Here we are in 2004, and somehow, BET wants us to be amazed that it has–gasp!–launched its first reality show.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, BET is jumping into privacy-free lifestyle TV with its 13-episode series “College Hill,” the first reality program with a completely African-American cast. And you thought you’d seen everything.
Watch this thing, and it becomes clear that you have. For all of its touted firsts, “College Hill” isn’t so much a groundbreaking entry as it is a version of “Fraternity Life” or “Sorority Life” or, more precisely, “The Real World” seen through sepia-colored glasses. Reality has been there and done everything “College Hill” is showing.
The promise of “College Hill,” though, besides serving up a whole lot of steam and sass, is that it’ll give viewers an honest, sushi-raw glimpse at life on and off campus at Louisiana’s Southern University. It’s a slice of the young African-American experience from the perspectives of eight very different kids, all living together in one dorm suite separated by bedrooms, who blend and clash in a variety of ways.
You know, just like every other reality show.
The question to ask BET isn’t why, but, why now? Obviously the reality genre must have tempted the network several seasons ago, given its programming slate consists of little more than videos, sports shows, celebrity puff and news programs. Something such as “College Hill” (quick turnaround, cheaper production values) should have been on the air years ago.
You can’t say executive producer Tracey E. Edmonds, the woman behind “Soul Food,” doesn’t give it the old college try. For instance, the girls go out to a club and walk out, bored, even as a hair-pulling catfight rages in the background. Next, the guys go out in a stretch limo stocked with champagne, pick up a few Budweiser girls–they, too, appear bored.
The only drama on display doesn’t come until the end of the second episode, when the R.A. warns them they’re breaking rules right and left, and if they continue to do so, the cameras might stop rolling.
In the case of “College Hill,” being the first isn’t always worth calling home about.
We can only hope BET can learn from this one and create better original programming in the future.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Joe Knowles ([email protected])