Critical response The Hills received lukewarm reviews 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 Heffnernan 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 Weeklys list of the 100 New TV Classics. The series has been labeled as a
guilty pleasure by writers for
HuffPost,
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. 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, 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". 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". A 2016 online article from
Glamour magazine outlined 7 completely fabricated storylines on the show, including the fact that Spencer and Audrina never had any romantic interactions and the way that Spencer and Heidi lived in his parents' house and couldn't afford any house of their own, let alone the mansion that they pretended to reside in (https://www.glamour.com/story/7-storylines-on-the-hills-that-were-actually-totally-fake).
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. ==Episodes==