Wikipedia says the sex tape was filmed in 2002, released in 2007, and then later that year in 2007 they started production on her show.
I dunno, I think I have to go with Chronos on this one. Not a fan of slut-shaming, so I’m with MrDibble on that score, but I think it strains credulity to assert the sex tape didn’t play a big factor in her getting a reality show.
However, she did have a level fame years before the sex tape was released. From the wikipedia page on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, it says:
Paris Hilton’s personal assistant, occasionally appearing on Hilton’s reality show
Stylist for Lyndsay Lohan
Frequently in paparazzi photos with them
Daughter of one of the lawyers who got OJ off
I gotta say, the above list seems like sufficient grounds to try out a reality show with her. To say she wasn’t famous at all until the tape was released is simply not true.
Also, the assertion that you don’t name a reality show after a complete nobody is false. Ever hear of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”?
In the end, I think it’s pretty clear the sex tape helped get the show off the ground, but I don’t think having a sex tape was a requirement to greenlight a show based on her.
Did you miss where they started production/test shooting for *KUWTK *in 2006?
I would not dispute that it contributed greatly to the early popularity of the show. To think different would be stupid.
But that’s not the same thing as her getting the show in the first place.
The Kardashians were going to get a reality show, sex tape or no. That’s just the way TV was going, and the way the family was already placed to take advantage, and the ambitions of its family members (especially Kim and Kris). Hell, one other sister besides Kim was already in a reality show before KUWTK. The trend was clear.
I’m sure in Chronos’ mind, Kim showed him the tape then and that’s why he wanted to make a show with them. But he’ll never admit it, just make up some clearly bullshit story of “Hollywood networking”, like that was a real thing. :rolleyes:
Also, *KUWTK *is modelled on The Osbournes, of course they used a title with the name in it.
And he’s wrong about* Duck Dynasty * in any case, that show *was *built around the specific family. Sure, it isn’t named after them, but it is named after their product.
Ozzy Osbourne was already famous. Chronos’ point is that you only get a reality show in your name if you’re already famous or if you’re clearly about to be, like from a sex tape.
Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo refutes that position. The Osbournes and Duck Dynasty do not.
EDIT: And yeah, I only very briefly skimmed that wikipedia page looking for dates, then ran across that paragraph. I didn’t look further, so correction noted.
Kim K herself wasn’t necessarily famous yet (although on the way up), but *the name Kardashian *was already rather well known, I’d say.What producer wouldn’t use that in naming their show?
Nonsense. They’re famous for the reality-TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which even I have heard of although I’ve never seen it, and if even I have heard of some pop-culture phenomenon then it pretty much has to be famous. And KUWTK does not include porn videos.
You could hypothesize that KUWTK would never have been so successful if Kim Kardashian hadn’t been in the public eye due to her sex tape, but that’s goalpost-shifting. The Kardashians get most of their attention and money via non-pornographic forms of show business and associated marketing.
I don’t have much of an opinion about porn one way or the other, but ISTM that if somebody is deliberately trying to exaggerate the role that porn or porn-like activities play in some (female) celebrity’s money and fame, that comes across as a bit misogynistic. It’s rather reminiscent of the late-of-this-Board Starving Artist’s eternal allusions to Beyonce as a “leg-spreading” pop star: the explicitly sexy stuff that apparently makes up such a large part of your personal perception of her is not actually the major part of her professional activities.
Beyonce is famous mostly because she’s a really good dancer, along with being a good enough singer. Even if you’re not sexually attracted to her, you can watch her performances and see good dancing. There’s no comparable talent that Kim Kardashian has, other than her talent at self-promotion.
To be famous, nothing more than that is required. It’s like I said earlier, you don’t seem to grok how fame works nowadays in the reality TV and influencer era.