RIP, Pioneer

If you think about it, it really is inevitable that The Hills went out with a bang. When it was launched, MTV's venture into a "Truman Show" style program was almost unheard of. Yes, Survivor, Big Brother, and similar shows had crowded cable networks for a few years, but there was something entirely different about a show with no script, no grand prize, and--perhaps most shocking of all--no immunity challenges. The fact that the average episode of Jeopardy stimulates my IQ more than the average thirty minutes of partying, "working," and general drama that made up the backbone of the show hardly mattered; for the first time, the average American highschooler could tap into the glamorous world of life in L.A. And, gosh darnit, it was fun to watch!

Now, four years and six seasons and one utterly confusing finale later, MTV should take a bow. Yes, the show probably "jumped the shark" around the time that Lauren Conrad left the show for good a season or two ago, but even amidst the wreckage of the Spencer/Heidi--"Speidi," to the initiated--fiasco, the network managed to pull out an ending that people are STILL talking about. Not too shabby.

The emotional final "goodbye," the sad musical montage--been there, done that. It smacked of the series' first season, right down to a close-up of Heidi's un-surgically-enhanced face. But the wide angle shot of Brody Jenner, the removal of the backdrop, and the eventual bird's-eye view of the set was genius. There was no explanation, no corny last word. For the first time, existentialism found its way onto MTV in a way that smacked of LOST. Honestly, I think all of my LOST-addicted friends would have been perfectly satisfied with an ending that revealed the Island for what it really was: an actual set. It would have raised questions and expectations, but still have seemed oddly fitting in a way that it just wasn't on a channel that also boasts its highest ratings filming spoiled kids and their over-the-top parties. It was an admirable attempt at bringing some kind of intelligent, meaningful commentary to a series that existed entirely on the surface.

So here's to you, Josh Harnden. Your final decision was a master stroke. Without your attempt to prove that someone involved with your show has a brain, people would definitely have moved on to Mel Gibson's audiotapes a full 24 hours before they did.