The Paper

As much as I alternately love and loathe new reality shows, I didn't want to get into MTV's The Paper. But after one episode, I was powerless — not only is the show itself well-produced, edited, and so entertaining, I can't help but empathize with the newspaper geeks because I was one in high school too!

But, times are no longer like my high school days — the MTV class has a room full of eMacs, and the students have the hottest phones. Plucky yet beleaguered editor-in-chief Amanda Lorber started the school year with a nose job and a new iPhone (and my heart broke a little for her when her date texted his way out of Homecoming).

It warms my old journalism heart to see the kids sitting at their monitors, slaving over stories, and wordsmithing their ways to their future. I just know these nerds are going to be my future colleagues, so keep on geekin' on, Paper kids!

Photos courtesy of MTV

The Paper is one of the new shows in MTV's teenybopper reality show lineup. I initially thought the program would serve as an enticing way to get young peeps enthused about a nonathletic, extracurricular activity — one that promotes civic awareness, community involvement, and writing proficiency. I should have known better. The show mainly focuses on the quirkiness of the paper's editor in chief and how nearly everyone under her can't stand her, constantly undermine her, and want to overthrow her. The value of teamwork? Oh, that's been edited out, natch.

In high school, I was a class-A newspaper nerd, trolling the halls with a notepad in hand, hoping for a bit of scandal from the drama department or an expose on why Frisbee was no longer allowed in gym class. Even so, I doubt I'd be any match for the kids of The Paper, MTV's newest reality series. The show, which premieres tonight after The Hills, follows a crew of teens at a south Florida high school as they battle to become editor in chief of The Circuit.

I loved the idea when it was first announced, and I admit I've gotten a little thrill every time I've seen the ads for the show — especially when Amanda, the catalyst for much of the bickering on the staff, declares in no uncertain terms that "journalists are the most important people in the world." These kids don't look like out-and-out geeks, but they're not the perfectly polished specimens of The Hills, either. They seem shockingly normal, caught up less in fame and more in the everyday dramas of popularity and personality that were such a big part of the teenage experience for so many of us.

MTV's last foray into a journalism-based series, I'm From Rolling Stone, didn't work out so well — but I have higher hopes for The Paper. After all, very few people can relate to being music journalists, but who can't relate to the awkwardness of high school?

Are you interested in checking out The Paper when it premieres tonight? To check out a preview, just read more

Well, this just warms the cockles of my teenage-journalism-nerd heart. MTV is filming a documentary series about a high school newspaper that will air early next year.

The series is set at Cypress Bay High School in Florida, behind the scenes of the award-winning newspaper The Circuit. MTV is filming eight episodes, and lest you non-nerdy types wonder how there will possibly be enough drama to fill eight episodes, I can assure you that high school newspapers have plenty of backstabbing, catfighting and bad-decision-making to go around. Or maybe that was just my high school paper.

Interesting tidbit: MTV is shying away from calling this a "reality series," because they insist they didn't set anything up — they found this group of kids and are filming as-is (though the network did post a casting notice last year). Instead they're calling it a "docu-series." Apparently, we've reached the point where reality TV is officially classified as not real.

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