The Hills (TV series)
The Hills is an American reality television series that aired for six seasons on MTV from May 31, 2006, until July 13, 2010. Developed as a spin-off of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, the series aired six seasons and focused on the personal and professional lives of several young women and men residing in Los Angeles, California. Its premise was conceived by Adam DiVello, while Liz Gateley and Sean Travis served as executive producers.
This article is about the original series that aired from 2006 until 2010. For the revival series that premiered in 2019, see The Hills: New Beginnings.The Hills
- Lauren Conrad
- Kristin Cavallari
- Natasha Bedingfield
- Danielle Brisebois
- Wayne Rodrigues
United States
English
6
102 (list of episodes)
- Liz Gateley
- Sean Travis
Multiple
25–60 minutes
Done and Done Productions
May 31, 2006 –
July 13, 2010
The series originally focused on Lauren Conrad, who appeared in its predecessor, as she pursued a career in the fashion industry. It additionally placed emphasis on her housemate Heidi Montag and their friends Audrina Patridge and Whitney Port. Conrad's friend Lo Bosworth and Montag's boyfriend Spencer Pratt developed major positions as part of the supporting cast in the second season, while his sister Stephanie Pratt was added in the third. Port left the series at the conclusion of the fourth season, moving to New York City and starring in her own spin-off, The City, which aired for two seasons.
Looking to pursue other career opportunities, Conrad left the series halfway through the fifth season, and was subsequently replaced by fellow Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County cast member Kristin Cavallari. Bosworth and Stephanie Pratt joined Cavallari and Patridge as primary cast members in the sixth and final season, while Montag and her husband Pratt were removed from the series after displaying erratic behavior. Conrad briefly returned to the series during an alternate ending for its finale.
The Hills received moderately favorable reviews from critics, and has been recognized as a "guilty pleasure" by several media outlets. However, the series was often criticized for tending towards a narrative format more commonly seen in scripted genres including soap operas, and appearing to fabricate much of its storyline. The show has produced several spin-offs, as well as distributed all seasons to DVD. Since its conclusion, the special The Hills: That Was Then, This Is Now starring Conrad was aired on August 2, 2016, and the sequel series The Hills: New Beginnings premiered on June 24, 2019.
Conception[edit]
In 2004, the reality television series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County premiered on MTV.[1] The program was created by Liz Gateley and documented the lives of several students attending Laguna Beach High School as they completed secondary education.[2] The series proved among the network's most successful programming,[3] though the entire original cast left after the second season and were replaced by another group of teenagers for the following season.[4]
Television producer Adam DiVello developed the spin-off program The Hills to follow one of its predecessor's original cast members, Lauren Conrad, as she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the fashion industry.[5]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
The Hills received lukewarm reviews among critics. The series' first season holds a score of 52 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on eight reviews.[66] Robert Abele of LA Weekly complimented the program for being "insanely watchable",[67] while Variety's Brian Lowry criticized the storylines as being "as old as they come".[68] The second season garnered more favorable feedback, with Virginia Heffnernan of The New York Times opining that Conrad "now registers as charm".[69] After the falling-out between Conrad and Montag in the third season, Heffernan also commented that The Hills "is more convincing than Friends and just about any other comedy about female relationships because—as anyone who has ever been a young woman knows—undying friendships die".[70]
The decision to replace the departing Conrad with Cavallari halfway through the fifth season was met with a mixed response. Tim Stack of Entertainment Weekly expressed interest in the route the series would take, writing that the latter would "be fully prepared to stir things up".[71] After the premiere of the first episode under her lead, a writer from PopSugar criticized Cavallari's "sassy, bad-girl attitude" for lacking originality and preferred Conrad for "[keeping] it real".[72] In contrast, Amy Kaufman from Los Angeles Times opined that Cavallari was more intriguing than Conrad, whose storylines she felt had been overshadowed as the series progressed.[73]
The original series finale during the sixth season garnered a generally negative critical response. Emily Exton from Entertainment Weekly described it as "probably a bit confusing" for the series' earlier viewers, in light of the casting adjustments in later seasons.[74] A writer for Gawker criticized that "as the camera zooms out into the South California nothingness, nothing has changed, and neither audience nor cast is for the better".[75] However, a writer from People was more positive, feeling that the conclusion was a "surprise twist".[76]
Similarly, critics were ambivalent towards the alternate finale. Jenna Mullins from E! praised Conrad's return as being "shocking and glorious at the same time", and felt that "clearly [viewers] should all prefer the ending with Lauren Conrad".[77] Kaitlin Reilly from Bustle described the suggestion of another love triangle involving Conrad and Cavallari to "[feel] vaguely like the ending to a horror movie" in that "it's starting again", but nonetheless appreciated the ending as "a wink to loyal fans".[78] Billy Niles from Zap2It noted that there was "no winking nod to a soundstage", and opined that "nothing that freaking awesome happened".[79] Sonya Sorich of the Ledger-Enquirer preferred the original conclusion, commenting that the revised clip was not as "startling" as the first.[80] Lindsey Weber from Vulture suggested that the footage felt like a "total soap opera" in that it seemingly acknowledged that portions of the series were fabricated.[81]
During its run, The Hills received several accolades from media outlets. It was recognized at number 82 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 New TV Classics.[82] The series has been labeled as a guilty pleasure by writers for HuffPost,[83] MSN,[84] and BuzzSugar.[85]
Broadcast history[edit]
The Hills' first season commenced airing on May 31, 2006.[32] The series continued to air on Wednesday evenings until its conclusion on August 2, 2006, at which point it had aired ten episodes.[35][106] The second season was expanded to twelve episodes and premiered on January 15, 2007, in its new timeslot on Mondays.[36][106] The finale aired on April 2, 2007.[40] The third season began airing on August 13, 2007, where it remained in the timeslot of the previous season.[41][106] It is the longest season in the series' history, having broadcast twenty-eight episodes by its finale on May 12, 2008.[47] The fourth season premiered on August 18, 2008, during the Monday schedule.[106] It consisted of twenty episodes, and concluded on December 22, 2008.[50]
Airing of the fifth season was divided into two sections, Part I under Conrad's lead,[107] and Part II after Cavallari was confirmed to join the series.[108] Part I premiered on April 6, 2009, in the same timeslot, and concluded after ten episodes on May 31, 2009.[18][106] Part II premiered on September 29, 2009, and continued to air on Tuesday evenings.[28][106] The season aired a total of twenty episodes, split into two equal halves, before finishing on December 1, 2009.[106][109] The sixth season also aired on Tuesdays and premiered on April 27, 2010.[58][106] Twelve episodes later, the series ended its run after a total of 102 episodes on July 13, 2010. On July 30, 2007, The Hills began airing on The N and ran there until 2008.[61] In July 2012, MTV aired a month-long morning marathon of The Hills, titled "Retro Mania".[110] The following year, the marathon was renamed "RetroMTV Brunch", and culminated with the airing of an alternate series finale on August 9, 2013.[111] On August 13, 2016, reruns started to air on MTV's new sister channel MTV Classic. As of December 30, 2016, the series has been removed from the schedule.
The Hills entered off-network syndication in 2009, and the fall of that year, Trifecta Entertainment & Media put it into bearter syndication and aired it on affiliates of Fox, MyNetworkTV, The CW, and Independent stations. However, in fall 2012, the show left local syndication along with Punk'd and Laguna Beach due to lack of ratings.
The Hills: The Soundtrack
Distribution[edit]
The Hills episodes aired regularly on MTV in the United States.[106] Most episodes are approximately thirty minutes,[106] and were broadcast in standard definition.[139] The series' episodes are also available for download at the iTunes Store.[139] The series was available to watch on Hulu from 2016 to September 2023.[140][141] Episodes are currently available for viewing through the official MTV website, with a cable provider log in.[142] The series has been available to watch through Paramount+ since it launched in March 2021.[143] The series, in addition to Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, were premiered in syndication in fall 2009.[144]
Since its debut, Paramount Pictures has released all six seasons of The Hills onto DVD, across seven installments.[145] The first, second, fourth, and sixth seasons' sets each have three discs,[146][147][148][149] while that of the third season includes four.[150] The fifth season's release was divided into Part I and Part II, and are packaged with two discs apiece.[107][108]