The Simple Life is a reality television show that the latest "It girls" Paris Hilton, and her buddy Nicole Ritchie just finished making before an ex-boyfriend of Paris' leaked a video onto the Internet of him and Paris having some pretty acrobatic sex.  So Paris and her new show, The Simple Life, has gotten a lot of exposure lately in the media.   The show premiered on Fox Tuesday 2 December, ran a second episode the next night, and aired episode 3 last night.  It runs through the rest of the season on Fox, Tuesdays at 0830 Eastern.

I'm not generally much of a reality show fan, but through an anomalous set of coincidences I found  myself hooked into this fascinating nugget of pop culture, and will likely end up watching every bit of it.  This dubious distinction qualifies me at least nominally to serve as your erstwhile commentator for The Simple Life node.  I'll add to this as the series unfolds and hereby invite other lost souls to join in the fun.

Synopsis

Two plush and pampered rich girls go to live on a farm in Altus, Arkansas, population 817, for a month.  Stripped of charge cards, Porsches and parties, they experience all aspects of the day to day pleasures, perils and pitfalls of life in a small farming community.  Purportedly  unscripted, and following the format of recent "Reality" shows, The Simple Life adopts the viewpoint of an omnipresent observer in the girls activities.  This is supplemented with a corny but not terribly annoying voiceover, and short interviews with the girls, the family they are living with, and the townsfolk that they encounter.

Paris

The 22 year old Paris Hilton is the great granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, who founded the Hilton hotel chain.  Paris is the heir to a fortune reputed to be over $300 million dollars.  She's also gorgeous in a scrawny fashion model way and, by all accounts a wild child.  She lives between Beverly Hills, Manhattan and Europe, hangs out with the elite jetsetters and languidly pursues a modeling career and fashion design.  She's recently taken up acting and has appeared in Zoolander, Raising Helen, Nine Lives and that awful Cat in the Hat disaster.  In addition to these efforts, there is, of course the infamous sex video (the URL for which I provide below only for completeness...1 ) and, now, The Simple Life television series.

Nicole

Nicole Richie, also 22 is the daughter of the pop singer Lionel Richie, and she has also grown up in the rarefied atmosphere of the rich and famous.  She and Paris have been best friends since they were two years old, and they both attended the exclusive private school Buckley together.  Nicole has made some serious efforts in the entertainment world as an actress and singer, as well as hosting some of the most notorious parties you've never been invited to.

The Leding Family

The seven members of the Leding family reside on a farm in Altus, Arkansas that has been in their family for over 120 years.  The Leding household spans three generations, from the four year old Braxton, to his father Albert and his grandfather Richard Leding who is 76.  Albert and Janet are the heads of the household that includes Albert's parents Richard and Curly, who have been married over 50 years, and their four sons, three of whom currently live at home.  Albert, the father works for the state, Janet is a bus driver and at home mom. The Leding's oldest son Ryan (20) is in the military and doesn't appear in the series, Justin (19) is a full-time college student in addition to working a part time job, Cayne (15) is a sophomore at the local high school, Braxton (4) will start school next year. 

Tinkerbell

Oh yeah, there's Tinkerbell, Paris' Teacup Chihuahua, whose adventures on and around the Leding farm provide an oddball subplot for the series.  Tinkerbell also has an online doggy-diary on the Simple Life website2 adds valuable and insightful breadth to the proceedings.  Tinkerbell's fate isn't clear at this point, she could end up as a steadfast hero or road kill.  Stay tuned.

Roll it

The Ledings are just normal folks, living in what for most of us is a pretty abnormal setting.  Despite America's nostalgia with the farming life, not many of us have any first hand experience with it.  The dynamic duo of Paris and Nicole take that level of inexperience to a new level, and dropping them into the sleepy little burb of Altus, Arkansas is an entertaining and uncomfortably funny event.  

In the context of a preliminary review I'd give it a confident two thumbs up so far.  The storytelling works and most of the action doesn't feel scripted per se.  The literal veracity of the series is hedged somewhat on purpose, through some lengthy gaps and convenient segues, but I get the feeling that the overall story is credible and some of the uncomfortable interactions that the ditzy girls have ring completely, painfully, true.  

The show's core virtue thus far has been its willingness to show Paris and Nicole in a particularly unflattering light.  They struggle realistically between trying to make a go of it and resorting to spoiled brattyness.  There's clearly trouble in the wind, and Albert Leding, the father makes it clear that he runs a tight ship and intends to make his houseguests tow the line.  Janet is a sympathetic shoulder for the girls, but she seems aghast at how completely clueless these two celebutantes are.  When Paris smiles sweetly during dinner and asks, "What is a Wal-Mart?" every jaw drops to the table.  

The two teenager boys,  Justin and Cayne are clearly in awe of these snotty little goddesses from Mars.  Justin in particular has that testosterone-fueled edginess that any parent will recognize as an almost crippling horniness.  His younger brother Cayne can't keep his eyes off the girls, but one gets the feeling that he wouldn't know what to do with one if he caught it. 

I hesitate to veer too deeply into social commentary over The Simple Life, but some fascinating disconnects are littered through the first few episodes that will keep me watching.  I'm going to provide summaries of the episodes as they unfold and will try to keep the extrapolation and philosophizing to a minimum.  Hopefully this will make for a fun and useful introduction for those who opt in.3

Episode 1, Originally Aired 2 December  2003

Paris and Nicole are leaving cash, credit cards and cell phones at home in Beverly Hills and heading to Arkansas.  The plan is that they'll drop out of the sky via private jet and take up residence with the Ledings for a month.  Prior to departure, they indulge in a campy shopping trip, and a lavish party thrown by Paris' parents Rick and Kathy Hilton.  Bookmark the scene with this glimpse of Paris' parents, as you may want to come back and search their faces for clues later in the series.  

After the party, the girls board a private jet for the flight to Altus, Arkansas.  They arrive at a tiny commuter airfield and are greeted with an old beater pickup truck and a note with directions to the Ledings farm.  We are soon treated to our first insight into the mismatch between their life experience and their new environment. Nicole doesn't drive, and Paris, although heinous in her Porsche, has never encountered a "Three on the column"  manual transmission before.  She gets the blue beast of a truck started and within seconds has gotten herself trapped in an apparent conundrum.  She misjudged the turning radius of the truck and has gotten too close for comfort to one of the aluminum hangers.  Worse yet, she doesn't know how to get the truck into reverse and the hydraulics of the power steering emit an ear piercing squeal when she tries to really crank the wheel over.  

It's worth pausing for a moment here because this is the kind of situation that will make or break The Simple Life.  Paris is clearly distressed and there's no one to help her out.  Nicole is wailing uselessly and annoyingly at her side, but the situation isn't improving.  We know there's a camera crew present, but the rules of the game don't allow them to help.  There's a long close-up of Paris' pretty but perplexed face and you can see that she's reviewing everything she's ever learned about driving and cars for an answer.  Unsurprisingly, this doesn't take very long and in the end, she cranks the wheel, ignores the screaming transmission and barely squeaks through the turn.  Soon they're back on the road, cruising through miles of pretty but monotonous farmland, dodging road kill and lamenting already the unnerving emptiness of flyover territory.  

While they're en route, we cut to interviews with the Leding family and are immediately impressed with their normalness.  These people aren't caricatures, or even hicks, just modern hardworking rural folks who are trying as hard as they can to make it.  Albert, the father is clearly a disciplinarian and probably the kind of dad you don't want to piss off.  Janet is warm and motherly, but has no time for foolishness.  The grandparents Richard and Curly don't say much, but are clearly engaged in every aspect of the daily routine.  The Ledings are the model extended family that American politicians of all stripes love to rhapsodize over.  They seem nice and their farm is pastoral in a rural Arkansas kind of way, but the claustrophobia of small town life is hovering in the background.  You sort of like the Ledings, but probably wouldn't want to live with them for long. 

The princesses arrive in their battered chariot and are welcomed warmly but warily by the Ledings.  The overall weirdness of the situation comes through loud and clear.  The girls are tired and dirty and hungry for real and there's no one there to pamper them, or even help them lug their mountain of Louis Vuitton bags onto the back porch where they'll be sleeping.  Everyone is credibly uncomfortable and finally, just to get them out of the house, Albert gives them $50 and sends them into town to buy groceries.  

Altus is a one horse town.  Well, actually there are lots of horses, but only one of everything else.  One gas station, one grocery store, etc.  Our ditzy heroines rampage around looking for culinary exotics like pigs feet and whatever personal luxuries they recognize on the unfamiliar shelves.  They end up putting more in their cart than they can pay for and are frustrated and humiliated when the clerk tells them that they can't, "just have it anyway," because "this ain't no soup kitchen!"  On the way out, Paris mutters, "What's a soup kitchen," pretty much summarizing the whole ridiculous affair.  

When they return, grandma Curly attempts to get the girls involved in plucking the chickens they've killed for supper, but they are clearly near the end of their tether and flat out refuse any task that involves "touching or even looking at a dead animal!"  This interaction provides a glimpse of the dark side of the two spoiled and selfish heiresses.  Their ultimate ploy is to just disengage and flop down like a three year old child in a heap on the floor.  "I won't and you can't make me!"  There's a clear tension between the side of the girls that wants to pull this whole thing off with style, and the compelling reality of how unprepared they are for real life and how rarely either of them has ever really had to try hard to get what they want.  

Incredibly, the Leding family is more than a match for their tantrums and doesn't appear inclined to give them an easy pass on anything.  There's the possibility here for transcendence and glory, but it certainly isn't a sure thing and that, I think, is what makes the series appealing.

After dinner, there's a frank chat between Albert and Janet and the girls.  Albert instructs them in the house rules: "make your beds every morning, help with the chores, no cussing or bad language, and curfew is at midnight."  A look passes between the girls as if to say, 'well, we'll see about that last one,' then Nicole pipes up and says, "We really want to thank you for having us here and we'll try not to be too much trouble.  We're really nice girls, no matter what you may have heard, ..."  Now that remains to be seen.

The episode wraps up with our intrepid party girls snarking it up as they joke about having a threesome with Justin Leding.  

Episode 2, Originally Aired 3 December 2003 "Danny's Dairy"

It's only the second night of the series and concerns are already being raised as to how "real," or "simple" for that matter, this new reality show really is.  None other than Howard Stern is reporting that Paris said she was only 'playing a part' when she mouthed the malapropism about Wal-Mart.  Maybe, or perhaps she was just covering up her apparent cluelessness about the real world. 

In episode 2 we come to find that the girls life experience to date has not included having a job.  Since they arrived in Arkansas with no money or plastic, Albert and Janet Leding have made an effort to set them up with jobs at Danny's Dairy Farm starting the morning after they arrive. From the minute the alarm clock rings as 5:15 am it's pretty clear that Paris the heiress is unaccustomed to getting an early start.  Nicole peels off her sleep mask and squints malevolently into the camera.  One aspect of this show that's certainly real is that the 'beautiful people' look as awful as the rest of us when they first wake up!

They arrive for work a, hour late and are greeted by Danny Council, the owner of the dairy farm, who introduces them to the concept of timecards, and assures them that they'll get used to the smell eventually.  Neither girl looks particularly interested or impressed.  Judging from Danny's expression the feeling is mutual.  Paris and Nicole manage to be marginally useful in bringing the cows in from pasture, then Nicole is assigned to drive the 'Polish Pickup' around and fill the feed troughs, while Paris hoses down the stalls.  No fiascos worthy of mention occur until Danny instructs Nicole to be "aggressive" with the cows to keep them away from the feed trough.  She proceeds to shock him with a finely honed stream of swearing that's bleeped just enough allow us to get the gist of it. The townsfolk's reactions to the girl's "bad language" is a recurring theme and serves as a reminder that at least some people are still shocked by that sort of thing.

When Danny sets the girls up to fill a few hundred bottles with unpasteurized milk, the situation deteriorates into slapstick.  Their attention span appears to be about five minutes and they apparently have no ability at all to organize a task.  The fill a few bottles then start messing around, then Danny shows up and tells them pick up the pace, then they fill a few more bottles then start messing around again.  You get the idea.  After being harshed by Danny a few more times, they completely abandon the pretense of working, the fill hose gets dropped in the mud, they start pouring water from a bucket into half-filled bottles, and hiding crates of empties rather than filling them.  Disgraceful and disgusting, especially if you thought that people were actually going to drink that milk.  

Fortunately there isn't a chance in hell that this segment is real.  No health department would allow any food product to be bottled on a table in the open air by two ditzy chicks in muddy boots.  According to the Arkansas Department of Health, "all milk must be pasteurized except goat milk produced under Act 816 of 1995." So, if those bottles of milk were ever delivered to customers, somebody is in a whole lot of trouble. Playacting clearly.  

Danny finally fires Paris and Nicole after he finds them napping on the living room couch after lounging around his hot tub during their lunch break.  This is a blessing in disguise because another episode of them spilling milk would be more than I can bear.  They've each earned $42, far more than they were worth, but apparently much less than they expected, judging from their bitching on the way home.  

The evening brings a BBQ where they meet Justin's friends. The guys just don't seem to be able to relate to the two prancing princesses.  Nicole informs them that their town is boring, and one of the guys jokes that Paris' last name is "Motel Six." Witty repartee on the farm!  After this lively affair, the girls complain to Janet that Justin's friends think they're weird, but Janet assures them that they just aren't used to them.  I reckon they actually just think Paris and Nicole are weird, I know I do.  

The final scene of this episode shows the girls sneaking out of the house a little past midnight, ignoring Albert's curfew.  The camera pans to a lighted window upstairs where Albert watches them drive away as he slowly shakes his head. 

Episode 3, Originally Aired 9 December 2003 "Sonic Burger"

Another episode, another job, this time the victim is Sonic Burger, the premiere fast food joint in Altus, Arkansas.  As a prelude to this debacle, our pampered poodles visit with the St. Mary's Quilting Circle in the church basement.  I'll admit to being optimistic about this encounter, I mean here's a roomful of soulful old ladies working on these magnificent quilts.  There are stories to swap, easy compliments to toss and a quick dose of knowledge to be gained.  Hell it's not even remotely like "work."  What's not to like here?  

Tragically, Nicole feels the need to inform the group of her suggestions for "improving" their handcrafted quilts. "But like, don't you guys like ever, like get like, bored?  You should like make it like, edgier..." Nicole proceeds to suggest some edgy art techniques that she knows about: maybe cigarette burns? Ya know? Or sling some paint on them?  The ladies recoil visibly, as if someone had slapped them.  Nikki informs the quilt makers that she "gets that they're traditional." Having established this insight, she illuminates the fundamental flaw in their efforts: "I mean they're squares, you guys, they're quilts! Make it fun! Make it exciting!"  Squares are apparently so intrinsically unexciting as to be utterly irredeemable. As these pearls of wisdom dribble from Nicole's well glossed lips, she falls from her chair to demonstrate the depth of this fashion crisis, and the camera pans across the sinuous intertwining patterns of the handmade quilts and the eye delights at their meticulous craftsmanship.  

To make sure the quilters know they are forgiven and that there are no hard feelings, Nicole encourages them to have their grandsons call them for a date.  Nice offer, but oddly none of the ladies seem overly anxious to have these Martian princesses as members of the family.

Next up, a frontal assault on the world of fast food.  They arrive at the local Sonic Burger 45 minutes late (hey, that's progress), and are "sworn in" by the non-nonsense manageress.  They hit a snag immediately because they've never heard of withholding taxes, but that's soon resolved and the girls are soon on the front lines.  For a brief moment it looks like redemption is on the horizon, the gals appear to find something that they can actually do which is at least marginally useful, or at least non-destructive!  Sadly this isn't fated to be.  

No sooner had they gotten comfortable taking orders and doing the roller-derby delivery service, than the next assignment comes down.  The manager leads them out front with an extension ladder in tow and instructs them to change the letters on the sign for the special d'jour.  Now the story bifurcates with the first branch covering the clever but shocking new offering the girls propose for Sonic: "1/2 PRICE ANAL SALTY WEINER BUGERS."  I give them full marks for silliness, but deducted a full grade point for spelling. 

The second and potentially more interesting story is watching Paris use the extension ladder.  There's a right and wrong way to use an extension ladder, and the consequences can be pretty steep if you get it wrong. When the manager sets it up for them, she places it up against the sign backwards, so that the weight of a climber will tend to pull the two ladder sections apart rather than hold them safely together.  When Paris merrily heads up the thing, Nicole is standing underneath and, if you watch carefully, you can see the ladder start to jack apart until Nicole grabs it.  This may be the show's most really real moment to date — if Nicole had just let go and the ladder sections separated, not only would the multimillionairess heiress fall, but she'd likely be impaled on the aluminum arms of the lower section and skewer her cute little buddy in the process.  In short she might have been screwed in a way that was novel even to Paris.

Happily, Nicole's notoriously short attention span holds and they both survive to face the indignation of the manager when she comes out to check their work.  Cars stop, cops scowl, small children are permanently traumatized and, que sorpresa, they have to go back up the lethal ladder and make things right. I don't remember if they get the ladder right the second time. Only the good die young

After this really really real moment, we lapse back into the mean-spirited slapstick that seems to represent a core value for The Simple Life.  These two 22 year old girls generally screw up whatever they touch and we're left with a feeling that is half laughing, half loathing for them.  I found myself hoping that they were acting, because if this is what they're really like, I wouldn't want either of them in my yard, much less my house.  They're horrid.

There's a telling interview with the Leding parents, Albert and Janet where they describe the bad vibe that is brewing in their little town over the girls, and their crew and the belief that the show will display the townsfolk as hick morons.  I've lived in a very small town before, and I can assure you that the Ledings weren't acting at that point.  Any small town, anywhere, would end up pissed off and bitter with the Ledings for hosting the rich but stupid circus involved in shooting a TV show like The Simple Life.  Modern television production in your neighborhood means that a few people make a little money for inconveniencing and annoying the rest of you.  

Even if the show was entirely scripted, and our two heroines weren't makings asses of themselves all over town, there would be plenty of folks who'd still be pissed off.  It's a pain in the neck having a bunch of weirdoes invade your town overnight.  Even if they DID make a big donation to the Volunteer Fire Department or whatever.

My working theory about The Simple Life is that they have scripted these little disasters at places like poor Danny's Dairy, but then let the nymphets just ad lib the action.  In one sense, this could be the optimal "reality show" venue.  The "conflict" is entirely contrived, but the "performance" is completely spontaneous and "real."  The St. Mary's Quilting Circle is a setup, but Nicole's lame reaction is completely spontaneous.  The Leding's visit to the Sonic Burger for lunch was scheduled, but their pained reaction to the inevitability of hearing the girls have pissed off half the town, is painfully real.

The Simple Life is a guilty pleasure to watch.  These two waltzing bratildas appear to be out to more or less terrorize this poor little town, and we all get to watch it unfold.  I find myself alternately bemoaning the fate of humanity that this passes for primetime entertainment, and relishing the voyeuristic filthyness of the damned thing. You know it's bad for you but that just makes you want a little more.

The redoubtable third episode of The Simple Life ends with a bang.  After listening to another "boring" lecture from Albert about their behavior, the gals pool the $56 each that they made at Sonic Burger and head for “Hog Calls,” the local hot spot.  An "edgy" little video montage provides Hog Calls with perhaps a bit more stature than it deserves,  and apprises us that our daring damsels have sat on the laps of half the men at the bar and that Nicole has been swapping spit with pretty much any male brave enough to come within spittin distance.  

Don't get me wrong, having two attractive girls slinging themselves and some folding money around your bar can a "good thing." We may want to confer with Halspal for a definitive call on the subject,  but I think it's safe to say that  is considered a plus.  Nicole is having so much fun that she playfully announces to the herd of beefy young bucks surrounding her, "I'm a horny little bitch."  

Thank you Nicole, tacitly concluded and succinctly stated.  See ya next week....oops actually tomorrow cause Fox, those sly dawgs, reckons they've got a hit on their hands, so they're loading up with a new episode tomorrow night.  

Stay tuned, as they say.

Episode 4, Originally Aired 16 December 2003 "The Altus, AK Springtime Gala"

Paris and Nicole are invited by Mayor Veronica Post to be honorary co-chairs at the town's Springtime Gala.  The prissy princessas stick to their modus operandi, and manage to screw up most everything they come in contact with.  Highlights include letting the Ledings dog eat the beautiful pies that grandma Curley has helped the girls bake, performing a truly scary bitchslapping of Justin's ex-girlfriend and "manning" the kissing booth at the Gala.  In between shocking the populace, our ladies retire to the nearest bar to slam a couple of brews and sit on a few laps.  

At this point, we're aware the most of the action in this "reality show" is scripted, but it's not hard to read between the lines and discern that Nicole really does appear to have a drinking problem.  She gets sort of blubbery in all the bar scenes in a way that is uncomfortably real.  These summaries are getting shorter because whatever appeal the series began with is rapidly fading as the artifice of its premise devolves into a sad slapstick.

Episode 5, Originally Aired 30 December 2003 "Working at the Cattle Auction"

Even though the word must have gotten around town by now that our heroines aren't a good bet as employees, Kent Reading hires them on as helpers at the I-40 Livestock Auction.  In short order, Nicole adds petty theft to her bag of tricks, by charging a truckload of merchandise from the feed store on Reading's account.  The loot includes a nice birdhouse that the girls present to Janet as a Mother's Day present.  

Mr. Reading gets the word that he's been victimized and shows up at the girl's door demanding payment.  We are then treated to an Oscar-worthy performance by Nicole who splashes water on her face and attempts to convince the redoubtable auctioneer that he should give her a pass because her cat died.  To his credit, Reading isn't buying the act or, more likely just doesn't give a damn about either of these fluff puppies personal problems.  

Payment is eventually negotiated by having the celebutantes work off the debt and we are treated to a memorable scene wherein Nicole buries her arm, up to the shoulder in an angry cow's rear end.  Now that's entertainment!

Episode 6, Originally Aired 7 January 2004 "Working for Buffie"

Paris and Nicole finally find work that suits them at Buffalo's Lakeside Mart, the local hub of Altus community life.  Combining a gas station, bait shop, mini mart and lunch stop, Buffie's is The place to be.  Our hardworking gals apply themselves to filling tanks and flirting with everything in pants and, for a brief instant, all is well.  Trouble rears its head however as love, or at least lust enters the scene.  

Buffalo's nephew Anthony and his best friend Trae Lindley are regulars at the mini mart and after a quick sizing up process, the girls determine that these boys will probably do for some short term entertainment.  Trae has an ear to ear smile and the whitest teeth known to humankind, so the witty Nicole promptly dubs him "Chops."  He's the lucky dawg who is adopted by Paris who tells him that he's the "hottest guy in Arkansas," and that he should come to Los Angeles so she can hook him up with a modeling career.  We are also treated to a tender scene wherein Anthony is allowed a little face sucking with Nicole, who suddenly pulls away and informs him that, "EWWWWW, you smell like garlic!"  Post-millennial pillow talk. 

The Ledings are concerned by this turn of events and try to persuade the girls that they could really do some harm by playing with the affections of these younger boys.  After realizing that reasoning with the heiresses is futile, they issue an ultimatum: if they go out tonight, they have to stay home with the family the rest of the weekend.  It's insightful to listen in as the girls work their way through this conundrum and finally devise a suitable course of action: lie.  

This decision turns out to have major consequences as Paris and Nicole make a beeline to the Alligator Ray's bar, where Nicole demonstrates her aptitude for sloppy inebriation.  She misplaces her purse and retaliates against the cruelty of fate by pouring bleach all over the pool table.  The crowd of civilians is aghast and staring at their feet in embarrassment.  The manager Shannon throws them out after informing them that they're going to have to pay for the damages.

Episode 7, Originally Aired 14 January 2004 "Judgment Day"

The accumulated sins and outrages catch up with our sassy lassies as all their bills come due at once.  In short, they squeek through the 30 day "challenge" leaving a trail of mayhem and memories.  Another notch on the ol' lipstick case

The sign on the road out of town as they left kind of said it all, "Goodbye Paris & Nicole, Where legends are made and lies are told."

 

 


The Cast

Paris Hilton
Nicole Richie
Richard & Curly Leding (Grandparents)
Albert and Janet (Parents)
Justin, Cayne & Braxton Leding (Sons)

The Crew

Narrated by David Richards
Line Producer: Rich Buhrman
Director of Photography: Bruce Ready
Segment Producers: Stacey Dowdy, Lisa Bohacek
Production Managers: Paul Real, Farnaz Farjam
Production Coordinators: John Vidas, Eric Weingrad
Production AccountantL Howard Young
Associate Producer: Dee Balson Mollett
Post Production CoordinatorsL Stacey Weaver, Mara Sommer
Camera Operators: Melinda Davidson, Guido Frenzel, Steve Hryniewicz, Jesse Phinney
SteadiCam Operator: Wayne Kelly
Jib Operators: Melissa Lynch, Jeff Stitzel
Supervising Audio Mixer: Michael Emeric Hayes
Audio Mixers: Tyson P. Schaffner, Vincent Villanueva
Technical Supervisor: Jeff Stitzel
Technical Coordinator: Patrick Wheeler
Lighting Director: John Gumina
Electricians: David Durando, Adam Richards
Gaffer: Chris Conaty
Production Designer Preston Sharp
Art Director: Jennifer Young
Camera Assistants: Brian Hall, Nikolaus Kennedy, Eric Purgganan
Production Assistants: Ryan Crow, Nick Davis, Christine Reed
Story Consultant: Bruce McCoy
Associate Story Editors: Nancy Kwon, Noah Pollack
Music DirectorL David Stone
Music Supervisor: Zsuzanna Cohen
Scored by Roger Neill
Main Title Song Written & Performed by We 3 Kings
Location Researchers: Tim Atzinger, Chris Garcia, Tim Harland, Eric Mafford, Noah Pollack, G.T. Taylor
Assistant Editors: Graeme Lowry, Kevin Abrams, Katherine Luntz

===================&===================

1  The Paris Hilton Sex Video (X-Rated):  http://www.websavey.com/transfer/Movies/parissexmovie_256k.wmv
2  The Simple Life official website: http://www.fox.com/simplelife/
3  The Simple Life discussion boards: http://forums.prospero.com/foxsimplelife/start 

Notes & Comments

- BrooksMarlin says re The Simple Life: Paris has admitted that the Wal-Mart line was scripted. Or maybe she's just covering up for being a complete moron. Don't remember where. Although she said it wasn't FOX's idea, and that she said it just to play along with the whole "dumb rich girl" premise of the show.

- The ratings for Wednesday, December 3, indicated that the second episode of The Simple Life drew 13.3 million viewers, a net gain of 200,000 viewers over its premiere. The Simple Life lead its timeslot in total viewers.

- I'm happy to note that Trae Lindley showed the good sense to reject Paris' offer to find him modeling work in L.A. and instead matriculated at the University of Arkansas on a full scholarship.  I find that comfortingly real.

- Great News!, According to Gail Berman, the Fox Network entertainment chief, The Simple Life will be back for another round in time for the May sweeps.  Paris and Nicole will both return, but it's not clear yet whom they'll be inflicted on. 

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.