But with a return as The Hills: New Beginnings, can it recapture soap-y cinematic magic?
The Hills is returning during an era of reality TV being bigger than ever - Love Island is a cultural juggernaut that ignites endless conversation, while Hayu runs a dedicated streaming service for big name reality shows.
A spin-off from the MTV hit Laguna Beach (inspired by teen drama The OC), nobody could have predicted just how huge The Hills would be. A reality show shot like a glossy Hollywood movie, it made Lauren Conrad and her perfectly coiffed pals megastars in a blank but oddly compelling soap many of us couldn’t resist.
For me, a college student who had MTV on heavy rotation all day, The Hills soon became the perfect pop culture obsession. Sure, it was an addictive slice of TV cheese but trying to figure out how it was made was half the battle. How much of it was fake? How much of the frequent drama was genuine hurt and not just made for TV? And how do you shoot a show about real people doing normal things but have everything look so glossy? It toyed with the idea of performing everyday life years before Instagram turned into a sport we all engage in at brunch.