The City

**The City** is an American reality television series. The show premiered on MTV on December 29, 2008 and aired for two seasons. The series is a spin-off of The Hills.

The series focuses on the personal and professional lives of several young women residing in New York City.

## Development

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. After The Hills itself became similarly successful, DiVello developed The City upon the conclusion of the parent series' fourth season, which saw one of its primary cast members Whitney Port move to New York City to begin employment with Diane von Fürstenberg.

### Storylines

In its series premiere, The City first introduces Whitney Port, who moved from Los Angeles, California to New York City, New York to begin employment for fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. She reunited with her friend Erin Lucas and love interest Jay Lyon, and befriended co-worker Olivia Palermo against her companions' advice. Port became irritated the feelings Lyon had for his ex-girlfriend Danielle and his unwillingness to commit to a relationship, and eventually severed ties with him. Lyon's distaste for his housemate Adam Senn's girlfriend Allie Crandell ultimately ruined their friendship, while Senn and Crandell's relationship was strained by rumours of his alleged infidelity. Lucas' long-distance boyfriend Duncan Davies, who lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, broke up with Lucas after discovering that she had become friendly with her ex-boyfriend JR. Meanwhile, the companionship between Port and Palermo dissolved after growing tensions in the workplace.

Prior to production of the second half of the season, Lucas, Lyon, and Senn departed from the series. Port also left her position at Diane von Fürstenberg and resumed working at her previous employer Kelly Cutrone's PR firm People's Revolution. As the season resumed, Port's friend Roxy Olin was introduced as a new main cast member, and was hired at People's Revolution. Palermo had left Diane von Fürstenberg for a position with Elle, where she clashed with co-worker and new main cast member Erin Kaplan. With Cutrone's guidance, Port begins designing a fashion line, while Kaplan becomes increasingly displeased with Palermo's under-performance. Port also began dating friend Freddie Fackelmayer, but was dismayed to learn that he had a girlfriend. By the season finale, Port had presented the "Whitney Eve" lookbook to Bergdorf Goodman, and decided to further publicise her collection through a fashion show at Bryant Park.

In the beginning of the second season, Joe Zee attempted to salvage the relationship between Palermo and Kaplan by reassigning the former to work on Elle.com. However, the strategy proved unsuccessful as the women continue to clash with one another. Meanwhile, Olin begins a flirtatious friendship with photographer Zach Hyman. Cutrone cautions Port that Olin's lack of professionalism and inexperience in the industry may damage Port's reputation. However, Olin's under-performance ultimately strained their friendship, and culminated in Olin moving into an apartment with their friend Samantha Swetra. The season finale sees Palermo promoted as the new face of Elle.com after a successful business trip to Japan, while Port contemplates leaving People's Revolution after she and Cutrone clash over the development of her fashion line.

## Cast Members

### Main

* Whitney Port (Season 1-2)
* Olivia Palermo (Season 1-2)
* Roxy Olin (Season 1-2)
* Erin Kaplan (Season 1-2)
* Jay Lyon (Season 1; recurring in Season 2)
* Adam Senn (Season 1; recurring in Season 2)
* Erin Lucas (Season 1)

### Supporting

* Kelly Cutrone (Season 1-2)
* Samantha Swetra (Season 1-2)
* Joe Zee (Season 1-2)
* Allie Crandell (Season 1-2)
* Zach Hyman (Season 1-2)
* Duncan Davies (Season 1)
* Nevan Donahue (Season 1)
* Alex Smith (Season 1)
* Alixe Boyer (Season 1)
* Emese Szenasy (Season 1)
* Elizabeth Luby (Season 1)
* JR (Season 1)
* Diane von Fürstenberg (Season 1)
* Bryn Poulos (Season 1)
* Freddie Fackelmayer (Season 1)
* Harry Fackelmayer (Season 1)
* Seth Plattner (Season 2)
* Louise Roe (Season 2)

## Episodes

See Also: List of The City Episodes

 2 | 12

## Reception

### Critical Response

The City received generally mixed reviews from critics. Melissa Camacho of Common Sense Media criticised the program for featuring a near-identical plotline to its predecessor The Hills, where Lauren Conrad was similarly shown to pursue a career in the fashion industry while addressing difficulties among her friends. Ginia Bellefante from The New York Times suggested that the series was purposely produced sub-par to its parent series, commenting that it "is not the advertisement for New York that The Hills, with its dreamily shot opening-credit sequence, is for Los Angeles". An editor from The Village Voice questioned if Port was interesting enough to lead her own spin-off series, describing her personality as featuring "unavoidable, inexorable ordinariness".

### Scripting Allegations

The City was often criticised for appearing to fabricate much of its storyline. In one instance, Diane von Fürstenberg workers were reportedly angered that Port "doesn't really work" and was "hardly ever in the office", elaborating that series producers would inhibit normal work operations by not allowing employees to move items in their offices. Freddie Fackelmayer, Port's former love interest, commented that the network "never asked the cast to say or do anything", though the editing that followed portrayed him as a "womanising jerk".

An additional source of suspicion arose in the second half of the first season, where Palermo allegedly purchased counterfeit accessories on Canal Street for a work assignment; the non-discreet nature of the transaction led to speculation that the scene was staged for the segment. In 2009, Palermo commented that she was "disappointed" by the "villainous" manner in which she was portrayed on the program. She added that she was "super friendly" with Port at work, whereas the series depicted a more strained relationship.

### Ratings

The series opening of The City premiered to 1.6 million viewers, significantly less than the 2.6 million viewers attracted by the fourth-season finale of The Hills. The second half of the season premiered with 2 million viewers, a 43% increase from its debut. The remainder of the season maintained an average 1.9 million viewers, with the finale peaking at 2.3 million. Upon the conclusion of the second season in July 2010, rumours were widespread that The City would be cancelled. In October 2010, Port commented that "it doesn't really look like we're doing it anymore", with MTV later adding that the series would not be renewed for a third season.