The Kardashians

The Kardashians is an American reality television series which focuses on the personal lives of the Kardashian–Jenner family. The program is a retooled continuation of their previous reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which concluded in 2021 after a 20-season run, on E!.

The series focuses mainly on sisters Kourtney, Kim, and Khloé Kardashian and their half-sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and their mother, Kris Jenner. It also features some of their current and ex-partners, including Travis Scott, Travis Barker, Kanye West, Tristan Thompson, Scott Disick, and Corey Gamble, with guest appearances from various friends in the entertainment industry.

The Kardashians premiered on April 14, 2022, on the streaming service Hulu; its first season consisted of 10 episodes. Before the series debuted, it was greenlit by Hulu for a multi-season launch with a total of forty episodes. All of the succeeding seasons consisted of ten episodes each. The second season premiered in September 2022. Ahead of the third season premiere in May 2023, Hulu renewed the series up to a sixth season. The fourth season premiered in September 2023; it was followed by the fifth season in June 2024.

Production
On September 8, 2020, the Kardashian–Jenner family announced that their long-running reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, would be ending in 2021. The series had been on-air since 2007 and ran for 20 seasons on NBCUniversal's E! television channel. The program concluded on June 20, 2021.

In December 2020, during Disney's investors presentation event, it was announced that the Kardashian–Jenner sisters: Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner — and their mother, Kris Jenner had signed a multi-year exclusive deal to create global content for Hulu. In October 2021, it was announced that an untitled Kardashian–Jenner Hulu series would be produced by the British production company, Fulwell 73. On January 1, 2022, the series title, The Kardashians, was announced by Hulu. According to Khloé, "to be still on cable was just not so on-brand for [the family]", explaining why the family decided to move to the streaming platform. The series is executive produced by Ben Winston, Danielle King, Emma Conway, and Elizabeth Jones for Fulwell 73, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Kylie Jenner for Kardashian Jenner Productions, and Ryan Seacrest. King also serves as the series showrunner.

The first season premiered on April 14, 2022, and consisted of ten episodes. After the season finale, which ended on a cliffhanger, media started speculating a second season.

Ahead of the series premiere, it was reported in March 2022 that Hulu had already renewed the series for a second season, as part of a multi-season order, with a total of forty episodes; the series was called a "premium" version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. During May—July 2022, the Kardashian sisters posted behind-the-scenes pictures from the series on their social media accounts, hinting at a second season. In June, it was confirmed that filming for the second season was underway. On an episode of Deadline's Crew Call podcast, executive producer Danielle King confirmed that a second season was in production, stating that Kourtney and Travis Barker's wedding was filmed. However, Kourtney later clarified that the season covers "everything leading up till [their wedding]". In July, Hulu announced that the second season would premiere in September 2022. It consisted of ten episodes.

Days ahead of the second season's premiere in September 2022, Kourtney revealed in an interview with E! News that a third season was in production. The third season was announced in March 2023; it premiered on May 25, 2023.

During Disney's upfront presentation in May 2023, it was announced that Hulu extended the show's forty-episode order, with an additional twenty episodes—renewing it up to a sixth season. In June, executive producers Danielle King and Ben Winston revealed that production for the fourth season was underway. The fourth season was announced on July 27, 2023—the same day the third season's finale was released. The fifth season was announced in March 2024.

Release
The Kardashians premiered on April 14, 2022, on Hulu in the United States; episodes were released weekly on Thursdays. It premiered simultaneously internationally on Disney+ under the dedicated streaming hub Star, as an original series, Disney+ Hotstar, and on Star+ in Latin America. The first season consisted of ten episodes, with the season finale being released on June 16, 2022.

The second season premiered on September 22, 2022, following the same release schedule as the first season. The season premiere picked up where the first season-finale ended. The third season premiered on May 25, 2023. The fourth season premiered on September 28, 2023. The fifth season premiered on May 23, 2024.

Audience viewership
According to Hulu, The Kardashians premiere was the most-watched series premiere for the streaming service in its first three days in the United States, and was the most-watched Star Originals series on Disney+ and Star+ across global markets. According to Whip Media's TV Time, The Kardashians was the tenth most streamed original series across all platforms in the United States during the week ending November 6, 2022, and the ninth during the week ending November 13, 2022. It was the eighth during the week of May 28, 2023, the ninth during the week of June 4, 2023, the seventh during the week of June 11, 2023, the tenth during the week of June 16, 2023, and the tenth during the week of November 12, 2023.

Critical response
According to the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series' first season has a 31% approval rating based on 16 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 5.80/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "While hardcore fans might enjoy catching up with The Kardashians, the lifestyles of this rich and famous family have lost their novelty." Metacritic assigned the series a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".