The Hills Are Alive…
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008Well into its third season now and more popular than ever, The Hills continues to be one of my favorite guilty pleasures, ideal and therapeutic television for a Monday night. What’s not to love? The “real” life trials and tribulations of 4 attractive L.A. gals is like the equivalent of flipping through a glossy fashion magazine while sipping on a cocktail. Everyone looks like they have their own stylist and each episode not only gives you a healthy dose of background music but also conveniently provides the name of the artist and song in the right hand corner of the screen. No need goes unfulfilled during this half hour of television!
But how much longer can the show go before the audience is over The Hills? This season has been an interesting one—Whitney and Lauren’s Paris trip, Heidi and Spencer’s “relationship vacation”, Lauren and Stephanie (Spencer’s sister) becoming friends, Audrina, Lauren and Lo talking about sharing a house together, etc…–but I wonder if the writers (oh wait, I forgot, this is “reality” tv!—ha ha) are running out of fresh ideas? Is reconciliation in store for the audience where Lauren and Heidi are concerned; or a season finale cat fight between the two gals? (I’m hoping for it to start as the former but end up as the latter, of course. What can I say, I want it all!) Will one of the characters realize that she’s a lipstick lesbian? Will another realize that she’s not a natural blonde? How about a drunken night that finds one of the characters—other than Heidi, that is—pregnant with Spencer’s demon baby? Will more (or any) focus be placed on either Heidi’s singing (and I use that term loosely; you’ll know why if you’ve heard her wretched song “Higher” or seen the equally painful video to it, shot and directed by none other than Spencer) career, or Lauren emerging as a clothing designer? Or would that be getting too close to reality?
One other thing I’m wondering about The Hills—and I hope someone will correct me if I’m wrong—but why don’t any of these fabulous gals have any fag friends? I mean, given that Whitney and Lauren are involved in the world of fashion, you would think that at some point either would have bonded with some cute gent who likes cock. For a show that has all of its other bases covered, some gay content seems to be the only thing missing.
Could The Hills be homophobic? With the absence of anything “gay”, it kind of makes you wonder. Doesn’t it?
Cheerio!
S.R.









