October 14, 2007: "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" Premieres

Left to right: Kris, Kylie, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall

October 14, 2007: The "reality TV" series Keeping Up With the Kardashians premieres on the network E! It starts a media franchise that fascinates millions, and bothers many more.

Robert Kardashian was a lawyer who was well-known in his hometown of Los Angeles, but not outside the area, until he became part of O.J. Simpson's legal defense "dream team" in 1994. They had been neighbors and close friends for many years, and O.J. was accused of murder, Robert, who had stepped away from the legal profession to run a music-production company, took on what turned out to be one last legal case. He helped his friend gain an acquittal, but came to accept that he was actually guilty.

Robert married 3 times. His 1st wife was Kris Houghton, and, together, they had 4 children: 3 daughters, Kourtney in 1979, Kim in 1980, and Khloé in 1984; and a son, Rob in 1987. They split because Kris cheated, but they stayed close until Robert died from cancer in 2003.

The daughters were "nepo babies," something they couldn't possibly avoid. But they were no "heirheads," as Kim's friends Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were sometimes called: All 3 of them worked for their father's company, and knew how to run a business and create jobs better than most Republican politicians do.

But in 2007, the release of a sex tape with Kim and her then-boyfriend, rapper Ray J (brother of singer Brandy), introduced the next generation to the public in a way they hadn't wanted. So Kris, was their "momager" -- mom and manager -- negotiated with E!, and got the reality show made.

By this point, Kris had remarried, to Bruce Jenner, winner of the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics. It was Jenner's 3rd marriage, and he already had 4 children. Together, Kris and Bruce became the parents of daughters Kendall in 1995 and Kylie in 1997. Unlike the earlier daughters, who kept the Kardashian name, the younger sisters' surname was Jenner.

At the time the show began, Kourtney was 28, Kim was about to turn 27, Khloé was 23, Rob was 20, Kendall was 12 and Kylie was 10. So, basically, the 2 younger sisters grew up in the public eye.

The show detailed the family's business moves, their search for ever more fame, and their turbulent love-lives, which always seem to end in disaster, including Kim's marriages to basketball player Kris Humphries and rapper/conspiracy theorist Kanye West. By October 2022, Kendall was the only 2nd-generation Kardashian/Jenner who hadn't become a parent, although Kylie -- believed to be, through her makeup line, the 1st American to have become a billionaire before turning 21 -- also hasn't gotten married. She could afford children, including nannies.

These breakups included Kris and Bruce, who split in 2013. People began to joke that Bruce starting wearing makeup that made him look like a woman, but Bruce accepted that he was a she, underwent a surgical transition, and took the name Caitlyn, or Cait for short. She became America's most famous transgender person, making it all the more shocking that she supported Donald Trump. I suppose, once a Republican, always a Republican. (The rest of the family have kept their political leanings quiet, so as not to offend either half of their fanbase.)

The show took off to the point where ABC News' Barbara Walters decided she had to interview Kris and the older sisters for one of her annual The 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year TV specials. She asked, "Which one is the most book-smart?" Kim and Khloé both said, "Kourtney." Barbara asked, "Which one is the most street-smart?" Kourtney and Kim both said, "Khloé." Kim's brainpower was not mentioned.

Spinoffs of the show have included:

* Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, in 2009-10, in which those sisters open an outlet of their D-A-S-H clothing store in Miami, while Khloé, saying, "I'm tired of being the fat funny one," became a radio talk-show host there.

* Kourtney and Kim Take New York, in 2011, with a D-A-S-H store opening in SoHo in Lower Manhattan. Despite Kim being the most famous person of Armenian descent in the world, surpassing singer Cher, Kourtney got top billing because she was older.

* Khloe & Lamar, in 2011, about Khloé's struggles with infertility, and with the infidelity and substance abuse issues of her then-husband, basketball player Lamar Odom. She eventually divorced him, and married another basketball player, Tristan Thompson. By the time their daughter True Thompson was born in 2018, they were on the outs over his infidelity, but got back together. By the time their son Tatum was born through surrogacy in 2022, they had split for good.

* Kris, in 2013, a talk show hosted by the momager. It lasted 30 episodes.

* Kocktails with Khloé, in 2016. This talk show lasted only 14 episodes, although that's all that was intended for the 1st season. It just didn't get a 2nd season.

* Rob & Chyna, in 2016. It was about son Rob and his then-wife, rapper Angela Renée White, a.k.a. Blac Chyna.

* Life of Kylie, in 2017. She was only 19 when the show premiered.

* Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, in 2017-19, a fitness series, interrupted, with some irony, because of her pregnancy.

In 2022, with the family's contract with E! having run out, Kris switched them to Hulu, and started a new series with them, The Kardashians.

One more aside: I was online once, and the subject of Khloé Kardashian came up. But when I tried to type "Khloe" (not knowing how to do the accent mark), my spellchecker tried to make it "Kylie." I don't know what any of the sisters would make of that.

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October 14, 2007 was a Sunday. Game 3 of the National League Championship Series was played at Coors Field in Denver, between the 2 newest franchises in the NL. The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1. Matt Holliday and Yorvit Torrealba hit home runs. The next day, the Rockies completed the sweep, for their 1st Pennant. It was their 21st win in their last 22 games.

The American League Championship Series was between Games 2 and 3. The Boston Red Sox went on to beat the Cleveland Indians, and then beat the Rockies in the World Series.

The NBA season started 16 days later. There were 2 games in the NH, both of them in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. And the Minnesota Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks, 2-0 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

And these games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Jets lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 16-9 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the St. Louis Rams, 22-3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Houston Texans, 37-17 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Tennessee Titans, 13-10 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Miami Dolphins, 41-31 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Stadium).

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 34-31 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 17-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-20 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The New England Patriots beat the Dallas Cowboys, 48-27 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 25-10 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Oakland Raiders, 28-14 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-17 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* On ESPN Monday Night Football, the New York Giants beat the Atlanta Falcons, 31-10 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* And the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, the Detroit Lions, the Indianapolis Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers had a bye week.