The Hills

From Television Wiki

This article is about the MTV TV series, for other uses of "The Hills" see The Hills (disambiguation).

The Hills
Genre	Reality
Created by	Adam DiVello
Starring	Lauren Conrad Audrina Patridge Heidi Montag Whitney Port (2006-2008) Stephanie Pratt (2009- )
Opening theme	"Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Production
Running time	20–22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	MTV
Original run	May 31, 2006 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County The City
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Hills is an MTV reality show ^[1] and a spin-off of the popular MTV show Laguna Beach. It documents the lives of Lauren Conrad and her friends in Los Angeles after Conrad's move from Laguna Beach, California.

Entertainment Weekly labeled the show a "New Classic" ranking it 82nd on a list of The 100 Best Shows of the Last 25 Years.^[2]

Contents 1 Cast 2 Synopsis 2.1 Season 1 2.2 Season 2 2.3 Season 3 2.4 Season 4 2.5 Season 5 3 Criticism 3.1 Casting 3.2 Editing 3.3 Ratings 4 Special Releases 4.1 DVD releases 4.2 iTunes Release 4.3 Fashion 5 The City 6 References 7 External links

Cast

For a full list of cast members of The Hills, see List of cast members from "The Hills".

NAME	SEASON	INFORMATION
Lauren Conrad	Season 1-	Lauren had her road to independence documented shortly after leaving home in Laguna Beach to her new home in Los Angeles. There, she spent her days attending FIDM while interning at Teen Vogue magazine. She continued her dramatic relationship with Jason, but later moved on to Brody after Heidi's boyfriend introduced her to him. After Teen Vogue, she switched jobs to work for fashion PR firm People's Revolution. Additionally, she remained good friends with Lo, who she later became housemates with.
Heidi Montag	Season 1-	Heidi and Lauren met while attending school in San Fransisco, and the two left after one semester. As a result, Heidi spent the Spring semester at Lauren's beach side home, and the two later moved to Los Angeles with the intent to attend FIDM together. After one day of classes, Heidi unofficially withdrew and interviewed for event planning firm Bolthouse Productions. She had a brief relationship with Jordan, and later became romantically involved with Spencer, who turned out to be more mischievious than expected.
Audrina Patridge	Season 1-	Audrina was first introduced sitting poolside next to the sunbathing Heidi. It is later found out that she aspires to become an actress, but currently settles for working as a receptionist for Quixote Studios inbetween auditions. Later on, she switches jobs working for Epic Records. Adding to her new friendship with Lauren, Audrina becomes Lauren's new roommate after Heidi moves out. Additionally, Audrina rekindles her relationship with former flame, Justin, even though she questions his faithfulness.
Stephanie Pratt	Season 5-	Stephanie new to the main cast for season 5 recently got hired at a fashion PR firm People's Revolution where she works with her co-worker and friend Lauren. On this upcoming season Stephanie will have to choose between two people that mean a lot in her life. Lauren's friends don't trust Stephanie, and Brody isn't afraid to tell her so to her face. Stephanie relies on Lauren, who sticks up for her every chance she gets.

Synopsis

Season 1

Main article: The Hills (season 1)

• US Premiere Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006
• DVD Release Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2007
• Number of Episodes: 10

Lauren's road to independence was documented shortly after leaving Laguna Beach and moving to Los Angeles with her good friend, Heidi, where they met new friend, Audrina. There, Lauren and Heidi intended to attend FIDM together, but Heidi unofficially withdraws to go work for Bolthouse Productions. Additionally, Lauren lands a job interning with Teen Vogue magazine, where she meets new friend, Whitney. As far as relationships go, Heidi starts dating Jordan, and Lauren's ex-boyfriend, Jason, follows her to LA in an effort to woo her back, and the two evidently get back together. In the season finale, Lauren makes a difficult descision. (more)

Season 2

Main article: The Hills (season 2)

• US Premiere Date: Monday, January 15, 2007
• DVD Release Date: Tuesday, August 7, 2007
• Number of Episodes: 12

Lauren tearfully breaks up with Jason. Heidi's new boyfriend, Spencer, introduces Lauren to his friend, Brody, and the two have a short-lived relationship but remain close friends. Still having feelings for Brody, Lauren's friend, Jen, is introduced to Brody by Spencer and Heidi, which causes tension between Lauren, Jen, and Heidi. Overtime, Heidi becomes blind to Spencer's mischievious ways, and although concerned, Lauren subsequently turns to Audrina and childhood friend, Lo, for friendship. Meanwhile, Lauren and Whitney are challenged at work when New York intern, Emily, comes to help. In the season finale, Spencer surprises Heidi. (more)

Season 3

Main article: The Hills (season 3)

• US Premiere Date: Monday, August 13, 2007
• DVD Release Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008^[3]
• Number of Episodes: 28

Lauren gets upset when a vicious rumor about her surfaces, and blames Spencer for starting it. At school, Lauren inadvertently befriends Spencer's sister, Stephanie, after Stephanie apologizes for chewing out Lauren for feuding with Spencer and Heidi. After a work trip to Paris, Whitney feels her job isn't what she wants, quits, and interviews for fashion PR firm, People's Revolution. Meanwhile, Spencer wants take his relationship with Heidi to the next level, but has a hard time confirming his commitment. As far as relationships go, Audrina rekindles her rocky relationship with former flame, Justin. In the season finale, Lauren makes a big move. (more)

Season 4

Main article: The Hills (season 4)

• US Premiere Date: Monday, August 18, 2008
• DVD Release Date: Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
• Number of Episodes: 20

Lauren is surprised to hear that Audrina is spending her free time with Justin, who convinces her to move out. Meanwhile, Spencer continues to be a strain on Heidi, especially when Heidi's siter, Holly, chooses to move to LA. Spencer even goes as far as visiting Heidi at a work event and getting her fired for drinking while on the job. In an effort to save their relationship, Spencer surprises Heidi with a trip to Mexico, where the pair unofficially elope, forcing her mother voice her disappointment. Additionally, Whitney's boss offers her the chance to interview with Diane von Furstenberg. In the season finale, Whitney learns the outcome of her interview. (more)

Season 5

• US Premiere Date: Thursday, April, 2009
• Number of Episodes: 27

On November 14, 2008, Patridge announced that the cast had just learned that the show would have a fifth season.^[4]

On the December 22, 2008 airing of The After Show for The Hills, Lauren Conrad confirmed that there are more episodes of The Hills to come in Spring 2009.

On the February 2, 2009 airing of "The After Show" for The City, it was announced that Stephanie Pratt is billed to replace Whitney Port as Lauren's new confidant and co-worker at People's Revolution.

Criticism

Casting

Audrina Patridge's official website biography states, "Living a stone's throw away from the MTV production of The Hills, Audrina was spotted sunbathing by the pool and asked by a producer if she would like to join the cast. She happily accepted her role as the dear friend of Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag in what was sure to be the beginning of an enticing career.^[5] During an appearance on Chelsea Lately, when asked if The Hills was fake, Audrina replied, "You know, everyone says that, but we don't have a script that we read off of." Chelsea Handler suggested that they improvise and Audrina didn't object, adding, "If that's what you want to call it...We're put in situations where however we'd react and that's what comes up [on TV]." When Chelsea acknowledged that the cast of The Hills are really good actors if it was indeed fake, Audrina accepted the compliment on their acting abilities saying, "Thank you. It is a big compliment." Later in the interview she explained how she was cast after a series of interviews, stating, "Adam, he's our producer, he asked me about why I was in L.A., what I was doing, and I told him and they were scouting the place for The Hills and I went and met with the other people, they loved me and I was one of the first L.A. friends for Lauren and Heidi." ^[6]

Editing

In an interview, Lauren Conrad defended The Hills by stating "the show is real, albeit edited to create a storyline." This comment seems to suggest that the show is not really a reality show, but more of a reality style drama.^[7] Lauren Conrad stated in November 2007: "There have been some rumors in the press about The Hills being fake. Many of you have been asking me if the rumors are true. There are false rumors every week about me, and I can’t address every rumor out there, but I feel like this was important for me to respond to. The show is not fake and this is really my life." ^[8]

Ratings

Ratings for the premiere of season four were down 9% among the 12-to-34 demographic (2.1 million) and down 5% among total viewers (3.5 million) in comparison to the show’s third season premiere.^[9] Additionally, the total season 4 average was down 25% from that of season 3.^[10]

Special Releases

DVD releases

As of July 29, 2008, the first three seasons of The Hills are available on DVD in the United States. However, only the first two seasons of The Hills are available on DVD internationally; the international release dates for season 3 are yet to be confirmed apart from the UK who have the release date of March 9th, 2009. On December 1st, Season 4 was announced for a DVD release, due March 3rd, 2009.

iTunes Release

All seasons are available on iTunes store United States and, Canada. Seasons 1, 2 and 3 are available on iTunes in Australia.

Fashion

The Hills fashion has become just as popular as the story line and MTV has started to catalog and make available all the clothes and accessories that Lauren, Whitney, Heidi and Audrina wear. Also, Lauren has started a clothing line called The Lauren Conrad Collection. As well as Whitney, and Heidi.

The City

The City is a new show involving the move of The Hills cast member, Whitney Port, to New York City, and her new job with Diane von Fürstenberg. The show documents Port's new life in the city ^[11], including a relationship with a new beau and which girls she chooses as dear friends.

References

External links

• Official Website