Remember 'Living Lohan?' Fans On The Internet Do Not!
By Taylor Hodgkins on November 10, 2022 at 7:00 PM EST
The concept of "Living Lohan" was an idea the public eye has been familiar with for quite a long time!
Lindsay Lohan, of course, was once one of the biggest names in 'Tinsel Town' in the early '00s until the actress' career was stalled after she was forced to deal with a number of extremely private issues publicly.
Lohan's off-camera struggles soon became the talk of the town, inspiring headlines and a laser-focus interest in her personal life.
Public fascination with Lohan's fall from grace seemed to coincide with reality TV's evolution into the entity we know it as today; Lohan's frequent party pal Paris Hilton experienced a massive amount of success with "The Simple Life" earlier in the decade, and their eventual mutual friend Kim Kardashian would soon take over the genre with "Keeping Up With The Kardashians."
The "Mean Girls" superstar would soon have an indirect influence on reality TV through "Living Lohan," an E! reality series structured as a vehicle for Lohan's younger sister Aliana to break into the music industry.
The matriarch of the Lohan family, Dina, would also star in the series.
The world was able to witness the Lohan dynamic on full display without the influence of the family's massively successful eldest daughter, for nine episodes!
Looking Back At A Life Of 'Living Lohan!'
I had 3 mimosas at brunch so I’m ready to fight anyone who didn’t stream “All The Way Around” by Ali Lohan from the critically acclaimed tv series “Living Lohan” pic.twitter.com/t1SOhGeXee
— Connor (@connor93) September 20, 2020
One main component of "Living Lohan''s storyline saw Aliana 'Ali' Lohan attempting to embark on a music career, a move that her older sister was well familiar with at the time.
Lohan and her team soon got to work on recording a single called "All The Way Around," and viewers were able to watch Lindsay's younger sister take her first steps into potential pop stardom courtesy of "Living Lohan!"
wishing this was 2010 so i had the motivation to make a compilation of ali lohan saying "dawg" via living lohan
— kyle (@visionsofkyle) May 28, 2020
The prospect of watching Lohan's music career blossom as well as a chance to get to know the Lohan family may have sounded like a binge-able concept at the time, tailormade for perfect reality tv viewing. However, that didn't seem to be the case for critics at the time!
The majority of "Living Lohan's'' internet presence 14 years after its debut seems to revolve around reviews of the show, and many of them aren't so favorable!
A 2008 review of the show from Slate Magazine called the series "A big explorative mess," expressing concern for the then-14-year-old Lohan being at the helm of a TV show.
Entertainment Weekly gave the show an F, criticizing the show for potentially serving as a target for Lohan to receive unwanted attention from critics or tabloids in a similar fashion to her older sister, a potential occurrence Dina had been wary of.
Twitter Preserves Living Lohan's Influence!
Lindsay’s wedding needs a “Living Lohan” reboot with Dina and the whole fam.
Congrats!(?) 🎊 pic.twitter.com/azFEMqM0Dx
— Pretty Corrupt Podcast (@PrettyCorrupt1) July 2, 2022
"Living Lohan" may not have been a critical darling or have an obvious internet presence nearly two decades (!) later, but its legacy is evidently being preserved courtesy of Twitter.
Twitter users unearthed that "Gone Girl" author Gillian Flynn had written a review of the show back when it originally aired. Others contemplated a reboot of the show after Lindsay tied the knot with Bader Shammas earlier this summer.
Luckily for those who would like to delight in the trainwreck and/or greatness of "Living Lohan" for the first time, many, if not all, of the episodes are available on YouTube!
Perhaps it would be a good idea for a double feature of Lindsay Lohan's new Netflix holiday film "Falling For Christmas," wherein Ali Lohan has a cameo?