California Today: Revisiting ‘The Hills’ in 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/us/the-hills-reboot-california.html

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On Monday night, MTV debuted “The Hills: New Beginnings.”

It’s a revival of “The Hills,” a show that pioneered a specific style of unreal reality television and made pre-Instagram influencers out of a group of SoCal teenagers some of us had watched hone their dramatic chops on “Laguna Beach.”

For my colleague Brooks Barnes — as it certainly was for lots of viewers — “The Hills” was hate-watch catnip with a view. Here he is on the reboot:

“I’m excited to be reconnecting with this group of friends,” one woman on MTV’s sequel to “The Hills” said during the first episode on Monday night.

I wanted to believe her — an affirmation of my decision to tune in. But even she sounded skeptical. Her words came out as the verbal equivalent of a forced smile, the kind you give people at a high school reunion after realizing that you have nothing in common with them anymore.

“The Hills” was one of the most popular reality shows of the aughts. It chronicled the personal and professional lives of young Angelinos: Heidi, Spencer, Audrina, Lauren, Brody and the rest of their privileged, all-white crew. Tequila shots and petty fights for everybody!

I lived in New York in 2006, when “The Hills” first arrived, and I watched with hate and envy. Most of the people on the show were revolting. But I loved how “The Hills” created a sense of place. It brought the postcards to life — slow-motion footage of crashing waves, sweeping aerial shots of the Santa Monica Mountains, palm trees swaying against orange sunsets.

I moved to Los Angeles the next year, and it didn’t take me long to realize that “The Hills” didn’t celebrate L.A. as much as insult it. By repackaging all of the old stereotypes — namely the city as a play pen for the rich and (wannabe) famous — MTV missed a chance to show off Southern California’s true splendor, starting with its diversity. The series ended in 2010.

[Read more about the making of “The Hills: New Beginnings.”]

Now nine years crankier (wiser?), I had no intention of watching “The Hills: New Beginnings,” which reunites most of the cast and adds some new faces. But MTV is very good at what it does, and the network’s promotional push eventually wore me down: What has Audrina been up to?

As it turns out, she still hasn’t found true love — cut to her still wiping away tears. Her “Hills” pals still spend a lot of time bickering and drinking wine from glasses the size of their heads. The women still teeter around in stilettos and the guys still slither in and out of luxury cars. Brody is still a bro, dude.

And white people still seem to be the only people in L.A.

“New Beginnings”? More like “The Hills: Stuck in a Time Warp,” especially when there are newer shows like “Insecure” on HBO and “Vida” on Starz that better reflect Los Angeles life in 2019. Have you watched? What shows do you think do a good job of capturing the city? Tell us at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

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• Firefighters are hoping that big data and artificial intelligence can help battle bigger blazes. [The New York Times]

• If you missed it, researchers are also using high-def cameras to figure out where fires are burning. [The New York Times]

• At one of the Central Valley’s biggest commercial nurseries — one of the largest in the world — tiny trees are being subjected to the kinds of stresses those crops are facing outside: declining water, escalating salt. It’s part of a reckoning in agriculture over climate change. [Bay Nature]

• The wife, daughter and other relatives of a suspected gunman in San Jose fled to neighbors’ homes as shots rang out. By the time the violence Sunday night was over, the police say the man had killed four family members and himself in one of the deadliest shootings in the city’s history. [The Mercury News]

• Multiple women have accused Bill Brough, an assemblyman from Dana Point, of unwanted and aggressive sexual advances, prompting the Orange County Republican Party to consider not endorsing Mr. Brough in his re-election campaign. He has denied the allegations. [The Orange County Register]

• Stanford University said it would spend $4.7 billion on affordable housing, transit and public education in the community surrounding its campus, as the institution plans to expand. Some say the commitment isn’t enough. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• Monday was not good for fresh tech company stock. Zoom and Beyond Meat took dives. [CNBC]

• Scamp the Tramp, who was crowned World’s Ugliest Dog last week at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, comes from a family of winners. [The New York Times]

• For 90 minutes on Monday, the Americans got a glimpse of the future of women’s soccer in the Spanish team, and, for another night, they succeeded in keeping it at bay. The U.S. will advance to the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals, facing France on Friday. [The New York Times]

• The Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach has been a West Coast jazz hub for 70 years. (Plus, it was in “La La Land.”) [The Daily Breeze]

Theme songs for TV shows have a potent nostalgic power. And the mind-bending addition of Mischa Barton to the new “Hills” cast immediately surfaced one wedged deep in my psyche: “California,” by Phantom Planet, a band that, according to Billboard, is plotting its own revival after a yearslong hiatus.

If you watched “The O.C.,” I don’t need to explain why.

For lots of you, the cut has also become a beloved California song in its own right, so we’re adding it to our playlist. Depending on how you felt about the show, your appreciation may have started out ironic — until you found yourself unironically belting out the chorus.

“It may seem too on the nose, but that’s literally what makes this song,” wrote Brice Yocum, a 48-year-old who lives outside Visalia. “Whenever I travel, I always play this song as I return to California. It puts a smile on my face and reminds me I’m home.”

Click here to open the California Soundtrack Spotify playlist.

California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here.

Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.