TV
‘Audrina’
VH1’s new show Audrina follows the life of Audrina Patridge (center) and her family. Audrina airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. CST on VH1.
Let’s face it: Audrina Patridge was never the life of the party on “The Hills.” At best, she was a confidante to the main character (whether it was Lauren Conrad or Kristin Cavallari) who occasionally got her own storylines. With that in mind, it is unclear why anyone would give her her own reality show, but they did.
“Audrina” chronicles the life of the “celebrity” and her family, which consists of her parents, her two sisters and her brother. The show’s first episode attempts to characterize each of the family members in its short 20 minutes. Audrina’s father is the levelheaded one of the family, while her mother is out of control and overbearing. Her sister Casey is rebellious and always speaks her mind, while her youngest sibling Samantha is trapped alone in her parents’ house. Her brother Marky is shown as being easy-going and just looking for a party. In other words, they all seem pretty one-dimensional.
Dysfunctional families always make for good reality television, especially when one of the family members is already an established reality star. Unfortunately, “Audrina” does not follow this stereotype. It’s fair to say that most of the viewers tuning in to watch the Patridge family will be previous viewers of “Laguna Beach,” “The Hills” and “The City.” Those viewers will be unconditionally disappointed.
Audrina’s family members don’t have the spark or the draw of LC, Kristin, Brody, Speidi or even Whitney. It is hard for anyone to care that Audrina calls her mother, Lynne Patridge, old. None of the Patridges are sympathetic or attractive characters, so there is really no reason to watch them. On top of it all, the visual style and editing throughout the show are extremely boring and typical. Missing are the scenic shots and flashy editing found in any of the show’s predecessors.
It’s really no wonder that MTV decided not to pick this up—the show is airing on VH1, despite “The Hills” airing on MTV. The characters are flat and uninteresting, the visual style is un-engaging and Audrina doesn’t have enough of a draw to bring and keep viewers glued to their TVs. “Audrina” is missing Adam DiVello (the producer of “The Hills”), the cattiness of LC and Kristin and, well, something to make people want to watch. In the theme song of “The Hills,” Natasha Bedingfield sang that “the rest is still unwritten.” Maybe we all would have been better off if it had stayed that way.