Why The City Has Failed to Follow in The Hills Footsteps

This year MTV created a spin-off off their highest rated show, The Hills. This makes sense right? Make something close enough to The Hills since you know people love that, and you'll have ratings gold!

It seems like MTV had the right idea. The Hills is set in one of the country's biggest, beautiful, and most desired cities- Los Angeles. So naturally the spin-off would have to be in the other big, beautiful and desired city full of opportunities- New York.

So what's the difference? Well of course we knew Lauren Conrad at a younger age when she was in high school and filming on the show Laguna Beach. We've had a chance to see Lauren grow through her most formative years.

But more importantly than this, Lauren has captivated the coveted 18-35 year old group and even snagged many viewers in their 40's and beyond. That's largely because Lauren makes mistakes. And she makes them over and over again. She shows her humanity each year on The Hills. This makes some sympathize with her, and others angry at her for making mistakes. But either way...you have an opinion, and you share that opinion with everyone you know who watches The Hills. It's a great conversation starter.

When The Hills began in Season 1, Lauren went back to her boyfriend, Jason Wahler, who cheated on her in high school. Check. We all can relate to that. Going back to someone from our past against out better judgment. Following our heart instead of our mind. Jason Wahler even became a story line in and of himself, getting involved with alcohol and drugs and eventually becoming sober.

Lauren made another mistake when she chose this same cheater and his Malibu beach house over taking an internship in fashion in Paris. Of course some people only say it's a mistake because the relationship with Jason failed. Others would never choose a guy over work, or so they say. Everyone has been in some situation similar, had a friend in one, or can image themselves in the situation and screamed at the TV telling Lauren what she should have done or what they would have done if they were her.

Lauren still wasn't finished making us relate to her. She also stumbled very hard trying to get her career stared in fashion. Enter Heidi Montag. At Lauren's first event working at Teen Vogue magazine, Lauren snuck Heidi into the club. Heidi had an argument with then boyfriend Jordan and made a huge embarrassing scene. This caught the attention of Lauren's stone-faced boss Lisa Love. Lisa, none to happy, gave Lauren her first work reprimand.

And the biggest difference: Enter Spencer Pratt. As much as Lauren feels Spencer ruined her life, he helped it. He created so many rumors and so much drama related to her (namely that she had a sex tape), the show's season 3 ratings skyrocketed. So we watched Lauren because she made mistakes like we all do, but she handled them with grace and came out very successful, like we all strive to do.

To be fair, Whitney Port did make a couple small mistakes on The Hills. She fell on live TV and she was reprimanded for mixing business with pleasure. But on The Hills, we didn't really get to know Whitney like we did Lauren on Laguna Beach. And now, on her new spin-off show, The City, Whitney has it together. She's too together! She's being completely rational with her boyfriend Jay Lyon, not rushing into anything. She has work down to a tee. In fact, her bosses at fashion powerhouse Diane von Furstenberg love love love Whitney. Even though Whitney's only been there for a couple months, she's leading the projects and the workers who have been there longer are assisting her.

Where's the drama? It seems like the cast members of The City (like Olivia who had trouble with her friends in high school, and her cousin Nevan who had trouble with the law), all have old drama but nothing new brewing. I guess we will have to wait for Whitney to fall in love with Nevan. That'd be a mistake worth watching.