College Hill

Sure, we've all seen reality TV before.

The concept is at least 10 years old now. And while most of us are very much aware of the mechanics and formula of most "reality TV" shows. But what makes "College Hill" different is that it is the first all-black reality TV show.

Sure, blacks have been featured on other reality TV shows, but this is the first reality TV show with an Afrocentric theme. The show follows the everyday trials, tribulations, good times and in-between times of average college students attending a predominantly black university or college. Viewers get to see "types" they can identify with (i.e. the good, religious girl, the pretty boy, the loud-mouth, etc) and see how they all interact socially and personally.

One of the problems with other reality TV shows that feature blacks is that they sometimes rely too heavily on racial stereotypes: (i.e. the angry black young man, the overly moral black girl, who judges everyone else who does not conform to her ideas or sense of morality.)

"College Hill" is a bit different because it takes a deeper or more multi-dimensional look at black youth. During a marathon airing of the show's first season, not once did I see an angry black male stereotype. Sure, I saw black males who got angry, but they were given time to explain why they were upset or frustrated. On mainstream reality shows such as MTV's "The Real World," the blacks on the show are often dealt with in very superficial ways or not dealt with at all. "College Hill" was created by Edmonds Entertainment, a black company, which has given audiences such shows as Showtime's "Soul Food," which was a ground-breaking show for TV in that it presented black characters in dramatic, believable situations.

I expect "College Hill" to do the same, break ground in the realm of reality TV by showing viewers that blacks have some of the same problems and feelings as their white counterparts. I also think the show will have a positive effect, although a subconscious one on perhaps boosting enrollment at some of the nation's predominantly black colleges and universities.

It's a reality show with young adults attending college, and living everyday life. I wish I could have seen more of the actual college experience far as them being in class, going to college parties etc. I give it a 5/10.

This has to be one of the dumbest and most useless shows BET has ever given the green light to. Firstly there is no explaination as to why they put these people in this house, are they going to school, you know, what the hell is this show really about? And oh yeah, the commercial for it just kills me, "You've never seen Reality TV like this, don't miss College Hill", you damn right I've never seen anything like this and that's not necessarily a good thing. Whenever I happen to catch a glimpse of this show, I have to wonder, what is the damn point? Then the next part that is so so typical for nearly all reality shows is the type casting. For example, they cast a player, a slutty like girl, another girl who think's she's perfect, a Rueben Studdard look alike and a guy who, in my opinion, has no idea what his sexual identity is. I wish the show was more exciting because it's pretty much the same thing almost every week. I was expecting to see a BET version of the "Real World" but wow, I mean, I looked forward to this show so much, I was expecting the unexpected but I was so disappointed. Shows like these should be left in the cutting room or be cancelled all together. Rating- 2/10.

I was expecting a lot too...maybe too much. I have ties to SU and hoped this would represent the school in a positive light. It was sad... There are people at every college like the roommates, but it's like the producers picked the weirdest, freakiest, strangest people they could for the show. Friends of mine at SU have told me the people on the show were ridiculed regularly after the episodes started airing. The entire thing was a train wreck. The pregnant girl, I felt sorry for until she turned into a total B****. The cheerleader, I thought was pretty until she did the thing with the toothbrushes. She needed her a** whipped good for that. I think around that time I stopped watching. It was just too depressing to see SU represented like that every week. I hope people don't think all HBCUs are like that.

What was BET thinking? I couldn't wait for this show to come out! It is first black reality show! I am so disappointed. The episodes never have a reasonable plot and the music is so loud in the background that I can barely heard what the cast is saying in the confessional. The quality of the video is horrible as well. Do I need to even discuss the cast? Kinda a.k.a No Drawers and Jabari...nuff said. Where do they find these people. This show does more of showing what college life is like as if it is a documentary instead of a reality show. I'm in college, so I know what college life is like. They hardly show the cast interacting with each other like Real World does. I still don't know much about any of the cast, because they only show like two of them in each episode. College Hill had the potential of being a good show, but they need to take some notes from the Real World.