Who needs reality when you have “The Hills?”

“Laguna Beach” and its two offshoots, “The Hills” and “Newport Beach,” have become ratings juggernauts and shaped the collective unconscious about reality — except they are not quite reality shows. The infamous statement at the beginnings of these shows states that “the drama is real,” but nothing else seems to be.

The sophisticated and glossy camerawork on these shows stands in stark contrast to the hand-held, cinema verité of “The Real World.”

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