Laguna Beach Season 3: Promote the Curse?

In 1996, the Yankees won their first championship in years. They were a young, fresh team, paced by a core of wily veterans. At the time, they were not as much hatable as they were a new concept to New York City: winning baseball, who knew?

Derek Jeter was a rookie. He was not yet a star, but it was clear that there was something truly special there. The Yankees team was not its greatest, but the core was there and clearly something special lied in the wake.

In season 1 of Laguna Beach, we were introduced to a fresh new concept: High school reality programming. People were as intrigued by the rare combination of cagey veterans Steven and LC as they were with up and comer Kristin.

Kristin was Jeter. She had staying power. She had the talent that would make her a star and build a franchise into a dynasty.



From 1998-2000 the Yankees created their own dynasty. They continued their formula of mixing homegrown talent with sound and often simple acquisitions.

From 1998-2000 the Yankees grew from being New York’s team to the team of the world. All of a sudden, every foreign country was equipped with Yankee-hat-wearing Daveman.

Derek Jeter emerged as the face of the game and led the Yankees to three straight titles, in one of the more impressive runs in recent baseball history. Everyone loved the Yankees.



Season 2 of Laguna Beach was similarly dominating. It saw Kristin Cavallari blossom into a superstar and lead a ship of young talent, Jessica and Talan most notably, in combination with some stellar veteran performances by Stephen and LC.

The amazing acquisition of bad boy Steven, the Roger Clemens of the show, put LB over the top. The show’s second season grew the franchise from a local but successful hit, to a national power. All of a sudden the nation and the world had caught on. Cavaleri made the cover of tabloids. LC had her spin-off.

Like with the Yankees of 2000, Laguna Beach became a phenomenon. Everyone loved them and everyone realized that if they can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

The Yankees 2001-present lost their mojo. They lost the sense of team and chemistry that made their late 90’s teams so dominant.

The Yankees brought in players from ever walk of life, creating a fantasy team for their millions of superficial fans. Players like Jason Giambi left their perfect settings to come to the Yankees just because they wanted a shot at something special.



Randy Johnson, a difference maker in his own right, forced a trade to the Yankees, hoping that he too could grab a piece of the pie, be a part of that Yankee magic that Jeter and co. had always talked about.

Then there was A-Rod: the most talented player in the game. He came to the Yankees and has since unraveled. Not even an MVP is enough for his fans. A perfect symbol of his team, A-Rod simply got too big. The Yankees acquired too many stars, and as a result, the bubble has burst.

This rise and fall is very similar to the Laguna Beach franchise. Season 3 premiered last night. While some old faces remained, the new cast resembled more of a fantasy team then a complete team.



The talent was too spread out. The bad girls, led by Kyndra, needed too much playing time. The good girls, fronted by the sweet but sneaky Tessa, were too pure and media friendly that you just knew they were full of shit (read Yankees left side of infield).

Of the males on the show, Cameron appeared to be the breakout; the surfer jock who came into his own as a senior.

The girls love him but he just doesn’t work. Much like A-Rod with the Yankees, Cameron is coming a little too late. There already was a dominant bad boy in season 2 in stand-out Jason.

The thought of another one in need of the spotlight doesn’t work. The bad boy department only has room for one star, much like the Yankees' left side of the infield, and unfortunately for Cam, that ship has sailed.



Not a lot works about season 3 of LB. There is simply too much talent spread out too thin. There is no core. There is no leader. Even the plot is too complicated.

Season 1 and 2 dealt with very simple stuff. Two girls like boy. Boy picks hotter girl. The next year he comes back but they have moved on. Pretty darn simple, yet oh so effective.

Already in season 3 we are seeing good girl vs. bad girl, rock bands, jocks, nerds. White girls, black girls, asian girls (though Y2k is a equal opportunity blog) and we were introduced to about 19 characters.

Who are all these people? Hell, the girl that introduces the show doesn’t even really seem to play a part. It would be like Cedric, the dbag, opening Season 2 of LB, and that, my friends, would be blasphemous.

Like the Yankees, Laguna Beach got too big. In the first couple of seasons the characters were pure and dare I say REAL. They didn’t see the paparazzi and magazine covers in their immediate future.



This season’s cast is quite the opposite. Each character knows that if they stand out, they can catapult to the A-list, much like Kristin, or even get their own show, like LC.

These kids have been preparing for this season for 2 years. They spent weeks not eating or throwing up what they had eaten to lose those 10 lbs that the camera adds so as to look perfect once shooting began.

This ain’t real, much like the Yankees just ain't real baseball.

I can see it now. Cami, the top heavy bad girl demanding her parents to let her transfer from near by OC High to Laguna Beach High, just because she wanted to be a part of the Yankees of reality high school television.



This season of LB will fail. There are too many egos wanting to grab too much of the pie. There aren’t enough team first characters there that just want to make a simple, winning reality show.

It’s really too bad. The pieces were all there, and the show had all the resources that you could ask for: a dream location, tons of money, and a glut of talent dying to be a part. But the show got greedy and now it will reap the consequences.

So will I watch the rest of Season 3? Every Wednesday

Like the Yankees, Laguna Beach will always be one of the best. There is simply too much going for the show that at the end of the day it will be able to compete. As I have said time and time again, as long as baseball is setup the way it is, the Yankees will never not be near the top.

In the same way, as long as this country has morons like myself, Laguna Beach will shine.

But it takes something more to be special. It takes something more to be the ‘98-’00 Yankees. And that special recipe has disappeared in the real Orange County. And it really is too bad.

Vaya con dios,

SM