OH-MY-GOSH! It’s like, </i>The Hills</i>!

            Every Monday night, teens and tweens around the country gather around their television sets, change the channel to MTV, and bask in the glory of the network’s smash hit, </i>The Hills</i>. Since its debut four years ago, </i>The Hills</i> has been a cultural staple, and a teen sensation. Originally, the show centered around Lauren Conrad, a spoiled Laguna Beach “princess” who made the big trek to Los Angeles after graduating from high school. She began to live with her “BFF” Heidi Montag, and acquaintance Audrina Patridge. Lauren began an “internship” at Teen Vogue, and met new “BFF” Whitney Port. Together, the four girls made up a cast full of clashing personalities, drama, and “richness.”

            Throughout its now five-year run, the show has added many new faces. Heidi began to date Spencer Pratt, a self-proclaimed “tool,” and Lauren had a short “fling” with teen heartthrob Brody Jenner. Lauren’s childhood friend Lo also came along for the ride, and Audrina’s bad-boy boyfriend, Justin Bobby, taught America’s male population how not to treat a woman.

            Of course, the show would not be complete without drama. The main conflict comes from the developed feud between Lauren and Heidi, who because of Spencer’s bad behavior, stopped being friends and split the social group in two. Relationships also develop into drama, with Lauren dating Brody, his friend Doug, and other unnamed men. Heidi and Spencer seem to break-up, and make-up daily, and Audrina is constantly disappointed by the behavior of her first-love, Justin.

            On this week’s episode, Heidi and Spencer continued to fight over his fling with a bartender, and the couple continued to visit a therapist. Spencer, as usual, believes he is perfect, and refuses to try and work on his relationship with Heidi (even though America knows the couple had a grand wedding in real life two weeks ago). Audrina finally told Justin Bobby she never wanted to see him again, and he continued to sweet-talk her and beg for her forgiveness. The biggest drama seemed to come from the “hook-up” between Audrina and Brody in Hawaii because of the fact that Brody was in a current relationship with Playboy Playmate, Jayde. Even though Brody’s girlfriend was infuriated by the situation, she is not willing to give up what they had.

            Even though the show may be a guilty pleasure, and it may be brainless fun, the stupidity shown every episode is insulting. For some strange reason, Americans cannot get rid of their infatuations with pretty, dumb twenty-somethings who only get by on their good looks. The worst aspect of the show is its false nature. Almost every story line on the show is false. Why is it that Lauren and Heidi always bump into each other, even though they have a feud? Why is it that Heidi would catch Spencer’s sister hanging out with Lauren at one of over two-hundred clubs in the greater Los Angeles area? The answer is that in order for ratings and good television, the producers are forced to create situations, and make stories that are worth watching.

            One may notice all of the words in quotations used in the paragraphs above, and the reason is that these words exemplify how fake and moronic the show is. Because of Lauren’s exit from the show in June, the show will hopefully crash and burn into the cultural melting-pot.

(2 out of 5 stars)