EDITORIALS:Newport High reality show not reality

I want my MTV?

Not really.

Anyone want to bet the network will portray Newport Beach in a positive light when it debuts its reality show, “Newport Beach: The Real Orange County”? Those are pretty long odds the way we see it.

The show’s producers say it will be another retread of the Laguna Beach version.

“The concepts are the same, it’s just a new town and a new cast,” said the show’s creator and executive producer Liz Gateley. “It’s still about a clique of best friends coming of age in their senior year, trying to maneuver high school romances, friendships and breakups.”

Oh boy, we can hardly wait.

And we’re dismayed the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau President Gary Sherwin thinks this is the sort of attention Newport Beach needs.

“While the content of the show is not always the things you want said about your community, it certainly does generate a buzz and a talk value, which has marketing benefits,” he said.

For those who might say we’re about as hip as flannel and torn jeans or we’re being unfair to a show that hasn’t aired, take note of what Gateley said. It’s going to be the same old, same old.

While we acknowledge the popularity and entertainment value of soap operas, it just galls us that the producers pretend it’s “reality” when it is anything but.

A more accurate view of Newport Harbor High School would tell those viewers from Boise to Birmingham that it has a large student population of more than 2,000 students coming from a wide diversity of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. We just don’t see that reflected in the show’s stars, and we doubt there will be inspirational story lines about disadvantaged kids recently emigrating here who overcome significant cultural obstacles.

How about it, MTV? Think there’s room in your soap opera script for stories about the high school’s mentorship program, which is so crucial for juniors? You might not know this, but we take pride in the fact that more than 100 parents and community members each year serve as mentors. Wouldn’t it be far more compelling to see that develop on the little screen instead of some teenager’s tantrum because mommy and daddy won’t let them get the limo they wanted for prom?