Are We Really Surprised By the Kardashians’ New Hulu Deal?

Get ready to continue keeping up with the Kardashians. On December 10, the famous reality TV family announced that they’ve signed a multi-year partnership with Hulu and Star, in which the Kardashian women will “create global content” to be streamed on the platforms. “Excited to announce our new multi year partnership with Hulu and Star and what’s to come in 2021,” matriarch Kris Jenner tweeted, shortly after the news was announced.

ICYMI, in September of this year, the Kardashian-Jenner family announced that their show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, would be ending after 20 seasons, with the show’s final season airing at the start of 2021.

 

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And if you thought that this announcement meant that would be the last we saw of the Kardashians before they went gently into the night, then you were *sorely* mistaken. Because, despite speculation that the crew would be off TV for good, with FLARE positing that Kris might become a housewife and Kim Kardashian West could be taking this time to run for some sort of political office, in true Kardashian form Kris and co. said, “Surprise, bitch!” to that, announcing that once again we’ll be forced to keep up with them—just now on a streaming service.

(Photo: Giphy)

And honestly, we shouldn’t be *that* surprised by the family’s recent HULU announcement. Here’s why.

The Kardashians are the queens of pivoting

If there’s one thing that the Kardashian family (and the women specifically) are good at, it’s spinning gold out of straw. Or more specifically, turning scandals against them into multimillion-dollar empires. Just look at the origins of the famous fam and their celebrity, which launched in 2007 after Kim Kardashian West’s infamous sex tape was released. Kim managed to take herself from Paris Hilton’s sidekick to a global superstar in a matter of years by using a sex tape initially leaked to embarrass her; and it’s a tactic the famous fam has been using ever since. In 2015, when the world was glued to the status of Kylie Jenner and her over-lined lips (she later admitted she’d had lip fillers), Kylie turned the comments about her into a now-contested *billion* dollar empire with Kylie Cosmetics.

Did you think Kourtney and her avocado smoothies were weird AF? Well now she has an entire lifestyle empire behind said smoothies to back her up *and* sell them to people around the world. Remember when people used to make fun of Khloé for being the “biggest” Kardashian despite the fact that she had an entirely healthy and average-sized body? Well eff you, because now Khloé has a fitness and jean empire predicated on feeling and looking your best (whatever that may mean to you). So it’s only natural that they would take criticisms about their long-running show and pivot it to work in their favour; cancelling their show but with a tiny pivot into *another* way for audiences to engage with them on TV.

And let’s be honest, they go where the money is

More than anything, the KarJenners are first and foremost businesswomen. So it would make sense that they would go where they money is. Which right now just so happens to be streaming services. If you haven’t noticed, services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu are pretty freakin’ big at the moment. Do you *even* watch TV in 2020 if you’re not buying into *at least* three subscription services a month (or, like me, are still poaching your parents’ accounts)? The answer is no.

So of course the KarJenners would leave Ryan Seacrest and his E! empire behind in order to get the real dollar dollar bills—by creating a streaming service empire. And they’re not alone. While there’s still limited details on just what exactly this multi-year deal with the Kardashian family looks like (are we going to see a health and wellness show from Kourtney in conjunction with Goop? Will Kris revive her short-lived talk show? Will the famous women be in charge of producing content behind the scenes?), it sounds pretty similar to deals that other famous celebs have penned with streaming services. In March 2018, former U.S. President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama signed a deal with Netflix to produce films and TV series for the streamer under their production company, Higher Ground. And in September of this year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle signed a similar deal with Netflix to produce content under their own unnamed production company.

So there’s *clearly* something in the water; and like sharks to blood, we shouldn’t be surprised that Kris and co. are circling.

Plus, the world is still fascinated by them

Whether the Kardashian crew ends up in front of or behind the cameras at Hulu, the fact remains that people are—as much as they try to deny it—still obsessed with the famous family and their antics. Whether it’s debating the status of Khloé  and Tristan Thompson’s relationship, griping about Kourtney’s kind of odd relationship with TikTok teen Addison Rae, following along with Kim’s criminal justice advocacy, or just debating whether or not Stormi Webster is the best Kardashian (for the record, she is), we just can’t quit them!!

Would we *really* have been happy if the Kardashians were off our screens forever? As in forever, ever? That’s a rhetorical question.