Ryan Seacrest Talks to Billy Bush About the Genesis of ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’
While he is best known for his hosting gig on 'American Idol,' Ryan Seacrest is also the mastermind behind 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians.'
But is the first family of reality TV really that crazy? Seacrest gave the lowdown to Access Hollywood's Billy Bush.
As it turns out, 'KUWTK' was inspired by another famous TV family: the Osbournes.
"I had seen the Osbournes and thought to myself .... This is popular, let's find something else in this vein," Seacrest explained. "And at the time we had heard that Kris [Jenner] was interested in doing something with the family. So, it was me and one other guy at the company, and I had to buy a video camera for this shoot to go up to a BBQ that they were having on a Sunday."
As you're probably aware, the show follows Kim & Co. in their day-to-day lives, capturing everything from photo shoots to family dinners. The attention-loving family is famed for its kooky antics, and it sounds like the eccentricity isn't an act.
"They were as crazy, as fun and as loving as they are, and they were throwing each other into the pool," Seacrest recalls of the first shoot. "I came back, we saw the tape and I thought, 'Oh, my god, we have got to show this to E!' and we took it up to the folks at E! and pitched it to them. And they said let's do it, let's go for it. We had no idea that it would become the monster pop culture business that it [has]."