It’s hard to believe now, but there was a time when Keeping Up With the Kardashians was one of the most buzzed-about reality shows on TV.
These days, the ladies of the Kard clan are as famous as ever, but the series that helped to make them household names is a mostly-forgotten basic cable dinosaur buried in the glut of “peak TV” programming.
But network execs are notoriously slow to pick on changing viewership trends, and as such, the Kardashians are still treated like walking ratings magnets.
So the spinoff series keep coming … but they seldom last very long.
The latest victim is Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna’s imaginatively titled Rob & Chyna, which was canceled after just one season.
Prior to that, Caitlyn Jenner’s “docu-series,” I Am Cait, was canceled after two seasons of lackluster ratings.
The list of short-lived Kardashian spinoffs is getting too long to keep track of (Kocktails With Khloe, we hardly knew ye.), but both the family and the E! network seemed convinced that Kylie Jenner would be able to turn the tide.
Life of Kylie was supposed to be the spinoff that made the Kardashians relevant to TV audiences again.
By some measures, Kylie is the most popular Kardashian (the Jenner last name is really just a technicality), and a series about the marketing of her wildly popular cosmetics brand seemed the ideal way to remind young people of the family’s enduring popularity.
Instead, the show has had the opposite effect, reminding Kylie and her sisters of just how fickle public opinion can be.
Slow from the start and getting worse by the week, Life of Kylie‘s ratings have failed to rise even to the level of Rob & Chyna at its most popular.
At this point, it seems a foregone conclusion that the show will be a one-and-done – and Kylie is reportedly devastated.
“Kylie is beginning to see that fans don’t care about her as much as she thinks, and is devastated by the show’s reception,” a source close to the family tells Radar Online.
The insider adds that momager Kris Jenner is pulling out all the stops in order to save the show from an early death.
“Kris ordered Kim, Kourtney and Khloe to help by promoting ‘Life of Kylie’ on their social media,” the source says.
“She is even going so far as to try to add newly filmed footage to the show’s existing edit.”
Unfortunately, it seems Kris’ efforts will amount to too little, too late.
Life of Kylie drew in less than 700,000 for the second week in a row last week.
Worse, the show is struggling in the all-important 18-49 demographic.
It seems Kylie is learning the same lesson as a so many upstart social media figures have in recent years:
Popularity on the internet rarely translates to other media.
But hey, at least she’ll have her massive online following and near-billion dollar cosmetics empire to fall back on.