The Hills - Series 1 (DVD)

'''So what exactly is The Hills?'''
The Hills isn't a film or TV drama but it is a reality programme produced by MTV. It follows the lives of four girls living in Los Angeles. The show isn't scripted and everything that happens within the show is actually the girls' real life.
Fans of Laguna Beach will already be familiar with Lauren Conrad. After appearing in MTV's reality programme Laguna Beach, Lauren, (or LC as she was formally ...
...a new life in the city.
The Hills is a spin off to Laguna Beach, and also follows three other girls, Heidi, Audrina and Whitney.
The show began filming in August 2006 over a nine month period and shown on MTV before being released onto DVD. Even though it is now two years old, for some reason it has only just been released onto DVD in the UK.

'''Cast'''
'''Lauren Conrad'''
As I mentioned before, The Hills ... more

So what exactly is The Hills?
The Hills isn't a film or TV drama but it is a reality programme produced by MTV. It follows the lives of four girls living in Los Angeles. The show isn't scripted and everything that happens within the show is actually the girls' real life.
Fans of Laguna Beach will already be familiar with Lauren Conrad. After appearing in MTV's reality programme Laguna Beach, Lauren, (or LC as she was formally known by her friends) has moved to Los Angeles for a new life in the city.
The Hills is a spin off to Laguna Beach, and also follows three other girls, Heidi, Audrina and Whitney.
The show began filming in August 2006 over a nine month period and shown on MTV before being released onto DVD. Even though it is now two years old, for some reason it has only just been released onto DVD in the UK.

Cast
Lauren Conrad
As I mentioned before, The Hills is a spin-off to Laguna Beach in which Lauren was a cast member of. Now living in LA, she has to get to grips with a new school, living without her parents in a new city and finding new friends.
I have always been a fan of Lauren, right back to Laguna Beach, and I still do. I think she's somebody to look up to and within the past year has produced her own clothing line.

Heidi Montag
Heidi is Lauren's new best friend who she met at college in San Francisco. She is also Lauren's roommate. I really like Heidi as she is funny, cute and loveable. Viewers who watch The Hills current series will understand how she has changed over the years but during 2006 I really liked her.

Audrina Patridge
Audrina is Heidi and Lauren's first friends in LA. She lives at the same apartment complex as them as is soon hanging out with them. Audrina didn't really get much screen time during the first season, it was mostly when she was involved in Lauren and Heidi's drama, but she has evolved as a cast member over the years.

Whitney Port
Whitney is Lauren's co-worker at Teen Vogue where they are both interning. Like Audrina, we don't get to see into Whitney's personal life that much, but is still a key cast member on the show.

Other cast members
Jason Walher
Jason also starred in Laguna Beach during season two and makes a comeback to The Hills.

Jordan Eubanks
Jordan is Heidi's boyfriend.

The Show
The show kicks off with Lauren introducing herself. She then introduces the rest of the cast.

I'll try not to give too much away in the episode descriptions but just give you a brief insight into what happens in each of the episodes.

Disc One
Episode 1
New City, New Drama
When Lauren arrives at her new apartment complex in LA, Heidi shows her around their new apartment but Lauren soon has to attend an interview at Teen Vogue as she has applied to be an intern there. Overall, the first episode lets you get to know the cast and is a great first episode to kick start the rest of the series.

Episode 2
A Change Of Plans
During episode 2, Lauren's boss Lisa Love speaks to Lauren regarding her actions at the Young Hollywood Party during the first episode. Heidi also decides what she wants to do with her life career-wise, and accepts an interview at one of LA's top event organiser company's, Bolthouse Productions.

Episode 3
An Unexpected Call
Lauren gets sent to New York to deliver a dress for fashion week, but doesn't spend as much time there as she had hoped. When she arrives back home, there is a message left on her answer phone by a familiar voice. Heidi also realises that her dream job, isn't turning out how she thought it would.
I really liked this episode as it was full of drama and you also got to see some new locations as Lauren was filming in New York for the majority of it.

Episode 4
Lauren And Jason, Take Two
This episode sees the return of a familiar face from Lauren's past, Jason. The pair reunite to talk and Lauren can't help it when her feelings come rushing back.

Episode 5
Jason's Birthday
With Jason and Lauren back together, it's now Jason's birthday, but Lauren gets assigned to work at a photo shoot all day, which ruins her plans to spend the whole day with Jason. She buys him an expensive gift and rushes home to be on time for his birthday meal, but doesn't quite get the thanks that she thought she would.

Disc Two
Episode 6
Boyfriends And Work Don't Mix
On Heidi's six month anniversary to Jordan, Heidi finally gets the opportunity she has been waiting for, to work at one of the clubs that her company promotes. Thing are going fine until an ex date of hers turns up when she is with Jordan, which doesn't impress him.

Episode 7
Somebody Always Has To Cry
It's Christmas time and everybody is getting ready for it, from picking up the tree and decorating it to buying gifts for each other.
But by the time New Year comes round, Lauren and Jason have an argument and Lauren is unsure whether she will get her New Years kiss.
This was probably my favourite episode as it was nice to see the festive side of LA as they really do go to town regarding decorations and stuff around the shopping centres and recreation areas. I wish I lived there as there was such a nice, festive atmosphere! But not only this but the episode was full of drama and will they/won't they moments.

Episode 8
You Can't Just Be With Me
Lauren and Whitney are assigned to cast models for male bathing suits, but Lauren lies to Jason and tells him they are all girls. But she panics when Jordan tells him the truth. But as it is her birthday, Jason handles the situation well and surprises her with a romantic meal.

Episode 9
Love Is Not A Maybe Thing
Heidi comes to a decision regarding her relationship with Jordan, and everyone if surprised by the outcome.

Episode 10
Timing Is Everything
Lauren and Jason decide that they would like to be nearer the water for the summer so they rent a house down in Malibu, but when Lauren is given the opportunity of a lifetime at teen Vogue, to intern in Paris for the whole summer, Lauren is stuck between her boyfriend and her career.
I think that this episode was great for the season finale as you were not given the outcome from Lauren's decision until the very end, so it kept you in suspense throughout.

There are ten episodes all together and each episode is 20-30 minutes long.

Disc Three
Special Features
Deleted Scenes
This includes scenes from the show that have not been included in the episodes. In my opinion, I actually think that some of these scenes should have been put into the show, as some of them are very good.

Interviews
This has 5-7 minutes interviews with the following cast members:
Lauren
Heidi
Whitney
Audrina
Jason
Jordan
Brian

They are basically just asked questions regarding like why they moved to LA, LA nightlife, the rest of the cast's fashion style and about recent topics that happened during the season, such as Lauren and Jason getting back together and Jordan and Heidi's break-up.
Some of these interviews do drag on a bit but the majority of them are quite interesting to listen to.

Featurettes
The Hills Premiere Party
This shows footage from the Hills premier party that broadcasted part-way through the season. MTV interviews the cast on the red-carpet about what the event. I did actually think that this featurette was going to be longer than it actually was but did include good content all the same.

MTV Movie Awards
This follows all four girls as they prepare for the MTV Movie Awards. They go shopping for their dresses and we also see them at the salon getting their hair and make-up done.

The Best Of The Hills: The After Show
Back in 2006 when The Hills aired on TV, each episode was followed by and after show. This feature shows you the best bits, such as the cast in the hot seat answering various questions about different topics.
There is also a section call 'Hotspot' which takes you around various places within the casts life. This includes the cast showing you what they have in their cars and their apartments.
the total feature is about 60 minutes long and in my opinion is the best feature of the bonus feature disc.

On the whole, the episodes of The Hills kept me really hooked. There was enough drama to keep me going throughout the whole serious and it's easy to forget that it's real! I thought this sort of thing only happens in soap-land! The episodes link together really well and when Lauren narrates at the beginning, it helps to remind you of what happened in the previous episode.
A good soundtrack to the series helps too, as it helps with the emotion and the feelings to what the cast are going through and you can really relate to them.

The opening credits are accompanied with Natasha Bedingfield, 'Unwritten'
The covers of the DVD case feature photographs of the cast members and a full list of episodes.
I think that this DVD would be great for anybody who watches soaps, and likes to watch a lot of drama - except this is real!

The Hills season one is currently on sale at Play.com for a really good price of £12.99 but the RRP is £19.99, which isn't a bad price either, especially as there is three discs.

Other Information
The Hills is now on its fourth season airing later this year, but as I mentioned earlier, the first season has only just been released onto DVD. But the most recent season can be seen on MTV. 

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