La Vie Rurale
| The Simple Life | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Reality television |
| Created by | |
| Starring | |
| Composer(s) | Roger Neill, Michael Suby |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 55 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | |
| Distributor | 20th Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | |
| Original release | December 2, 2003 – August 5, 2007 |
The Simple Life is an American reality television series. The series aired from December 2, 2003 to August 5, 2007. The first three seasons aired on Fox, and the final two on E!. The series depicts two wealthy socialites, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, as they struggle to do manual, low-paying jobs such as cleaning rooms, farm work, serving meals in fast-food restaurants, and working as camp counselors.
The idea for The Simple Life was generated in Fox's comedy department. Brad Johnson, Senior Vice President of comedy development, said The Simple Life was born out of a challenge from Fox Television Entertainment Group Chairman, Sandy Grushow, and News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer, Peter Chernin, to find another way to do comedies outside of the traditional sitcom format.
"The areas that seemed simplest and cleanest was to go back to those high-concept 1960s sitcoms and say let's do them for real," Johnson said. The Simple Life was inspired by Green Acres, a sitcom about a New York society couple who moved to a farm. Johnson said they originally thought of moving an entire family to the South. Cameras would observe as the former socialites, deprived of access to their bank accounts and Beemers, attempt to get a job, buy groceries, and fit in with average Americans.
At the same time the comedy department was developing the idea, Paris Hilton was meeting with the studio's casting department. Sharon Klein, senior VP of casting at the studio, said she was immediately fascinated by Hilton and wanted to do a show with her. "I'm used to meeting with actors who are putting on a facade," Klein said. "She was so real. She was funny. At that first meeting she did not come off stupid. She was in her own reality and not embarrassed to talk about it. There was a sweetness to her."
The two departments talked and realized they had their show: Send Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky, who had never worked a day in their lives, to live and work on a farm. At the time, the studio was working closely with Mike Darnell, head of reality programming at Fox, who liked the idea. "They wanted to see stilettos in cow shit," Klein said. Paris was convinced to come on board, however Nicky, being somewhat shy to the limelight at the time, opted out. Paris told some media that she was in talks to do the show by herself, but ultimately, Fox decided the city-living cast had to be a duo.
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Wikipedia