No more MTV in Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach is no longer “The Real Orange County.”

MTV’s hit TV show has moved north to greener pastures.

The network has announced that the show’s fourth season will be “Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County,” and will feature teens from Newport Harbor High School. The season will premiere Aug. 15.

The show’s move follows a decline in ratings in its third season, when a new crop of Laguna kids was selected to star but failed to make waves.

Rumors and sightings of the show’s filming in Newport have circulated for months, following rumors that a fourth season in Laguna had been begun but then stopped.

Tony DiSanto, the network’s executive vice president of programming, said in a press release that Newport “offers something new and different,” citing the need for distinction as the impetus to move the show, rather than the complaints of parents and locals that the show didn’t accurately reflect Laguna or its teens.

“It was a divisive and negative influence, not only within the community but also among the kids themselves,” said school board president Betsy Jenkins. “We’re happy to give it to Newport.”

In late January 2004, the board approved MTV to film on campus in a 5-0 vote.

It reconsidered and rescinded the move at a special board meeting in early February, at which 17 residents and parents spoke of the pros and cons of the show.

Jenkins, who was on the board during the time of the board’s initial consideration of the show, said she was “delighted” when she read the news of the network’s move to Newport in the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s definitely a good thing,” she said.

“We’re throwing a party,” said Dave Vanderveen, a vocal opponent to the show’s presence who held a debate about its effects the night before last year’s school board election in Laguna Beach.

“That’s great news; really exciting,” he said. “Which idiot school board did they talk into being on TV? I don’t know how you can be a principal or on a school board and think this is a good idea, but I’m just happy they’re not going to be in Laguna.”

For businesses who have gleaned profits off the tourism dollar thanks — in part — to the show, its departure may not be as welcome.

Marisol Delao has worked at Thee Foxes’ Trot on S. Coast Highway for nine years and she said this summer’s business is down substantially. She said she feels the demise of Fox’s “The OC” and now the departure of MTV may spell trouble for the store down the line.

She said the tourism dollar is essential for businesses such as hers to function.

“If we don’t have it, then we can’t stay open,” Delao said.

George Nelson, owner of Fawn Memories, another business that caters to many out-of-towners, disagrees. Nelson said he believes the show being anywhere in the area is good for business, whether it’s specifically in Laguna or in Newport Beach.

“I think overall it helps south Orange County,” Nelson said.

Judy Bijlani of the Laguna Beach Visitors Bureau doesn’t see Laguna’s tourism industry being disrupted by the move. Bijlani said the show brought the Bureau more curious young people who got to see Laguna in a different way than they had seen it previously on TV.

“Even though the show portrayed Laguna one way, it gave us the opportunity to turn it around,” Bijlani said.

Other towns scouted for the original show (and, according to some insiders, the new adaptation) included San Marino, Anaheim Hills, Rancho Santa Fe and Malibu.

Dieter Schmitz, who appeared in the show’s first two seasons, is now working in VIP services for a resort in Santa Barbara. He studied hotel management in San Diego.

Schmitz described the first two years of the show as a “unique” time.

“We had no idea what we were doing, and I don’t think they [the new cast] will ever have that kind of experience again,” he said.

“I wish them all well,” Schmitz said. “But at this point it’s just funny to me, and I don’t think any of my friends could care less if they did 80 more [seasons].”

He said he valued the experience, but wouldn’t want to continue full-time with the constant pressures and drama of the associated lifestyle.

Some early stars have found fame — and notoriety — since appearing on the show.

Lauren Conrad is the most famous breakout from “Laguna Beach,” due to “The Hills,” her spin-off show, which will also begin another season — its third — on Aug. 13.

In “The Hills,” Conrad is shown attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and interning at Teen Vogue magazine. She has a new clothing line in the works.

Other stars have had their downward spirals heavily publicized.

Conrad’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Jason Wahler, 20, has been arrested four times in four states in the past several months.

The list includes resisting arrest and bribery charges in New York; allegedly wrestling while intoxicated with a man in a hotel lobby and using racial and sexual slurs against an arresting officer in Seattle; assaulting a tow-truck driver and a Los Angeles city employee and using racial slurs while at three times the legal blood-alcohol limit in California; and an arrest in North Carolina in March for underage drinking.

His sentence was postponed due to his attending rehab at Chapman House in Orange.

Another former paramour of Wahler’s, Jessica Smith, pled guilty recently to misdemeanor DUI charges after ramming another vehicle in her Volkswagen Beetle.

“It has been three years since the Stephen, Lauren and Kristin love triangle drew viewers to the real-life drama of Laguna Beach,” DiSanto said.

“Now we are moving up the coast to a new town with new faces and a new high school, but with the same drama of dealing with relationships, cliques, family and friends. The real OC is a beautiful backdrop to this universal story and this year we go back to the heart of the drama … that wistful last year of school.”

MTV has also created a new virtual world, similar to Virtual Laguna Beach, where fans can create avatars and visit shops in Newport Harbor like Main Street Surf Shop and Etc. Etc. Etc.

They will also have their own virtual prom and graduation.

For more information on the new show, visit www.newportharbor.mtv.com.QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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Will the end of the Laguna Beach reality TV show be good or bad for the local community? Write us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA, 92652, e-mail us at [email protected] or fax us at 494-8979. Please give your name and tell us your home address and phone number for verification purposes only.