I must say, though the girls did some pretty assaholic things, for the most part, the show left me liking them. Before the series started, I had never heard of Nicole Richie and was only familiar with Paris Hilton through the tabloids.
Having read Conrad Hilton’s autobiography this summer, I still feel he’s spinning in his grave to see how much the Hilton family’s work ethic and honesty has been lost with his great grand daughter. I guess though, maybe there was overshadowings of party genes even back in Conrad’s day. He loved to dance and had a short marriage to Zsa Zsa Gabor. But I can see Paris pissing the family’s fortune away with her party girl attitude.
I think Paris looked much prettier in the quick shot in one episode where she wasn’t wearing much, if any makeup. Still a bit too skinny and those low rider pants are not attractive to me. But I guess I was affected by the series and Paris at least a little bit as I dreamnt last night that I was talking to Ms Hilton and told her that I didn’t like her until I watched the show.
On the other hand, the tantrum in the bar and the bleach throwing left me a little less endeared to ms Richie.
I hope the show was a wake up call to the two girls. Too bad Nicole didn’t stick around to hear the jeers in the bar about the “rich bitch.” The girls seem to have some genuine sincerity, but then go and ruin things by stealing, tainting milk, and vandalisim. Any of those things would have gotten a normal person arrested. Heck, I was once visited by a police officer for flipping the bird at a woman who had committed a traffic violation. (The cop was a friend of the woman’s family and said that she thought I was the phantom obscene phone caller who had been harassing her daughter. Guess she thought that “F-you” meant “lets f**K.” Anyway he told me that flipping the bird was a misdemeanor crime punishable by a fine of a thousand dollars. And this was a couple of years after Nelson Rockefeller had his picture on the front page of every newspaper in the country, flipping the bird.)
The show left me with a bit of pity for the girls as it looks like neither had a good upbringing. I have the feeling that they were raised by servants who let them get away with anything for fear of losing their jobs if they disciplined the girls. I hope they learned a bit about themselves and some of the small town values sunk in.
The two of them are spoiled rotten brats without an ounce of talent and almost completely lacking in any redeeming qualities whatsoever. I sincerely hope this will be the last anyone has to hear of them. Good riddance!
My favorite bit is in the opening when you hear someone say, “Hey, isn’t that Paris Hilton?”—a phrase they had to pay someone to utter.
I really think Nichole Ritchie is slightly psychotic. Her reactions to everything and everyone were so inappropriate and disconnected, in a way that editing can’t account for. She seems to have Serious Problems (can it be the heroin she was still on at the time, I wonder?).
I was actually on the girls’ side briefly last week; I think it was inconsiderate to expect two 22 year olds to remain home on a farm all weekend, and I don’t think they were leading Anthony and “Chops” on, plus if any of the local boys had truly broken up with their girlfriends then the relationships couldn’t have been that serious. (I’ve wondered if “Chops” will get any modelling offers, because he truly does have beautiful teeth and looks at least as good as most of the pouty waifs in the pages of GQ and DETAILS or on most runways; needs some meat on his bones before he’s hot enough for A&F, but then he’s only 18.)
On the whole, though, the show would be useful to Russian history professors wishing to instill in their classes a more sympathetic view of the assassination of the Romanovs.
Sorry SMS, I don’t understand the sarcasm. Are you saying that the “small town values” are not any better than Paris’ and Nicole’s because someone in the bar yelled for the “rich bitch” to go home? I think the girls, Nicole in particular brought that on themselves. And got of easy. I think Nicole should have spent at least a night in jail for the antics in the bar. Drunk and disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. Throwing an open bottle of bleach across the room isn’t the wisest thing to do. What if it had gotten into someone’s eyes?
I feel the values of the family they lived with are much more desirable than thinking a cute smile and an “I’m sorry” when you don’t really mean it (or your parents’ money) will get you out of any situation you may have created for yourself.
Going back to my original post and Conrad Hilton’s autobiography, here was a man who amassed his fortune and hotel empire through hard work and honesty. He started out in a small New Mexican town. It took some prodding by his friends and associates to finally buy a big estate for himself in L.A. If he had the kind of values that Paris and Nicole project, not only would Hilton not be a big name today, but he’d probably have had his ass kicked, if not worse, several times over.
The autobiorgaphy is called, Be My Guest and can be picked up for free at any Hilton hotel. I had a bit of an attitude toward the “hoity toity” hotel chain until I read the book this summer. Still not overly impressed with the resort in San Diego I stayed at in July as compared to the Best Western I usually stay at, but I have a lot of respect for the man, Conrad Hilton now, and have become somewhat of a fan. That’s the main reason I watched The Simple Life in the first place. I think it’s a shame how far apart Paris seems from her great grandfather. And I really do hope she straightens herself out.
I read that book when I worked for Hilton many years ago. As memory serves, he was actually prospecting for oil (at which a few people got filthy rich and the vast majority ended up paupers) and noticed that the most lucrative business was the local fleabag where people could only stay in 8 hour shifts because it was so lucrative. From that he became THE name in luxury hotel chains. (I remember something in the end about how a pound of iron can sell for a few cents to millions of dollars depending on what you do with it; can’t remember the exact figures, but I remember highlighting the quote.)
When I worked for the chain it was in deep doo-doo financially. Conrad was an extremely dynamic and charismatic man who could mimic the wrath of any god ever worshipped if he was mad but who also could persuade anybody to do anything and knew how to treat good employees. Numerous stories circulated about how Conrad would stay in the Salinas, KS Hilton Hotel he’d be waited on by a bellman named “Bill” and then when he stayed in the Hilton in Ft. Worth three years later and the same guy was now there he’d call him by name and ask “What brings you to Texas from Salinas?”
When he died the company passed to his son Barron, who was, not to put too fine a point on it, a total and absolute bastard who wanted maximum profit today and screw tomorrow. He not only didn’t recognize the “little people”, he let go some of his father’s best managers in favor of people who graduated with degrees in hotel management (one of the stupidest things to do in hospitality; one year of experience is better than a doctorate without experience) and quickly ran the company as much into the ground as the board of directors would let him. By the 1980s (when I worked there), the only really profitable properties left were the casinoes and the NYC/LA Hiltons and there was serious talk about selling everything else off for its value in real estate. Odd the difference that a man’s personality can make, but most of those in the know ascribed the companies woes strictly to the difference in Barron and his dad. (The family was still filthy rich because they’d diversified their own holdings and the company has since recovered somewhat by MAJOR restructuring and, like Marriott, getting away from the high-rise atrium hotels in favor of places with larger rooms but smaller lobbies and lower prices.)
I liked them both, particularly Nicole Ritchie. Yes they are spoiled, yes they are self-absorbed, yes they were rude at times (the bleach episode was appalling), but somehow, behind it all, they still seemed like fundamentally nice people. I tend to forgive people for aspects of themselves that are born of circumstance rather than choice if they possess other redeeming qualities. I see their spoiling as more a fault of their parents. Paris often displayed great sensitivity, vulnerability and kindness; and Nicole was just a little devil with an infectious laugh. I would probably get along well with them but would roll my eyes often.
I never intended (as in OMG THE SIMPLE LIFE IS ON TUESDAY EIGHT SEVEN CENTRAL MUST WATCH) to see it, but I caught a couple episodes when my mom was channel surfing. Frankly it wasn’t that bad a show. It was fairly amusing. Admittedly, they’re far from being role models but the situations were entertaining.
No, I’m not a Nielsen family so my viewing habits have no effect on anything except my waistline.
Yes, I saw the finale and came away from it with the same realization some people here got: they’s just kids who was brung up wrong. Wrong? Hell’s bells, they didn’t seem to have been brung up at all! Acted like a couple of wild animals, they did. Even so, I found Paris kinda shudder sweet and charming, if you can believe it.
Okay, lots of folks will say, “drop, whadya mean ‘kids?’ At their age you were a married college gra-jee-it!” True, but my folks brung me up right and with a responsible nature. Their upbringing seems to have led to a retarding of their social development. They would benefit from moving in with that family for a year without the cameras. They could grow up some and become responsible citizens.
I have a feeling that SMS is someone who’s had bad personal experience with the insularity and conservatism of small towns (or at least one in particular).
I thought the reunion show was a bit disappointing, primarily because Paris & Nicole aren’t particularly bright or insightful enough to be good interviews.
In retrospect on the show as a whole: if most of the stunts the girls pulled were “skits”, as was suggested by a previous poster: then I feel ripped off. I’d like my reality shows to be at least 50% real. If they were real – then Paris & Nicole are completely immoral, clueless, vapid wastes of skin.
And Nicole has definite issues with compulsiveness. That’s probably how she got on heroin; somebody double-dog-dared her to try it.
Wasn’t that nice of the girls to give the Ledings a Fully Loaded 2004 Dodge Durango With a Hemi? I bet the family can get a lot of use out of a Fully Loaded 2004 Dodge Durango With a Hemi.
I was reading the recaps over at Television Without Pity. PLEASE tell me that Nicole did NOT tell those quilters to tell their grandsons she was horny?!
Paris DOES look better without make-up. She looks more fresh-faced and care free.
BTW, their sense of fashion leaves a lot to be desired.