But where we really see it is in “The Hills,” airing on Monday at 10 p.m. and now in its third season. This direct offspring of “Laguna Beach” focuses on one of that series’ mainstays, Lauren Conrad, and her attractive, mostly insubstantial friends as they try to make it in Hollywood by day and party with cute boys at night.

In "Hills," we get the hookups, parties and fights, yet none of it is very entertaining.

We often don’t see the hookups. The parties are lame. And the fights, while plentiful, rarely deliver fireworks. We get sparklers.

Worse, the girls at the center of the storm are largely boring, and for a show that’s essentially a reality soap opera, that’s death.

Viewers can forgive almost anything, even the endless, self-pitying whining of incredibly uncurious children of privilege. But the personal drama has to be there--and be dramatic. In "Hills,” even wedding proposals seem afterthoughts.

Our story: Lauren has a job at Teen Vogue along with friend (and now boss) Whitney. Her roommate, Audrina, works reception at Epic Records. Former best friend Heidi works as a Hollywood party promoter and lives with her boyfriend, perpetually unkempt Spencer.

Not bad as setups go.

The girls spend their nights clubbing, hooking up and fighting. They spend their days talking about the previous night and what they have planned for this one. What little drama that exists comes from their roundtable of disapproval of each other’s current and potential boyfriends.

Lauren hates Spencer and resents Heidi for having moved in with him. Heidi resents Lauren for shutting her out of her life. Audrina resents Heidi because, well, because she’s Lauren’s roommate and it’s kind of expected.

The best bits in the early episodes come out of Lauren’s suspicion that Heidi started a rumor about a potential sex tape involving her and her ex. There’s no proof, but the accusations fly.

What few insights the show offers, and they are few, come from fringe characters, as when a buddy, warning Spencer against marrying Heidi, says, “You gotta live your youth. You wanna really waste your whole youth?”

Or when, after hearing Lauren talk about wanting to change a guy, a friend, Lo, asks, “Why do you have to have a guy that you have to change? Don’t you want to meet somebody that’s good already?”

As if to heighten the impact of all this, every scene is punctuated with music whose lyrics hammer the appropriate emotional message.

Are we engaged by it all? After spending enough time with these kids, it could happen. We might indeed hope that it works out for Heidi and Spencer or that Lauren stops choosing bad boys or that Audrina goes on to develop a personality of her own, independent of Lauren.

But then again, maybe we have better things to do with our time and our feelings. Being young is painful enough the first time around. And "Hills" doesn't in any way make it seem any less painful or more meaningful.