The Kardashians sit at the top of the E! pyramid, so it seemed inevitable that I Am Cait would get another chance. Photo / Getty Images
The Kardashians sit at the top of the E! pyramid, so it seemed inevitable that I Am Cait would get another chance. Photo / Getty Images
This news appears as if it would be obvious, though it sure took awhile for the network to confirm: E! has picked up a second season of I Am Cait, another spin-off of Keeping Up With the Kardashians franchise.
The series chronicles Caitlyn Jenner as she adjusts to life asa transgender woman. The show launched with a lot of fanfare this past summer, but it came months after Jenner's much-watched coming-out interview with Diane Sawyer, as well as the Vanity Fair cover seen around the world. As a result, ratings weren't great. Even though the journey of Caitlyn, formerly known as Bruce, was one of the biggest stories in the world, only an average of 1.4 million viewers watched the show on Sunday nights.
Caitlyn Jenner at the ESPY Awards. Photo / AP
There are probably multiple reasons for this, including the fact that it was a pretty serious docu-series that dealt with advocacy in the transgender community - not exactly the same lighter fare viewers were used to seeing on Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Though the Kardashian family did appear on I Am Cait (Kim Kardashian and Kanye West showed up in the premiere; Kris Jenner sat down for an emotional conversation in the finale), most of the show was centered on Jenner's new circle. An important topic, but nothing that would reel in reality TV fans.
Still, the Kardashians sit at the top of the E! pyramid, so it seemed inevitable that I Am Cait would get another chance anyway. But another issue for the delay was waiting on possible criminal charges stemming for Jenner's car accident in February, in which a 69-year-old woman died at the scene. About a month ago, however, prosecutors announced that they would not charge Jenner with manslaughter.
So I Am Cait continues on, and the Kardashian-Jenner empire only increases across E! Before the show premiered, many transgender advocates were concerned about how E! would handle such a sensitive topic. Now that the show has proved that it is capable of navigating a tough topic, it will be interesting to see whether the story lines in Season 2 go more in a typical "Kardashian reality TV" direction.
