The Simple Life

I've seen the first 2 episodes of this show and so far it's a real surprise. I never liked Road Rules, so I went into it a little apprehensive considering the two shows share some creative blood. Plus, the girls (especially Hilton) are really fun to look at.

I was expecting to see a show that made fun of the hillbilly family they're staying with, but the writers and editors have done an excellent job squashing that notion: the starts of the show are living with a "Real" family with morals and rules. The girls aren't used to living under those conditions and it's fun watching them make fools of themselves while trying to be California cool. Some classic moments already: Paris asks "What's a well for?" or "Do you know what generic means?" And the scene in episode 2 that shows Paris getting all dolled up for a night on the town only to go out to meet a group of local boys who don't seem impressed by her famous name - one asks: "So, your last name's Motel6?"

Definitely an amusing way to spend a half hour.

If this show were fiction, it would be considered a satire. But this is ALL REAL! These girls are really this spoiled and really this conceited! I'm not a big fan of most reality shows. As a matter of fact, besides "Last Comic Standing" and "America's Next Top Model," this is the only reality show I've ever watched. And for some good reason. The show has an interesting premise. I'm sure all of us dreamt of watching rich people be forced to deal with the rigors of working-class life. It's the perfect venegance! Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie are living proof that the chances are 90 percent that a rich person wouldn't last one second living the simple life. Personally, it would be a dream for me to live in a small, quiet town where there's very little crime and everyone's friendly to one another. This is not exactly San Quentin we're talking about! But you'd be surprised how agonizing it could be for a spoiled rich daughter to have to endure life without a credit card. In the show, the father of the family would make the girls do simple chores like feeding the chickens, and they would treat him like he was some Nazi general. What's wrong with exercising a little discipline? What's wrong with having RULES in a house? Did Paris and Nicole's parents set ANY ground rules for them growing up? The kicker for me was finding out that Paris and Nicole never had JOBS! I mean, in one episode they're actually struggling to work at Sonic. Can you find an easier job than working at a fast food joint in the middle of Arkansas? I'm under the impression that the girls didn't have to face any responsibility growing up, which is pretty tragic. The show also proves how uneducated these girls are. In an episode where the family is playing Trivial Pursuit, the girls are able to answer every question having to do with fashion in a snap. Yet when they were asked who's the Secretary of State, they were totally clueless! I was also angered by the fact that just because the inhabitants of this small town are quiet and reserved, the girls acted like these people have problems and are all stuck-up. I wanted to stand up and cheer during the episode where the girls create an uproar at a local bar, and its female owner scolds them, saying that she doesn't care who they are--they have no business destroying her bar like that. Then you hear the people in the bar scream things like "Go home, rich b**ch." Took the words right out of my mouth. I'm not going to lie that one of the things that lured me into the show was getting the chance to watch these two hot girls prance around in skimpy outfits. But once I was lured in, I was repulsed after finding out how selfish and spoiled these two brats really are. My one minor disappointment about the show was the last episode in which everyone in the town was interviewed and said that despite the girls' lewd behavior, they really caught a liking to them. The whole time watching those interviews I kept wondering, "How much money are these people getting paid to say this stuff?" "The Simple Life 3" should have Paris and Nicole living in the ghetto. You know damn well people aren't going to be nice to them there, no matter how famous they are. And to finish off my review, I love that "Miss Hilton" song they play during every show. All in all, this is a great commentary on the upper-class, proving how cruel it is that the rich are getting richer. (8 out of 10)

Nearly every review of the Simple Life misses its essence -- its a staged show. ALL reality shows are in fact staged, with a script. The "reality" part is a bit of improv. allowance, and the illusion that its really happening.

The Simple Life is just as staged as the Lucy show in that generation. Most of the jokes are already written. All the bits, even down to Nicole's purse getting stolen, are staged. If the girls did some of this stuff in real life, they know they would at least get a misdemeanor offense. Instead, a little town is signed up to play along with the jokes and pretend.

The moral condemnation of Paris and Nicole, as spoiled rich girls with low IQs, is just what the producers want adults to think. Any kid with a brain knows they are just goofing off, and its no more real than the Three Stooges. Relax, folks, the stealing and lying and screw ups are all jokes.

I'd forgotten how much of an improvement season 2 was over it's predecessor until I purchased it just the other evening at Best Buy for an unbelievably low $6.99! What a breath of fresh air to be taken off the farm and out of the dead-end town of Altus! It's so fun to watch these two girls in action as they breeze into the lives of unsuspecting "regular folk" and turn their lives upside down. It's outrageous to watch what they're able to get away with, but it makes you wonder how much of it is actually orchestrated. While I love the show, one thing I find most annoying is the reactions of the people that invite Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to perform these jobs. Come on, being surprised when they inevitably either screw the job up or blow it off altogether is like being surprised when Britney Spears shows her belly button - it's expected! I'm sorry, if I was a manager or proprietor of a business, as much as I adore these girls, if I valued my position as manager or my business I wouldn't allow them within 100 yards.

I think people put way too much effort into being overly-critical of this show. It's fluffy and doesn't require any thought to watch it. It's pure, unadulterated fun, and it's a wonderful escape. Now, I like movies and television shows that make you think as much as the next guy, but, tell the truth, don't you just want to sit back sometimes and watch a show that doesn't require you to use any brain power at all?

Although I, largely, agree with most of the basic criticisms offered by other reviewers, I could not help but feel a certain sympathy for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and having some sense that, beneath their often obnoxious, misguided, and generally uninformed behavior; both ladies were fundamentally warm hearted and WANTED to be decent, if only they knew HOW to be so. Perhaps that is a naive assessment, on my part, given that they (and the residents of Altus) had to play to the cameras, to a certain extent, and that may have distorted everyone's more natural behavior. Still, (unless I was COMPLETELY deceived), the series looked like a cautionary tale of what often befalls clueless children of inherited wealth. The girls seemed to have been imprisoned in a cocoon of insular ignorance that crippled their capacity to function in a world structured more on self reliance and, perhaps, their parents owe them an apology for not teaching them the way Warren Buffett taught HIS children?