Article: Swimming With Sharks; Deconstructing MTV's teen phenom 'Laguna Beach'.(Television Program Review)

Byline: Devin Gordon

MTV's reality series about teen life in paradise, "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," hasn't become the network's latest hit because of all the interesting things that happen on it. In fact, nothing even close to interesting happens. Last week the biggest development was a hickey. One MTV executive describes "Laguna Beach's" storytelling as "subtle," a charitable way to refer to 30 minutes of gossip, shopping and backstabbing. The show specializes in the "um"s, "like"s and "whatever"s of teen politics, observed at a petri-dish level. Why is it a hit? Because its subjects are the same kids we all went to high school with, only richer and ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!