Sweeten-Shults: Celebrities' lavish lifestyles losing TV momentum

The Kardashians, once the shiniest star on the top of the celebrity tree, are seeing their star fade.
Poor, poor Kardashians.
Well, not really.
For some reason, Americans are still fascinated by them. The tabloids still make plenty of money when they put them on their covers. And reality TV still wants them.
In fact, the recent premiere of "Kourtney and Kim Take New York" attracted a strong rating of 3.2 million viewers. (America couldn't help it. They had to watch the marriage implosion of Kim and husband-of-72-days Kris Humphries.)
But the Kardashians and other celebs are starting to see the small cracks in their perfectly crystallized world of fame and fortune.
In a time when the economy is so bad, the unemployment rate has held steady at 9-point-something percent, and a record number of Americans are on government assistance, television is seeing a backlash not just against the Kardashians but against the lavish celebrity lifestyle in general.
If the Kardashians and other reality TV stars haven't realized it by now, most of us don't have a lot of money to spend and are looking at a pretty slim Christmas.
The kids might not get the Xbox 360 this year and might instead get a few video games to play on the existing gaming console. Or they might not get any electronics at all. They might just have to be happy with new shoes and socks.
If they haven't realized it by now, watching a celebrity wear three Vera Wang wedding dresses, like Kim Kardashian did, instead of one is kind of insulting to the rest of us. So is watching Scott Disick, the father of Kourtney Kardashian's son and baby-to-be, spend thousands of dollars on a walking cane.
It's ridiculous, too, to see Dana Wilkey of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" boast that she spent $25,000 on a pair of diamond-encrusted gold sunglasses.
Or to see Taylor Armstrong go over the top yet again on her daughter's fifth birthday party, which included a horse as a birthday gift, particularly knowing what we know now — that she and her husband, Russell, were in financial and marital dire straits at the time of the party.
And it really is unbelievable to watch Kim Zolciak from "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," the one who won't wear a wig more than once, spend the kind of money she did on an over-the-top baby shower that looked more like a wedding reception.
Not only that, but our TV-watching options also include shows like "Say Yes to the Dress," in which noncelebrity brides believe that it's nothing to spend $5,000 on a wedding dress or more than $30,000, which one bride spent on a couture, runway-only gown.
If none of these celebrities has a clue, maybe someone should clue them in.
The recent petition to boycott the Kardashians, the Kardashian wedding backlash, and Kim Kardashian being dethroned as the top Googled celebrity (the top spot is now Justin Bieber's) is just a sign that some of us don't see these celebrities' glamorous lives as being as entertaining as they used to be. The way they throw money around seems just a bit insensitive, considering America's current economic struggles.
It could be why my new favorite show is A&E's "American Hoggers," which follows the Campbell family of Central Texas just trying to make a living in the state's harsh landscape by helping ranchers, farmers and others rid themselves of the growing feral pig population. Just call it the anti-celebrity show, and as I get ready to go Christmas shopping on my limited budget, I'm all for the "American Hoggers."