by: Lucia Maschler

Wow. I actually got to watch my (previously) favorite trashy TV show for school! When my dad walked in and said, “Lucia, turn that garbage off. Don’t you have homework to be doing?” I got to say, “Yeah dad. Doing it.” It was a weird moment for sure.
However, my dad did have a point. These two special episodes of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” that aired in two hour segments Oct. 9 and 10 on E! were quite a disappointment. Strangely enough, whenever the show is broken up into little 30 minute chunks, the time flies and I never feel like a part of my brain has withered away. But after watching four hours of trashy television in just two days, I definitely felt it.
For those of you who don’t keep up with the Kardashians on a regular basis, let me give you some background information. During this particular two-part episode, the middle daughter, Kim, married New Jersey Jets basketball player Kris Humphries. The show featured their entire wedding process from picking out the dresses (yes, she wore three), organizing the seating chart (she wanted him to uninvite some of his guests!), to all their little fights in between (trust me, there were plenty).
This episode made me question why I even liked this show in the first place. At first I thought it was just because it was so entertaining. This mixed family of eight is never boring; whether it’s momager Kris’ incessant nagging, brother Rob’s eating problem or sister Khloe’s constant sarcasm, you can always rely on them for a good laugh (even if it is directed toward them, not with them).
But this time their flaws seemed so much more pronounced. I noticed how very shallow they really are. Let me give you some examples. Humphries told Kim’s mom that one reason they got married so quickly was because Kim was in her “prime” and wanted to look good in pictures. Granted, he could have been joking, but knowing the Kardashian family as well as I do, I doubt it.
And Kim isn’t the only one obsessed with looking good in pictures. Her mother Kris actually got a facelift before the wedding because she was so self-conscious about herself. Just for the wedding! It was completely ridiculous. It was her daughter’s special day, and she made it all about herself. Typical Kris.
But it’s not like they had to pay for any of the wedding themselves. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Tony Schubert, celebrity event producer, a wedding as extravagant as theirs could easily have cost more than $500,000. And it was all paid for by the television station (granted, they made money from airing the special).
What’s even crazier is that the family members themselves probably made money by offering exclusive photos to weekly magazines and by allowing “E!” to film the festivities. Not to mention all the cool freebies they were given for publicity on the show.
It seems ridiculous to me that people are starving, struggling to pay their mortgages and getting fired from their jobs all over the world in this terrible economy, but socialite Kim Kardashain gets to spend over half a million dollars on one day. And for what? What has she done besides get photographed partying? If anyone has an answer to that, please get back to me.
The wedding was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong. But I just think it was way over the top for something as trivial as a socialite’s wedding. So please, refrain from calling it the “American Royal Wedding.” Don’t give the USA that kind of reputation, please.