“The Hills”

MTV, Mondays at 10 p.m.

As enjoyable as the drama and tears this season of “The Hills” has served up are, I feel as though the producers of the show are painting themselves into a corner with the progression of this season’s storylines.

Heidi and Lauren are not going to get back together and be friends again before the end of this season because they are not in real life. And yet, every single episode this season has been focused, in one way or another, on their “battle.” While that focus is understandable for the first two or three episodes of the season, to continue to focus on it this much is making the show repetitive and dull. Both girls need to get over themselves and move on.

Why is Heidi still even on the show? I have never met anyone who has liked the Speidi couple, so to continue to follow her despite her exile from Lauren and her dimwitted attempts to stay with such a loser is obnoxious.

I don’t care if the gremlin – er – Spencer is mad at her for actually doing work for her job for maybe the first time in her career, and the fact that he has never lifted a finger to do work in his life except to order his apartment’s wall to be spray painted further infuriates me.

I have no idea how this season can possibly do anything but putter out of energy unless the producers are holding onto a major trump-card-twist for the final few episodes, and here’s hoping they are. Because if they don’t, I’m this close to burning my Team Lauren T-shirt.

“Gossip Girl”

The CW, Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Okay guys, here’s the dish. Forget about “Private Practice” because it’s trashy, not classy. Download “Kitchen Nightmares” off iTunes Thursday. And get “Bionic Woman” for free at nbc.com. You need to turn on “Gossip Girl” Wednesday nights at 9.

It’s sexy but sophisticated and even pretty smart, and I’m sure I can come up with other adjectives that begin with an “s” to describe its excellence as well, if necessary.

It’s from Josh Schwartz, the guy behind “The O.C.” so I already knew the dialogue and characterization would be top notch, but what I didn’t expect was that the acting would be so good, especially from Leighton Meester as Blair and Taylor Momsen as Jenny.

Also great is Penn Bradley, who has been on several bad canceled shows such as “The Mountain” and “The Bedford Diaries.” Here he shines as the geek with a heart of gold, and he makes me forget all about Adam Brody’s Seth Cohen. Oh my, I shuddered as I typed that.

Contact all editor Robert Taylor at [email protected].