Kim Kardashian’s Brand Is Blankness; ‘All’s Fair’ Is a Tacky Mess

The Atlantic staff writer and Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves (amzn.to/4oHAGhg) author Sophie Gilbert joins Amy to talk about All's Fair. The new Ryan Murphy show starring Kim Kardashian has received uniformly dire reviews — yet has triumphed in the face of its badness with pretty respectable ratings. Is this the end of competency in culture? Did All's Fair's creators intend for this show to be so terrible? Plus what Kardashian's captivating blankness, on unflinching view in All's Fair, says about the state of culture today.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: All's Fair and its reception

02:27 The show's themes and stars

05:02 Why the Kardashians took off as reality stars

06:53 All's Fair's depictions of plastic surgery and the Kardashian-Jenner influence on plastic surgery more broadly

11:54 Kris Jenner's 70th birthday party and depictions of extreme wealth in popular culture

20:02 Are we reaching the end of competence in culture, as we are in politics?

24:15 Why girlbossing is back

29:07 Comparing All's Fair's fashion to And Just Like That's

32:32 What does Ryan Murphy really think of women?

37:21 How Kim Kardashian is handling the show's scathing reviews

41:16 Sophie on the most surprising thing she found when researching her book 'Girl on Girl'

46:49 Sophie's thoughts on Lily Allen's astonishing new album about the dissolution of her marriage

Links and resources:

Get Sophie's book: Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves (amazon.com/Girl-Culture-Generation-Against-The…)

Read Sophie's All's Fair review (theatlantic.com/culture/2025/11/alls-fair-tv-r…) in The Atlantic.

Read Sophie's essay about how money is ruining television (theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/06/and-ju…) in The Atlantic.

Read Jill Filipovic's essay, "The End of Competence." (jill.substack.com/p/the-end-of-competence)

Read Amy's All's Fair fashion review (amyodell.substack.com/p/alls-fair-fashion-revi…) or listen to it as a podcast in Spotify (open.spotify.com/episode/3IFGf7qvz2LQXp3F1gVHfa) or Apple (podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alls-fair-fashio…).

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