NEW YORK — Claire, Molly and Anna, pretty 16-year-old juniors from Libertyville, Ill., flew to New York City last month to visit NYU. "I wonder if we'll see Whitney Port," one said to another, because they totally watch her MTV reality show "The City," and wouldn't that be hilarious?
And when they wheeled their luggage into the W Times Square Hotel, there she was: Whitney Port, having a photo shoot in the lobby, looking like a fashionable, louche giraffe. She was in tight Current/Elliott jeans, rolled above strappy boots, and a gauzy, very L.A. top.
This was only five episodes into "The City's" debut season.
The giraffe approached. "Oh, I looked at NYU!" Port told them. And, "Oh cool, my mom's from Chicago." Pictures were taken. "You're such a nice role model," one of their moms told Whitney.
Claire, Molly and Anna are the hard-core demographic for Port's show -- and they even get parental approval.
"The City" is the latest of the sweeping, lushly shot reality shows: They are teen telenovelas with less chest-beating. It began with "Laguna Beach," which made hay of the lives of Orange County high schoolers. A spinoff, "The Hills," followed cast member Lauren Conrad to L.A., where the show became a clash of good girls (like Lauren's co-worker Whitney) and evil schemers. (An MTV exec once described "The Hills" as "this generation's 'A Tale of Two Cities.' ") The form of the show morphed from allegedly documentary in nature to something more like a competition, like "Survivor." The cast -- most notably Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, who are in the evil schemer camp -- began playing within the show and in the press to win: though the prizes were unspecified, they'd take what they could get.
So when a new show was born, "The City," starring our friend Whitney, about her new life after moving from Los Angeles to New York, Heidi and Spencer's fabulous bon voyage gift was their method. Anyone who would want to be on the show as Port's friend, lover or co-worker could be in it all for himself.
Port, 23, had just returned from Miami. MTV shot for two days in exchange for letting her stay three more without cameras. (It's odd that she'd take a whole work week off, having recently started her on-camera job working for Diane von Furstenberg -- as opposed to her other job, which is being on TV.)
