Hugh Hefner
First Season
- Reality
- 2009
- Buy the DVD
Reviewed by Ross Ruediger
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illions of years from now, when the aliens are sifting through the remnants of the doomed planet Earth, upon finding DVDs of “Kendra,” they will come not to the conclusion that we amused ourselves to death, but rather that we had it coming. Maybe they’ll at least get some huge chuckles out of the episode where Kendra visits Roswell, New Mexico. It’s not that I have any dislike for Kendra Wilkinson herself. I’m sure she’s a very nice person, even if her crayon box is missing some of the brighter colors. But reality shows are created in the editing room, and if this series had any engaging material, it must have been left on the cutting room floor. (Admittedly, that’s a phrase that’s becoming less and less appropriate in this day and age of digital.) Having had a hit series with “The Girls Next Door,” E! has seen fit to spin off Kendra into her own show, now that she’s living away from the Playboy Mansion and no longer has to service Hef’s member.
She’s moved into a new house that her two dogs shit and piss all over at every turn, and her first decision is to install a stripper pole. Can this girl really be this dim of a bulb? (This show probably could’ve been quite amusing if John Waters had been calling the shots.) She’s engaged to Hank Baskett of the Philadelphia Eagles, and the episodes chronicle their mundane day to day existence, leading up to the finale, which features their wedding at the Playboy Mansion. In one scene, Kendra’s talking to her mother and asks, “Can you believe I’m getting married soon?” Mom sits slack jawed, in disbelief, pale as a ghost. “No. Not at all.” Baskett, to his credit, appears to be a relatively sensible man, and I cannot wrap my mind around his reasons for wanting to marry this woman – not based on what’s shown here, as even fake boobs lose their power to hypnotize after a few weeks, I’m sure. Kendra has a yard sale and proclaims, “I decided that any money we were gonna make was gonna go to Save the Whales. Cause, you know, I love whales and, you know, I wanna save them.” This is about as intelligent as we ever see her. Perhaps this show was not made for me. Actually, there’s no perhaps about it; this show was made for people who want to watch this bubblehead prance around in various states of undress (yes, the episodes are uncut) and do things like topless indoor skydiving in Vegas with her equally vapid girlfriends.
There is one episode, the penultimate, which manages to actually bring a little something to the table. When Kendra announces that’s she’s pregnant, her mother quite simply tells her that she doesn’t approve, that the couple is moving too fast, and that she’s too young to be a mother. It all gets fairly dramatic and serious for once, and there’s a genuine feeling that some reality is actually being presented in the episode. Maybe the second season will take some cues from that installment and go down more such roads, but I highly doubt it. Kendra herself provided me with this doozy of a finish: “I’ve always wanted to go to a dairy farm and smell the manure.” With all the boobs and bullshit in this series, I feel I’ve done both without ever leaving the house.
Special Features: They were very kind to me on this release by offering up only one special feature, and it’s simply an extra episode of the series that didn’t air on TV. Thankfully, there are no commentary tracks or anything else to take up my time.
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