Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes Kody Brown, his wife Robyn, ex-wives (Meri, Janelle, Christine), and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, moved to Las Vegas in 2011, and to Flagstaff, Arizona, in mid-2018.
Brown and his four wives have stated they participated in the show to make the public aware of polygamist families and to combat societal prejudices. Brown argues that his polygamist arrangement is legal because he is married (legally) to only one woman (Meri, then later Robyn), while the other marriages are "spiritual unions".
Background
The show follows the lives of Kody Brown, wife Robyn, ex-wives (Meri, Janelle, Christine), and their 18 children. In the first season, the show televised Kody's courting of and marriage to his fourth wife, Robyn, in 2010. Robyn was the first new wife to enter the family in 16 years.
The crews continued to film them after the marriage in case the series was picked up for a second season. Sister Wives was publicly introduced on August 6, 2010, at the Television Critics Association summer media tour in Beverly Hills. The series' first episode, an hour-long, was broadcast on TLC on September 26, 2010, and the first season continued with six half-hour episodes until October 17, 2010.
The broadcast of Sister Wives came at a time when polygamy and multiple marriages were prevalent topics in American pop culture. Big Love, the hit HBO series about fictional Utah polygamist Bill Henrickson, his three sister wives, and their struggle to gain acceptance in society, had already been on the air for several years. In early September 2010, the drama series Lone Star, about a con man on the verge of entering into multiple marriages, premiered on Fox but was quickly canceled after two episodes. When Sister Wives debuted, actress Katherine Heigl was in the process of developing a film about Carolyn Jessop, a woman who fled from a polygamist sect.
In October 2010, TLC announced it had commissioned a second season, which began in March 2011. A TLC interview with the Brown family was broadcast on October 31, 2010, and a one-hour program featuring the honeymoon of Kody and Robyn aired on November 22, 2010.
The series led to the Brown family being investigated for possible prosecution. The family later sued the state of Utah, challenging its criminal polygamy laws. The Browns prevailed in the district court in a 2013 ruling, but a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ordered the case to be dismissed on standing grounds in 2016.
Episodes
Reception
Critical reception
Sister Wives drew national media attention after its first season and garnered generally mixed reviews from critics. Washington Post staff writer Hank Stuever called it "refreshingly frank" and found most interesting the small details of the family's everyday life, such as the food supply, division of labor, and minor arguments. Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara said she was intrigued by the matriarchal nature of the polygamist family, a unit that is traditionally considered patriarchal. McNamara said the wives form the center of the family and that "their bonds appear far stronger and more vital than the casual fondness with which they all treat Kody". Salon writer Schuyler Velasco praised Sister Wives for introducing viewers to the unfamiliar subject matter and called it "refreshingly modest" considering its controversial topic. Velasco said it has "a natural, honest presence in a genre fabled for the camera-hogging antics of Jersey Shore". Shelley Fralic of The Vancouver Sun called it fascinating and surprising and was impressed with the sensible and articulate way in which the family defended their lifestyle. When the Brown family made an October 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, talk show host Oprah Winfrey said she found particularly fascinating the relationship between the sister wives.