Keeping Up With the Kardashians might be a household name now, but in the early 2000s it was one of the most polarizing shows on television. You either loved it or absolutely despised it, and either way the discourse made the show what it is today. But how did one of the most recognizable reality shows get its start? Well, one of the biggest shows in the early aughts, of course.
How E!’s Girls Next Door Inspired Kris Jenner
Another popular E! series is the reason Kris Jenner agreed to have cameras film her family’s dysfunctional chaos. It wasn’t The Osbournes or even The Real World. Girls Next Door—a reality series about Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and his then-girlfriends—was taking television screens by storm.
When Jenner saw it, the momager’s gears instantly started turning. “I thought that was the funniest,” she said of the Girls Next Door on Not Skinny But Not Fat. “I’m like, ‘What is happening?”
“I thought, ‘Oh, this would be such an interesting category to slip into,’ because I have so many kids. And here we are, all these years later.”
Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered in 2007, following Jenner’s oldest children, Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Rob Kardashian around the streets of LA. With the success of the earlier seasons, the girls got their own spin-offs which also helped to promote their clothing brand, DASH. After nearly 20 years at E!, they rebranded the show to The Kardashians and made Hulu their new home in 2022.
“Kathie Lee Gifford, who is a very dear friend, she often would say, ‘You guys need a reality show, this is just nuts.’ And one night, a friend of mine who is a casting director of Dancing With the Stars and different shows, she was over and saw whatever the chaos was that night and said, ‘You guys, you’ve got to meet Ryan Seacrest, because he just has a deal now over at E! and NBC Universal, and they’re looking for a family, and a reality show.’”
The KarJenner empire has expanded majorly over the last 15 years. They’ve stepped into beauty, tequila, wellness, clothing, fragrance, really any category one can imagine. It’s generated the sisters and their momager mass amounts of wealth, power, and influence, with Kylie Jenner being the youngest-ever billionaire and her older sister Kim also joining the billionaire club.
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