The Hills Lives On Even When the Credits Roll

While talking to my best friend Brian about what to write today, he said, "How about you talk about how The Hills is just like the WWE and everyone is going to feel stupid when it's finally known that it was all just a joke."

Brian, I love you buddy, but oh how silly you are.

Whether or not The Hills is real is not the issue. The Hills is, and always will be, beyond fabulous. (Besides, I don't care if it's a little scripted. In my mind, as a fan, I will always convince myself it's real.)

Originally I was just going to write about how The Hills is one of the best shows on TV, but I think I must get back to this issue of its reality quite quickly. Why? Because my boyfriend just said, "The Hills is wicked fake! You think Spencer proposed to Heidi because he loves her or because he's then guaranteed to be on another season?"

I have two issues here. First, Spencer probably proposed to enhance his (non-deserved) fame. But that doesn't make it fake. In real life he still proposed to Heidi and she still has her fake ring.

Issue number two: my boyfriend knew that Spencer proposed to Heidi. His excuse? "I would never have known if my girlfriend didn't write about TV." I don't buy it. Most people in their teens and twenties (and often older than that) know what's going on with The Hills because they watch it, watch it but won't admit it, or hear the constant gossip surrounding it. Either way, The Hills definitely makes its impact.

In addition, when I first said to Brian, "I'm trying to decide what I want to write about today," his immediate reaction was The Hills. My point? It's on people's minds... even people's minds who don't watch the show.

It's almost the beauty of The Hills (and the past Laguna Beach seasons) that viewers aren't totally sure if what they're watching is real or not. And within that lies our ability to make of it what we want. If you want to be like my friend Brian, who said, "I had an Uncle who used to think wrestling was real back in the 80's. You couldn't bring it up, he'd get so mad. You girls are just as silly with these shows now," then fine. And if you want to be like me, and believe that The Hills is great entertainment and mostly, mostly real, then that is fine too (and you'll have a lot more fun with the show that way).

Either way you look at it, The Hills is television entertainment at its finest. (As the good old boyfriend said... "That's all it is: girls talking about their nonexistent real world problems." Isn't that what we love? All the fun drama and gossip that we don't actually have to deal with?) And for the true The Hills lovers, the gossip and entertainment extends past the show. When we watch MTV, we get the fascinating storylines of Heidi and Spencer's whacked out relationship. We see Lauren disliking her newest roommate's boyfriend. We observe Whitney as Lauren's boss (although we haven't seen her boss her around yet), and we are privy to Audrina's boy problems.

Heidi with her new engagement ring
Photo Courtesy of MTV

Then when the MTV video cameras stop, the tabloid and paparazzi cameras, and sometimes even legit news sources, pick up where MTV left off. PerezHilton.com and TMZ.com broke the news that Heidi's ring is a fake... or at least not the $100,000 ring that Spencer claimed it to be on the show. Then again, we knew Heidi and Spencer were engaged before the show even aired. That then made watching it on TV even better because we finally got to see how it played out. How often do we read stories about celebrities (or should I say "celebrities") and never know how it really went down? With The Hills we get to see it in live action. It's truly wonderful.

Last season we knew that Lauren and Jason had broken up (thank you, tabloids) before we saw it on TV. And, fans couldn't wait for that season to air so we could finally see the aftermath of their breakup. Now that the "cast" of The Hills have become celebrities, the publicity is never ending. A good thing for fans; perhaps a not-so-good thing for the cast (especially when rumors start flying about a Lauren and Jason sex tape... which also got covered on the show post-rumors). Love it.

Recently there's been tons of hullabaloo since Ryan Seacrest's radio show aired the "not supposed to be leaked single" with Heidi singing and Spencer rapping. Of course, the couple immediately came out saying that wasn't her actual single, but now, only a few days, later it's now on Heidi's official MySpace page. (By the way, it's terrible and will ruin your ear drums. Yes, I did listen to it.) There are constant radio interviews and magazine interviews with Lauren and Heidi and Spencer (the couple does separate interviews from Lauren of course), as they constantly argue through the media. It makes for great drama and further engages fans in the show's stars' lives.

I'm sure MTV couldn't be happier, getting all this extra publicity, but I think it pleases the fans even more, knowing that their favorite show goes on nonstop. We used to live in a world where reality shows were the new big thing. Now we live in a world where reality shows don't end when the credits roll. They continue to infiltrate your minds through every other outlet there is. Most fans enjoy this, as it provides plenty of fodder for us to talk about in between new airings. What do you think?

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