My not-so-guilty pleasure returns August 18. Though a part of me knows not to hold any stock to the season trailer (as it has led to disappointments in the past), I can’t help but get excited and look forward to the drama that is to come (can Lauren trust Stephanie Pratt? Will Lo push Audrina and Lauren apart?).

I realize that most of my readers cannot understand the appeal of such shallow, faux reality. But Time magazine’s James Poniewozik recently laid out, in irresistible prose, exactly why The Hills appeals to an audience beyond teenage girls.

“…if you can get past the idea that fakeness is a bad thing–use a fancier term, like artifice, if that helps you–then The Hills is one of the most magnificent pieces of fakery on television, a jewel-like celebration of superficiality.

“The surfaces are precisely what make The Hills entrancing: it is possibly the best-looking series on television. It doesn’t just look better than life. It looks better than TV. Where most reality shows use garish close-ups to show hot emotions, The Hills uses middle- and long-range shots in wide-screen, giving it a cooler feel and framing the subjects like art photography. It’s full of liquid L.A. sun, in love with the way light plays on surfaces–car bodies, plate glass, glossed lips.”

I’ve written about how Laguna Beach initially sucked me in with its cinematography and sound track, and The Hills, now in its fourth season, is better than ever in terms of production values. And if people can learn how to be chosen for reality television, Lauren, Audrina, Whitney and Heidi could teach such a class with their eyes closed.

I will be watching.

Saw a commercial on MTV Canada advertising the third season premiere of The Hills slated for August 13 – meaning we’re right on par with the States for the first time!

You can watch the trailer here. I’d normally be pretty excited to return to the glamorous life of LC and company, but this time around, much of the drama seems fabricated and set up by show producers. But as this is reported to be the last season, I’ll still enjoy it while it lasts.

Since my mid-season review, The Hills just kept getting better. Even though the second season trailer contained a hint of the growing split between best friends Lauren and Heidi, I didn’t think it would cumulate into the two ultimately not speaking to each other.

Unlike at the end of season 1, the show was renewed for a third even before the season finale aired. Thus the editors were granted the opportunity to create a cliffhanger – namely, the result of Whitney’s job interview. I like the inadvertent parallel of Heidi and Spencer’s new living arrangements with Lauren and Jason’s summer accommodation storyline last year. Will season three open with a newly single gal too? I also have to say that the shot of a penseive Heidi in the side mirror of the moving van as she departed was so perfect you have to wonder if it was pre-planned.

Lastly, echoing a frustration all viewers must share, how can Heidi remain with Spencer even after his blunt playboy confession? On some level, young love can explain some of her tunnel vision, but there comes a point where the sympathy becomes exasperation at her naïveté, blindness, or at worst, docile acceptance of his cheating tendencies.

If the recent Lauren/Jason sex tape scandal or Heidi’s breast implants and rhinoplasty gossip are any indication, there will be much to follow even before season 3 airs.

While I’ve been following the show closely, I haven’t felt the urge to post about The Hills so far this season. Most of the plotlines, including Heidi’s pregnancy scare, Lauren and Brody’s flirtations, and nouVogue‘s intern supreme Emily have been quite unexceptional.

But with last night’s intense fight between Lauren and Heidi, I think the season has found its legs and resonating moment. Though the tension has been building over the last few episodes, it erupted today in Lauren’s ultimatum – Heidi’s choice between her boyfriend or their friendship.

Beyond boy dramas, Laguna Beach and The Hills have both had their share of female cat fights and clique wars. But there’s something about best friends at an impasse that is relatable on a very raw, personal level – voyeurism at its best, with situations playing out in a suspended reality. Producer manipulation and editing aside, it’s just darn good reality television.

I can’t wait for next week!