Real celebrity families of California,North and South

That didnt stop the channel,E! from signing a deal for three more seasons of the young-skewing Keeping Up With the Kardashians, as well as any new spinoff projects the clan comes up with. ( Kendall and Kylie? Wheres Bruce? )

Its possible,though,between the stagnant ratings and the negative reaction to Kim Kardashians blink-and-you-missed-it married life with the basketball player Kris Humphries,to begin to see a Kardashian-free future. Perhaps with that in mind,E! is introducing another reality series about a blended,privileged family run by a larger-than-life matriarch.

Mrs. Eastwood & Company will be telecast after Kardashians,Where Kardashians is all Southern California glitz and heavy eye makeup,Eastwood,starring Clint Eastwoods wife,Dina,is Northern California casual and fresh-faced.

While the primary Kardashians have scattered to different houses and cities over the years,the central characters of Eastwood,including mother,daughter,stepdaughter,wily Korean housekeeper and exotic rescue animals,live under one roof in the same small town as the six-member South African a cappella boy band Dina Eastwood manages. (Hence & Company .)

But the biggest difference is between the men of the houses. Bruce Jenner,spouse of Kris Kardashian,was the comically henpecked and inconsequential husband. Clint,the Mr. of Mrs. Eastwood & Company ,serves as a mythic presence in that show,often invoked but rarely seen. In the pilot episode hes onscreen for 75 seconds,flying in for a family dinner and sitting mostly silent,with an amused look on his face,while his wife and daughters chatter.

In his absence Dina Eastwood rules the roost with a manic,geeky energy that mortifies her daughter,Morgan. Much of her attention is on the band,Overtone,which she discovered while Clint Eastwood was making Invictus,and particularly on its lead singer,Emile.

The first episode of Mrs. Eastwood & Company has a loose,somewhat rambling quality,as if the producers were still feeling around for characters and story lines. Kardashians,is by now a tightly stitched,fastidiously polished package,and while everything that happens feels staged and semi-scripted,it is easier to sit through than Eastwood.

It also has people who can keep you watching despite your best intentions. In the season premiere Kris is painted as a near monster for pressuring her daughter Khloe to take a DNA test it has to do with refuting tabloid gossip about Khloes parentage and before you know it,youre actively rooting against her.

And then theres Kim,the daughter whose sex tape and generous curves kick-started the shows success back in 2007. Shes grown into a precious object,gliding through the show with a beauty thats no less impressive for looking vacuum-sealed. Kim Kardashians current companion,Kanye West will also make a guest appearance. But in the insular world of Kardashians,hell be just another accessory.