
#Richkids of Beverly Hills: Sundays at 10 Eastern on E!
Over the last six or so weeks, between the holiday gap and a smorgasbord of new scripted series, I managed to get a nice break from the reality genre. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. With only a handful of scripted series left to debut before the Olympics create a second mini-break in the middle of the season (including the very hyped Rake later this week), it’s time to look back over to cable, where inexpensive reality shows typically rule the roost. Tonight, it’s E!’s turn to bring us to the relative warmth of Southern California with it’s newest series: #Richkids of Beverly Hills.
#Richkids of Beverly Hills (from herein being referred to as #Richkids) follows five twenty-somethings, all of whom are the children of multimillionaires or billionaires. There’s Johnny, the aspiring musician, interior designer Roxy, grounded real estate magnate Brendan, party animal Dorothy, and Morgan, a follower of the most noble of pursuits (that would be internet writing for those of you keeping track at home). Together, the five shop, party, and try to achieve their wildest dreams in the California sun.
#Richkids of Beverly Hills is the emptiest show I have ever had to watch. It is vapid, self-important, completely inarticulate, and plays to every bad stereotype imaginable, whether it’s obnoxious legacy kids, ditzy blondes, or the entire millenial generation (get used to language I’ve only heard in those Sprint commercials with James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell, because it’s omnipresent throughout the hour). Many of the key problems come from the shallowness of our principal cast: we’re led to believe the show focuses on five main rich kids, but the show seems to revolve around the two least interesting of the five: the shopping and party obsessed duo of Dorothy and Morgan.
Normally, this shallowness has been played off for comedy in the past, whether being sent off on adventures (The Surreal Life) or fish out of water situation (The Simple Life), but #Richkids doubles down on this audacity by not really providing much in the way of action, instead settling for tepid drama (our premiere focuses entirely on a spat between Johnny and Dorothy over a BLOOD DRIVE). Even worse are Morgan’s attempts at manufacturing drama, which seem to either go nowhere (an attempt at making Brendan pay for some pretty decent life advice backfires horrendously), or are incredibly petty (mostly built around being obnoxious to anyone placed in a role of authority in a manner basically the same as that of a petulant teen).
So without any real plot or even likable characters, is it possible that the show could work as one large lifestyle piece showing off where the obscenely rich go out to play? Sadly, that is also a negative, as the show tends to focus on the mundane, whether it is small sangria gatherings, wasting screen time on Dorothy and Morgan taking selfies, or watching people agonize over donating blood. Even when the show does go to exclusive places, such as a high-end party or down rodeo drive, we glean little from it, as the show places the entirety of it’s focus on the self-centered cast.
The Final Verdict: Vain, vapid, and worst of all boring, #Richkids of Beverly Hills fails horrendously by trying to create a cult of personality around people whom are neither charismatic nor interesting. The end result is a show that doesn’t have a logical audience: The people who would watch Simple Life to laugh at Paris and Nicole won’t glean humor, and the people who would Jersey Shore to watch the cast raise hell will bored to tears by the tepidness of the show’s drama. Skip this one at all costs, there’s a decent size chunk of me that’s wishing I did.