MTV has updated the official website for their new series The City and has released a bunch of new promo pics of the new cast as well as bios on each of the cavalcade of characters. Here is a new promo photo of star Whitney Port and her core group of new NYC BFFs … kinda like her Audrina Patridge and Heidi Montag but are named Erin Lucas (right) and Olivia Palermo (left):

Geeze … Erin and Olivia even kinda look like Audrina and Heidi. As you may recall, when The Hills started out, Lauren LC Conrad was supertight with Heidi and Audrina … and then, well, the drama happened. I suspect that these new ladies will prove the same sort of foils for Whitney in her quest to become a city girl. It’s a proven formula that works … so, why not. After the jump, check out a bunch of individual promo pics of the whole cast of The City, including the dudes who will be helping these ladies will all their dramatic needs … (more…)

Whitney Port, who is currently working on her new MTV reality series The City, was snapped in NYC this week lookin’ about as fashionable as she could as she fought her way thru the treacherous gale winds that hammered the city … behold:

I gotta say, Miss Whitney gets snaps for managing to keep it together stylistically despite having to battle the elements. As a SoCal girl, Whitney prolly isn’t that used to having to contend with the weather very much … but now that she’s relocated to the Big Apple for fashion and fame, she’s gonna have to learn how to deal. She looks great tho, I’m excited to follow her adventures to come in The City — for neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays this reality TV star from the swift completion of her appointed rounds of drama!

[Photo credit: Splash News]

MTV has released a press release that officially confirms that the new reality TV series The City, which is a spin-off of their hugely successful series The Hills, has been picked up and will begin airing on the network in the early part of the new year. As y’all know, Whitney Port will be the central figure on The City (much like Lauren LC Conrad is the central figure on The Hills) and has been filming scenes around NYC of a romantic and friendly nature with her new cast of reality cohorts. At last we have final confirmation that those scenes will finally make it to air:

From the MTV press release:

WHITNEY TRIES NEW YORK CITY ON FOR SIZE AS MTV GREENLIGHTS “THE CITY”

“The City” is created by Adam DiVello. Adam DiVello, Sean Travis and Liz Gateley will serve as executive producers. Colin Nash is co-executive producer. Catherine K. Whyte is MTV’s executive-in-charge of production. Spike Van Briesen and Sophia Rossi serve as supervising producers for the series.

I mean, c’mon, we totally knew that MTV was gonna air this series so this news isn’t really news at all. But the officialness of the announcement has to sting just a little for Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt. It was commonly believed that they would be getting their own spin-off TV series once The Hills ran its course … and, indeed, they might still. It just seems very telling that MTV is investing so much on this Whitney-centered TV series — and there is no sign that Speidi are going to be given the same treatment. My guess is that Speidi will eventually get their own TV series but I wouldn’t be surprised if their show was on another network. They seem like the type of folks that would do well at E! Maybe The Hills will get one more season, mebbe not but at least Whitney can breathe easy … she now knows that she’ll be on TV next year. It remains to be seen if any of the other folks on The Hills will be as lucky.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]

Whitney Port and a very enthusiastic friend (and possible co-star) were snapped filming very seemingly dramatic scenes for her new MTV reality TV show The City near the Central Park Reservoir yesterday afternoon. It’s impossible to tell what exactly is going on in these photos but it’s clear that in that last pic the girls are very excited about something:

What ever could have made both Whitney and her friend react so giddily in that last pic? Mebbe she learned that her clothing line is selling better than LC’s? Mebbe that hunky guy she was mackin’ on a few weeks ago decided to call her back? Mebbe Speidi died? Any other guesses?

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Here are a few pics of Hills minor character, soon-to-be The City major character Whitney Port enjoying an afternoon of shopping at K-Star in the SoHo district of NYC this week with a female friend. While I’m sure that cutting edge fashions were on their shopping list, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ladies were also shopping around for interesting plots to interject into Whitney’s reality TV progam, which is currently being filmed around NYC:

Earlier today, we saw pics of Britney Spears’s same day shopping trip to SoHo but I doubt that Whitney’s presence in the area caused much of a sensation all on its own. It was just Whitney and her friend, walking along, shopping here and there, filming a television program just like any other person in the city — now that’s what I call reality.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Filming continues here in NYC on The Hills spin-off show The City anchored by Whitney Port, which means all the drama and frivolity that we love to watch filmed on the West Coast is being recreated here on the East Coast. Since Whitney is a central figure on this new spin-off, she needs to start generating more drama of her own rather than merely reacting by way of various facial expressions to the adventures enjoyed by Lauren LC Conrad and her inner circle. Which means that Whitney had to dig up an old flame for use on the show. Apparently, she and ex-boyfriend Ben Lyons have been “heating up” over the past few weeks (according to In Touch Weekly, that is) just in time for filming … here are new pics of the cozy couple (tho, a few Pink readers think this dude is not Ben Lyons but an Aussie named Jay Lyon) filming scenes for The City at an eatery called Extra Virgin here in NYC this week:

Whitney Port of The Hills is getting cozy with her old flame Ben Lyons. The fashionista, whose NYC-set spin-off started filming in August, was spotted with the At the Movies co-host at the Rose Bar in the Big Apple on September 15. “They were ordering drinks and talking very closely,” an insider says. “Ben was being affectionate and making her laugh until they left at about 1 a.m.” Whitney and Ben were first linked in 2007, but refused to confirm they were a couple. “He was a good guy for a while,” Whitney, 23, said in 2007 about Ben.

I guess he’s a good guy again … and a dead ringer for Hills favorite Justin Bobby (Audrina Patridge’s main squeeze). If MTV is planning on basically duplicating The Hills almost exactly then they are off to a very good start. I’m not sure if this plan of attack will actually generate ratings but … I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

In related Hills news, MTV just announced that Britney Spears’s new single Womanizer will have it’s television broadcast debut during this Monday night’s episode of The Hills:

Britney Spears’ triumphant appearance at the “2008 MTV Video Music Awards” and her subsequent wins for Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video Of The Year for “Piece of Me” proves to her fans and critics alike that the Pop Diva is on her way back to the top. As an added bonus for her fans, Britney’s first single “Womanizer” from her upcoming album Circus, will have its exclusive Television debut on MTV during the Monday, September 29th episode of its hit series “The Hills.” Britney Spears’ sixth studio album, Circus, on Jive Records will be released on Tuesday, December 2nd, her 27th birthday. “Womanizer” was officially released to radio on Friday, September 26th.

You wanna bet Womanizer is gonna be used in someway with the Doug dating Stephanie behind LC’s back storyline?

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]