‘Laguna Beach’ viewers question show’s authenticity

PATRICIA J. SHEEHAN STAFF WRITER PJS723@CABRINI EDU

MTV’s “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” has been one of the hottest “reality-based” shows for the past two years. Since its debut in 2004 the show has skyrocketed to one of the most popular shows on MTV and has acquired 73 million viewers through the 11-week second season.

Trish Tieri, a sophomore marketing major,is a huge fan of the show and said, “I’m planning to move to California so I can live like those people because they have the ‘perfect’life. I’m addicted; I’m not going to lie.”

The show centers around a group of high school seniors that reside on the beautiful coast of Laguna Beach, Calif., where camera crews follow them through the endless drama of relationships, back-stabbing and gossip that we can all warmly remember from high school.

MTVadvertises the show as “reality-based,” but what does that really mean? When the show first aired, many were skeptical about the authenticity of it. It’s kind of hard to believe that these kids experience all of this juicy drama without the help of MTV producers.

It seems like these teenagers live in houses without their parents and are never shown actually in school although they supposedly attend Laguna Beach High School, which does exist. These flawless teens always seem to be shopping, partying or eating out at some insanely expensive restaurant.

When Cabrini students were asked about the authenticity of Laguna Beach, many said that they think it may be reality, but some things are staged.

Danielle DeRosa, a junior business major, watches the show and said, “I think the people are real, but some of the stuff that happens is staged because you can tell that they show things that may not have happened on camera.”

An anonymous male Cabrini student agreed with DeRosa and said, “I don’t think it’s real because no one acts like that, the relationships are staged and that kid Jason gets himself in trouble all the time.”

When asked if fans would still watch “Laguna Beach” if they found out it was all staged, a sophomore elementary education major, Meredith Stefanowicz, said, “I would not stop watching. I wouldn’t be such an avid watcher, but it is still interesting to watch.”

Tieri disagreed saying, “If it’s fake I would probably stop watching because it wouldn’t be fun anymore.”

Kristen Cavalleri, 18, the shows notorious “mean girl,” spoke to Newsweek about this reality show that consumes many viewer’s Monday nights.

She reportedly said that she had to fill out a 20-page application for the show with questions consisting of, “Name your five best friends and one thing you hate about each of them.”

These applications were then examined and the cast members picked. The producers then placed each cast member in their own character to fit typical high school stereotypes.

Not only have the characters been molded, but the cast only shoots Sunday through Thursday.

If anything important goes down during the weekend, the producers have the cast reenact the events again for taping. Also, producers sometimes delay important events from happening so that they can be captured by the magic of film.

Cavalleri also admits that the producers have “off-camera coaching” for the cast. Producers will ask the cast to talk about certain subjects while taping. Cavalleri says that this “is actually the reason we often see cast members laughing when they talk about serious situations.”

As for another season of “Laguna Beach,” Cavalleri says she is finished with reality TV and wants to go onto other things in entertainment and possibly go into movies.

Sadly, “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” isn’t exactly as real as we may have hoped, but many still agree that the drama-filled lives of these teenagers is something that they will continue to enjoy.

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