the simple life

The Simple Life was a reality television series that was broadcast from December 2, 2003 to August 5, 2007. The first three seasons aired on Fox, and the final two on E!. The comedic show depicts two wealthy young socialites (Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie) as they struggle to do manual, low-paying jobs such as cleaning rooms, doing farm work, serving meals in fast-food restaurants and working as camp counselors. The idea for The Simple Life was generated in Fox's comedy department. Brad Johnson, Senior Vice President of comedy development, said The Simple Life was born out of a challenge from Fox Television Entertainment Group Chairman, Sandy Grushow, and News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer, Peter Chernin, to find another way to do comedies outside of the traditional sitcom format. "The areas that seemed simplest and cleanest was to go back to those high-concept 1960s sitcoms and say let's do them for real," Mr. Johnson said. The Simple Life was inspired by Green Acres,...