This was published 7 years ago
How a decade of Keeping Up With the Kardashians has changed television forever
By Ebony Bowden
Ten years ago, the Kardashian family burst onto our television screens and in the process created a whole new genre of entertainment.
Before the extended household made millions from broadcasting every moment of their lives on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, fame itself wasn't a virtue. Sitting around the kitchen counter complaining about your sister did not a program make.
The term "famous for being famous" of course existed long before Kim Kardashian. The phrase was first used in the 1960s and was applied to the likes of socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was described by American journalist Neal Gabler as "human entertainment".
But no one dared to create an entire television program based on this concept until Ryan Seacrest plucked the Kardashians from near-obscurity in 2007 and put them on cable network E!.
Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian.Credit: E!
Keeping Up with the Kardashians became a self-fulfilling prophecy where simply being on television made the family famous.
Cameras following their lives documented everything, from normal family bickering to cloistered experiences such as offers to appear on Playboy magazine and dealing with the fallout of a leaked sex tape.
When dissecting the show, it's hard not to contrast it with Paris Hilton's The Simple Life, which predated Keeping Up with the Kardashians by a whole four years.
The Fox series followed Hilton and her socialite friend Nicole Richie as they struggled to engage in the everyday, leaving their wealthy lifestyles behind to carry out menial jobs such as waitressing, farm work and cleaning.
The everyday lives of the Kardashians continues to captivate, 10 years on.Credit: E!
Hilton and Richie were undoubtedly famous for being famous, but the aim of the series was to poke fun at how out of touch the pair were and centred on their awkward encounters with normal Americans.
But over 181 episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the bulk of the content has been filmed at the kitchen counter where the family ruminates on their relationship breakdowns, pregnancy issues and sheer celebrity. And this has been enough to sustain 12 seasons of television.
The Simple Life: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie out and about in their trackies in 2004.Credit: Getty
Early versions of this concept such as The Hills, which in 2006 followed the personal lives of a circle of rich kids in Los Angeles, were cheap imitations, scripted and stifled with characters lacking the charisma and drama of the Kardashian clan.
Ten years later, the Kardashian sisters are a product. With an estimated worth of $US150 million ($200 million), Kim Kardashian has been the most successful, with the bulk of her fortune coming from fragrances, endorsements and a successful mobile phone app.
MTV's The Hills fizzled after a few seasons of manufactured drama.Credit: MTV
On Monday, Vanity Fair was succinct when it ruminated on Kim's return to the spotlight after a three-month absence following her armed robbery during Paris Fashion Week.
"Kim Kardashian West is back to marketing her number-one product: herself."
With mother Kris Jenner serving as executive producer, the family is in control of their story.Credit: E!
Many have tried to emulate the format the Kardashians pioneered a decade ago but have failed to scale the same heights.
The 11-year-old Real Housewives franchise has been copied in Melbourne, New York City, Miami, Beverly Hills, Auckland, Atlanta, Athens, Dallas and now Sydney, but a rotating cast of nipped and tucked wealthy housewives have failed to spark the same fascination as the Kardashians.
Most housewives also only last a few seasons, exhausted from the intrusion into their personal lives and the havoc it causes.
Lower-brow examples such as Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, based on Southern Toddlers and Tiaras' child star Alana Thompson, were also swiftly axed, described by The Hollywood Reporter as "visual exploitation".
No one has harnessed the widespread broadcast of their flaws as powerfully as the Kardashians. With mother Kris Jenner at the helm, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney have become some of the most famous people in the world.
Younger sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner have also followed suit, becoming one of the world's most in-demand models and a successful cosmetic mogul.
Serving as executive producers on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the family is in control of their story and like it or not, they have used their show to broadcast very real issues.
From fertility struggles to alcohol and drug abuse and Caitlyn Jenner's transition, the Kardashian clan continues to rule the format they pioneered a decade ago.