I Am Cait

In many ways it achieves these aspirations [focusing on advocacy and opening up frank discussions on transition and transgenderism], especially early in the first episode shown to critics.... but in the context of I Am Cait this desire to do good feels shoe-horned in. Even if she wants to be a voice for a marginalized group, and there's nothing to say she does not, it still feels like a producer is pulling the strings, even with the best intentions.

While Jenner’s interactions with her extended family are clearly part of the narrative, there’s a pandering quality to shoehorning the couple [Kim Kardashian and Kanye West] and daughter Kylie into the premiere, as if E! and the producers needed a security blanket to make sure they catered to that audience too.

I Am Cait is both trailblazing and bland, a triangulation of the inauthenticity of "unscripted" programming, the inherent performative aspects of celebrity, and the unmeetable standards we have for marginalized people. The show is bland for the right reasons, and perhaps that's for the best.

I Am Cait is, on some level, the most respectful melding of television’s notion of cinema verite and Hollywood’s highest form of top-notch, controlled publicity. Rarely could a show be so completely about the management of reactions.

While I Am Cait appears determined to be a noble endeavor, its producers shouldn’t feel obligated to teach every time out.

It 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. Not a whole lot happens in the first hour of I Am Cait, and there’s not much to be learned for anyone who has watched the ABC interview.