E! President Suzanne Kolb owes much of her network's success this year to an extremely divisive family.
Hours of Kardashian-centered programming -- especially Kim Kardashian's start of a notoriously short marriage -- fueled ratings for the network that Kolb took over the network in July after serving as president of marketing, news and online for both E! and Style.
Kolb, who knows as much as anyone about the reasons for the Kardashians baffling-to-many popularity, talked to us about why people watch their shows.
Looking back at 2011 and ahead to the next two years, she also discussed E!'s plans to introduce a one-hour dramedy as its first scripted show in 2013, its place in the NBC Universal corporate family since Comcast acquired the company in January, and its growing reputation as a proving ground for NBC.
You've probably seen as much research as anyone into why the Kardashians are so popular with so many viewers. Can you explain why people watch their shows?
At their core, the Kardashians are an incredibly bonded, loving, large family who live an incredibly large life. And if you actually look at the history of television, there's a pretty large number of families with that blend resonating with viewers. This just happens to be the first reality show that does it.
In many ways when you look at the year ... there's obviously been a lot of major events in the Kardashian family's lives. It's just an incredibly fascinating drama that's played out. But at its core, you know that they're going to end up around that dinner table together. ... I think there's something emotionally aspirational around that family dynamic and visually aspirational about the way that family lives.
You mentioned aspirational viewers. Some viewers watch shows because they want to be like the people on the screen, and some to laugh at them. Are the Kardashians' viewers in the first group?
From every piece of research I've seen, people aspire to be them or to befriend them.
So there's no section of the audience watching the way they watch "Real Housewives," saying, 'I can't believe how trashy this is'?
I'm sure there are some people out there. I always think it's funny when people say they don't like a show and then they can tell you the name of every character and every plot. ... There are other reality shows out there where you're watching the show primarily to see really bad behavior, and with the Kardashians you're not really watching for that.
I mean, they've definitely made their mistakes here or there. They've been very open about them in the last couple of months . ... But you don't watch for them to have bad behavior. You watch for sort of over- the-top situations and really a very soapy family dynamic.
