I Am Cait
Caitlyn Jenner's life after transition, documented.
I Am Cait was an American documentary series that aired on E! and followed Caitlyn Jenner’s life after her gender transition. The eight-episode, one-hour show debuted on July 26, 2015, and centered on Jenner’s “new normal,” including shifts in her relationships with family and friends, as well as her adjustment to what she viewed as her role as a a role model for the transgender community. The first season received generally positive reviews, with critics highlighting its serious, informative tone—a departure from Keeping Up with the Kardashians—and its handling of transgender social issues, which they felt influenced public understanding. The series was renewed for a second season that premiered on March 6, 2016, but was canceled on August 16, 2016, after two seasons due to low ratings.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Reality television
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Seasons
- 2
- Episodes
- 16
- Executive producers
- Gil Goldschein
- Jeff Jenkins
- Farnaz Farjam
- Andrea Metz
- Melissa Bidwell
- Caitlyn Jenner
- Runtime
- 42 minutes
- Company
- Bunim/Murray Productions
Facts from the source article.
Production
The network announced the documentary series on April 24, 2015, immediately after Caitlyn Jenner came out as a trans woman during a 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer. "Bruce is incredibly courageous and an inspiration, and we are proud to be entrusted with this deeply personal and important story," said Jeff Olde, Head of Programming of E! network. "This series will present an unfiltered look as Bruce boldly steps into uncharted territory and is true to himself for the first time," Olde also added. The series selected a renowned group of consultants, including Jennifer Finney Boylan, Dr. Marie Keller and Susan P. Landon, who worked on the show to keep it insightful, as well as enlisted support from GLAAD, an LGBTQ-focused media advocacy organization. The first trailer for the series, now titled I Am Cait, was released on June 3, 2015, after Jenner introduced herself as Caitlyn in the interview with Vanity Fair. The idea of the reality television series which would document the gender transition of Caitlyn Jenner was initially introduced about a year before the show was announced to the public. Jeff Jenkins, one of the producers on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, got a call about a meeting with Jenner, thus confirming the rumors of her transition. The series was confirmed several months later once Jenner got the right idea about the purpose of the series. "She would have been so hounded for the story and that's why, in my understanding, she decided, ... so [she could] hopefully tell all of it in the right way," Jenkins speculated the reasons why Jenner accepted the series. "Why did I decide to do a series? I am telling my story ... This is about getting to be who you really are," Jenner later herself explained the reasons for opening her life on television in one of the promotional videos. Several days later after the interview with Diane Sawyer, E! aired a two-part episode special on Keeping Up with the Kardashians entitled About Bruce, in which another side of the story was told featuring family members who did not appear in the previous interview on 20/20. Dee Lockett, writing for Vulture, speculated that the interviews were "strategically set up Caitlyn's transition to become the show's next must-watch spectacle, [I Am Cait]". The show premiered on E!, the same network which serves as the home to Keeping Up with the Kardashians, a reality television series that Jenner has starred in together with her family since 2007. I Am Cait is produced by Bunim/Murray Productions, the same company that created Keeping Up With the Kardashians, with Gil Goldschein, Jeff Jenkins, Farnaz Farjam, Andrea Metz and Melissa Bidwell as well as Jenner herself acting as executive producers. A private screening of the premiere was held by Jenner a week prior to its official airing, while the first episode of I Am Cait was shown to critics in Manhattan two days later. The docu-series was released amidst a wave of new programming related to transgender issues, including TLC's reality show I Am Jazz and ABC Family's Becoming Us. In October 2015, the network announced that the reality series will return for a second season. "Caitlyn's story has ignited a global conversation on the transgender community on a scale that has never been seen before," said Jeff Olde, an executive vice president of E!. "We are honored Caitlyn has chosen to continue to share her ongoing story with our viewers around the world", Olde also added. Season 2 premiered on March 6, 2016.
Reception
The first episode of I Am Cait has been met with generally positive reviews from television critics, who were given an advance screening of the series premiere. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the docuseries received an average score of 67, based on seventeen reviews. Brian Lowry from Variety magazine appreciated the show's goal by saying that "tension is very much on display in the premiere, which obviously seeks a more elevated plane – keenly aware of Jenner's platform to educate and assist vulnerable youths – while clinging to familiar reality-TV conventions." Frank Scheck, a critic from The Hollywood Reporter, also emphasized the show's approach to addressing transgender issues, writing, "clearly striving to impart serious messages about tolerance of the transgender community while throwing in a few Kardashians for comic relief, I Am Cait emerges as a surprisingly thoughtful if undeniably self-serving effort." He also worried whether the show would be capable to "continue its delicate balancing act of depicting the many challenges attendant to Jenner's new identity while presenting the sensationalistic comic material which reality viewers crave." Jane Mulkerrins of The Telegraph called the show "noble" and appreciated the show's approach to the issues, and also noted that the show contains "plenty of levity" as well. Tom Gliatto from People magazine said that the show "is closer in tone to a reality show on Oprah Winfrey's OWN than E!" Verne Gay, writing for Newsday, called the show "the most anticipated docuseries" in E!'s history and noted its different approach by adding that what "viewers will ... see Sunday is something entirely new -- also bracing, emotional and even touching." Sandra Gonzalez of Mashable applauded the series and said that "the show also makes a point of spotlighting stories that don't end when the TV is switched off or the magazines are no longer on the stands." She also added that "with moments both stark and silly, the series has exactly what it needs to exist on a network where entertainment and empathy don't always go hand-in-hand." Michael Idato from The Sydney Morning Herald described the series as "uncomfortably, beautifully, brutally honest." Don Kaplan of the New York Daily News said the show "is touching, funny and smart as it tracks the immediate aftermath of Jenner's much-publicized shift from a man who spent the last 40 years as one of the world's most masculine athletes to a woman deeply concerned about how this new lifestyle will affect her immediate family." Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote a less enthusiastic review, stating that the "glossy" series lacked conflict. Hale wrote that I Am Cait "accomplishes its inspirational, educational and motivational goals ... It doesn't totally succeed as dramatic reality television, but perhaps that's to be expected given how high the stakes are, both for the transgender cause and for Ms. Jenner's personal brand."
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of I Am Cait are there?
I Am Cait has 16 episodes across 2 seasons.
When did I Am Cait end?
I Am Cait last aired on 24 April 2016.
More in Television Series by Bunim/Murray Productions
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced