No more reality checks for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Usmagazine.com has confirmed that their reality series “The Simple Life” will not be picked up next season by the E! network.
E! was gracious to Hilton and Richie, whose latest edition featured them as camp counselors, but the network reportedly blamed the tabloid twosome's overexposure for a ratings dip this year. Viewership for the series, which concludes Sunday, tumbled 20 percent, to 843,000 viewers from 1.1 million viewers last year.
“We felt like the real life drama of their lives overshadowed anything happening on the show,” an insider says. “Viewers would see Paris all day long on the news about her going to jail, so they didn't care about seeing her camping with kids. It just was too played out.”
The show could get a second chance at life if another network decides to pick up the series. E! aired “Simple Life” for two years after it spent three seasons on Fox.
Short takes
Blair Underwood will be stirring things up on ABC's “Dirty Sexy Money,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He is in final negotiations to join the cast of the drama as a wealthy nemesis to Tripp Darling (Donald Sutherland).
Also coming onboard the series is Tamara Feldman. She'll play the former best friend of the youngest Darling, who comes back and causes controversy for the family.
Charisma Carpenter is heading back to college.
The onetime “Buffy” vixen has been tapped to guest-star on the season finale of ABC Family's newest soapy series “Greek.” She'll play a national sorority representative who shows up to investigate a big, juicy scandal.
– COMPILED BY PAT MCGRATH FROM NEWS SERVICE REPORTS
