The Best Reality TV Is Always the Most Depressing
‘The Hills, New Beginnings’ captures the sad desperation of a group of 30-somethings who were once on top of the world
I love stories about sad failures, especially when characters lack the self-awareness to realize they’re sad failures. This is why I love reality TV (and probably why I’m not a very good friend). The psychology behind my zest for trainwrecks is not deep. You learn it in screenwriting 101: It’s boring to watch characters getting everything they want.
And so I’m here in praise of The Hills, New Beginnings. If the mid-aughts reality TV standard The Hills was about rich kids who had it all, it’s latest reboot, New Beginnings, shows what happens when they flame out. Spencer and Heidi Pratt — or Speidi — blew through $10 million in a few years. Former partyboy Jason Wahler was arrested a bunch of times and is now struggling with sobriety. The same goes for new cast-member Brandon — Pam Anderson’s son. Audrina Patridge is getting out of a bad divorce, and is a newly single mother. Prince of Malibu Brody Jenner’s dad came out as a woman — a woman he doesn’t like and who didn’t even come to his wedding. And former it-girl Mischa Barton, who starred in Laguna Beach’s blueprint The OC, has left the limelight, suffered many a public breakdown, and even…
