text: the hills ( tv series ) the hills was an american reality television series that aired for six seasons on mtv from may 31 , 2006 , until july 13 , 2010 . developed as a spin - off of laguna beach : the real orange county , the series aired six seasons and focused on the personal and professional lives of several young women residing in los angeles , california . its premise was conceived by adam divello , while liz gateley and sean travis served as executive producers . the series originally focused on lauren conrad , who appeared in its predecessor , as she pursued a career in the fashion industry . it additionally placed emphasis on her housemate heidi montag and their friends audrina patridge and whitney port . conrad 's friend lo bosworth and montag 's boyfriend spencer pratt developed major positions as part of the supporting cast in the second season , while his sister stephanie pratt was added in the third . port left the series at the conclusion of the fourth season , moving to new york city and starring in her own spin - off , the city , which aired for two seasons . looking to pursue other career opportunities , conrad left the series halfway through the fifth season , and was subsequently replaced by fellow laguna beach : the real orange county cast member kristin cavallari . bosworth and stephanie pratt joined cavallari and patridge as primary cast members in the sixth and final season , while montag and her husband pratt were removed from the series after displaying erratic behavior . conrad briefly returned to the series during an alternate ending for its finale . the hills received moderately favorable reviews from critics , and has been recognized as a " guilty pleasure " by several media outlets . however , the series was often criticized for tending towards a narrative format more commonly seen in scripted genres including soap operas , and appearing to fabricate much of its storyline . the show has produced several spin - offs , as well as distributed all seasons to dvd . in june 2016 , it was announced that the hills would return for a reunion special , entitled the hills : that was then , this is now . lauren conrad will star in the special , and it is scheduled to air on mtv on august 2 , 2016 . conception in 2004 , the reality television series laguna beach : the real orange county premiered on mtv . the program was created by liz gateley and documented the lives of several students attending laguna beach high school as they completed secondary education . the series proved among the network 's most successful programming , though the entire original cast left after the second season and were replaced by another group of teenagers for the following season . television producer adam divello developed the spin - off program the hills to follow one of its predecessor 's original cast members , lauren conrad , as she moved to los angeles to pursue a career in the fashion industry . series synopsis overview and casting the hills chronicles the lives of several young women living in los angeles , california . every installment commences with a voice - over narrative from series leads lauren conrad ( seasons 1 – 5 ) or kristin cavallari ( seasons 5 – 6 ) , foreshadowing the theme of the episode . each season concludes with a finale , typically involving a major event such as a progressing relationship or a personnel departure . most installments revolve around the women 's everyday lives , with the intention of balancing coverage of their personal and professional endeavors . throughout its run , the series was led by three ( season 5 ) and four ( seasons 1 – 4 , 6 ) primary cast members , who were credited by their first names . its original main cast members were conrad , heidi montag , audrina patridge , and whitney port . upon the conclusion of the fourth season , port moved to new york city after receiving employment with diane von fürstenberg and was commissioned to star in the spin - off the city . during this time , conrad wished to leave the series to pursue other career opportunities , though she filmed ten episodes in the following season to close her storylines . after departing halfway through the fifth season , she was replaced by cavallari , a fellow former laguna beach : the real orange county cast member . the sixth and final season saw conrad 's friends lo bosworth and stephanie pratt , who were respectively featured as supporting roles since the second and third seasons , become primary cast members . halfway through the season , montag left the series after the cast looked to disassociate themselves from her uncharacteristic antics . the aforementioned women 's storylines were largely developed by a number of supporting cast members . spencer pratt , originally credited as " heidi 's boyfriend " and later " heidi 's husband " , was added in the second season . also that season , brody jenner was introduced as " spencer 's friend " . after establishing a friendship with conrad , he became known as " lauren 's friend " . jenner was later credited as " kristin 's ex - boyfriend " when cavallari assumed conrad 's position in the fifth season . in the third season , frankie delgado was established as " brody 's friend " . his title was adjusted as " lauren 's friend " the following season , and was eventually reverted to " brody 's friend " during the fifth season . since the third season , justin " justin - bobby " brescia was recognized as " audrina 's ex " , " audrina 's boyfriend " , or " audrina 's ex - boyfriend " holly montag , credited as " heidi 's sister " , was added to the series in the fourth season . in the fifth season , stacie hall was introduced to the series as " bartender " when working at the dime , and later became " the bartender " after the conflict between herself , montag , and pratt came to fruition . after the conflict settled , hall remained on the series as " kristin 's friend " . timeline of cast members storylines in its series premiere , the hills first introduced lauren conrad , who moved from laguna beach , california to los angeles to pursue a career in the fashion industry . she and her housemate heidi montag originally planned to attend the fashion institute of design & merchandising , though the latter left the college after receiving employment with bolthouse productions . montag befriended their neighbor audrina patridge , while conrad bonded with her fellow teen vogue intern whitney port . the remainder of the first season highlighted romantic relationships , including montag 's and patridge 's brief relationships with jordan eubanks and brian drolet respectively . the season concluded with conrad 's rejection of a summertime internship in paris to reunite with her former boyfriend jason wahler . consequentially , port was offered and accepted the position in conrad 's place . by the beginning of the second season , conrad and wahler had ended their relationship , while montag began dating spencer pratt . montag increasingly spent more time with pratt and neglected her friendship with conrad , which placed a strain on the pair 's friendship . consequentially , conrad strengthened her relationship with her friend lo bosworth and took a romantic interest in pratt 's friend brody jenner . montag and pratt moved into an apartment together in the season finale , at which point patridge became conrad 's new housemate . in the third season , conrad ended her friendship with montag after suspecting that she and pratt fabricated rumors of a sex tape involving herself and wahler . the ensuing feud between the women became a central focus of the series , and was carried through each subsequent season in which conrad appeared . montag and pratt became engaged , while patridge resumed a turbulent romantic relationship with her friend justin " justin bobby " brescia . after conrad established with jenner and his friend frankie delgado , pratt severed ties with both men . in light of the building feud , spencer 's sister stephanie pratt initially took a disliking to conrad . however , she later apologized to conrad for an earlier confrontation , and the pair became friends . their relationship put a burden on pratt 's relationship with her brother and montag , who reacted by beginning to alienate her . conrad and port eventually left their positions at teen vogue after receiving employment from kelly cutrone 's pr firm people 's revolution . by the end of the season , conrad and patridge had moved out of their apartment and purchased a home , with new housemate bosworth becoming a distancing factor between the former two . the fourth season saw patridge reconcile with bosworth and repair her relationship with conrad before moving into a separate residence . holly montag moved from her hometown of crested butte , colorado into her sister and pratt 's apartment , which created tension between the sisters and pratt . montag was later fired from her job with bolthouse after becoming drunk during a company event . while vacationing in mexico , an intoxicated montag and pratt elope . in the season finale , conrad and montag appear to have reconciled , though conrad 's suspicions regarding the rumors continued to inhibit a reconciliation . port eventually relocated to new york city to accept a position with diane von fürstenberg . as the fifth season began , spencer pratt developed a flirtatious bond with a local bartender stacie hall , to the dismay of montag . per montag 's request to salvage their relationship , pratt agreed to attend couples ' therapy . as they became re - engaged and decided to officially marry , conrad initially declined an invitation to the wedding . in an attempt to change her mind , pratt called conrad and apologized for spreading the rumors . after much additional deliberation , conrad made her final appearance on the series during the mid - season finale , where she attended the nuptials and reconciled with montag . kristin cavallari caught the bouquet at the wedding , and assumed the series ' lead beginning in the second half of the season . she began a casual relationship with brescia , at which point patridge severed ties with him . afterwards , the women developed a feud that continued through the remainder of the season . meanwhile , montag and pratt purchased a new house and clashed over the decision to begin a family ; montag wished to have children , while pratt opposed the thought . before filming for the sixth season commenced , montag garnered significant criticism after undergoing ten cosmetic surgery procedures in one day . in the premiere , she traveled to her hometown crested butte to unveil the results to her family . after unexpectedly receiving much disapproval , she and her husband pratt alienated themselves from their relatives . having later displayed additional instances of erratic and unusual behavior , their respective sisters decided to exclude them from their lives . having dated several years prior , cavallari and jenner become flirtatious once more , though the former was taken aback after the latter started seeing another woman . meanwhile , stephanie pratt struggled to begin dating after being arrested for driving under the influence , but later became involved in a relationship . patridge became involved in a brief relationship with singer ryan cabrera and settled as friends with brescia , while bosworth moved in with her boyfriend scott . during the final episode of the series , cavallari decides to move to europe . in the final scene , jenner is shown to be watching the limousine bringing cavallari to the airport travel down her street . with the camera on jenner , the hollywood hills backdrop is pulled away , while the camera pans back to reveal that the entire scene was filmed on a backlot . in reality , the vehicle had not driven off and cavallari stepped out of the vehicle to hug jenner . an alternate ending to the series was broadcast in august 2013 . the scene depicts jenner returning to his apartment after seeing cavallari 's limousine off to europe . conrad is revealed to be sitting on his couch , and comforts him that " it 's hard to say goodbye " to a " friend of [ his ] " , before the camera focuses on a smiling conrad . reception critical response the hills was moderately well received among critics . the series ' first season holds a score of 52 out of 100 on metacritic , indicating " mixed or average reviews " , based on eight reviews . robert abele of la weekly complimented the program for being " insanely watchable " , while variety 's brian lowry criticized the storylines as being " as old as they come " . the second season garnered more favorable feedback , with virginia of the new york times opining that conrad " now registers as charm " . after the falling - out between conrad and montag in the third season , heffernan also commented that the hills " is more convincing than friends and just about any other comedy about female relationships because — as anyone who has ever been a young woman knows — undying friendships die " . the decision to replace the departing conrad with cavallari halfway through the fifth season was met with a mixed response . tim stack of entertainment weekly expressed interest in the route the series would take , writing that the latter would " be fully prepared to stir things up " . after the premiere of the first episode under her lead , a writer from popsugar criticized cavallari 's " sassy , bad - girl attitude " for lacking originality and preferred conrad for " [ keeping ] it real " . in contrast , amy kaufman from los angeles times opined that cavallari was more intriguing than conrad , whose storylines she felt had been overshadowed as the series progressed . the original series finale during the sixth season garnered a generally negative critical response . emily exton from entertainment weekly described it as " probably a bit confusing " for the series ' earlier viewers , in light of the casting adjustments in later seasons . a writer for gawker criticized that " as the camera zooms out into the south california nothingness , nothing has changed , and neither audience nor cast is for the better " . however , a writer from people was more positive , feeling that the conclusion was a " surprise twist " . similarly , critics were ambivalent towards the alternate finale . jenna mullins from e ! praised conrad 's return as being " shocking and glorious at the same time " , and felt that " clearly [ viewers ] should all prefer the ending with lauren conrad " . kaitlin reilly from bustle described the suggestion of another love triangle involving conrad and cavallari to " [ feel ] vaguely like the ending to a horror movie " in that " it 's starting again " , but nonetheless appreciated the ending as " a wink to loyal fans " . billy niles from zap2it noted that there was " no winking nod to a soundstage " , and opined that " nothing that freaking awesome happened " . sonya sorich of the ledger - enquirer preferred the original conclusion , commenting that the revised clip was not as " startling " as the first . lindsey weber from vulture suggested that the footage felt like a " total soap opera " in that it seemingly acknowledged that portions of the series were fabricated . during its run , the hills received several accolades from media outlets . it was recognized at number 82 on entertainment weekly 's list of the 100 new tv classics . the series has been labeled as a guilty pleasure by writers for the huffington post , msn , and buzzsugar . scripting allegations the hills was often criticized for appearing to fabricate much of its storyline . in one instance , the president of entertainment for mtv , brian graden , commented that the series benefits from the media coverage it receives in between seasons , which he described as a " six - month commercial for the show that doesn 't give away the narrative in full . " he elaborated that mtv wants " viewers to watch lauren and the girls as the characters we know instead of in a show about being the stars of the hills " ; the sex tape rumors were consequently presented like a personal conflict between the women , and was intentionally not addressed as a highly publicized controversy . in 2008 , patridge noted that a producer offered her a position on the series to become friends with conrad and montag . she later appeared on an episode of chelsea lately , where chelsea handler suggested the program was improvised . when pressed further , patridge replied , " we 're put in situations where however we 'd react and that 's what comes up [ on tv ] " , and additionally stated that the series was unscripted . in 2008 , montag and pratt acknowledged that their mexican elopement was " entirely symbolic " , while their civil ceremony was filmed after office hours without a county court judge present . additionally , the associated press noted that neither person had filed for a marriage record at the time . an additional source of suspicion arose during the fifth season , where conrad was shown to be moving out of her house the day prior to montag and pratt 's nuptials . however , conrad and bosworth had actually left the property several months prior in january , leading to speculation that addressing the wedding as " the next day " was pre - planned . after leaving the hills , conrad appeared on the view in june 2009 , where she was asked how she felt about her apology from pratt involving the sex tape rumors . she replied , " to be perfectly honest , i wasn 't on the other line of that call [ ... ] i didn 't even know about it until [ afterwards ] , so no , i didn 't get an apology , he 's lying " . at montag and pratt 's wedding , it was depicted on the series as if conrad and cavallari were displeased with each other 's presence , though the latter commented that they gave each other " a big hug , and that 's it " . she also stated that when she joined the hills , " it 's work ! and drama sells . i think that 's why they 're bringing me in , because i know what works " . in february 2011 , cavallari told access hollywood that the cast followed a " schedule " of events to be filmed on a given day , adding , " we only filmed the hills three days a week , and we did three different scenes each day and a change of clothes to film a specific scene [ ... ] they were pushing it as far as they could go without an actual script ... they give you a schedule like , ' you have lunch with heidi [ montag ] at 3 to talk about the party coming up ' or whatever the situation may be " . she had earlier commented that she felt viewers " need to understand it 's all entertainment " and she " would never put [ her ] close friends or a real relationship on a show " . cavallari later told ryan seacrest that her relationships with jenner and brescia were fabricated , and make a point of saying that it was very difficult for her to pretend to be romantically interested in the unattractive and unlikable brescia . in october 2012 , in an interview with allure , conrad stated that while " the story told wasn 't a dishonest one , the way [ the producers ] did it sometimes was " . she elaborated that scenes would be reenacted if cameras were not present for a significant occurrence between cast members , and commented that her relationship with jenner was " pretty brief " and " definitely [ edited ] to drag it out " . in july 2013 , when discussing the filming of several alternate finale endings , mtv acknowledged that " maybe the term ' reality tv ' didn 't perfectly apply to the hills " . u.s. television ratings the first season of the hills maintained a steady viewership of about two million viewers for each weekly episode . during the third season , the series achieved its most - viewed episode , " paris changes everything " , on march 17 , 2008 ; it had attracted 4 . 8 million viewers in its original airing . however , the fourth season premiere experienced a 25 - percent ratings decline , attracting 2 . 6 million viewers , compared to the 3 . 8 million viewers of the third season finale . the second half of the fifth season , also cavallari 's first episode as the lead , premiered to 2 . 1 million viewers , suffering a 30 - percent drop from the premiere of the first half . the series finale in july 2010 aired to three million viewers , becoming the peak viewership of the season . broadcast history the hills ' first season commenced airing on may 31 , 2006 . the series continued to air on wednesday evenings until its conclusion on august 2 , 2006 , at which point it had aired ten episodes . the second season was expanded to twelve episodes and premiered on january 15 , 2007 , in its new timeslot on mondays . the finale aired on april 2 , 2007 . the third season began airing on august 13 , 2007 , where it remained in the timeslot of the previous season . it is the longest season in the series ' history , having broadcast twenty - eight episodes by its finale on may 12 , 2008 . the fourth season premiered on august 18 , 2008 , during the monday schedule . it consisted of twenty episodes , and concluded on december 22 , 2008 . airing of the fifth season was divided into two sections , part i under conrad 's lead , and part ii after cavallari was confirmed to join the series . part i premiered on april 6 , 2009 in the same timeslot , and concluded after ten episodes on may 31 , 2009 . part ii premiered on september 29 , 2009 and continued to air on tuesday evenings . the season aired a total of twenty episodes , split into two equal halves , before finishing on december 1 , 2009 . the sixth season also aired on tuesdays and premiered on april 27 , 2010 . twelve episodes later , the series ended its run after a total of 102 episodes on july 13 , 2010 . in july 2012 , mtv aired a month - long morning marathon of the hills , titled " retro mania " . the following year , the marathon was renamed " retromtv brunch " , and culminated with the airing of an alternate series finale in august 2013 . the city beginning in 2008 , cast member whitney port starred in her own spin - off series the city . the program premiered on december 28 , 2009 , four weeks after the fifth season finale of the hills . when she appeared on the original series ' earlier seasons , she limited the exposure of her personal life , commenting that focusing on her career would make people " take [ her ] seriously " . however , during production of the city , port wanted to feature her private life to emphasize that " [ her ] head is still screwed on straight " . during the first half of the debut season , the program highlighted her transition to new york city after receiving employment from diane von fürstenberg . however , port later left her position and returned to people 's revolution with kelly cutrone . the series underwent several casting adjustments for the second half of the first season . port and olivia palermo remained , and the program saw the addition of port 's friend roxy olin and palermo 's co - worker erin kaplan . the revamped cast remained for the second season , which premiered after the sixth season of the hills on april 27 , 2010 . the season documented the deterioration of port and olin 's friendship , which culminated with the latter moving out of their shared apartment . the season concluded on july 13 , 2010 , the same evening as the series finale of the hills . in october 2010 , port confirmed that the city would not be renewed by mtv . other spin - offs aside from the city , the hills spawned two additional related series and one proposed program . cutrone received her own spin - off program kell on earth , which premiered on february 1 , 2010 on bravo . it chronicled the daily operations at people 's revolution as well as her private life , and was canceled after airing one season . that september , conrad filmed a pilot episode for a program that would have focused on her professional endeavors , though mtv passed on the project after conrad preferred not to feature her personal life . patridge was commissioned the vh1 program audrina in 2011 , which focused on herself and her family . however , the series was canceled after its debut season due to underwhelming ratings . distribution the hills episodes aired regularly on mtv in the united states . most episodes are approximately thirty minutes , and were broadcast in standard definition . the series ' episodes are also available for download at the itunes store . episodes were previously available for viewing through the official mtv website , though they have since become unavailable since the series ' conclusion . the series , in addition to laguna beach : the real orange county , were premiered in syndication in fall 2009 . since its debut , paramount pictures has released all six seasons of the hills onto dvd , across seven installments . the first , second , fourth , and sixth seasons ' sets each have three discs , while that of the third season includes four . the fifth season 's release was divided into part i and part ii , and are packaged with two discs apiece .