The City on MTV: Will it Be Worth Watching?

There is a new spin-off of The Hills that is coming to MTV on Dec. 29, called The City. This new show will follow the life of The Hills cast member Whitney Port as she makes her move to New York City to pursue her fashion career. I believe The City on MTV is long overdue.

After a couple of seasons, I have stopped watching The Hills on MTV because, in short, it has become painfully trite. It's simply the same dramas, conversations, and scenarios regurgitated episode after episode. I've had just about enough of watching rich kids enjoy themselves on the beach, party, and talk about themselves. Is that all there is to life? Everything seems to be handed to them on a silver platter without much effort. I don't want to see that type of show. So the question I'm posing for myself, and other previous Hills fans is, will The City be worth watching?

My premature answer is DEFINITELY. Here are some reasons why I think The City will be more interesting than The Hills and worth catching on a regular basis.

More Direct Dialogue

People in LA are... different. From what I've seen on The Hills, the people on that show tend to talk around their issues with others or they simply choose to not talk directly to the person they have a problem with at all. Instead, they'll wait until the other person's back is squarely turned before saying something. People on The Hills will let a problem stew and circulate for days and even weeks before finally confronting it head on. Not so in New York City.

New York people have a tendency to tell each other exactly what's on their mind, right there and then. There is no beating around the bush. If a New Yorker doesn't like you there's no mistaking it. So I think The City will be different because of the people, New York people, my kind of folks. I have a feeling that on just about every episode of The City someone will be getting "told off."

New York City is More Fast-Paced

In the Hills of Los Angeles there's a lot that goes on, but it is generally slow compared to New York City. I believe that The City will one up The Hills TV show because of the faster pace that comes with living in Manhattan. People in New York City don't have time to leisurely enjoy two hour sit downs at their local café. They've got to keep moving. The city is always in movement, and things are constantly happening. So I am predicting that The City will be more action packed and fun to watch because of the increased pace of things.

More Diverse People

Finally, I think that the fact that New York City is the largest city in the United States (with Los Angeles coming in at a far second) as far as population is another reason why The City will be worth watching. There are approximately 26,000 people in every square mile of New York City, so the likelihood of crossing the path of an interesting person is very high. I believe that Whitney will come across a wide variety of interesting people during her stay in New York.

Also, the fact that New York City is so much more diverse than the area where The Hills is shot will be a very big factor to its success. The MTV audience is diverse, so of course they will want to see various cultures and races represented on MTV shows. New York City is full of people from all types of backgrounds; Latino, Black, Asian, and International --- hopefully MTV and Port saw the value in including the whole "melting pot" of New York City in this new show.

I definitely have been watching MTV less and less because of the decline in the quality of their programming, but if The City on MTV based in New York City turns out to be even just halfway good, I will probably watch it faithfully.