Houses have always been at the center of reality TV. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous set the domestic stage in the 1980s with its quasi-documentary look into the real lives of the ultra-wealthy. It walked so MTV Cribs could run, and in September 2000, Cribs became what critic Sam Jacob called “the most popular architectural media ever”. Known for its unhinged (and sometimes fake) house tours by the celebrity owners themselves, the hit show’s Ozzy Osbourne episode spun off in 2002 into The Osbournes, which Kris Jenner used for the basis of her pitch for Keeping up with the Kardashians. The rest is history.
In the book Dream Facades: The Cruel Architecture of Reality TV, author Jack Balderrama Morley reflects on residential settings and takes us through these histories, reflecting on how homes and design in reality shows are at once aspirational escapism, sinister characters, extensions of our own desires, and artifacts of American urban history. “I’m interested in what reality TV show homes represent, and why so many of us love getting lost in them,” Morley said. “On screen, they become appendages of our own homes.”
