‘The Kardashians’ May Be Manufactured But It Still Reigns Over Reality TV

The Big Picture

• The switch from cable to streaming has resulted in the Kardashian sisters exerting more control over what is shown on screen, creating a more curated and manufactured version of their lives for viewers.
• The immediacy of social media presents a challenge for the TV series, as viewers already have access to the sisters’ lives through their online posts, making the show seem outdated and redundant.
• Kourtney’s boundary-setting and insistence on authentic relationships has made her the most interesting sister to watch, as she balances glimpses into her personal life with the manufactured aspects of the show. The other sisters may need to follow her example to sustain audience interest.

The switch from the cable format of Keeping Up With The Kardashians to the streaming giant The Kardashians has brought many changes to the series. At its height, Keeping Up was the must-see reality series. Part of that unmissable formula was the producers and editors working hard behind the scenes to put the sisters’ stories together in a way that would be guaranteed to grab the audience’s attention. Another crucial aspect was the fact that the cameras caught everything. Back on Keeping Up, the sisters were not producers, and had little to no say in what could or could not be filmed, what footage could not be shown. With the switch to The Kardashians on Hulu, we’ve seen a gradual and steady restriction from the sisters on what they are willing to show on screen. As we see less and less of the reality of the sisters’ daily lives and more and more of their manufactured scenes meant for our consumption, the series has shifted further away from must-see reality TV and more toward an extension of their social media empire.

What is lost, and what is gained from this shift? The core concept of reality TV is that regardless of how manufactured the filming of the scenes are, viewers know they are meant to forget that a camera crew is present, producers are prompting lines, the sound department is asking the subjects to wait for distracting noises before they “go again” when the background is quieted – there is still an understanding that the conversations and subjects being shown are the lived daily reality of the main cast. With the shift toward the producer/performer model on The Kardashians many things are gained for the cast that typically subjects of reality TV do not control – storylines get squashed, temperamental moments aren’t shown, and the most significant aspects of their lives are lived off camera. The Kardashian and Jenner sisters are therefore setting a new model of performers taking control of the production process, of taking ownership not only of what they schedule to be seen, but how the story is overall told. It is arguably a necessary balance to the occasionally exploitative side of an industry that can sometimes profit off of people’s pain.

While the Kardashian clan have modeled how to rise up the ranks from performer to producer, they are still working on the logistics of how this will affect the narrative each season. Many other reality series might not be able to continue if the performers had the same level of control the sisters now have. The shift may not be sustainable for the genre overall, but it has certainly changed the way stories are told on the latest seasons of The Kardashians.

Social media has been an integral part of the sisters building their individual business empires and the family’s billion-dollar dynasty. Part of the problem with the narrative perspective switching now to a more filtered and curated version of the sisters’ lives is that the immediacy of social media guarantees that the TV series lags behind the social media posts that reveal so much already about what the sisters want the world to see. When the fashion shoots, and birthday parties, and business events, and MET Gala looks have already been shown online, and those moments are then repeated later on television as the only version of the sisters’ lives we are allowed access to, it begs the question “what is the show” without the sisters truly sharing their daily lived experiences?

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The Kardashians as Producers Don’t Give Fans the Hurtful Truths

Season 14 of Keeping Up was when viewers first started to see the cracks forming between the sisters regarding how much, or how little, of their lives was being shown on the show. Khloé and Kim start complaining about Kourtney not being present. By season fifteen, Kourtney openly admits that if she had the resources she wouldn’t do the show. “I cannot wait for the day when I don’t have to have fake and forced relationships,” the eldest sister said. Kim and Khloé acknowledge that to them to move past their resentment, they’ll have to just sweep it under the rug (a family tradition). Kim summarizes the conflict: “We want her to be accountable and be responsible, and when you take a job you show up,” she said.

This conflict between the sisters carries through on the show to this day – Kim and Khloé shoulder the bulk of the filming each season. The younger sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner have always drawn a curtain across their personal lives. Kourtney has shifted from the transparency she once had showing her relationship with Scott Disick in the early seasons of Keeping Up, to a much more curated and private glimpse into the life she now shares with husband, Travis Barker on The Kardashians. Even momager Kris Jenner has been filming less and less over the years. By season seventeen Kim lays it out for everyone, saying: “Our job is being open and honest and sharing a lot of ourselves … because if we’re not sharing our lives then what is the show?”

What is the show without the reality of the sisters’ real-life struggles being featured? Kim is an expert at filling the season with her busy work schedule. Before she was a law student and an actress, she featured her curiosity in mortician training to fill time on the show when she was not interested in featuring her more personal stories. As Khloé said in season fifteen: “I think Kim’s entire life strategy is ‘distract, distract, distract’ and mine is ‘patience, patience, patience.'” Arguably, Khloé has suffered the most in terms of not being able to contain the antics of her romantic partners and losing control of the narrative in the media.

By season 19, when she is in the thick of her divorce with Kanye West, Kim starts to better understand her older sister’s need for firm boundaries around what in her personal life is allowed to be shown. As Kourtney, Kim, and Khloé tell Andy Cohen in the series finale wrap-up episode for Keeping Up, their issues on the show often come down to whether the story is being told “the right way,” whose “lens” the story is being told through, and how it is tough for producers to find a way to tell the story from a “non-biased” position. Once the family decides to end Keeping Up and then reboot on a different platform as producers themselves, the viewers start to see the change in the narrative lens immediately.

Kourtney directly interjects into the narrative in the first season when her family tries to involve Scott’s perspective when talking about her new relationship with Travis. She utilizes her power as a producer to shut down the conversation so that her romance can be told from her perspective alone. So what we now see on The Kardashians is clearly filtered through the lens of each sister/producer separately, which is reflected in the fact that the sisters who are most directly in conflict with one another, Kourtney and Kim, barely film any scenes together this season. The lackluster resolution to their big blowout from last season has been to once again sweep it under the rug.

Despite What Kim Says, Kourtney Is the Most Interesting To Look At

The manufactured reality of what the sisters have been sharing cannot be denied, and their dynasty speaks to the continued success of The Kardashians. But what remains to be seen is if it can be sustained, especially without the series being that pivotal central “mothership” that it once was for the family. Khloé’s segments with cousin and family historian Cici Bussey can only fill so much time. Kim’s criminal justice work is truly fascinating, but there is only so much that can be featured in one season. Kendall and Kylie’s lovey-dovey sister exploits are endearing, but the viewers get the sense that these escapades are entirely scheduled for the show and that the sisters probably would not be with one another if the film slot wasn’t booked. Despite her constant objections to filming over the years, it’s ironically Kourtney’s crusade to heal through authentic relationships that have really made her the sister who is most interesting to look at in season four.

Kourtney has kept up the good fight of holding everyone in the family accountable for their words and actions. This promises more conflict between her and Kim in future years if they do not continue the trend of refusing to film with one another. What Kourtney has shown of her businesses, Poosh and Lemme, has had the busy behind-the-scenes hustle that was once featured in Keeping Up when it was Kim, who was working hard to get the family established. Kourtney’s reenactment of Travis’ Blink-182 music video for her pregnancy announcement at his LA concert made global news and circulated widely on social media. But despite viewers knowing this happened in advance because of such coverage, the behind-the-scenes filming for The Kardashians still feels authentic enough that it has the same must-see quality the series was once known for. Notably, Kourtney chose not to inform her mother/manager about this announcement in advance in order to retain control of her special plan with her husband. Kris seemed put off about this and in the season finale she quips: “She forgot she had a family.”

As Kourtney stated in season 17 when she started drawing firm boundaries to separate the film business from her real family life: “My well-being is more important than the show. I’m not giving in, and I’m not gonna change my boundaries.” By insisting on only having authentic relationships with her family members and only showing certain perspectives of her life that she is in control of, Kourtney is managing to achieve the balance Kim used to effortlessly pull off – that glimpse into something fascinating going on in her life and her personal relationships in perfect balance with the manufactured aspects of the show. If each sister is able to contribute in this way equally, the series will likely hold audience interest as long as the sisters wish to film. Lately though, Kim’s control over her version of narrative and what she allows to be shown seems to be slipping. When daughter North nags her mom on camera “Do you want me to lie?” the answer is so obviously “yes” that it makes the audience wonder what else is being kept from view. The art of keeping things hidden on camera is to create authentic moments that are interesting enough to distract from the rest. The other sisters might have to take a page out of Kourtney’s book if the series is going to sustain the must-see status it has reigned with for so long.

The Kardashians is currently streaming on Hulu. Past seasons of E!’s Keeping Up With the Kardashians is available to watch on Peacock.

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