WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 Hello and welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:06.120 we are tackling a subject that is, well, frankly, 00:00:06.259 --> 00:00:08.199 it's the elephant in the room. Oh, it's more 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.460 than an elephant. Actually, scratch that. It's 00:00:10.460 --> 00:00:13.160 not the elephant. It's the entire circus, the 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:15.740 tent, and the ticket booth combined. It really 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:18.100 is. It's completely unavoidable. You might love 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:20.019 them. You might hate them with a fiery passion 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:23.660 that, you know, keeps you up at night. Or, and 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:25.640 I think this is probably the most common category 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:29.839 for our listeners, you might claim to be... Totally 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:32.399 intellectually indifferent to them. Right. Above 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.119 it all. Completely above it all. While secretly 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.460 clicking on that Daily Mail sidebar every single 00:00:38.460 --> 00:00:41.740 time. Every time. You can't help it. We are talking, 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:45.100 of course, about the monolithic pop culture entity 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:48.979 that is. Keeping up with the Kardashians. Monolith 00:00:48.979 --> 00:00:52.119 is exactly the right word. I was looking at the 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:54.179 raw data and the source material you sent over. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.280 And the scale is just hard to wrap your head 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:58.479 around. It's staggering. We aren't just talking 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.439 about a TV show here. We are talking about 20 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.739 seasons. 14 years on the air. Nearly 280 episodes. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:08.099 And that is before we even start to count the 00:01:08.099 --> 00:01:11.200 specials, the spinoffs, the wedding events, the 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.480 crying on vacation montages. It's immense. And 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:16.510 look, I think for a lot of people. especially 00:01:16.510 --> 00:01:19.349 those who pride themselves on watching prestige 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:24.150 TV like Succession or The Wire. It is very easy 00:01:24.150 --> 00:01:26.329 to dismiss this. Oh, yeah. It's the easy target. 00:01:26.450 --> 00:01:29.010 To just call it reality TV fluff. Just vapid 00:01:29.010 --> 00:01:31.750 people doing vapid things for attention. But 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:34.370 the mission for this specific deep dive is different. 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:36.790 It has to be. We aren't here to recap the fights 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:38.950 or gossip about who is dating who this week. 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:40.750 Right. If you want that, you can open literally 00:01:40.750 --> 00:01:43.129 any tabloid website right now and get your fill. 00:01:43.290 --> 00:01:45.530 Exactly. We want to analyze the mechanics of 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:47.430 this machine. We want to look past the tabloids 00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:49.689 and answer the bigger structural questions. How 00:01:49.689 --> 00:01:51.730 did this even start? How did it fundamentally 00:01:51.730 --> 00:01:54.739 change the... landscape of television? And perhaps 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:58.500 most importantly, why did we all watch? Because 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:01.019 the numbers say we did. That is the question. 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:03.760 And to answer that, we have to connect some dots 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:06.480 that might seem. totally unrelated at first. 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:10.099 We have to look at a grainy Sunday BBQ tape from 00:02:10.099 --> 00:02:12.639 the mid -2000s. We have to look at the whole 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.240 sociological concept of being famous for being 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:16.979 famous. And we have to look at how the entire 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:19.659 manufacturing of celebrity just shifted on its 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:22.560 axis right around 2007. Okay, let's unpack this 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:25.740 because the scale of this empire is just wild. 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:27.879 We aren't just talking about a TV show. We are 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:31.960 talking about a monster pop culture. Business. 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:33.740 That's a quote, isn't it? That is a quote from 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:35.479 Ryan Seacrest, by the way, who was there at the 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:37.400 very, very beginning. And he would know since 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:39.919 he basically helped build the foundation. Our 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.800 primary source for this deep dive is a really 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:45.719 comprehensive history of the series, which details, 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:47.900 I mean, everything from the production notes 00:02:47.900 --> 00:02:50.819 and casting decisions to the critical reception 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:52.939 and the massive business dealings that happened 00:02:52.939 --> 00:02:55.550 behind the scenes. So let's go back. Way back 00:02:55.550 --> 00:02:58.210 before the contouring kits, before the billionaire 00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:01.110 status, before the Met Gala invites. Before any 00:03:01.110 --> 00:03:03.710 of it. We need to look at the origin story. And 00:03:03.710 --> 00:03:05.310 I think we have to start with the family tree 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:07.250 because this didn't just pop out of a vacuum. 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:09.729 No. And this is where the American dream narrative 00:03:09.729 --> 00:03:12.750 really kicks in, though maybe a twisted version 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:16.870 of it. The name Kardashian was already in the 00:03:16.870 --> 00:03:20.060 public consciousness in the 1990s. It was. But 00:03:20.060 --> 00:03:23.180 for a very grim reason. A very grim, serious 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:25.419 reason. Right, we're talking about Robert Kardashian. 00:03:25.699 --> 00:03:27.840 The father. He was a high -profile attorney, 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:30.360 but... More importantly, he was a close personal 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.819 friend of O .J. Simpson. When the O .J. murder 00:03:33.819 --> 00:03:36.659 trial happened in the 90s, which was, you could 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:39.800 argue, the first massive reality TV event in 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:42.419 American history, Robert was on the defense team. 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:44.620 He was the guy reading O .J.'s letter to the 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:47.520 media. That's such a crucial point. The family's 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:50.340 first taste of fame was adjacent to this enormous 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:53.759 media circus. Right. They saw firsthand how cameras, 00:03:53.900 --> 00:03:56.539 lawyers and public opinion. all mixed together 00:03:56.539 --> 00:03:59.780 into this crazy storm. They were kids watching 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:02.120 their dad navigate the biggest media story of 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:04.780 the century. Exactly. And then on the other side 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:07.740 of the equation, you have the mother, Chris Houghton, 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:09.919 who we now know, of course, as the matriarch, 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.979 Chris Jenner. The momager. The original momager. 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:16.699 Now, Robert passed away in 2003, but by then 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:18.839 the family dynamic had already shifted quite 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:21.589 a bit. Chris had divorced Robert and married 00:04:21.589 --> 00:04:25.029 Bruce Jenner in 1991. And for our younger listeners, 00:04:25.110 --> 00:04:27.610 or maybe listeners outside the U .S., we should 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:30.930 probably clarify, Bruce Jenner, who is now Caitlyn 00:04:30.930 --> 00:04:34.649 Jenner, was a huge deal before any of this. Massive. 00:04:34.649 --> 00:04:37.550 An Olympic gold medalist. The definition of the 00:04:37.550 --> 00:04:39.939 American hero. The face on the Wheaties box. 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:42.639 Literally the face on the Wheaties box. So look 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:44.180 at this blend you have. You've got the Kardashian 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:47.360 kids, Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, and Rob. And then 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:48.939 you have the Jenner kids, Kendall and Kylie. 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:52.459 You have this OJ Simpson legal notoriety mixed 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:55.660 with Olympic athletic fame. It's a weird brew. 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:59.079 It's a very specific cocktail of Hollywood adjacent. 00:04:59.379 --> 00:05:01.139 That's how I think of it. That's a great term 00:05:01.139 --> 00:05:03.279 for it. They were rich. They knew famous people. 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:06.139 They lived in Calabasas, but they weren't. you 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:07.860 know, movie stars. They weren't Hollywood famous 00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:09.379 yet. They were the people who knew the famous 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:12.339 people. Right. They were on the periphery. And 00:05:12.339 --> 00:05:14.519 this brings us to what I kind of call the Paris 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:17.540 Hilton era. This is where it gets really interesting 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:20.279 for me, because I think people forget that Kim 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:23.279 Kardashian really cut her teeth in the industry 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.459 as a worker. Worker. That feels like a bit of 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:28.600 a stretch for someone living in a Calabasas mansion. 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:31.180 Well, relative to the industry, she was a stylist 00:05:31.180 --> 00:05:34.160 and a personal assistant. in the early 2000s 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:37.600 who was the absolute queen of reality tv that's 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:41.160 harris hilton The Simple Life. Exactly. And Kim 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:44.040 was working for Paris. She was literally appearing 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:46.800 in the background of the Simple Life episodes, 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:49.759 organizing Paris's closet. I remember seeing 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.279 those clips. She was styling Lindsay Lohan for 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:55.899 events. She was in the trenches of early 2000s 00:05:55.899 --> 00:05:57.939 celebrity culture. So she was essentially an 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:00.139 apprentice. That is the perfect word for it. 00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:02.180 She was in the background of the paparazzi shots, 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:04.199 holding the bags, keeping her mouth shut, and 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:06.879 just watching. Watching how the game was played. 00:06:08.009 --> 00:06:09.910 learning from the people who were, for better 00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:13.129 or worse, inventing modern celebrity. She saw 00:06:13.129 --> 00:06:16.170 how Paris utilized the paparazzi, how she monetized 00:06:16.170 --> 00:06:18.730 her image, how she turned the act of doing nothing 00:06:18.730 --> 00:06:21.449 into a full -blown career. It's almost like she 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:23.709 was doing a post -grad degree in fame. It really 00:06:23.709 --> 00:06:25.410 was. But then, of course, we have to talk about 00:06:25.410 --> 00:06:28.449 the catalyst. The event that took them from Paris 00:06:28.449 --> 00:06:31.029 Hilton's friend to a household name overnight. 00:06:31.410 --> 00:06:34.250 The 2007 sex tape with Ray J. Right. We have 00:06:34.250 --> 00:06:36.870 to handle this delicately, but also look at it 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:39.089 transactionally, because that's really what the 00:06:39.089 --> 00:06:41.329 source material emphasizes. Right. You have to. 00:06:41.389 --> 00:06:44.610 So in early 2007, a private tape of Kim and her 00:06:44.610 --> 00:06:47.889 then -boyfriend Ray J. was leaked. Now, Vivid 00:06:47.889 --> 00:06:50.329 Entertainment, which is basically the dis - Disney 00:06:50.329 --> 00:06:52.889 of the adult film world, they bought the rights 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:56.290 for a million dollars. A million dollars. That's 00:06:56.290 --> 00:06:58.870 a hard number, a real transaction. It is. And 00:06:58.870 --> 00:07:01.230 the analysis in the source is very direct. It 00:07:01.230 --> 00:07:03.269 notes that the release of that tape was a major 00:07:03.269 --> 00:07:05.709 contributor to their rising fame. There's just 00:07:05.709 --> 00:07:08.089 no getting around that fact. But here's the key 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:10.889 difference. And this is where Kris Jenner's genius, 00:07:11.209 --> 00:07:13.810 if you want to call it that, comes in. This is 00:07:13.810 --> 00:07:17.230 the pivot. Yes. Most people in that situation, 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:20.079 especially in 2007. They would have retreated. 00:07:20.100 --> 00:07:22.459 It was a scandal. It was seen as shameful. You 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:25.180 go into hiding. You hope it all blows over. The 00:07:25.180 --> 00:07:28.939 Kardashian family, led by Chrystia, did the absolute 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:31.519 opposite. They pivoted immediately to television. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:33.759 That was almost instantaneous, wasn't it? The 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.139 timeline is incredibly tight. Incredibly tight. 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:39.620 The tape comes out in early 2007. By October 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:42.639 2007, Keeping Up with the Kardashians is on the 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:44.839 air. That's less than a year. It's a full -on 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:47.480 media counteroffensive. It's reframing the narrative 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:49.680 on their own terms. So let's talk about the pitch. 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:52.379 Because the idea for a show didn't just fall 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:54.639 out of the sky. Kris Jenner was looking at the 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:58.060 landscape. She saw the Osbournes. Do you remember 00:07:58.060 --> 00:08:01.060 the Osbournes? Vaguely. Ozzy Osbourne, the rock 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:04.519 star, and his, let's say, dysfunctional family. 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:06.139 It was huge. It was the first time we really 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:09.779 saw a celebrity family just... You know, walking 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:11.399 around the house, yelling about burritos, the 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.100 dogs making a mess everywhere. Right. The mundane 00:08:14.100 --> 00:08:17.720 mixed with the insane. And Chris thought, I have 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:20.100 a crazy fun family. We should do something like 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:22.800 that. It's the sitcom reality format. And this 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:25.139 is where Ryan Seacrest enters the picture. And 00:08:25.139 --> 00:08:28.160 just to set the stage, Ryan Seacrest in 2007 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:30.220 wasn't just a host. He was becoming a mogul. 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:33.399 He was hosting American Idol, which was the biggest 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:35.559 show on earth. The biggest thing ever. He had 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:38.139 his own production company. and he was hunting 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:41.059 for something in that exact vein. He wanted a 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:44.240 family -based show that had that chaotic energy 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.899 but was unscripted. So Seacrest sends a cameraman 00:08:47.899 --> 00:08:50.320 to the house. Right, which I love. It wasn't 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:52.419 a shiny pilot with a full crew. It was a test. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:56.289 He sent one guy to film a Sunday BBQ. A BBQ, 00:08:56.570 --> 00:08:58.409 which sounds incredibly mundane, just people 00:08:58.409 --> 00:09:00.929 eating burgers and, I don't know, pasta salad. 00:09:01.110 --> 00:09:03.230 Totally boring on paper. But Seacrest watched 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:04.809 that tape and he said something fascinating. 00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:07.610 He said, quote, they were all together as crazy 00:09:07.610 --> 00:09:10.309 and as fun and as loving as they are. He saw 00:09:10.309 --> 00:09:13.330 it. He saw the potential immediately. He realized 00:09:13.330 --> 00:09:15.649 that the chaos was the hook. The fact that they 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:17.309 were all talking over each other and fighting 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:19.809 and hugging in the span of five minutes, that 00:09:19.809 --> 00:09:22.659 was the show. He saw the archetypes right. The 00:09:22.659 --> 00:09:24.860 bossy mom, the distinct sisters with their own 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:27.399 personalities, the chaotic dad figure in Bruce. 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:29.720 He saw a sitcom cast that he didn't have to hire 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.960 actors for. Exactly. And if we connect this to 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.980 the bigger picture of television history, the 00:09:35.980 --> 00:09:39.080 timing was just impeccable. The show was announced 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:41.980 in August 2007. Okay. Why does that specific 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:44.519 date matter? Because that was exactly one week 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.460 after the Simple Life Paris Hilton and Nicole 00:09:46.460 --> 00:09:49.669 Richie show announced it was ending. Wow. I did 00:09:49.669 --> 00:09:51.570 not realize it was that close. Yeah. That is 00:09:51.570 --> 00:09:54.429 that's a direct handover. It was a literal passing 00:09:54.429 --> 00:09:57.490 of the reality TV torch. The genre was shifting. 00:09:57.509 --> 00:10:00.090 It was moving away from the socialite out of 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:02.190 water trope, which was, you know, Paris Hilton 00:10:02.190 --> 00:10:04.950 trying to milk a cow to this new family ensemble 00:10:04.950 --> 00:10:08.509 format. So the show premieres October 14, 2007, 00:10:08.730 --> 00:10:11.649 and almost immediately they lock into a formula. 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:14.409 And I love this description from the sources. 00:10:14.470 --> 00:10:16.370 Critics called it the Hollywood version of the 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:19.549 Brady Bunch. It's such an apt comparison because 00:10:19.549 --> 00:10:21.669 even though it's unscripted, when you really 00:10:21.669 --> 00:10:24.450 analyze the structure of a typical episode, especially 00:10:24.450 --> 00:10:27.570 in those early seasons, it follows a very rigorous, 00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:32.070 very familiar sitcom like beat sheet. Let's break 00:10:32.070 --> 00:10:34.370 that down for the listener. Yeah. Because I think 00:10:34.370 --> 00:10:36.889 we watch these things passively and don't even 00:10:36.889 --> 00:10:39.509 realize we are being fed a very specific structure. 00:10:39.730 --> 00:10:41.769 Okay. So you usually have an A plot and B plot. 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:44.919 Right. Right. Step one. Show off the privileged 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:47.740 lifestyle. You have to establish the setting, 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:51.120 a mansion, a yacht, a high -end boutique in Paris. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:54.480 You need the wealth porn immediately. Right, 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:58.529 the visual candy. The escapism. Step two. Introduce 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:01.090 the conflict, but, and this is so key, it's usually 00:11:01.090 --> 00:11:04.009 a minor squabble. So low stakes. Incredibly low 00:11:04.009 --> 00:11:06.309 stakes. Maybe someone loses a diamond earring 00:11:06.309 --> 00:11:08.490 in the ocean. Kim, there's people that are dying. 00:11:08.690 --> 00:11:11.210 That famous line comes from that exact moment. 00:11:11.429 --> 00:11:13.830 Exactly. Or someone buys a Bentley they can't 00:11:13.830 --> 00:11:16.389 really afford. Or there is a prank war involving 00:11:16.389 --> 00:11:19.350 a goat. It allows the audience to feel a little 00:11:19.350 --> 00:11:21.649 bit of stress, but not too much. It's safe. And 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:25.629 then, what's the third act? Step three, resolution 00:11:25.629 --> 00:11:29.000 and the moral. You wrap it all up with a monologue 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:32.419 or a voiceover, usually from Chloe or Kim, that 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:35.340 reinforces the importance of family. We fight, 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:37.200 but at the end of the day, we're sisters and 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.580 we love each other. It's a safety net. It always 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:42.080 ends with the family unit being strong. It is. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:44.820 It's comforting. Critics noted that it was harmless 00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:47.620 hijinks. It was safe viewing. It was set against 00:11:47.620 --> 00:11:50.240 this backdrop of extreme wealth, which provided 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.320 the escapism. But the conflict was usually resolvable 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:56.639 in 22 or 42 minutes. It wasn't The Sopranos. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.700 It was Full House with Gucci bags. But this brings 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:01.960 up the big question, doesn't it? The authenticity 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:04.659 question. The million dollar question for all 00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:07.559 reality TV. Because Kim is on record in the beginning 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:09.559 saying, quote, if we're going to do this reality 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:12.059 show. We're going to be 100 percent who we really 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:15.519 are. A very bold claim for any reality show. 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:17.940 Extremely bold. Yeah. But then you have the constant 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:21.240 accusations, critics and viewers, you know, constantly 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:23.779 pointing out storylines that felt fabricated 00:12:23.779 --> 00:12:26.019 or reenacted that classic. Can you walk through 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:29.059 that door again and look more angry vibe? Well, 00:12:29.179 --> 00:12:31.659 the source material notes a very specific and 00:12:31.659 --> 00:12:34.720 very telling contractual detail. The network 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.360 E. Never aired anything the family didn't approve. 00:12:38.659 --> 00:12:42.080 Wait, say that again? That's, that is huge. The 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.379 family had final cut. That basically kills the 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:47.120 entire idea of reality, doesn't it? It's a controlled 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.539 narrative. They are the executive producers of 00:12:49.539 --> 00:12:52.080 their own lives. So while the emotions might 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:54.639 be real, the tears, the anger, the frustration, 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:57.159 the presentation of them is completely curated. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.220 It raises a really important question about what 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:03.360 authenticity actually means in the age of reality 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.639 TV. Right. Is it real if you only show the parts 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.019 you want people to see? That's the reality paradox 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:12.019 right there. And speaking of people who maybe 00:13:12.019 --> 00:13:13.500 didn't realize what they were signing up for, 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:15.740 we have to talk about the cast outside the immediate 00:13:15.740 --> 00:13:18.379 family. Ah, yes. The revolving door of partners. 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:21.200 The revolving door. This is where the sociological 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.080 aspect gets really interesting. You have the 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:27.440 core unit, the sisters, the mom, the brother. 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.460 They are the constants. They're protected. But 00:13:30.460 --> 00:13:33.610 the partners. They often serve as proxies for 00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:36.429 the audience or as catalysts for drama. And the 00:13:36.429 --> 00:13:39.029 show chews them up and spits them out in very 00:13:39.029 --> 00:13:41.070 different ways. Let's start with Scott Disick. 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:44.820 Because he is arguably the sixth sister. He's 00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:47.440 a core member now. Scott is a fascinating case 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.500 study. He started as Courtney's on -again, off 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:53.460 -again boyfriend and was kind of positioned as 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:55.320 the villain in the early seasons. He was the 00:13:55.320 --> 00:13:57.659 flashy, arrogant, suit -wearing guy from New 00:13:57.659 --> 00:14:00.019 York. Exactly. But he was smart. He developed 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:02.500 his own persona within the show, Lord Disick. 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:04.620 He even had his own web series, Lord Disick. 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:08.039 lifestyles of a lord he leaned into the absurdity 00:14:08.039 --> 00:14:09.919 he did he leaned all the way in he understood 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.240 that the show was at its core a comedy he played 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:15.559 the game along with them he provided the comic 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:17.919 relief and that is why he lasted so long on screen 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:19.799 even after he and courtney split up for good 00:14:19.799 --> 00:14:23.259 he became the audience surrogate yes he was often 00:14:23.259 --> 00:14:25.179 looking at the camera with this expression like 00:14:25.179 --> 00:14:27.159 can you believe this is happening he definitely 00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:30.500 understood the assignment but not everyone did 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:33.240 Who didn't fit the mold? Well, look at Reggie 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:36.200 Bush. He was dating Kim in the very early seasons. 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:39.779 He was a high -profile NFL player, a Super Bowl 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:42.860 champion, but he openly commented in interviews 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:45.700 that he never, ever felt comfortable being followed 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:48.080 by cameras. You could see it. You could see the 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.440 tension in the footage. He said he only did it 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:52.519 because it was important to Kim. He wanted to 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:55.279 be an athlete. The show wanted him to be a character 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:57.580 in a rom -com. And those are two very different 00:14:57.580 --> 00:15:00.259 jobs. Completely different. Athletes are used 00:15:00.259 --> 00:15:02.279 to being controlled by coaches and playbooks, 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:06.000 not reality TV producers. The friction was palpable. 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:09.580 And then, well, then you have the Chris Humphries 00:15:09.580 --> 00:15:12.580 saga. Oh, boy. This is a pivotal moment in the 00:15:12.580 --> 00:15:15.720 show's history, season six. Kim's fairytale wedding. 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:18.220 I remember watching this. It wasn't just an episode 00:15:18.220 --> 00:15:20.840 of television. It was a cultural event. People 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:23.120 I know had viewing parties for it. It was huge. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.659 The two -part wedding special drew 10 .5 million 00:15:26.659 --> 00:15:30.049 viewers. That's insane for cable. That is Super 00:15:30.049 --> 00:15:33.169 Bowl territory for a cable reality show. But 00:15:33.169 --> 00:15:35.649 let's look at the aftermath. The famous 72 day 00:15:35.649 --> 00:15:39.149 marriage. It barely lasted two months and the 00:15:39.149 --> 00:15:42.049 divorce was incredibly public and messy. But 00:15:42.049 --> 00:15:44.830 what's most interesting is Humphrey's claim afterward. 00:15:44.990 --> 00:15:47.590 He claimed he was set up. What did he mean by 00:15:47.590 --> 00:15:50.399 that? He felt he was edited to look like the 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.399 villain to justify the breakup. That scenes were 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.639 manipulated to make him look like a jerk. And 00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:57.100 this goes right back to that control we were 00:15:57.100 --> 00:15:59.340 just talking about. Precisely. If the fairy tale 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:01.419 marriage is failing, the show needs a reason 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:04.580 why. The audience needs a bad guy and a good 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:07.399 guy. And the show is always, always going to 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:10.940 protect the core cast. In this case, Kim. So 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:13.559 Humphreys gets the villain edit. He becomes the 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:16.480 guy who is ruining the vibe rather than just 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.379 a guy in a bad relationship that isn't working 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:20.440 out. It really shows that it's dangerous to be 00:16:20.440 --> 00:16:22.299 the outsider in that editing room. Yeah. You 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:24.320 have no power over your own story. None whatsoever. 00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:27.039 And then we have Lamar Odom, Chloe's husband. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:30.220 Another really tragic arc. He was an NBA champion, 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:34.220 a beloved figure in L .A. He was so charming 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:37.460 and funny, he and Chloe even got their own spinoff, 00:16:37.500 --> 00:16:39.799 Chloe and Lamar. Which was really popular for 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:42.600 a while. It was. But as his personal struggles 00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:44.639 with addiction and the marriage breakdown happened 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:47.500 in real life, he slowly disappeared from the 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:50.840 screen. It's a really stark example of the toll 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:53.340 that this level of public scrutiny can take on 00:16:53.340 --> 00:16:56.059 a relationship that is already fragile. The camera 00:16:56.059 --> 00:16:58.620 helps build you up. and then it documents your 00:16:58.620 --> 00:17:01.559 fall. And then the biggest curveball of all, 00:17:02.139 --> 00:17:05.220 Kanye West. Now, this is a fascinating case study, 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:07.859 and I'd call it the convert. The convert. Because 00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:10.759 initially, Kanye refused to be on the show, adamantly. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:13.660 He did. I remember seeing early episodes where 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:15.460 Kim is on the phone with him, but he's off camera, 00:17:15.579 --> 00:17:17.720 where he'd walk through a shot and hide his face. 00:17:17.859 --> 00:17:19.839 It was like he was a ghost in the machine. He 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:21.940 cited the backlash. He was a serious artist. 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:24.640 He even publicly criticized the cinematography 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.460 of the show. I remember that. He complained about 00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:29.009 the lighting. He's a perfectionist. He didn't 00:17:29.009 --> 00:17:31.210 like the flat lighting, the sitcom aesthetic. 00:17:31.529 --> 00:17:34.170 He thought it cheapened his brand. He was high 00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:37.809 art. The show was low culture. But then something 00:17:37.809 --> 00:17:41.670 shifted. By season 16, he's doing the confessionals. 00:17:41.789 --> 00:17:44.069 He's sitting in the director's chair, talking 00:17:44.069 --> 00:17:46.849 to the camera, smiling. He eventually took a 00:17:46.849 --> 00:17:49.569 prominent role. It suggests that even the biggest 00:17:49.569 --> 00:17:51.589 critics, if they stay in that orbit long enough, 00:17:51.769 --> 00:17:53.849 eventually get pulled into the gravitational 00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:56.970 pull of the show. It's unavoidable. It became 00:17:56.970 --> 00:17:59.269 the primary way the family communicated with 00:17:59.269 --> 00:18:00.809 the world. And if you were part of the family, 00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:02.670 you have to be part of the show. You can't be 00:18:02.670 --> 00:18:05.029 married to Kim Kardashian and be invisible. It's 00:18:05.029 --> 00:18:07.390 just not possible. And we also can't forget Rob's 00:18:07.390 --> 00:18:10.029 relationships. Adrienne Bailon from the Cheetah 00:18:10.029 --> 00:18:12.670 Girls, who later said appearing on the show really 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:14.630 hurt her career because she was just branded 00:18:14.630 --> 00:18:17.869 as Rob Kardashian's girlfriend. And Blac Chyna. 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:20.430 Whoa! Talk about drama. She actually got her 00:18:20.430 --> 00:18:23.200 own spinoff, Rob and Chyna. She did. Which brings 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:26.480 us perfectly to the business model. Because Robin 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.380 China wasn't an anomaly. It was part of a very 00:18:29.380 --> 00:18:32.680 deliberate strategy. We need to look at Hardashian 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:36.000 Inc. This is where the story goes from a TV show 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.480 to a global enterprise. This is what blows my 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.759 mind. The sheer volume of content. It wasn't 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:43.980 just keeping up. It was a cinematic universe 00:18:43.980 --> 00:18:46.819 before Marvel even figured it out. It really 00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:49.880 was. Just listen to this list of spinoffs. You 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.329 had... Courtney and Kim take Miami. Originally, 00:18:53.329 --> 00:18:55.609 it was Courtney and Chloe in Miami. Right. They 00:18:55.609 --> 00:18:58.289 swapped sisters. Then Courtney and Kim take New 00:18:58.289 --> 00:19:02.250 York. Courtney and Chloe take the Hamptons. Dash 00:19:02.250 --> 00:19:04.470 Dolls, which focused on the employees at their 00:19:04.470 --> 00:19:06.750 clothing store. I forgot about Dash Dolls. Life 00:19:06.750 --> 00:19:09.509 of Kylie. Flip it like Disick. It was an endless 00:19:09.509 --> 00:19:11.569 stream of content. It's relentless. It's like 00:19:11.569 --> 00:19:13.509 they were colonizing different cities and different 00:19:13.509 --> 00:19:16.069 demographics for television. Okay, we need the 00:19:16.069 --> 00:19:18.650 Hamptons crowd. Send Khloe and Kourtney. That's 00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:21.089 a good way to put it. And it changed the E! Network 00:19:21.089 --> 00:19:24.130 fundamentally. Before the Kardashians, E! was 00:19:24.130 --> 00:19:26.210 a place that reported on celebrity. They covered 00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:28.410 the red carpets. They had the news ticker. They 00:19:28.410 --> 00:19:31.250 were observers. Exactly. With this show, they 00:19:31.250 --> 00:19:34.430 shifted to making celebrity. That is a massive 00:19:34.430 --> 00:19:36.950 paradigm shift in media. It's the vertical integration. 00:19:36.970 --> 00:19:41.650 And Khloe was very open about this. She admitted 00:19:41.650 --> 00:19:43.950 in an interview that the show was basically a 00:19:43.950 --> 00:20:01.809 30 -minute commercial. The show was the engine. 00:20:04.829 --> 00:20:07.960 symbiotic loop. And the money followed. Just 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:09.680 look at these deal numbers from the source material. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.299 In 2012, they signed a three -year deal with 00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:15.660 E. In 2015, they signed another one for a reported 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:18.940 $100 million. $100 million. And then in 2017, 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.420 they re -up again for a deal reportedly worth 00:20:22.420 --> 00:20:25.259 $150 million. And that's just for the show. That 00:20:25.259 --> 00:20:26.980 doesn't count the individual businesses that 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:29.160 the show launched. Skims, Kylie Cosmetics, Good 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:31.240 American. And we have to mention the synergy 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:33.640 with social media. This show grew up alongside 00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:36.579 Twitter and Instagram. How did that work? Because 00:20:36.579 --> 00:20:39.339 usually TV networks hate people looking at their 00:20:39.339 --> 00:20:42.099 phones during a show. Not this show. This show 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:45.519 embraced it. It became the most social ad -supported 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:49.180 cable program. Even as total TV viewership fluctuated 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:50.880 over the years because of streaming and cord 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:53.460 cutting, they held on to that key demographic, 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:56.819 the 1834 -year -olds, because they were interacting 00:20:56.819 --> 00:20:58.980 on social media while watching. They created 00:20:58.980 --> 00:21:02.460 a feedback loop. A perfect one. King would live 00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:05.180 tweet the episode as it aired. Fans would react. 00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:07.740 It made watching the show an interactive event, 00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:10.440 not a passive one. So they are making hundreds 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:12.480 of millions of dollars. They are dominating the 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:14.180 ratings for their demographic. They're changing 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:17.740 the face of television. But let's be honest. 00:21:17.940 --> 00:21:19.640 Yeah. So many people hated them. The critical 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:23.039 reception is polarizing, to say the very least. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:25.400 Polarizing is being polite. I'm looking at some 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:27.299 of these reviews from the source material. It 00:21:27.299 --> 00:21:29.950 says universal panning. from critics since the 00:21:29.950 --> 00:21:32.230 very first premiere. The New York Times called 00:21:32.230 --> 00:21:34.190 it a show about desperate women climbing to the 00:21:34.190 --> 00:21:37.470 margins of fame. Oh. IGN called them whores of 00:21:37.470 --> 00:21:39.710 attention. That is incredibly harsh language 00:21:39.710 --> 00:21:42.589 for a TV review. It is brutal. The Washington 00:21:42.589 --> 00:21:46.569 Times even called the show a sign of moral, spiritual, 00:21:46.630 --> 00:21:49.230 and cultural decay, like the fall of the Roman 00:21:49.230 --> 00:21:52.150 Empire, but with lip gloss. This is the hate 00:21:52.150 --> 00:21:54.950 watch phenomenon, and the criticism almost always 00:21:54.950 --> 00:21:58.289 focuses on that one central concept. famous for 00:21:58.289 --> 00:22:01.670 being famous. It is a Mubius strip of celebrity. 00:22:01.970 --> 00:22:04.390 They're famous because they are on TV and they 00:22:04.390 --> 00:22:06.910 are on TV because they are famous. It drives 00:22:06.910 --> 00:22:10.430 critics crazy because there is no talent in the 00:22:10.430 --> 00:22:13.170 traditional sense, no singing, no acting, no 00:22:13.170 --> 00:22:16.440 athletic achievement. The talent is being famous. 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:18.839 But not everyone hated it. There were some more 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:21.680 nuanced takes in the sources. Yes. Some critics 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.140 from places like Rolling Stone and the A .V. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.420 Club, they sort of leaned in. They recognized 00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:30.400 the seductive qualities of their vanity. There 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.460 was something undeniably compelling about watching 00:22:32.460 --> 00:22:34.960 people with gargantuan egos live out these completely 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.039 frivolous lives. It's almost like watching a 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:38.940 nature documentary. About a completely different 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:41.140 species, yes. And there's the American dream 00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:43.160 argument, right? They made something out of nothing. 00:22:43.259 --> 00:22:44.930 They built an empire. on their own personalities. 00:22:45.410 --> 00:22:48.329 It's the ultimate entrepreneurial story in a 00:22:48.329 --> 00:22:51.049 weird way. Precisely. And Psychology Today noted 00:22:51.049 --> 00:22:54.490 a fascinating paradox. They argued the family 00:22:54.490 --> 00:22:56.690 became more relatable the more famous they got. 00:22:56.930 --> 00:22:59.069 How does that even work? That seems completely 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:01.299 counterintuitive. They're billionaires flying 00:23:01.299 --> 00:23:03.519 on private jets. Well, the theory is that by 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:05.779 exposing every single aspect of their lives, 00:23:05.980 --> 00:23:08.779 the ugly fights, the divorces, the insecurities, 00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:11.900 Kim's psoriasis breakouts, Chloe's fertility 00:23:11.900 --> 00:23:15.420 issues, they create this pseudo intimacy with 00:23:15.420 --> 00:23:18.059 the viewer. I see. Even though they are on a 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:21.299 yacht in Greece, you see Kim crying about a breakup. 00:23:21.460 --> 00:23:23.819 And on a human level, you think, I know what 00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:26.539 that feels like. It bridges the enormous gap 00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:29.240 created by the wealth. It's what academics call 00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:31.920 a parasocial relationship on steroids. That makes 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:33.619 a lot of sense. And we've seen them go through 00:23:33.619 --> 00:23:35.420 some major, major life events. We've touched 00:23:35.420 --> 00:23:37.339 on the wedding, but we have to talk about Caitlyn 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:39.880 Jenner's transition because this was handled 00:23:39.880 --> 00:23:42.779 on the show in a very specific, very public way. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.380 It was. It was a massive television event. There 00:23:45.380 --> 00:23:47.480 was a two -part special on Keeping Up called 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:49.799 About Bruce. This was before the name change 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.480 was official in the public eye. Right. And then 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.500 there's a separate docuseries, I Am Kate. Now, 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:58.359 E was very, very careful to say I Am Kate was 00:23:58.359 --> 00:24:00.799 not a spinoff. Right. They wanted to distinguish 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:03.480 it. It had a different mission. It focused on 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:07.119 broader LGBTQ issues. It had a more educational 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:10.799 documentary style tone. But looking at the critical 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.380 response to the About Bruce specials on the main 00:24:13.380 --> 00:24:15.839 show, many critics felt it was a missed opportunity. 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:19.480 They felt it seemed staged and controlled. There's 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:22.089 that word again. Control. It's the recurring 00:24:22.089 --> 00:24:25.410 theme of the entire Kardashian enterprise. Even 00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:27.369 with something as deeply personal and culturally 00:24:27.369 --> 00:24:29.970 significant as a gender transition, the Kardashian 00:24:29.970 --> 00:24:32.250 machine has to process it through its own filter. 00:24:32.369 --> 00:24:34.450 It has to fit the narrative arc of the show. 00:24:34.630 --> 00:24:37.130 The story has to be told their way. So after 00:24:37.130 --> 00:24:40.009 20 seasons, nearly a decade and a half, the family 00:24:40.009 --> 00:24:42.410 makes this huge announcement in September 2020. 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:45.440 The show is ending. The end of an era. It felt 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.059 like a real cultural milestone. The final season 00:24:48.059 --> 00:24:51.140 concluded in June 2021. Well, was it really the 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:53.079 end? Of course not. It was never going to be 00:24:53.079 --> 00:24:55.819 the end. Because almost immediately, they pivot. 00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:58.880 They announce a massive deal with Hulu. The new 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:00.880 show is just called The Kardashians. It just 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.180 proves the point we made earlier about them being 00:25:03.180 --> 00:25:05.859 ahead of the media curve. The platform changed. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:09.279 They moved from linear cable to streaming. But 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:11.720 the content machine didn't stop for a second. 00:25:11.900 --> 00:25:13.960 They realized they don't need the e -network 00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:16.440 anymore. They are the network. The audience will 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:18.779 follow them wherever they go. Their brand is 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:21.200 bigger than any single channel. And they have 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:23.740 the hardware to prove it. We can't ignore the 00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:26.900 awards. They consistently won Teen Choice Awards, 00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:30.019 People's Choice Awards. Year after year. Often 00:25:30.019 --> 00:25:32.640 in the guilty pleasure category, sure. But a 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.460 win is a win. It validates the audience. Critics 00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:37.759 might call it cultural decay. But the people 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.200 voted. They voted with their remote controls 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:43.059 for 14 years, and they voted with their clicks. 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:46.140 So what does this all mean? When we zoom out, 00:25:46.220 --> 00:25:49.579 we've gone from a single Sunday BBQ tape to a 00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:52.940 multi -billion dollar global empire. It's a story 00:25:52.940 --> 00:25:55.039 about the evolution of media. They didn't just 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.660 ride the wave of reality TV and social media. 00:25:57.859 --> 00:26:01.019 They learned how to direct it. They changed how 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:03.900 we define celebrity. They monetize their own 00:26:03.900 --> 00:26:06.140 lives in a way that no one had ever done before. 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:08.200 Certainly not at this scale. And they did it 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:12.799 as a family, a chaotic, loving, arguing, ridiculously 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:15.420 wealthy family. A Brady Bunch with a lot more 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:18.279 money. Yeah. And much better lighting. Exactly. 00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:20.240 So as we wrap up, I want to leave you with a 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:22.599 final thought. You brought up those brutal reviews 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:24.799 earlier, the ones that talked about cultural 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:28.140 decay. It raises a provocative question, doesn't 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:30.180 it? It's the central question of their legacy, 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:33.059 I think. Did the Kardashians force their vanity 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:36.440 upon us? Did they create this culture of obsession 00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:39.339 with frivolity and fame? Or did the show simply 00:26:39.339 --> 00:26:41.940 hold up a mirror to a society that was already 00:26:41.940 --> 00:26:43.779 obsessed with it? Were they just giving us what 00:26:43.779 --> 00:26:46.200 we secretly wanted all along? So did we create 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:48.700 them or did they create us? That really is the 00:26:48.700 --> 00:26:50.519 question. I think the scary answer might be a 00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:53.299 bit of both. Something to mull over the next 00:26:53.299 --> 00:26:55.220 time you're scrolling through Instagram and you 00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:58.079 see that familiar aesthetic? Check your own sources, 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:01.299 your social feeds, and you'll see the legacy 00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:04.109 is alive and well. Thanks for listening to this 00:27:04.109 --> 00:27:06.069 deep dive. We'll see you next time.