The nostalgia train keeps chugging along, and the next stop is a new Paris Hilton/Nicole Richie show. Yup, that’s right! I guess this is great news for anyone out there who really misses The Simple Life. Paris and Nicole both announced the series with a little teaser on their Instagram accounts that merely showed a staticky TV screen that played their voices doing their old “Sanasa” chant over and over again. I would have found that really confusing on its own, so thankfully they also included a caption that read, “New Era. Same Besties. Coming soon to Peacock.”
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, the dynamic duo behind the iconic reality TV show, The Simple Life, are set to make a comeback on the small screen. After nearly 17 years since the conclusion of their hit series, the two best friends announced their reunion in a nostalgic Instagram post on Monday.
Hilton and Richie teased their upcoming project with the Instagram caption, “New Era. Same Besties. 👯♀️ Coming soon to Peacock.” Despite the static on a TV screen in the clip they shared, fans could hear the familiar voices of Hilton and Richie uttering their famous catchphrase, “Sanasa,” from their days on The Simple Life.
Details of the series have not yet been revealed, but the new show will reportedly not be an exact duplicate of The Simple Life, though it will star the pair together, TMZ reports. Speculation regarding a potential reunion first sparked on Wednesday, when Richie, 42, shared a collage of photos of herself and Hilton, 43, from different points in their life dating all the way back to childhood.
“From Day 1: Sill and Bill” Richie captioned the post. In the comments, Hilton remarked, “Sanasaaaa 💖💖💖.”
The Simple Life — which ran for five seasons from 2003 to 2007 — followed Hilton and Richie as they tried to do different jobs, including working on a farm, as waitresses, and various other tasks that they were unfamiliar with. The show hit a speedbump when the pair had a falling out in 2005, which led to it being canceled by Fox. However, it was picked up by E! where it aired for two more seasons.
Richie previously expressed her deep connection with Hilton on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2014, stating, “Paris is somebody that’s been in my life since day one. An idea of a true friend is somebody that’s going to be there for you through and through.”
Despite not having spoken in a while, Richie emphasized their strong friendship, stating, “I haven’t spoken to [Paris] in a while, but we are very good friends, and I love her and love her family, and have a lot of respect for her.”
I don’t know, guys. I’m sure there’s a market for this somewhere but I’m not sure who is clamoring for another Paris/Nicole reality TV show, especially if it is just a sequel of The Simple Life in a different setting. Do you think they’re trying to get a piece of the Real Housewives or Kardashian market share? Because I don’t think the people who were rooting for Ke Huy Quan’s, Brendan Fraiser’s, or even Lindsay Lohan’s comebacks are holding up “Bring Back Paris and Nicole” banners, but what do I know. Paris already has Paris in Love, a reality TV show based on her personal life. Will she be replacing that one with this one, with the two of them focusing more on mom life? What other kind of reality TV show could they do? I feel like their dynamic and vibe in The Simple Life was reflective of that era and if they can’t come up with something new and different that’s updated with the times, they just should let it rest.
Photos credit: FameFlynet/BACKGRID, Francois-Xavier Lamperti/INFphoto.com and Getty
Beyond not seeing who was asking for this, wasn’t the whole schtick last time them being fish out of water? I didn’t really watch reality TV, but from what I remember a lot of their show was based on them being rich kids from Beverly hills, who were partiers and didn’t understand simple “normal” things. How are you going to translate that when both of you are married with kids in your forties? Is not cute or understandable for you not to understand basic things, and is not like you can rely on party life anymore. Also, wasn’t Nicole heavy into drugs during this time period? Seems like an odd point of your life to want to revisit.
Why? And who was asking for this?
Can’t wait to miss it.
LOL
Seriously, who asked for this??? I know recently there was a post about Girls being a period piece and similarly, that dumb show with Hilton and Richie should be considered a time capsule from a period in history where there was an unhealthy cultural obsession with luxury and the superficial. Nowadays younger generations don’t care for this type of excessive capitalism, superficiality, and obsession with high fashion luxury goods. Gen Z is more preoccupied with real problems such as access to necessary healthcare, our climate crisis, the war in Gaza, the skyrocketing cost of housing etc etc. This generation lived through COVID FFS–they don’t care about Gucci and Birken bags.
Read the room, ladies.
I disagree with you slightly. I think people want and deserve (at times) a break from the world that we live in. I carve out at least an hour a night to watch tv or read a book, and intentionally don’t watch or read the news as I get news alerts all day. That being said – I don’t watch reality tv. This doesn’t appeal to me whatsoever. But I do think there is an audience for this. A large one? I doubt it. But some people will undoubtedly tune in, if nothing other than to hate watch it.
I think you might have misunderstood what I said here. Of course escapism is still very much needed and valued–that’s applicable to every generation. But there’s a reason why a movie like Barbie was/is so popular at this moment–it is still escapism, but with a message. A movie like Barbie would NEVER be made back in 2003 because there wasn’t an appetite for it the way there is now.
#OccupyWallStreet #MeToo, #BLM, the resurrection of student protests—-these were not a thing in the early aughts. There has been a very marked, very impactful collective social shift over the past 20 years.
So no, I just don’t see a place in our current society for a show like this to be successfully resurrected. It was a very specific time period that feels super-dated and out-of-touch given our current circumstances. Sure some people will watch it for the nostalgia but most will see the show as just a couple of rich moms doing dumb shit.
Nicole seems to have grown up
From a young mess (weren’t we all in our own ways) into a responsible, sensible adult, mom and business woman.
Paris still seems like vapid trash with tinges of – of course I voted for Donald trump.
I just can’t with her big bag of bull s**t.
Paris is not what she seems – or has seemed. Listen to her episode on Archetypes.
Nicole I’m sure has matured but I think Paris has really come a long way, and had a lot to recover from.
Agreed.
I thought Nicole was moving into being an actual actress, this seems like…a step back? She was surprisingly good on the funny but short lived Great News.
I wish she would. She was the only semi-redeemable part of that show and anyone who follows Nicole knows that she is genuinely funny. Kinda bummed she signed on to this mess.
It’s rather disappointing that she would align herself with Paris again.
She was hilarious on Chuck, I really thought she was headed in the that direction.
While I would never ever want a revival of ‘The Simple Life’ – it would be like that Sex & the City reboot (sorry, didn’t watch the OG v or the reboot) I do follow Nicole Richie on TikTok. She has really great comedic timing and that kinda self-deprecating sense of humour that doesn’t make you think she’s fishing for compliments. She’s also great at dialling into the current zeitgeist and cheekily pokes fun at herself, rich entitled people, fashion, pop culture, literature and women’s rights (without getting too heavy)
It’s Paris that I think is the one who is perpetually stuck in 2004 – when blonde haired, blue eyed, stick thin, white girls were what young women aspired to be.
IF Paris can ditch her ditzy blonde, rich, privileged, entitled princess persona and they flip the tables on their whole nepo kid privilege and instead wade into controversial issues with a fresh take that is more inclusive and representative of the current (global and North American) pulse, but with a light sprinkling of satire. They might just get away with it 🤷🏻♀️
I just thought that they were appearing on the 3rd season of traitors and not that they were getting their own show
Paris has almost 10 million followers on TikTok and she engages with her fans personally so maybe that’s where the market is. I know because she followed me back and she makes response videos. A lot of people look at Paris differently since she came out about the abuse and sexual assault she was subjected to at Provo Canyon school, and since she has started pushing legislation to hold these schools accountable. She’s grown up a lot.
Bring back Great News instead! She was hilarious in a generally hilarious show. I will accept her saying “panopticon” a bunch in this show as a meager subsititute.
Oh God no. Society has already been “dumbed down” enough. We don’t need this.
I <3 Nicole Richie aka Nikki Fre$h! I think this will be a hilarious show and a big hit (at least with millennial gays)