Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Kardashians’ On Hulu, A New Series That Treads The Exact Same Ground As Their E! Show

The new Hulu series The Kardashians is more or less a continuation of E!’s long-running series Keeping Up With The Kardashians, where Kris Jenner, her daughters, their kids, and various boyfriends/husbands interact and talk about, well, they talk about what’s going on with the Kardashians. What, did you think the move to streaming would make it something different?

THE KARDASHIANS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “Los Angeles, CA”. An ambitious opening sequence shows a speedy drone shot over the ocean, then it flies through various rooms and houses, retintroducing us to Kim Kardashian, her sisters Kourtney and Khloé, half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Kris Jenner, the mother of all five.

The Gist: In the first episode, there’s some talk among the Kardashian clan about how there was an extended break in filming, though it was likely only about a year or so. Kim is getting her house ready for a family barbecue, complete with white slides going into a pit of white balls. Everyone shows up except for Kendall, who pops up on an interview segment saying she has COVID, but will be on camera soon enough.

Also there are all the Kardashian/Jenner children, as well as Kris’ boyfriend, Corey Gamble. Kourtney’s boyfriend, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, is also there, and their friendship-turned-relationship is the buzz of the ‘cue. Khloé’s baby daddy and on-again-off-again, Tristian Thompson, is also there. He wants to restart their romantic relationship, but Khloé isn’t sure.

Who’s not there? Kanye West, for one; at the time of filming, Kim and Yeezy are still going through their divorce, though she would love for him to be the musical guest when she hosts SNL, which she frets about during the entire episode, as does an image of her on Roblox that one of her kids showed her. Also not there is Kourt’s ex Scott Disick. Khloé goes to visit Scott and he talks about how he considers the Kardashians his family, but Khloé counters by saying if he was there, seeing Kourt canoodling with Travis would have likely been tough for him.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Like we said, The Kardashians is a continuation of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. We wish we could say that there was something different about this series, but there isn’t. They still even bleep the f-word.

Our Take: Were we expecting something to be different about The Kardashians, given that the family was given a streaming platform after fourteen years on basic cable? Maybe. But things don’t work that way with Kris Jenner and her family. If it ain’t broke, why fix it, folks; the original show helped Kris and her daughters build a massive business empire worth billions.

So if you’re coming to The Kardashians as an early fan of KUWTK who might have had the hope that the move to streaming would invigorate the show, which became grindingly boring during its later seasons, you’re going to be disappointed.

The show has always been about the Kardashians arguing and gossiping about each other, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get with this new show. Some of the faces may change — Barker being the most talked-about new member of the clan — but they’re generally only just players in the general Kardashian drama.

That schtick got old years ago, especially as all of the Kardashian sisters and Kylie Jenner became mothers. The beefs aren’t new, and it’s shocking how the maturity level of all of the sisters hasn’t really changed, given the fact that they all have much more responsibility than they did when the old show started in 2007.

Ironically, the only place where the first episode shines is when Kim gets on the line with her lawyer about the Roblox thing. She drops the vocal fry and gets mama bear serious about the illegal use of her image or the threat that her old flame Ray J may have another sex tape. Seeing her that engaged made us want to see more of that Kim, the Kim that’s trying to pass the bar by going to online law school, not the ditzy image she foisted on the public in the naughts. But we get the feeling we’ll only see that in flashes.

Sex and Skin: None. Even Kourtney and Travis keep things family-friendly on camera. The Kardashian sisters talk about how their vaginas might be too big for the shaping underwear the family markets, much to the chagrin of the people sitting next to them at the restaurant where they’re having lunch.

Parting Shot: “I have all the time, all the resources, to burn them all to the fucking ground,” Kim tells Kanye on the phone about the Robolox mess.

Sleeper Star: Believe it or not, this season’s sleeper might be Scott Disick; he readily admits he was a dick to Kourtney when they were together, but he still cherishes her friendship and his connections to her family, and he feels he’s losing that with her relationship to Travis.

Most Pilot-y Line: “For 20 years, this has been held over my head,” Kim says about the infamous sex tape. Kim, please; without the sex tape, this show and your family’s massive business empire wouldn’t exist.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Even if you’re a fan of the Kardashians, the whole more-of-the-same vibe of The Kardashians is just a crashing bore. That means, of course, it’ll likely become Hulu’s biggest hit.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.