The Prestige TV Podcast - 'The Hills'

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Just like 'The Challenge,' 'The Hills' also has its very own channel on Pluto TV, and Bill Simmons spent an entire weekend binge-watching it. Hosts: Bill Simmons and Juliet Litman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now through May 6th. Exclusion supplies to homedipo.com slash price match for details. TV concierge Bill Simmons here with Juliet Lippman. I blame her for ruining my Memorial Day weekend by telling me about Pluto, which we covered here last week on TV conciergeers. They have all these channels, these binge watch channels, and there's commercials.

It's free. But they have a Hills channel. And my daughter hadn't really ever gotten into the hills. And about 40 episodes later, we've been clowning into it. The problem is it's not on demand. So you just kind of kind of go in. It's like sports. It's like having a game on. And in a way, it is sports. But what an incredible show. Really, like, I'm not ashamed to admit. I'm a huge fan. The rewatch value is really, really high. I feel like every time I see an episode, I both am reminded of something that I loved at the time and also see something new that I didn't see before.

Also, I didn't live in L.A. The first time I watched the show. So now I'm like, oh, I know where that is. Oh, I know where that is. And it's really exciting. Like, when they have the fashion show at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, like incredibly, I was just so delighted to see it.

Well, it's like a home movie. It's like home movies of L.A. because the first season's 06. Yeah. And some of the places they go to, it's just classic. Like there's a big Gisha House episode. I was like, yeah, Gisha House was kind of a thing in the mid-2000s for about a year. But all the clubs they go to are all these, you realize, like, how cyclical everything is.

So cyclical. In the episode where Lauren and Whitney go to Paris, Laura gets a phone call from Audrina because Brody's with another girl at LaDoo. And she calls her to interrupt. I was like, the hills made Laudeau like a big thing because I guess they got to film there and they mentioned it or whatever. And I was like, oh, right, Laudeau. It doesn't exist anymore. It's just so funny.

We watched all of season one, my daughter and I for six straight hours as I was doing. I was kind of half working, but half watching. And there's a whole grove scene at one point. And it's like the 06 version of the grove. But I got to say, season one is a remarkable reality achievement because I'm not positive. everybody involved kind of knew it was going on. No. It's like Heidi, who is LeBron that season.

She's basically like 2007 LeBron. She's incredible. She gets a job at Bolt House productions and she's an assistant but doesn't realize the concept of paying her dues, all that stuff. But she dates this guy and at the end they break up and he like cries on camera. Like she basically really dumps him. And we never saw that guy again. I think he probably moved to like New Zealand.

right, just to get away? It was almost like he didn't know the cameras were there. His name was Jordan, and he wore a wedding band, but on his middle finger, not on like his ring finger. And it was a really aggressive move. There's one episode I watched today where they like go to like Don Antonio's or somewhere for their anniversary. And his ring is so conspicuous.

And I'm like, is he trying to make it clear his husband material? Like, what's he doing? But yeah, his name was Jordan. And he was immediately eclipsed by Spencer. next season. She dumped him. And then Spencer's still around. I mean, Jordan must be so jealous. Spencer comes in hot in the beginning of season two and goes on a date with a dream on all that. But, you know, the two best whole seasons, I'm doing this mostly from memory, but also from all the shows we watched the last few days. Season one is great. I stand by season one. She starts dating Jason who clearly has some sort of drug issue as,

which to nobody's surprise, it comes out after. But they have that, the famous person, birthday party episode where he keeps leaving and go to the bathroom and he's just a complete mess. And then I got to say that they revived it with Kristen Cavaleri when she comes back. And she gets involved with Brody. And my daughter was riveted because my daughter loves Siesta Key. That's her generation. And she's like, wow, this show's like Cesta Key. And I was like, you hold your tongue, Missy.

Cesta Key is like the Hills. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. The Hills is not like CST Key. You can't say that. So what does she think about Heidi and what does she think about Lauren and Kristen? Like, you know, 10 years later, who holds up the best? Well, I would say in season one, the Lauren Heidi relationship, their friendship is a really strong early 20s, like late.

Lauren's like 20. Heidi's probably like 20 and 22. Just a really strong friendship. Yeah. They're really there for each other. And like Lauren has a fight at a bar and she leaves. And Heidi's like, I got to go with Lauren. leaves. And they really were best friends. So it sets up when Spencer comes in and he's blowing up

a relationship left and right. He's like James Dolan owning the Knicks. Just wreckage everywhere. And blows that one up. And it's kind of tragic when you watch season one. It's really sad. It's like they really were close. The funny thing about Lauren and Heidi is it shows the best part of having a roommate when you're in your 20s, which is like for the next, and the best part of having a roommate when like your young woman is before you go out and the morning after. It's for like, you know, for getting ready together and the post-mortem. And the Hills captured that really well. And they lose that when Heidi and Lauren, like, have the falling out.

But it's a perfect trajectory of what it's like to have a roommate. And like when you reach the point where you're like, I'm done here. No more roommates for me. I'm going solo. Right. And also like how your friends can just change dramatically in that window from like 21 to 26. Like you're going out with somebody all the time. You're close.

And then a year later, you don't see them at all. You know what happened to them. It's like, what happened to that person? The people who get married young and put their like 25-year-old friends in their wedding, by the time it hit like 30, they're like, well, we're not friends anymore. Why is this person in my wedding? Huge mistake. Huge, huge mistake.

Brody, my wife just thinks he was the total package. Not just like handsome, but just like for what that show needed, played it perfectly, was never too attached to anyone. Everyone liked them. And as she said, really good at faking a real genuine attraction and, Lauren Conrad. Oh. Which, because my wife was like Lauren Conrad and Brody, no way.

Lauren Conrad's not like the most, you know, sexual, basic instinct type of person. And Brody gravitates toward like, Jade, the playboy playmate and stuff like that. It's like, clearly Lauren's not somebody he would be interested in. Lauren's not a bottle girl. I've always been on Team Lauren and she's not a bottle girl, you know, she's not. Good way to put it. Yeah. And, you know, it's just, it's another LA archetype and that's not her.

I've always been Team Lauren. but what's hard when you rewatch the hills on Pluto is while I remain team Lauren, you have to acknowledge that she's objectively such a pill. Like, she's just not fun. Lauren is the one who's always crying. She is the one who's always, like, has the drama. And I think that's partially from the show,

but I think that's also just Lauren. Like, I'm not sure that Lauren is the fun one of the bunch, but Heidi clearly is. Oh, yeah. My daughter, after watching every season one episode for six straight hours, was like, does Lawrence suck? And I was like, well, just wait, because it gets worse. We just actually saw probably the most fun version of Lauren.

Yeah. I mean, nice person. I think the big winner of the rewatch show is Whitney. Oh, yeah. I mean, she was a winner at the time, too. She got to rise above it. She got to walk in the fashion show. She made all the right choices.

She wasn't late because of Jason Waller. When you see Lauren making the unforced errors because of her stupid boyfriend. It's just like be more like Whitney. What are you doing? Yeah. And then the Heidi transformation over the four years or whatever is, she was so cute. It was like, talk about people who didn't need to have 15 plastic surgeries. So funny. I know. When did it shift to become way more contrived and formulaic in your opinion? Because I feel like the first season was pretty authentic. I agree. I think seasons one and season two were pretty authentic. I think, Kelly Catron comes in season three.

That's when people's rev starts. And that's when I think it's sort of like, oh, this is more stage. Because it's just got more famous. It's kind of like what happened to bander pumps. Like when you have to start clearing legitimate locations and they can't just like be anonymous when they go. Like it's not just like, oh, another film crew here in L.A., but like, oh, is that the Hills filming?

Then it becomes less authentic, essentially. And I think when when Audrina became a bigger character is when it became less authentic. And you could tell because Autrinna is a really bad actress. Oh, my God. Adrina has a roller coaster ride as this goes along. In the beginning, she basically, nobody knew why she was on the show. It was like they just were grabbing another body. She had no personality at all.

And then they would try to spice it up by having her be in love triangles and stuff. But then Justin Bobby shows up. Justin Bobby, incredible character. He's aged really nicely. Yeah. He also, like, remains the same. He's like, obviously the bad boy that you shouldn't get involved with. But like, that's a timeless archetype.

So Justin Bobby 2006 works for Justin Bobby 2021. Right down in two, he's in a terrible band. It's like, let's go see his terrible band play. Oh, good job with the drums, Justin Bobby. And riding motorcycles. Thank you to Low Bosworth for naming him, Justin Bobby. She did so much for the culture. Low Bosworth, another winner.

Oh, absolutely. And, you know, she has like a whole wellness line now. Yeah. Oh, and Lauren, like, though they may have been less fun, they really made something of themselves. And also, can you believe that Heidi subjected her family to this television show? When they go to Colorado and they show her mom, it's like very upsetting. And her mom's crying, but from all the plastic surgery. The three biggest losers are Heidi's family, Jen Bunny, who comes in, who's like, has a cup of coffee there where she's kind of one of the regulars all of a sudden.

She's hanging out with Lauren and Heidi. And my daughter was like, so what happened to this one? I was like, oh, just wait. And then she crosses Lauren. makes out with Brody. And then she's like excommunicated. Yeah, she's off. She's basically like another country. Yeah, the law of the hills is if you make a move on somebody else's, you're out. Not only you're out with the friendship, you're off the show.

So that led to a different policing of how people behave. But she was a big loser. And then Holly, was that her name? Yes, Holly Montagg, sister of Heidi. Heidi's older sister just goes off the rails. And she's like at parties and Dan. by herself. And even when people in the hills are looking at you going, uh-oh,

you know you're in trouble. Only a couple people hit it. But she definitely hit that point of like, oh, God, what's going on with her? She's the, like, the family member, one of the first family members who was, like, too excited to be on TV. Now we get them all the time, like Peter's mom on The Bachelor. But like when you have a family member who's more excited than you are for the cameras to be around, it's a problem.

And then you combine it with substances that we don't know what they are, but have to assume there's something going on, then it's a bad, it's a bad side. It's a wonderful era. This 2006 to 2010, you got Us Weekly's thriving and the Kardashians are taken off, like for the gossip culture. And this really, the Lauren Heidi thing, first of all, the fight at the party, which I, we didn't, we didn't see those yet, but they show the promo all the time of they say forgive and forget, I forgive you, but I'm also going to forget you.

It's so well scripted. It was written by like Robert Town and William Goldman wrote her lines for that. And with tears on her face with the mascara running. Lauren is an epic, an epic cry face. It's not like an ugly cry like when people shouldn't be on TV, but it's like a really dramatic cry. Sad Lauren makes me really upset. Sad Lauren almost looks like when like when my kids were young and they would get upset.

And it just like breaks your heart that they're sad. Yeah. It's the saddest face. Very expressive eyes. I also really enjoy the fashions. Like seeing Lauren's fashion evolution, when she was wearing like caprice, like rolled up to her mid-calf, I was just like, like, it looks like a European man from France. Just like not a good look, Lauren.

My daughter commented on that because simultaneously she was watching Gossip Girl and she really liked the fashion and season one of Gossip Girl and wondered why that didn't come back. But this Hill stuff, especially 0607, the super low jeans and the stuff, she was like, this is terror. This will never come back. Terrible. Rough times. Great era of reality TV, 06, 07.

Of television in general, not just reality. The final scene, which then it turned out to be shot in a Hollywood lot, which was their wink wink at people who said it was all scripted, is actually pretty good. I thought I'd forgotten they'd done it. I was taking it back. And I was surprised. It was a good way of acknowledging like the end of an era and like they were in on the joke.

And the Hiltz was just well done. on television, like just really well executed for, you know, who cares if it's scripted. I mean, whatever. It's entertaining. And like, it's still these people who you get to know. But they did a great job of owning what their show was. And I mean, it's a paradigm show. There should have been more of them.

And I'm glad CSTA Key has some momentum now. But I just feel like this model where you don't really know what's real and what's not real. Everybody looks good. Everybody's fighting. There's love triangles left and right. There's bad behavior. People are going off the rail.

I'm in. Keep it coming. That's why Vanderpump works. And this is why they need to move on from the current Vanderpump cast. Once they move out of their shitty apartments in West Hollywood, they're done. Like, you can't live in a nice house and be on this kind of show.

True. That's part of why the Hills is awesome fun. They're like, the Westside villas and all of their, like, random apartments and like the stupid complexes in Century City in West Hollywood. But there's always new people who move to L.A. at, and like, are aspirational.

Like, there's a Hyde Montag out there right now stuck in her apartment. Let's get some cameras on her. Dump them out. Yeah, we should also mention they call it the Hillside Villas and make it seem like it's in Hollywood Hills. But meanwhile, it's Park LaBray in the Grove. Completely flat. They make it seem like it's some palace of the hills. Listen, it's a tremendous rewatch. And the thing that I like the most is that it's just on all the time. All the time. It's always odd. And there's also the challenge channel, which we covered last week here. But it's just crazy that this stuff is on 24-7 and available and free. I'm an insomniac. So it's really comforting for me. I can just turn it. on at 430. Well, congratulations. We should mention we don't own any Pluto stock. We have no incentives to push Pluto. We're just glad it exists. I might buy some. I'm really into it. There you go. TV concierge, Bill Simmons, that's Julieta Limon. We'll see you next time.