KUWTK’: The Weirdest Spinoff Barely Featured the Kardashians
Keeping Up with the Kardashians will be ending its nearly two-decade run soon. Looking back at the legacy the iconic reality show leaves behind, it’s clear to see that the show’s influence was much wider than anyone could have anticipated when it premiered back in 2006. For instance, who would have thought that young Kendall and Kylie would grow up to be a supermodel and a makeup mogul, respectively?
Seeing the family evolve over time has been fascinating to fans —enough so that they always seemed to want more of the Kardashian-Jenner clan. That’s why KUWTK has spawned such an insane number of spinoffs … including one that almost never featured anyone in the family. So what was it?
There have been an impressive number of ‘KUWTK’ spinoffs
There have been a lot of spinoffs of KUWTK. Some of them are really well-known, like Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, and Life of Kylie.
Others have also been pretty impactful. For instance, watching Caitlyn Jenner’s journey on I Am Cait was an inspiration to a huge number of people and likely had a positive impact on how many Americans view trans women. Still others have been infamous for the romantic pairings they featured such as Khloé and Lamar and Rob and Chyna.
Yet there’s one spinoff known mostly for being a huge disappointment. And it’s not because of what was in the show … it’s because of what (or who) wasn’t.
One spinoff had almost no Kardashians to speak of
Dash Dolls was a 2015 KUWTK spinoff that was seriously lacking in the Kardashian department. Sure, occasionally someone in the fam would pop by to play boss on camera for a bit. But for the most part, the show followed the young women who were employees at Dash, the now-defunct Hollywood boutique that used to be owned by the Kardashian sisters. The sisters only showed up for token episodes, like the one where Khloé showed up to have an employee meeting but “Kourtney and Kim couldn’t make it.”
It was honestly kind of a flimsy premise to begin with, so the complete lack of Kardashian-Jenner presence really fizzled any excitement the show might have otherwise had. E! had wanted the show to follow the young employees’ glamorous lifestyles, but apparently the premise just didn’t ever really go anywhere.
‘Dash Dolls’ didn’t do so hot in the ratings department
While we’re sure there must be some die-hard Dash Dolls fans still out there calling it underrated, most KUWTK fans didn’t take the bait, so the show only ended up getting one season with eight episodes. It bombed with critics and the fans barely watched it so E! ended up pulling the proverbial plug as fast as they could.
Time hasn’t brought it some new devoted following, either, even in the era of lockdown TV binging. The show only has a 2.5/10 on IMDb. Compared with the other spinoffs, one isn’t especially likely to see Dash Dolls fans waxing nostalgic about the show when KUWTK airs its last episode. If Dash Dolls proves anything, it’s that you can’t capitalize on star power without stars.
Nevertheless, ‘Dash Dolls’ cast members say the Kardashian sisters are chill bosses
Even if it didn’t seem like it on camera, the girls from Dash describe the Kardashian sisters as being very involved bosses. Khadijah Haqq McCray, one of the co-managers who appeared on Dash Dolls, once told ET, “[The Kardashians are] very hands-on with their business, so even though they have grueling schedules outside of the store, they have the success that they have because they’re on top of it.” Unfortunately, it seems that success never extended to the Dash Dolls spinoff.
