By the mid 2000s, MTV had fully embraced the whole concept of Reality television, as the bulk of their programming at the time were shows of that genre. Yes, they did still have blocks of music just to keep the "M" in their name relevant, but it was clear they were moving away from the videos that gave life to the network, as much as they could. This is a classic example of what they were attempting to do at the time.
"The City" isn't even a spinoff. It's a spinoff OF a spinoff. The original show, titled "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" was a series that wanted to depict the lives and surroundings that was being dramatized on the Fox scripted series, "The O. C." at the time. It was about High Schoolers in their last couple of years before deciding what was coming next.
That show lead to "The Hills," which focused on a small group of graduates starting their careers in fashion related jobs in Los Angeles. One of the main people in that cast was Whitney Port, who became a popular favorite. So, when she got offered a chance to come to New York and work for designer Diane Von Furstenberg, we got this series.
That whole "Fish Out of Water" thing works, even if you're not doing comedy. Here, Whitney and her co-workers, roomies, pals and love interests are learning about just how to deal with NYC and have to make those adjustments on the fly because this is the big time, and time is money, and money is needed.
The construction of the show was similar to that of "The Hills," where the narrator of the program was the show's main focus. Here, Whitney sets up each episode (as Lauren Conrad was doing for the bulk of "The Hills") and leads us through the events depicted.
It wouldn't be a show of this genre without some serious drama, and the clash of personality, the manipulations of opportunity, the love interests gone wrong and the co-worker clashes gone worse all figured into the plots.
And it wouldn't be an MTV series without some product placement, and there were plenty of opportunities, as the women had to have their Starbuck's to get their day started, the restaurants they attended to go on dates, and of course the designer labels they wore as their costumes, all part of the featured items during the run.
The problem seemed to be that a lot of the "reality" on this reality series wasn't even mildly real. There were questions about the relationships shown, the people who became part of the series, even Olivia Palermo's position with Elle Magazine and Whitney's alleged job with the DVF label was unclear. Was it all just some excuse to create this series, even though it wasn't really happening?
Still, New York plays a part because "7th on Sixth" is Fashion Week, which is where the designers present their latest fall or spring lines, depending on what season is coming, and that is crucial for success. You can't fake that. And learning the ins and outs of the fashion world is needed if you wanted to be in production or in Public Relations, and all of that was standard fact.
In the end, "The City" didn't quite distinguish itself, even from its direct parent series, "The Hills." That blame has to be placed on the producers, who had to have found some elements that were different enough and New York enough to make that the focus, even with those two programs sharing a common theme and even a couple of personalities. And with the alleged "doctored" storylines and employment opportunities, why would this show even mildly resemble the other?
