The Hills: New Beginnings premiere: Watch the opening

New Beginnings

Come Monday night on MTV, it’s finally here — the premiere of The Hills: New Beginnings. This is a show that has been a LONG time coming, and it’s effectively an institution on the network.

But, can lightning strike the Hollywood Hills yet again? Is there a way for this show to be anywhere near what it once was? In the video that CarterMatt has for you below, you can get a good sense of some of what’s coming in the opening minutes of the premiere! This is an introduction to some of the cast members old and new, and what they’re all trying to get out of this experience. For Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, for example, they seem to be ready for this sort of spotlight again. They were relentlessly attacked for their relationship (and so much more) during their heyday, but now they’re back to both prove the doubters wrong and to recollect some of what they had. Meanwhile, for Audrina Patridge, this show could end up being more of a way for her to control her own narrative. She’s gotten a divorce and has struggled with having so many things said and written about her — she can present her own story here, and control her own narrative.

You’re going to see plenty of other familiar faces from the original The Hills throughout this series, and some of them get glimpses of the spotlight within this video. Yet, there’s one newcomer who raises our eyebrows the most in Mischa Barton. The former star of The OC is coming on-board The Hills after being known for many years as an actress, someone used to being in front of the camera as someone else. We imagine that the struggle now becomes for her trying to be herself in that same position. She may be a little bit guarded at first because she doesn’t know this show in the same way; not only that, but she also recognizes that she’s been betrayed before and she doesn’t want to find herself in a spot where she is screwed over again.

For all viewers of the new Hills, the primary complication in the premiere is strictly one of relatability. How do you connect emotionally with people who are rich, famous, and have a life that is very much different from what you’re doing? That’s going to be the show’s greatest test. It may have been easier to sell this to audiences in the original iteration, back when these cast members were younger and unknown and there may have been more of an aspirational quality to seeing these people. Now, these viewers are older and maybe they’re happy within their own lives — maybe living it up or being rich in California doesn’t have the same luster.

We go through what the ratings expectations should be for The Hills: New Beginnings over at the link here, and rest assured, we’re very curious to see how the series fares. Beyond that, we’re just ready to dive into these stories one more time and better understand where these reality TV icons are now in their often-complicated lives.

What do you want to see on The Hills: New Beginnings when it aired on MTV? Be sure to share right now in the comments below. (Photo: MTV.)

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