As of last night, Whitney Port has officially flown the West Coast coop — better known as The Hills — for The Big Apple. I don’t know about you guys, but I found it refreshing to watch the two-episode premiere unfold without a clue as to what I should be expecting to see. Sure, there have been blog posts here and there with pictures of Whitney cavorting around NYC. And, of course, there have also been lots of rumors about how real the "storylines" are (just yesterday there were reports that she doesn’t even have a legit job with Diane Von Furstenberg). And while I can’t really say I don’t believe those rumors — MTV has a reputation for occasionally…well, stretching "reality" — I think it’s nice that we haven’t been so inundated with gossip about The City (not yet, at least, right?) that it spoils the fun of watching the show.
Here are a few of the hits from the spin-off’s debut episode that struck my fancy:
- Whitney’s surprisingly go-get-’em attitude about Jay (er, at least before the drama that later came into play). Following their date at Italian eatery Nero, Jay offered up his apartment as a crash pad to the apparently "homeless" Whitney. She immediately replied, "Let’s go." It was short, sweet, and right to the point. Ladies, take note.
- Her (temporary?) roomie Erin. Okay, so I’m a little unclear as to why Whitney is merely crashing on Erin’s couch for the time being. I’d be willing to bet that Whitney actually lives somewhere else, but films the show at Erin’s place. I wouldn’t blame her for wanting to keep her so-called private life private because I’m sure no one on the island wants something like this to happen again. Anyway, I really like our new friend Erin. So far, she seems like a straight shooter who will be there for Whitney when she needs someone to laugh with (I loved when Erin said, "That guy called me a hooker…the guy with the bronzer") or someone to cry with.
- Kelly Cutrone’s cameo! I think every episode of The City from now on should end with a one-on-one session with Whitney and Kelly. It would be sort of like how episodes of Felicity would end with voiceovers by Felicity’s french teacher, Sally, giving heartwarming doses of advice, only much, much funnier. Last night, the People’s Revolution head honcho took time away from fashion week ("It’s like animal mating," Kelly noted of the hectic schedule) to catch up with her former employee. She was humorously — and somewhat genuinely — astounded to hear that The Olivia Palermo also got a job at DVF. "Shut. Up. She got a job?" Kelly asked. "That’s very unlike her. Why is she working?" Then she topped off that infamous Cutrone cocktail with a a thoughtful piece of advice on Whitney’s predicament with Alex. "Why would he want to make trouble with Jay if there wasn’t truth behind it?" Kelly asked. "Maybe you can’t trust both of them." Oh, good ol’ sensible guidance, we’ve missed you so.
- There’s no Speidi!! Unless you think Jay’s roommate Adam and his gf Allie could potentially fill the notorious couple’s attention-hogging shoes. Nah, they’re both too pretty to look at, and while Adam does already have a little bit of a d-bag quality about him (after asking Jay if he’s going to stop seeing other people because he’d been spending so much time with Whit, Adam said, "I don’t think you should"), he is majorly lacking in the facial hair department.
And then there are the total misses (after the jump).
- Oliva, the self-proclaimed "Social." Right now,Whitney’s co-worker is the girl we’re all supposed to love to hate. That could all change as the show goes on, but until then, I’m stickingto it. I live in NYC and still had no clue what made her so special, soI did a little diggingand found out how she supposedly climbed her way up the ladder into"high class" society. Basically, her daddy is a real estatedeveloper (read: she comes from $$$), and she’s made a name for herselfby attending lots of parties and charity events. Moral of the story: Get a good publicist and be seen everywhere, and you, too,could become a socialite. Not that you’d want to though, right? Wewere introduced to Olivia at DVF where she was overtly displeased aboutWhitney joining the team. Still, she tried to make an effort with Whitby inviting her to her exclusive rooftop dinner party. Olivia’s nicegesture, however, was overshadowed by her awkward and annoyingquestions about Jay’s whereabouts. Why does she care so much? Also, ifshe is such an It Girl, then why would she need to be on someone else’s reality show?
- The downtown vs. uptown class warfare. Whitney’s intro to the show describes her fellow cast members using these terms, and then laterwhen Olivia suggested letting Whitney into her "inner circle," hercousin, Nevan replied, "Seriously, before she gets caught up in thatdowntown crap." First of all, Olivia lives in Tribeca, which last timeI checked was downtown. Secondly, since when is Manhattan divided into only two discernible groups? True, Gossip Girl lendsa hand to this stereotype, but does MTV really have to take it on, too?I know the terms are not meant to be literal, but they just seem sodated. (Uh, this now concludes my lesson on NYC culture. Join us nexttime when we discuss proper subway etiquette).
- Jay’s Justin Bobby-ish behavior. "I always do what Iwant and that’s it, you know," he said to Whitney after turning downher invitation to be her date for Olivia’s dinner party. I mean itdidn’t sound nearly as harsh when said with an Australian accent, butstill, it was a comment I could picture Justin Bobby saying to Audrinajust before, say, asking her to go topless in a swimming pool. Don’tget me wrong, I’m not against Jay or anything (especially because hestill showed up to the dinner party even after pouting about it), Ijust hope he doesn’t go down that same wishy-washy and non-committalroad that J. Bob took Audrina on.
- Whitney buys Manolos (and has them signed by the man himself).Ignoring the blatant attempt at comparing Whitney to Carrie Bradshaw(to me, it’s like apples to oranges anyway), I just want to gripe for asecond here about how we’re supposed to believe Whitney can afford suchexpensive footwear on a PR income (which is typically in the lowerdigits) and within her first few weeks in NYC. Oh, that’s right, she’sactually getting paid to have cameras follow her. Don’t we all wish wehad a disposable income!
- Alex. The male model, which we’ve previously seen on The Hills,needs to find somewhere else to focus his attention. It’s so obviousthat the producers wanted him back on the show to stir up drama betweenWhitney and Jay, so now that he has, he can go bye-bye.
So, what do you guys think of debut of The City? (If you haven’t already checked it out, click hereto learn more about what we can expect to see on the show from the starherself.) Do you think you’ll tune in to the rest of the season or areyou over everything and everyone relating to Lauren Conrad? Finally,did you find it to be a little eerie that Whitney and Olivia werewearing almost the same hairstyle when they met? It was as if they weredolls made from a DVF mold.
More ‘The City’ and ‘The Hills’:
Ken Tucker: ‘Bromance,’ schmomance. ‘City’? Pretty!
Whitney Port talks ‘The City,’ and drops a major ‘Hills’ scoop!
Whitney Port moving from ‘The Hills’
On the scene at ”The Hills” premiere party
Lauren Conrad’s universe
Comments (1-30) of 76 Add your comment
After Jay said “I always do what I want and that’s it, you know”, my sister goes, “OK Justin Bobby;” glad we weren’t the only ones who caught that.
I could see Olivia and Neven being the Speidi, only in the evil-doing realm, of this show. I have a feeling that someone kept prompting Olivia to ask about Jay because there really wasn’t a whole lot going on at the dinner party.
Yes, more Kelly because even thought there is Erin, you do need a voice of reason who has no contact with any of these people and I like Kelly’s BS meter.
BTW: can we get a count from DVF on the number of people who have eaten it falling down those stairs?! Could they be any steeper? All I could think was “oh, poor Whitney – first the Oscars thing and now this?”
Stop the madness.
Did anyone else catch that Olivia’s apartment is in Tribeca? Since when is Tribeca “uptown”?
Is is better than The Hills.
I actually thought this was refreshing. I’m done with The Hills but The City looks promising.
I actually REALLY liked it. I, too, like how we don’t know what’s going on ahead of time. That fight in the club seemed real enough. I sat watching that with my mouth open.
I also really, really like Whit and Jay together. She’s got the whole clean-and-polished thing while he’s all dirty and rough. And they seem to really like one another, at least in front of the cameras. If it’s real, it’s absolutely adorable.
Olivia needs to go to her apartment in Tribeca and never leave it. Her snotty, condesending, stupid ringlet hair needs to get off TV!!!!!! DOWN WITH OLIVIA!!!!!!!
Great in depth write-up!
Looking forward to reading the next one!
As a Manhattan resident, I laughed the whole time that they brought up this “downtown” versus “uptown” or whatever circles. So ridiculous. All I thought of when this went on was that people who don’t live in New York might actually think that this might actually exist like east coast rap vs. west coast rap. Please. As the reviewer mentioned, there are tons of social circles. But more than that, people might prefer a “downtown” scene or live “uptown” (or midtown, or in Chelsea, or in Gramercy, or west side, east side, etc.), but they are not social cliques where people are judged by them like this (unless, I guess, if you are in a snotty social “elite” circule). I hope that theme doesn’t carry through the show, because that would just be stupid.
I really enjoyed it! I didn’t watch the last half of the hills S4 because it felt like the same stuff over and over again. But I am definitely tuning in next week! Love Whitney, and eventhough Olivia is annoying as nothing else she’ll probably end up growing on me.
I really was surprised at how much I liked the show. Definitely refreshing and I’m really enjoying Whitney as a personality compared to annoying Lauren. Hope you keep up these recaps Lindsey!
I’m not a huge fan of reality but I can see the attraction of AI and Dancing w. the Stars where some decent talent is involved. I can also see the thrill of Amazing Race and Survivor where there might be some fun competition. But I don’t quite understand the popularity of these prefab “documentary style” reality shows. Aren’t they basically semi-scripted soap operas but w/o the talent? I’m not trying to be mean to the fans of these shows, but I’m curious why they like them better then a show like say Gossip Girl which is sorta similar but involves real plots and skilled actors?
LOVED it! I am not sure i can really place it but i just LOVED it! It just felt a lot more real than the hills (so far), but I just love Whit, so i am all in!
I really liked the show. While “The Hills” is a guilty pleasure that feels like watching people you know, it was interesting to “meet” a new set of people. The only one I immediately liked was Erin the roommate, but hopefully the others show more depth soon.
Olivia and every one of her so called “social” friends were beyond aggrivating. Even the way they over annunciated the letter “s” was so over the top. If to be a “social” you need to be a top of the line b!tch, Olivia and every one of her friends, including her creepy cousin, fit the bill. I would have had to jump off that roof if I were at the little dinner party..I liked the show overall, even if I continue to hate on Olivia, it still gives me something to do!
When did NYC turn into a bad verison of west side story or the outsiders, come on… that could of been the dumbest intro ever… i hope the next time i am downtown i dont get attacked by a “social” throwing her manolo blanc’s at me.
What cracks me up is Whitney walking around in high heels in NYC. As if every place she goes is within a block away. Loved the show though.
i too kept thinking and even said out loud after it happened for the zillionth time ‘why does she want keep bringing up Jay anyway? why does she care so much about their relationship?’ seriously,if i had been Whitney i would’ve been ‘enough already! why do you care/want to know so much? while these first two shows were refreshing because of the lack of gossip leaking info, Kelly was the brightest bright spot of the show. definitely hope she’s on more. it’s amazing what an adult speaking common sense can do to me after all the stupid nonsense these girls graze in.
loved the premiere, all i gotta say is at least Whitney is not as stupid or wishy washy as Audrina!!! she goes for it and says what she wants
love her!
No mention of the blatent editing between Jay’s refusal to go to the party, shooting pool with Adam, and then actually showing up at the party? His hair was a couple inches shorter at the pool hall.
Anyways, I liked The City and it amazes me people like Olivia exist. Talk about a vacant, albeit hot, beeyotch! Oh, and is Erin the new “LC” or what? She said “Hey lady!” to Whitney at least twice!
Wonder if MTV had something to do with Olivia bringing up Jay so much? That was all just so strange! And Olivia looks a bit like LC and Erin looks a bit like Audrina. Jay is the obvious JustinB clone! And what was Alex’s deal…a man scorned??
And what’s up with all those stairs at DVF?!?! I get winded just watching them walk up those things! And in heels – crazy!
Disgusting. You know, I was expecting something different since it’s shot in NY – hoping that the vapid characters from the L.A. show – were just well, L.A. I don’t think I could tell that this show was actually taking place in NY if it wasn’t for the random street shots. Especially when they can’t even get the geography right – no Tribeca, is not UPTOWN.
Apparently the only two groups of people in NYC are social climbing, insecure, new money losers from Greenwich, and what the show refers to as the downtown “artsy” crowd – which so far consists of fake 20 year old models who are in bands ….thank you again MTV. As a born and raised Manhattanite, I am sickened by MTVs warped, non-NYC crowd pleasing portrayal of my city.
Also, is it possible to get a more multi-cultural cast? I mean we are in NYC after all and the best they can come up with is to throw an Australian in the mix? How is it she’s in the fashion industry yet does she not have a single gay friend?
I adore Whitney, she’s beautiful and honest – even if she speaks in soundbites. It’s refreshing. Love Erin and hope we see more of her. Kelly should have her own show where she is allowed to yell at people freely. Fabulous replacement for the Hills…how long do you think it will be till Lauren shows up?
Go rent Into the Wild you fools!!!
At least Justin Bobby is back and there is no Speidi!
I am not an avid viewer of the Hills. I did like Whitney though. She seemd to have ambition and wanted to succeed. She seems to be the opposite of Lauren. I really liked the first two eps of the City. I agree with Lindsay. Hopefully, Whit doesn’t become close with Olivia. I certainly wouldn’t want Whitney acting like her.
I loved The City” Jay is so sexy and the way he stood up to Alex was funny! I didnt see that coming, Jay is the typical guy at that age trying to seem as tho he isnt totally whipped yet. Dont worry Whitney he’s lookin pretty interested- remember the girl always needs to be prettier than the boy- its all good.
I agree with everyone talking about Olivia and her “Where’s Jay” comments. At first I wondered if it was prompting ny the producers, but I really think, that she’s threatened by Whitney and the only thing she had to pick at was that. It was beyond annoying though.
I must agree, Olivia “where’s Jay?” Palermo is sickly obsessed with Whitney. Her snide comments and sideways glares are really annoying. The fact that the girl freely admits she wore her first Manolos to her “deb” is what sealed the deal, I knew I hated her from that moment. I can’t wait to see her hopefully put in her place more and more as the season goes on..best line of the night: “She’s working now? She actually got a job?”..when Olivia made it seem they were friendly. Who wants to bet that many of Olivia’s “friends” aren’t so much friends as people who put up with her.