#IamCait: Did Caitlyn’s Season Finalé Change Reality TV? (Despite The Show’s Low Ratings…)

SPOILER ALERT: Last night’s finalé packed a pretty big punch. First the confrontation with ex-wife Kris Jenner, that had been teased all season. Caitlyn admitted.

“I was so disappointed in everybody. For 15 years of my life, I carpooled the kids every day. Sometimes I would spend three or four hours a day in the car. [It’s] a slap in the face when you don’t get invited to the graduation.”

Kris came back with;

“That’s exactly how I felt with the Vanity Fair article. It wasn’t malicious. I didn’t intend to hurt anybody’s feelings. But my feelings still weren’t healed.”

Caitlyn told Kris that the reason for their split was only “20%” about her gender identity…

“I did not leave you thinking I was going to transition. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I never thought I’d be here.”

In tears, Kris admitted…

“I know you said you haven’t gone anywhere and you’re still the same person. But sometimes they just miss having Bruce around. We all do.”

Drama! What the series (for some) had been missing. There was more… but all that ended with (what else?) a selfie. That was followed by a look back, with all Cait’s new trans pals. And then the moving renaming ceremony where Jenner was so grateful…

“It has been an amazing journey, and I’m seeing all of it come true. I’m in a great place in life and, for the first time, I feel like I fit in some place. Being my authentic self. Thank you.”

Like it or not, I Am Cait has extended beyond it audience and created dialogue in this country, if not worldwide. It has been mostly praised by LGBTQ advocates alongside Amazon’s Transparent and Netflix’s Orange is the New Black for contributing to a wider acceptance of the transgender community. But with non-hit ratings – will it have any future effect on the reality TV landscape? Rajiv Menon, cultural analyst at brand-strategy firm TruthCo, told TheWrap;

“I think that it signals the rise of more prestige offerings in the reality genre. We’ve been talking about this more broadly in TV with drama and comedy and the golden age of TV that we’re in right now. I think ‘I Am Cait,’ though not necessarily a ratings success, shows what an actual premium offering within the genre could potentially do.”

For the last eight years, E!’s biggest star has been Caitlyn’s stepdaughter Kim –a polarizing “TV character”, arguably with little cultural depth nor social consciousness. I Am Cait was an ambitious, socially conscious effort and it asked viewers in middle America to invite a transgender person into their living rooms –which earned the network kudos, if not viewers.

Rajiv Menon says;

“I think there are a lot of really good examples of prestige reality right now.”

HBO premiered its revival of Project Greenlight last night. The Ben Affleck and Matt Damon-produced series about filmmaking that last aired a decade ago on Bravo. Remember when that was an “arts channel”? Unlike, I am Cait, Greenlight brings a big entertainment factor, with the star power of Affleck and Damon. Watching I Am Cait could sometimes feel a bit like taking you “reality-TV medicine”.

Menon says that will not necessarily keep it from influencing future decisions by reality programmers, though;

“What’s really exciting about ‘I Am Cait’ is that even though it wasn’t a strong ratings success, it showed an opportunity for wider experimentation, which is really key to the rise of the prestige genre.”

Closing the series last night, Jenner appeared in a final video diary entry as no-frills as when the show premiered;

“I want to help people in my community. We have a long way to go, but at least we’ve got a really really really good beginning. And that makes my heart feel good.”

What if it doesn’t get picked up for season 2 and that was the last we saw of Cait’s show? Menon says;