And you thought all teens and twentysomethings were shallow wastoids. Turns out they hate The Hills and other muck. At least execs at MTV are hoping that's true, as they've just completely restructured based on that assumption. See, the youth network has been slipping some in the ratings the past two years, as generations shift and get older, and once-boffo programming like the aforementioned Hills start to get creaky and stale. Though head of programming Tony DiSanto, who's spearheading this overhaul, served as an executive producer on both The Hills and its predecessor Laguna Beach, he recognizes that tastes change pretty rapidly, and that the cinematic forgery of the Hills genre is losing all of its clout because kids know it's not, well, real:
"While most of that stems from the aging of such stalwarts as The Hills and the dearth of big new hits, some of the slippage can be attributed to the generational shift of MTV viewers, with the channel's brass focusing on the new teens and twentysomethings, "the millennials."
DiSanto called them "the transparent generation" and said MTV's development is being altered to appeal to them. "They don't want to see a reality show that feels produced or is film-like," he said. "It's got to be real, authentic."
He points to the recently premiered "16 and Pregnant" as an example of the type of unscripted fare that MTV is now after and touts it as one series that could fuel a turnaround.
While we've not seen 16 and Pregnant, we assume it hews closer to the network's excellent True Life series (each installment of which is pitched and produced by independent production companies) than it does to, say, a show about rich pseudo-celebrities teetering around in expensive clothes, like The City.
So, minor cultural boom over? Has the Hills era seen the last of its glory days? Let's hope so. You kids might be smarter than everyone thought. Well, if not smarter, at least fickle in the right ways. Lauren Conrad, you got out just in time.
Credit: Defamer
