On Friday, network bosses confirmed that they’ve said “Thanks, But No Thanks” to airing a reality soap that would have followed the former Hills hottie’s work as a designer on her Kohl’s clothing line, The Lauren Conrad Collection. Conrad shot a pilot for the show last October, but the footage failed to reasonate with MTV executives.
“We decided not to go ahead with the show,” David Janollari, EVP, Head of Programming for MTV, told Entertainment Weekly this week. “She did do a pilot. There were talks about whether we could somehow manage to put together a special based on that footage but that’s also a big question mark based on her interest in that and the finances. We love her! We would love her on our network!”
The show would have followed Conrad as she launched her latest fashion label, Paper Crown. Last fall, the ex-Laguna Beach starlet described the project as a docu-series inspired by the Vogue documentary, The September Issue.
“This show is going to have a smaller crew, and they’ll just be following us around. It’s going to have a rougher feel, but I think the end result is going to be more true…It made sense for me to come back because I really enjoyed filming. It was just my need to have a life that was just for me, so now I get to do both,” LC explained at the time.
The 25-year-old shot to fame on Laguna Beach and The Hills but chose to step away from reality TV last year to focus on other projects. Since then, Conrad has parlayed her fame into a multiple endorsements and a pair of bestselling books. These days, it seems, Lauren just doesn’t have the juice to compete in a Teen Mom/Jersey Shore kinda world.
“It was a great attempt, but it just didn’t feel like a perfect fit for us now,” Janollari says.
In a statement of her own to The Hollywood Reporter Friday, Lauren says the show was scrapped for being “too highbrow.”
“We sold a show to MTV, filmed it and are really proud of the final result. MTV felt the subject matter was too high brow for their audience and offered me the opportunity to change the show by incorporating more of my personal life.”
