User Reviews

I gave it 5 out of 10 in the realm of reality shows. The second season is just an extension of the first season. The premise is two young rich women give up their money and plastic to make it on their own touring the country in a pink pickup truck and a small trailer home just big enough for two. They degrade the people trying to help them and fail at the jobs they get on the way. The series is a great promotion for the Hilton holdings (tip: sell.) The first episode (2:1) has illusions to the futures of these actresses. As Paris drives the vehicles for the first time she exclaims "It's so big!" spingboarding her to her film debute in One Night in Paris. Nicole gets practice biting the hand that feeds her for her 2005 film Kids in America. I know if I was on my way I wouldn't be buying $400 K worth of Brooks Brothers and Floorsheim rather than watches and jewelry I could pawn on the way. I was entertained because they are cute even though they can't act their way out of a cow pie. By the way, this is being repeated on the E! channel.

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.

As I tuned in for the new 5th season, I was amazed. Not in how good the show was (not that it's ever been Emmy material) But how the creators/producers thought that people were so stupid. Clearly, it's scripted and set up. I was flipping through the channels and it came on one day and I looked and what seemed to be a giant snake on one of the campers bed. That snake CLEARLY came from the amazon. It was as long as the bed, it was huge. The other head camper man (I think his name is Hunter) tries to get it and he's so "freaked out" he can't. Oh! No. Here comes Paris, she single handedly put the what looked to be like a python into a big gray bucket and carry it away. I mean, Come on.

Another thing is the premier episode (which is the only one I watched all the way through.), Paris is talking with her mom and her mom say's "Oh it's Nicole's birthday, why don't you call her?" and then the camera switches to Nicole who see's her phone ringing and is like "It's Paris." And they make up on national TV. How cute and convenient that they both had cameras ready. Yeah OK. Plus I think the whole fight was a publicity stunt that got out of hand and they carried on. Then they made up just in time for the last season.

The first season was good and so was the second. The third started gettnig worse and the fourth wasn't that good at all and now the last of the "Simple Life" series can have it's last season be as scripted as a CW drama. A reality show? Not even close. Entertaining? Hmmm... Not really. Believable? Please. In the last words, there are much better things on TV to watch on a Sunday. I highly DON'T recommend this TV show.

if you need a laugh, there are better ways to get it. Paris Hilton (while stupid) is no dummy when it comes to money.

She laughs all the way to the bank while audiences in America continue to watch this. Nicole Ritchie at least added some edge, now she is gone from the show.

Send a message to Paris, don't buy her products or tune in. Trash like this is worse than "The Apprentice" because it has six year old kids, tuning in and thinking its "cool". Yeah, it's cool to make fun of people 24/7. That will help them a lot when they get out in the real world, and think that having a pink cell phone and Vuitton handbag will equip them for reality. One star for Nicole.

I honestly can't see what is even vaguely entertaining about this show.

Sure, I've tuned in out of the same morbid curiosity which causes you to stick your finger in an electric outlet once in your life.

One has to wonder "just what IS this"; yet what compels one to continue watching? I really see nothing amusing here. Merely pathetic. There's no clever satire or scathing commentary. It's merely mental depravity and an attempt to make the poor feel superior. I doubt even these ditzes are quite as stupid as they portray themselves. Yet what stupidity is real and what is scripted becomes a moot point; it's stupidity without redemption.

Crud like this is an indicator of how poor American society has become.

i have actually just recently seen an episode of _The Simple Life_, not of my own volition either. i just have to say that i would have to not only rate this pathetic excuse for a show as a "1," but i would have to say that Paris Hilton's IQ is probably lower than that, even down into the negative digits if that's possible. how could anyone sit and watch this drivel? i just don't understand what television has come to. this show points out the most shallow and selfish aspects of human beings, and people find this entertaining? oh, yes, probably people with the same IQ as Paris herself. forgive me, folks, but this just happens to be my own opinion. if you've not seen this show, for goodness sake, find something else to do with your time.

This is when reality television was actually good. Funny. The OG Paris and Nicole was worth watching. Far more than this generation of reality tv stars.

Everyone has their opinions on this show. You either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it. It's a piece of harmless fun. A funny show with exaggerated concepts and unrealistic motives. But lovable all the same. If you take The Simple Life as simply just fun, then it's a great show. If you read into it, and examine every single aspect, it's not so great.

When it comes down to it, The Simple Life is fake. They want you to believe these girls (Paris Hilton & Nicole Richie), have been stripped of everything that's important to them (money, credit cards, cell phones etc...)When in fact that's not the case. When you see pictures of them and the title reads "On set of The Simple Life" - that pretty much says it all. It's not supposed to be set up, it's supposed to be real. Is it scripted? Of course. Should it be, given the description of the show? No, it shouldn't.

The BIGGEST thing that gives this away is the editing. It's awful. Throughout the course of the season, you see the girls wearing the exact same outfits, hairstyles, looking exactly the same as previous episodes. And something tells me Paris & Nicole don't wear the exact same thing (EXACT TO A T), as previous weeks ago. It's so obvious none of it is real. So, I guess if you notice this, then yeah.. it's a fake show. Not reality.

When they say at the end of the finale "Yeah! We did it." They want you to believe they survived a month without their beloved credit cards, when really the truth is "Yeah, we finished filming."

I remember seeing this back in the day when I was 13. Back then i didn't know better and i thought this show was trash. Now I am a 30 year old loser and still think this show and shows like this are trash.

you take one trash show off the air. 3 more shall take its place.

This show is all-around just fun. It's not meant to be some great television show, nor some extremely real reality show. It's just what it is.

I find it very funny to see grown people getting mad at this show and then making fun of Paris and Nicole for being stupid and spoiled. Because what those adults don't seem to understand is that the entire SHOW is making fun of Paris and Nicole being stupid and spoiled. Paris and Nicole are also BOTH making fun of themselves being stupid and spoiled. They have a good sense of humor about themselves and their public image, so they were making fun of it with this show. That was kind of the entire point.

I find it absolutely ridiculous that grown adults still have that mentality of "NO! I'M ALLOWED TO MAKE FUN OF YOU BUT WHEN YOU JOIN IN AND START LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IT'S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE." Grow up, people. Stop taking everything so goddamn seriously.

The show is absolutely hilarious if you take it for what it is and just admire the girls for having a sense of humor about who they are. People just need to take a step down off of their OWN blue collar thrones and stop thinking that Paris and Nicole are beneath them simply because they're always in the spotlight. It's not a crime to be silly. In fact, it's BETTER not to take yourself too seriously. After all, what fun is life if you're acting like every single second needs to be spent with a serious look on your face?

This show is great at what it does. It's just a shame that some people are extremely prejudiced against the two girls.

I'm surprised the Mayor went along with this. What an embarrassment to the city. Just trash

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?

I don't know if I'm being opinionated or the fact that I hate the fact that Paris Hilton is an embodiment of inequality in society. She has inherited money to manipulate others into doing things that are undignified and indecent. She obviously takes advantage of people that have given up their dignity for the sake of capitalistic nonsense. Everything Paris Hilton does, I hate. She's a brutally abusive person that's harassed me and other people out in the open. She's the embodiment of UNWARRANTED/UNSOLICITED.

This "Simple Life" show is titled as it is: a way of making Americans seem like they're "simple" (in other words: basic, stupid, irrelevant, nobodies) because they're in the presence of some trash heiress that thinks that she's above the U. S. Constitution or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I don't understand why anyone would call this show "comedy". The show is not funny. It's just a boring heiress acting like she's funny or interesting to watch. She is pure corruption. I'm so sick and tired of her. My entire life is a mess because of the nonsense that this "woman" propagates into society. She definitely isn't sure of herself because I hate her. Her ceasing to exist is equivalent to me finally being able to have some freedom. Her sister and her family is as disgusting as she is, but she's the loudest and most obnoxious. She's a manipulator - plain and simple. I've never seen her contrite in public. I've only seen her enjoying luxuries since birth and delivering these trash acts that have this "most people are below me" vibe coming from them. They're horrible acts. They're not interesting. If you think about Paris Hilton, just always expect this "person" to always treat you like you're worth absolutely nothing and your entire existent is meant to revolve around worshipping her and giving her money/attention. She only treats people with high net worths like they're of value and mistreats everyone else. It's so obvious that her "philanthropy" is all one big gimmick. Nothing that she does for other people come from the heart, otherwise I wouldn't want her dead. I'm so sick and tired of her. Every day, I go full force on ending her in any way I can. I really do truly hate her. She reminds me of those replicants on Blade Runner: looks human, acts like a human, but doesn't have any empathy or compassion. She's so gross.

I'm dismayed & confused by the low rating. I watch this show because I'm guaranteed to laugh out loud. These girl's are outrageous and really funny. That's the charm, simple as that.

Funny & ridiculous and two ladies having a scream of a time and I found this hilarious.i am now a 46 yr old male and I have just watched it again after 10 years and I have actually found it even funnier than the 1st time I watched it .this is a reality TV classic

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.

I actually love this show! you may hear some negativity about the show, "you have the same IQ as Paris if u watch this"(a common comment), they are wrong. their stupidity is what makes the show! i cannot wait for new episodes! i will say, this show is not for young children. it is more for the older audience.

if you haven't seen the show before, basically, Paris and Nicole get jobs and tasks to do in different states...they pretty much goof off all the time and do what they please(things that would get any normal person fired from their job- or even arrested)...

you may think there would be boredom after so many episodes, but don't think that! Each season has its own flare to it. I wont ruin it, so you will just have to wait it to find out!

Hilarious Paris&Nicole classic L.A attitude and outrageous fashion. A laugh a minute and should be on Netflix as it's timeless comedy with a sassy sexy appeal that is a more than fun act to watch. Season 4 is in my opinion the favourite.

Network: Fox; Genre: reality-based/docu-comedy; Content Rating: TV-PG; Available: on DVD; Classification: Contemporary (Star range: 1 - 4)

Years Reviewed: Season 1+

Coming so close on the heels of MTV's 'Rich Girls' it's in danger of being confused for the Hilfiger buddy comedy, 'The Simple Life' proposes the novel idea that we take rich young born-into-money socialite buddies Paris Hilton and Nichole Richie, throw them on a farm in a Midwest, country setting and watch the culture shock hilarity ensue. Unlike 'The Apprentice' in which everybody knows who Donald Trump is, Fox was faced with a nagging problem to their novelty - nobody knows, or cares, who Paris Hilton is. A problem made just as easily into a solution by the nick-of-time, what-a-coincidence release of the best Hollywood publicity grabbing machine of them all: the all-important sex tape. The change seemed to come in almost the dead of night, but one day we woke up and everybody was supposed to care who Paris Hilton was and what idiot thing had she said next. Entertainment Tonight was beating down the girls' doors. Paris Hilton is, of course, heir to the Hilton Hotel family fortune and Nicole Richie is, of course, Lionel Richie's adopted daughter.

That is exactly what 'The Simple Life' is all about. Despite producers from 'The Real World' and various other MTV drones, this show is born more out of the celebrity tabloid culture of hype and E! network star-worship than it is out of the reality genera. It is a novelty series but as much as it claims to be poking a little fun at the girls, at the same time it is feeding the beast - making household names and 15-second celebrities out of Hilton and Richie.

The girls are taken in by the Leding family (credited as a group on the intro), much to the chagrin of the mother and eternal, admirable patience by the father. It's hard to get a handle on it. We're supposed to laugh at the ineptness of the girls to do real work and yet, at the same time they are put to choirs, such as castrating a bull, that most people wouldn't still wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. The show promotes itself as another Look-at-the-Freaks rubberneck series but that's a hard pill to swallow (no pun intended) when the show is taking the views of Hilton and Richie as the protagonists as they gawk at Midwestern country life with condescension and disbelief. Those that want to see nepotism get it's comeuppance will be horribly disappointed. In the end, the concept appears to be mute as nobody learns anything and Hilton and Richie gratefully go back to their lives. 'Simple' manages to be as loud and obnoxious with it's depiction of middle America as Fox's 'King of the Hill' is rich and nuanced. Who's kidding who here?

Then there is the show's biggest lumbering dinosaur of a problem: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. The two are the most unlikable leads you could possibly imagine. If David Caruso and Jim Belushi where thrown on a farm together it wouldn't be as cringe-inducing. And I don't need my TV leads likable. Anti-heroes almost always make for more complex and interesting characters. But anti-heroes have personalities of their own - something Hilton and Richie sadly lack. They are like pop culture sponges who have soaked up what the MTV culture has told them is cool and now spit their vapid, shameless personas back at us. Hilton, in particular, wears all the brand names she should, is rail thin and has long blonde hair. Not to be mean, but the girl puts herself together like an alien who had a general idea of what an attractive women looks like but horribly mangled the project in the details. She sure as hell thinks she's something though. Richie doesn't come off as the disgusting pig Hilton does. Not walking around with jeans riding so low the show has to blur out the resulting a** crack makes her look like the classiest of the two. But she's just as spoiled and lifeless. Her idea of being cool is to constantly say that everything and everyone is sexy.

So saddle up the tumbleweeds, race on down to the swimming hole, wrap the tin foil around the rabbit years and check out Fox's view of middle America.

Any serious discussion on the show's concept (will rich girls be able to survive in the country?) gets wadded up and thrown in the trash because Fox took the simplest approach to this show. It has the opportunity to play with a demographic (2 actually) rarely seen on TV and be giddy, bubble gum fun in the process. Instead it is dully handed to us sounding like a cartoon and riddled with stereotypes. It would seem by sheer happenstance everyone around them is living a country boy cliché and the show makes it look as 'Green Acres' as possible. It all wraps up with over-the-top twangy narration by David Richards.

'Simple' is also another reality show where the editing team behind the camera shamelessly jockeys with their celebrity leads for the limelight. The show is constantly calling attention to itself with the goofy sounds of springs and slide whistles. This is the tacky, crude, devoid of imagination novelty that the Fox network has re-invented itself to be known for. Way to go, Gail.

½

Watch a couple of goofy girls having fun together, and have fun watching them! They pretty much spend the episodes goofing off, which is pretty funny. They may be rich girls, but they aren't mean girls. They're actually rather charming. As proof, my 65 year old cookie-baking midwestern mom is thoroughly enjoying season 3 with me as we speak :) If you like The Osbournes, you'll probably like this.

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie endure a riotous 'Green Acres'-esque reality show that proves party girls are people too. Sort of. After living on an Arkansas farm without cell phones or money in the first go-round, they trailered across the country for 'The Simple Life 2: Road Trip,' and worked odd jobs while touring the East Coast on a Greyhound in 'Simple Life: Interns.' After that, the friends parted ways and Hilton headed to Hawaii for the fourth installment with a new sidekick.

I've recently rewatched this show on Amazon Prime after seeing it years ago on DVD. I may be biased as a Hilton & Richie fan but this show is so addictive, funny and entertaining with a lot of genuine and touching moment throughout too. Sure, some people will hate it but I personally think it's one of the best reality TV shows in history.

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)

I would just like to reply to all of the anal people who run this show down that it is supposed to be stupid! Get it?? For God's sake, quit expecting The Sopranos and just enjoy the insanity! Tony isn't showing up--but now that'd be way cool! Forget worrying about how smart Paris is-- you're wrong-- and just enjoy her. She's funnier than hell and you're gay in the wrong direction if you can't just enjoy the scenery. She's an incredibly gorgeous woman and her sidekick ain't bad either. This is the best comedy on TV and it gets a 10 from me. So there. Why is it that we Must Learn Something or a show isn't worth watching? What's that about? Lighten up, people. Watch this and learn to have fun. See-- educational. By the way, the victims get paid well for whatever the girls wreck. Trust me. Also trust me that the hosts of this thing are equally anal. This was a far better comment before it was emasculated into its present lame form. Thank you. Get back to All Things Considered now.