The sad reality of reality TV
Walden Sullivan, Staff Writer
The Kardashians’ reign on national television has tragically ended while they are transitioning from E! network to Hulu. In this short time that they have been off the air, we have received two of the worst reality TV shows in television history.
When someone thinks of reality TV shows, they probably think of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”. The show (from 2007 to 2021) contained iconic moments that defined pop culture for years. The Kardashians were providing some of the most entertaining and drama-packed content in the history of trash television. Say what you will about the family, but they really know how to make a name for themselves. When they announced the show’s departure in late 2020, angels cried. What were everyday people supposed to do with their days when there are no more thrilling episodes being cranked out by E!. Well, Netflix and Hulu seem to think they have the solution.
Even though no one wanted it, Hulu announced in Dec. 2020 that “The D’Amelio Show’’ will be coming to the platform in 2021. On the Instagram announcement post, they received comments such as “Hulu why would you do this”, “No one wants to watch this lol”, “Nothing compared to the Kardashians” and more. Unfortunately, they continued with production, and the show ended up coming out.
Part of the reason the show didn’t connect with it’s audience was probably related to the humanization of the D’Amelios. Even in the trailer, you could tell that they were trying very hard to make Charli more vulnerable especially when talking about TikTok. They tried to paint her in a way that showed how toxic social media can be, but all they ended up doing was providing content for twitter users to make fun of her with. The show ended up being so bad that it wasn’t even entertaining, and the only enjoyable part of watching was getting to see people slander Charli on Twitter after the fact.
Even after the nation hated “The D’Amelio Show”, Netflix decided that it was a perfect time to release “Hype House”. This show somehow managed to be worse than “The D’Amelio Show” because at least the D’Amelio’s have some humanity. Even though Charli D’Amelio is in no way a normal teenager, at least she is a tiny bit more relatable than the “21st-century vampire”, Lil Huddy. Watching a show revolving around possibly the most absurd of all influencers rots my brain in a way that is not at all satisfactory like the Kardashians.
The easiest thing to blame the devastating decline of reality TV on is TikTok. These two shows revolve entirely around TikTok influencers, proving that TikTok has an influence on almost everything in the world. From commercials to entire TV shows, TikTok is taking over.
Promotional poster for “The D’Amelio” show posted before the premiere episode.