‘KUWTK’ Was Getting Too ‘Kris-Focused’ According to Longtime Fans of the Show
Keeping Up With the Kardashians may be ending soon, but it’s been one of the most popular and influential reality shows on TV since its inception in 2007.
The show has always centered around the Kardashian family, but throughout the years the family has changed with the growth of the Jenner sisters, marriages, divorces, and even a gender transition. The show has been controversial — many have criticized it for being dumb, and even pointed out that many of the episodes are blatantly fake. But fans love it, perhaps for the ridiculous drama.
This doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been criticism from diehard Keeping Up With the Kardashians fans. So what issues do fans have with the show that non-viewers might not be familiar with?
How ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ started
The Kardashian family already had some celebrity status before Keeping Up With the Kardashians premiered. Robert Kardashian had been famous for his defense of O.J. Simpson in Simpson’s murder trial, while Kris Jenner had married the Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner (then named Bruce) in 1991. In the early 2000s, the Kardashian daughters were known as socialites. Kim Kardashian was also a close friend of Paris Hilton, and even appeared on TV with her in Hilton’s TV series.
The idea for Keeping Up With the Kardashians came from Ryan Seacrest in 2006, and the show premiered in October 2007. In the meantime, Kim Kardashian reached a level of infamy for a leaked sex tape with ex-boyfriend Ray J.
In spite of, or perhaps because of this incident, Keeping Up With the Kardashians very quickly became a hit show. It focused on the lives of the Kardashian-Jenner family, and followed them through their interpersonal drama, relationships, and lives as celebrities.
It was never a super intellectually deep or heavy show; for many it was a guilty pleasure. Despite this fact, it still won multiple reality TV awards over the years.
Criticisms of ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’
While Keeping of the Kardashians has been highly successful, that doesn’t mean that it’s been immune to criticisms. A common criticism of the Kardashians is that they’re “famous for being famous” — in essence, that they receive massive amounts of media attention despite doing nothing of note.
The show also receives the same criticism as a lot of other reality TV shows. Like these other shows, Keeping Up With the Kardashians has been called contrived, vapid, and invasive.
Fans of the show have their own opinions. Since the show is soon to be over, fans have been discussing their thoughts on the show as a whole and how it has changed over the years.
Kourtney Kardashian had already been trying to pull away from the show, a fact which had led to her receiving some criticism. One fan on Reddit pointed out that it was “[k]inda weird making Kourt out to be a b**** for wanting to leave and then rest of them all giving up.”
Other fans had different criticisms. Some think that the show has outgrown its viability, and needed to end sooner.
“Yeah, they’ve milked this for as long as possible. I used to be a die hard watcher, but I’ve barely seen any episodes for the past 3-4 years because it’s become so fake storyline-dependent, incredibly kris-focused [sic], and boring.”
Fans in the thread agreed with this interpretation of the show, and expressed similar irritation at how the show had been focusing on Kris Jenner. One fan even called her “such a bad actor.”
Another fan brought up abuse allegations against Kris Jenner, though these have not been confirmed. Overall, fans all seemed to share the impression that the show had gotten stale, and while it was sad to see it end, it was probably for the best.
Overall, no show can last forever, and Keeping Up with the Kardashians will be ending after 20 seasons. This is a massive run for any show, so while fans may be upset, nobody can say that the show was cut off prematurely.
