The Simple Life
The Simple Life is an American reality television series starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. It depicts the two wealthy socialites, as they struggle to do menial, low-paying jobs such as cleaning rooms, farm work, serving meals in fast-food restaurants, and working as camp counselors. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, on Fox, and concluded on August 5, 2007, on E!.[1] A falling out between Hilton and Richie in 2005 led the series to be cancelled by Fox following its third season.[2] It was eventually picked up by E!, which aired its fourth and fifth seasons. The Simple Life helped catapult Hilton and Richie into international stardom,[3] and maintained a consistently high viewership throughout its run on both networks.[4][5] It also spawned a number of international remakes.[6]
For other uses, see Simple Life (disambiguation).The Simple Life
- Roger Neill
- Michael Suby
United States
English
5
55 (list of episodes)
22 minutes
December 2, 2003 –
May 12, 2005
June 4, 2006 –
August 5, 2007
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Despite a significant criticism of reality television and the scrutiny that both Hilton and Richie faced throughout The Simple Life's run, the series received moderately positive reviews from critics, who generally highlighted its tongue-in-cheek humour in spite of its vacuous nature.[21][22] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season an approval rating of 69% based on 16 reviews. The site's critical consensus states, "The Simple Life is an incredibly vapid show, but there is no denying that Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are downright entertaining."[23] Writing for Variety, Brian Lowry considered that the series was "made palatable and watchable because the primary objects of derision are heiress/party girls Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Easy-to-promote concept plays like a light-hearted romp, where mercifully [...] nobody has learned much of anything".[24] Ken Tucker, for Entertainment Weekly, gave the series a "B" rating and asserted that "the producers know precisely what tone to take".[25] Seattle Post-Intelligencer editor Melanie McFarland remarked: "Hilton and Richie try to bring Beverly fabulousness, and brattiness, to the country folk. They fail miserably. We all get a good laugh. At least their unapologetic shallowness and good-natured mental incapacity carry the thing through".[26]
U.S. television ratings[edit]
The December 2, 2003 debut of The Simple Life drew 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adults 18-49 rating a "phenomenal" 79%.[4] The second episode showed a growth in ratings, reaching 13.3 million viewers.[27] An audience of 9.8 million viewers watched the series' second-season premiere on June 16, 2004.[28] After moving to E!, the series' fourth season premiered on June 4, 2006, drawing 1.3 million viewers. While "those ratings would have been dismal for Fox, it was actually more than four times E!'s prime-time average". According to TV Week, "ratings more than tripled from the network's average" in key adult demographic groups.[5]
Home media[edit]
The Simple Life's first season received a DVD release in the United States on January 20, 2004, which included the bonus episode and the reunion episode. The second season was released to DVD on November 2, 2004, and was accompanied by a CD-soundtrack.[29] The DVD of the third season was released in the United States on March 19, 2006. The series' first and fourth seasons were added to the iTunes Store on July 28, 2006. The fourth season was officially released to DVD on December 26, 2006.[30] The fifth and final season's DVD was released on January 22, 2008. It contained no special features and not even the extended version of the first episode that was only shown on the premiere.[31] This season also became available for download on iTunes, where a compilation of camp songs dubbed The Simple Life: Camp Songs was released on August 13, 2007.