They say all good things must come to an end -- but that's a needlessly specific expression.
Really, all things must end, regardless of whether or not they were ever any good -- case in point, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Even diehard Kard clan fans are quick to admit that KUWTK never made for terribly compelling viewing.
In fact, for much of its run, the show basically just served as an infomercial for the sisters' other ventures.
For years now, we've been hearing rumors that Kim and company would happily retire from the world of reality TV, but Kris Jenner insists that KUWTK is invaluable as the cornerstone of the family media empire.
Kris is convinced that without Keeping Up, there would be no Kylie cosmetics -- and she's almost certainly right.
But if Kim and her sisters were hoping that their ever-growing apathy would eventually alienate audiences and bring about the end of KUWTK, then they finally be getting their wish.
The Kardashians' ratings have been on the decline for several years now, and it seems E! execs are finally getting fed up.
According to a new report from Radar Online, the network that made the Kards a household name is considering going Kardashian-free.
“The glory days of the show are totally over,” an informant tells the site.
“Now just 862,000 viewers are watching which isn’t good.”
Yes, it's hard to believe that a family of cultural juggernauts like the Kardashians could fail to hit the 1 million mark in terms of ratings.
But what's even more troubling than the current number is the show's trajectory and future projections.
“There is fear within E! that the numbers will drop even further,” says the insider.
To be clear, 862,000 viewers would be perfectly acceptable if this were a family of poorly-compensated up-and-comers,
But the Kardashians are A-listers (at least some of them are, anyway), and they're paid accordingly.
And it seems network execs feel that the performance they're seeing is not commensurate with the amount they're shelling out.
“The alarm bells are ringing. It is like the entire family has given up on the show," says the source.
“Kim and her sisters are no longer passionate about filming it, and you can tell.”
Apparently, the two sides are at a stalemate, as the Kardashians are not quite ready to walk away from the cushy gig that made them famous, and the network doesn't want to cut ties with the family and preclude the possibility of future collaborations.
“What doesn’t make sense is why they are continuing," says an E! insider.
"If they don’t want to do it anymore just stop. The secret is to know when to walk away, and that moment is now.”
Our guess is that the Kards just want to drag this out and make the process painful for E! as revenge for all those years they were saddled with that corny '50s sitcom opening credit sequence.