I think it’s fair to say that the lines between what’s scripted and real have become extremely blurred on reality TV shows. Hopefully we’ve all learned to watch them with a certain grain of salt, at least that’s what I thought before I watched The Hills the other day with a few of my girlfriends. You would have thought that Spencer had been dating one of my friends.
The reality star had flown to Colorado to “surprise” his ex-finance, Heidi, after she broke up with him and wasn’t answering his calls. My friends were yelling at the screen. As if Spencer could hear them, girls were giving him advice about how he should leave Heidi alone and fly back to LA. And if that wasn’t bad enough, heated arguments about the situation continued into the break. Why did Heidi break up with him? Should he have visited her?
Yes, I’m admitting it. My friends actually believe this stuff is real. I’m so ashamed. The absurdity of The Hills infuriates me. It’s fine if you take it for what it is, a scripted show crafted by MTV for pure entertainment value. But to truly think that you are looking into a window of the life of ordinary people is completely unrealistic.
And it’s not just my friends that seem to believe this stuff. The Hills is a phenomenon that has swept the entertainment and media industries. Drama between the main characters is covered religiously on entertainment news programs and in magazines as if it were the real thing. In March alone, The Hills stars Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag each graced covers of US Weekly. The one with Lauren frowning on the cover next to the headline “How I Was Stabbed in the Back” followed by a detailed six page spread detailing her “betrayal” is actually laughable. US Weekly seems to invest so much of their time covering the whereabouts of the show’s characters that I often wonder if they have some secret deal with MTV.
Although it bothers me, I’ve come to expect US Weekly to capitalize on the popularity of The Hills. But now, much to my dismay, reputable publications are getting in on the action. Rolling Stone is jumping in on the moneymaking bandwagon by putting The Hills girls (scantily clad in just their undies) on this month’s cover.
Although the show gets intense media coverage and publicity, I feel like slowly but surely people are starting to get the clue. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has been merciless in his scrutiny of the “reality” show. This past week his post titled “More Hills Fakery” called for the editors to at least cover their tracks better.
How many of you noticed this bullshit last night????
The Hills needs to whip their editors into shape!
The show again failed to cover up another 'scripted' reality moment.
In Monday's episode, Spencer is seen at Heidi's doorstep with black shoes on his feet, but…..
When he enters her apartment, the shoes magically turn to white.
Magic!!!!!!
Does MTV just not care anymore about covering up the sham?????
It’s not just Perez that notices the many discrepancies in the reality of the show. The Wikipedia page of The Hills yields a whole “controversy” section that spells out each instance of Hills fakery in a bulleted list. Earlier this month, a previous “love interest” of Lauren Conrad went on VH1’s Best Week Ever and described how the show is completely set up by producers. He was scouted by a producer to go on a date with Lauren, he was given “suggested” questions to ask her, there was even a fake barbeque set up in order for Lauren’s new love interest to interact with her old one.
FAKE FAKE FAKE and I’ve called it from the first episode of Laguna Beach four years ago.
However, fake or not, the show is a cash cow. The first episode of the extended portion of season three in March 2008 was the year's highest rated cable telecast up to that point averaging about 4.7 million viewers. Teen Vogue, the magazine where Conrad and Whitney Port intern has also benefited from the success of the show. Since the second season of The Hills began airing in mid-January, newsstand sales for the magazine increased by double digits over 2006 sales.
The numbers are pretty staggering. I wonder how many of those viewers believe what they see? How long will The Hills remain under the guise of reality? I hope not too much longer, I’m starting to lose my mind. And to my dear friends, we have enough drama in our own lives; we don’t need to spend our time arguing about someone else’s.