Friday, 16 November 2007
'From Laguna to Los Angeles: MTV Revolutionizes Reality'
[Emory Wheel] - Who needs reality when you have “The Hills?” “Laguna Beach” and its two offshoots, “The Hills” and “Newport Beach,” have become ratings juggernauts and shaped the collective unconscious about reality — except they are not quite reality shows. The infamous statement at the beginnings of these shows states that “the drama is real,” but nothing else seems to be. The sophisticated and glossy camerawork on these shows stands in stark contrast to the hand-held, cinema verité of “The Real World.” There is something compelling about these bizarre soap operas. Why bother watching the fake (and canceled) “The OC” when a more authentic image of Republican-addled southern California is available? The travails of Lauren Conrad, her former friend and roommate Heidi Montag, and Heidi’s clueless and controlling boyfriend Spencer Pratt have captivated an entire generation of teenage girls — a fascination that follows many through their college years.This reality is contrived: The slick editing and multi-camera setups require not only some form of staging and reshoots, but also necessitate an outline of a script. These shows resemble improvised skits rather than the actual lives of a group of overly pretty Orange County teens.The voiceover before the show explaining what has previously taken place and the name tags always placed under the characters make the shows palatable to people with severe forms of ADD. These shows were created by and for the MTV generation. And with all these bleached-blonde people looking alike, the name tags come in handy.The third season of “The Hills” is now in full swing, but developments over the summer — covered in tabloids and Internet blogs — made the premiere of this show highly anticipated. Conrad and Montag, whose friendship was strained at the end of season two, are now apparently enemies. Rumors of a sex tape of Conrad and her ex-boyfriend Jason Wahler proliferated in Hollywood circles. Except when they’re fighting in trendy bars, Montag and Conrad do not appear onscreen together, giving the show two separate story arcs and keeping audiences on their toes. “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills” are not dealing with reality. They are, instead, a vision of hyper-reality. They are the way our lives should be. Their jobs are glamorous and merely interrupt their lives of parties and dating. Where does all their money come from for eating at expensive L.A. eateries? Do these girls go to school? Does Spencer have a job? This is the life we all want — no need to ask such trivial questions to demolish our fantasies. So what are these shows? They are reimagined soap operas that claim to be true. They have actually managed to reinvent not only reality entertainment but also the meaning of television by somehow making the most uninteresting things fascinating.What makes these shows so fascinating is how they revel in moments of banality; pregnant pauses and awkward looks punctuate each scene. Instead of a polished show from NBC, where such instances find themselves on the cutting-room floor, MTV is intent on displaying the ditziness of the characters. Unlike other reality shows, this show has no intention of appearing like “The Real World” or “Big Brother,” with secret cameras and grainy footage. “The Hills” seeks to look like a polished drama that could be seen on the primetime schedule of any major network.“Laguna Beach” has ended its three-season run, but “The Hills” is stronger than ever in its third season. A new spin-off has emerged focusing on the exploits of another group of pretty bleached-blondes in Newport Beach, a city just south of Laguna Beach. With the break-out status of Conrad (who is launching a clothing line), Kristin Cavallari (who is now an actress) and Montag (who has just released a single with fiance Pratt rapping in the background), we can rest assured that this form of reality is here to stay. Well, at least until MTV reinvents reality one more time.
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Heidi Dreams Big!
[AllHeadlineNews.com] - Heidi Montag's dream is to win an Academy Award. Considering she successfully played a part in convincing the public that "The Hills" was 'reality television', her acting ability may be better than believed. The 21-year-old star of the MTV show revealed her dream to Blender magazine and listed her acting resume as evidence that she has what it takes to be named alongside actresses such as Meryl Streep and Jodie Foster. Heidi said, "I've always been singing. 
I've been dancing since I was 2 - hip-hop, jazz, tap, everything. I was a wicked stepsister in Cinderella. I was a fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was Beatrice in... an old English play. Acting, singing, dancing - it's always been in me."
The TV personality then added, "I also plan to win an Oscar." Heidi, who is part of a public war with 'co-star' Lauren Conrad, explained how she has already gotten so far in her career.
The blonde beauty said, "I like to read a couple books at once. I was reading the Princess Diana book. I'm reading a book about Chicago and the mob. Right now I'm also reading the Bible, beginning to end. I'm very religious. That's how I've gotten to where I am."
I've been dancing since I was 2 - hip-hop, jazz, tap, everything. I was a wicked stepsister in Cinderella. I was a fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was Beatrice in... an old English play. Acting, singing, dancing - it's always been in me."The TV personality then added, "I also plan to win an Oscar." Heidi, who is part of a public war with 'co-star' Lauren Conrad, explained how she has already gotten so far in her career.
The blonde beauty said, "I like to read a couple books at once. I was reading the Princess Diana book. I'm reading a book about Chicago and the mob. Right now I'm also reading the Bible, beginning to end. I'm very religious. That's how I've gotten to where I am."
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Heidi & Lauren: Secretly Friends?!
It's come after weeks of speculation regarding The Hills' 'realness'...but we may now find ourselves asking another question. Are Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag secretly friends?!Monday's episode of The Hills may have showed Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag's feud to be going on indefinitely, but a recent meeting, seen by a passer-by, between the former besties, seems to indicate the two may have patched up their differences...or perhaps they never fell out at all.
According to Star magazine, Lauren and Heidi met up secretly in late October and were obviously on good terms. An onlooker said, "There were no MTV cameras around. This seemed like the real deal. I saw Heidi coming to visit Lauren at her apartment without her fiancé Spencer Pratt."
The onlooker also saw Heidi get into Lauren's black BMW. "They were laughing, hugging and being very affectionate with one another…I think Lauren and Heidi made a secret pact not to tell anyone," the source added.
According to Star magazine, Lauren and Heidi met up secretly in late October and were obviously on good terms. An onlooker said, "There were no MTV cameras around. This seemed like the real deal. I saw Heidi coming to visit Lauren at her apartment without her fiancé Spencer Pratt."
The onlooker also saw Heidi get into Lauren's black BMW. "They were laughing, hugging and being very affectionate with one another…I think Lauren and Heidi made a secret pact not to tell anyone," the source added.
LC Comments on Just How Real 'The Hills' Is
E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos has asked the question the nation has had on its lips for months - is the show actually real? Is it orchestrated by producers and scripted by the producers, or is it a genuine look at the lives of the pretty young things?Well, says Lauren, it's completely real. The relationships, the tears, the drama - everything. She also comments on her feelings regarding ex-BFF Heidi Montag in the exclusive video and, of course, her "is-he-isn't-he" semi-boyfriend Brody Jenner. And just watch how she blushes when his name's mentioned!
Check out the video here.
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
The Real Orange County Forum: Your Number One Spot!
Want somewhere new and fresh to express all your views about Laguna Beach, The Hills and Newport Harbor? Sick of hearing what everyone else has to say about your favorite characters? Want to vent about Spencer and Heidi?
Well, your wish is our command.
We can now exclusively bring you the release of our new affiliate forum:
The Real Orange County Forum!
We've teamed up with Ali, the site's owner, to bring you a new free forum which gives you all the space you need to tell us, and everyone else, exactly what you think. Register and get involved in competitions, polls, debates, get exclusive gossip (things we aren't allowed to say on the main site)!
Don't let this opportunity pass - join NOW completely FREE to be a part of the newest, hottest forum around.
Well, your wish is our command.
We can now exclusively bring you the release of our new affiliate forum:
The Real Orange County Forum!
We've teamed up with Ali, the site's owner, to bring you a new free forum which gives you all the space you need to tell us, and everyone else, exactly what you think. Register and get involved in competitions, polls, debates, get exclusive gossip (things we aren't allowed to say on the main site)!
Don't let this opportunity pass - join NOW completely FREE to be a part of the newest, hottest forum around.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
'Truth is greater with fiction' - an article from the Baltimore Sun
[The Baltimore Sun] - Reality starlet Audrina Partridge swears The Hills, MTV's highest-rated show, is real. Truth be told, it has to be. No scribe worth his guild card should lay claim to a show constructed like a doughnut:
The center (bland, goody two-shoes Lauren Conrad) holds scant interest -- it's all the surrounding unhealthy ingredients that tempt us: ambitious ex-friend Heidi Montag; her svengali fiance Spencer Pratt; hanger-on Justin "Bobby" Brescia; stern boss Lisa Love.
Blogs, tabloids and other media have complained in recent days and weeks about fiction in the reality drama, which depicts Conrad, Partridge, friend Whitney Port and Montag living it up in Los Angeles. The evidence: a Conrad date describing the producers setting up a stagey meeting between him and her ex-boyfriend; photos of Pratt "picking up" Montag at the airport minutes after dropping her off; a fellow restaurant diner complaining that Conrad repeated her order five times for the cameras' benefit.
But engineering should come as little surprise in a show that's seen as a hybrid, transcending traditional candid reality shows like The Real World and competitions like Survivor. In light of the Writers Guild of America strike, The Hills shows how far "reality" editing can go -- and where it comes up short.
"You have reality shows in which characters have no writers feeding them lines -- but they look like real drama shows," notes Kim Reed, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based writer for TelevisionWithoutPity.com. "Certainly, if there were writers, I think the dialogue [on The Hills] would be better, instead of long shots of them staring at each other."
In an e-mail, show creator Adam DiVello addressed the marriage of reality and editing, such as "pickup shots" after the initial shoot that provide continuity or a frame of reference -- an example being Pratt "picking up" Montag at the airport.
"And there are times when we ask cast members to rephrase their questions because we don't have the aid of confessionals/interviews ... this helps to put the conversation into context," he writes.
Reed blames some of the listless dialogue on the need for exposition.
"I think they say, 'Whitney, we need you to ask Lauren about what happened last night.' ... [But] there are only so many ways to say, 'So what's going on with you and Stephen?'"
DiVello does draw a line. "We never ask them to say anything they weren't already saying on their own," he wrote. "Ultimately, we're trying to produce a show that is entertaining, but we in no way affect the reality of the storylines."
In a scripted television drama or comedy, the recipe for a leading lady is complex, often mixing a dysfunctional background, drive, self-awareness, a distinctive personality, wit and quirks. Think of Desperate Housewives' flighty Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) or The Closer's neurotic Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick). Or even MTV alumnae: The Osbournes' outrageous Sharon Osbourne or Daria's cynical Daria Morgendorffer (voice of Tracy Grandstaff).
The Hills' Conrad, a 21-year-old fashion student and Teen Vogue intern, is depicted as level-headed, well-mannered, caring, pretty and stylish (though not Project Runway material). She comes from a comfortable background in Orange County (the setting for the teen reality show Laguna Beach, before Conrad was spun off into The Hills). Her biggest problems? A predilection for bad boys and a "one-date curse" with potential mates. She'd make a nice neighbor or PTA member.
But Conrad doesn't appear assertive, witty or ingenious. When she meets her idol, fashion designer Marc Jacobs, she can't be bothered to stand up to greet him. Sometimes, she's a passive participant in her own life. "[Producers] can never make you say or do something," Conrad told Entertainment Weekly. "You can always blame editing, but they can't do magic."
If only they could. There's not enough complexity to her, or enough that the cameras are showing, to make the show a pop-culture behemoth. The Hills is MTV's ratings leader, and it's a top-rated cable show among 18-to-34-year-olds, according to Nielsen data. But episodes from the third season, which began airing in August, have topped out at 4.2 million viewers; that doesn't include Web or On Demand viewing. At its peak in 2002, The Osbournes drew an MTV record of 7.8 million viewers.
Like The Osbournes, The Hills benefits from the reflected glamour of its SoCal setting; Conrad frolics at the pool, frequents hot clubs and has helped run Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood parties. But the producers have to turn to the enemies and peripheral characters for dramatic behavior and entertaining dialogue.
The episodes, airing at 10 p.m. Mondays, don't depict the fame or side projects the subjects have developed: Conrad has designed her own fashion line (with MTV's backing), endorses Avon's mark. line of youth-oriented cosmetics and frequents celebrity-studded events. Montag has recorded pop songs in pursuit of a music career. They have appeared on the covers of Us, Seventeen, Teen Vogue and Cosmo Girl.
But DiVello and the other producers maintain the focus on their jobs and social lives. That choice limits the dramatic options in a season that already lacks on-screen tension between Conrad and Montag, who are not talking. (Previews -- and DiVello -- do indicate a killer confrontation in tomorrow's episode.)
"We try to stick to their day-to-day lives and keep the storylines relatable to our audience without playing up their celebrity," he writes. "Otherwise, it would be more of a diary of a reality star."
In doing so, the show gives up some drama and tells its greatest lie -- but as DiVello grasped, that may be its greatest strength as well. Reed puts it this way: "The show sells the idea of Lauren as a young woman making it on her own. She used to be always so hung up on Stephen. She went to college and dropped out after a semester. Now she's making it on her own. If the show acknowledges how the MTV connection makes it happen, then it loses some of its arc.
"The show's only 22 minutes a week, and they have a choice of showing what their lives are really like or showing this dramatic stuff."
And as we all know, what our lives are really like bears little resemblance to must-see TV.
The center (bland, goody two-shoes Lauren Conrad) holds scant interest -- it's all the surrounding unhealthy ingredients that tempt us: ambitious ex-friend Heidi Montag; her svengali fiance Spencer Pratt; hanger-on Justin "Bobby" Brescia; stern boss Lisa Love.
Blogs, tabloids and other media have complained in recent days and weeks about fiction in the reality drama, which depicts Conrad, Partridge, friend Whitney Port and Montag living it up in Los Angeles. The evidence: a Conrad date describing the producers setting up a stagey meeting between him and her ex-boyfriend; photos of Pratt "picking up" Montag at the airport minutes after dropping her off; a fellow restaurant diner complaining that Conrad repeated her order five times for the cameras' benefit.
But engineering should come as little surprise in a show that's seen as a hybrid, transcending traditional candid reality shows like The Real World and competitions like Survivor. In light of the Writers Guild of America strike, The Hills shows how far "reality" editing can go -- and where it comes up short.
"You have reality shows in which characters have no writers feeding them lines -- but they look like real drama shows," notes Kim Reed, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based writer for TelevisionWithoutPity.com. "Certainly, if there were writers, I think the dialogue [on The Hills] would be better, instead of long shots of them staring at each other."
In an e-mail, show creator Adam DiVello addressed the marriage of reality and editing, such as "pickup shots" after the initial shoot that provide continuity or a frame of reference -- an example being Pratt "picking up" Montag at the airport.
"And there are times when we ask cast members to rephrase their questions because we don't have the aid of confessionals/interviews ... this helps to put the conversation into context," he writes.
Reed blames some of the listless dialogue on the need for exposition.
"I think they say, 'Whitney, we need you to ask Lauren about what happened last night.' ... [But] there are only so many ways to say, 'So what's going on with you and Stephen?'"
DiVello does draw a line. "We never ask them to say anything they weren't already saying on their own," he wrote. "Ultimately, we're trying to produce a show that is entertaining, but we in no way affect the reality of the storylines."
In a scripted television drama or comedy, the recipe for a leading lady is complex, often mixing a dysfunctional background, drive, self-awareness, a distinctive personality, wit and quirks. Think of Desperate Housewives' flighty Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) or The Closer's neurotic Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick). Or even MTV alumnae: The Osbournes' outrageous Sharon Osbourne or Daria's cynical Daria Morgendorffer (voice of Tracy Grandstaff).
The Hills' Conrad, a 21-year-old fashion student and Teen Vogue intern, is depicted as level-headed, well-mannered, caring, pretty and stylish (though not Project Runway material). She comes from a comfortable background in Orange County (the setting for the teen reality show Laguna Beach, before Conrad was spun off into The Hills). Her biggest problems? A predilection for bad boys and a "one-date curse" with potential mates. She'd make a nice neighbor or PTA member.
But Conrad doesn't appear assertive, witty or ingenious. When she meets her idol, fashion designer Marc Jacobs, she can't be bothered to stand up to greet him. Sometimes, she's a passive participant in her own life. "[Producers] can never make you say or do something," Conrad told Entertainment Weekly. "You can always blame editing, but they can't do magic."
If only they could. There's not enough complexity to her, or enough that the cameras are showing, to make the show a pop-culture behemoth. The Hills is MTV's ratings leader, and it's a top-rated cable show among 18-to-34-year-olds, according to Nielsen data. But episodes from the third season, which began airing in August, have topped out at 4.2 million viewers; that doesn't include Web or On Demand viewing. At its peak in 2002, The Osbournes drew an MTV record of 7.8 million viewers.
Like The Osbournes, The Hills benefits from the reflected glamour of its SoCal setting; Conrad frolics at the pool, frequents hot clubs and has helped run Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood parties. But the producers have to turn to the enemies and peripheral characters for dramatic behavior and entertaining dialogue.
The episodes, airing at 10 p.m. Mondays, don't depict the fame or side projects the subjects have developed: Conrad has designed her own fashion line (with MTV's backing), endorses Avon's mark. line of youth-oriented cosmetics and frequents celebrity-studded events. Montag has recorded pop songs in pursuit of a music career. They have appeared on the covers of Us, Seventeen, Teen Vogue and Cosmo Girl.
But DiVello and the other producers maintain the focus on their jobs and social lives. That choice limits the dramatic options in a season that already lacks on-screen tension between Conrad and Montag, who are not talking. (Previews -- and DiVello -- do indicate a killer confrontation in tomorrow's episode.)
"We try to stick to their day-to-day lives and keep the storylines relatable to our audience without playing up their celebrity," he writes. "Otherwise, it would be more of a diary of a reality star."
In doing so, the show gives up some drama and tells its greatest lie -- but as DiVello grasped, that may be its greatest strength as well. Reed puts it this way: "The show sells the idea of Lauren as a young woman making it on her own. She used to be always so hung up on Stephen. She went to college and dropped out after a semester. Now she's making it on her own. If the show acknowledges how the MTV connection makes it happen, then it loses some of its arc.
"The show's only 22 minutes a week, and they have a choice of showing what their lives are really like or showing this dramatic stuff."
And as we all know, what our lives are really like bears little resemblance to must-see TV.
Speidi Party in Vegas!
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt spent their Friday night (Nov. 9th) partying it up at Jet nightclub in Las Vegas.The dubbed "gruesome twosome", who both partake it MTV's 'reality' show The Hills, were spotted drinking and dirty dancing - with no traces of Heidi's recent blow-out with nemesis Lauren Conrad lingering. According to reports by Us Weekly, the feud between Montag and Conrad takes an even worse turn on the upcoming episode (Monday Nov 12th). In an exclusive sneak peek, Lauren confronts Heidi about spreading the sex tape rumours that circulated earlier this year when the two ran into each other (accidentally, apparently) at favorite hangout Les Deux.
Conrad fumes, "You think it’s OK for someone to say those things about people, and go on and think it’s funny?" whilst co-stars Audrina Partridge and Whitney Port watch nervously.
"I had nothing to do with you and anything that you've done with your ex-boyfriend!" Montag yells back, although without denying her involvement in the rumours. Lauren shoots back, "You can keep saying that and make yourself think you're a good person, but you're a bad person!" Catch all the drama on Monday's episode.
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