The Hills still has eyes, just not as many as it once did. The season five premiere of MTV's The Hills was down among total viewers and its target P12-34 demographic.
MTV aired back to back episodes of the long-running meta-scripted series Monday night at 10 and 10:30 p.m.
The season five premiere episodes averaged a 2.84 P12-34 rating, down from a 3.5 rating for the season four premiere last August. The premieres averaged 2.97 million total viewers (P2+), down from 3.4 million for last season's debut.
With the continued season over season ratings decline, and cast members Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge saying they will not return for a possible sixth installment, the future of the series is clouded in doubt.
While the ratings may be down, they still deliver strong numbers in many of the network's key demographics. Despite the decline among P12-34, The Hills gave MTV its best Monday night in a year in that demo.
The episodes also ranked as the number one and number three telecasts on all of cable among P12-34, and on all of television among the young female demos (F12-24 and F18-24).
The Hills, which was itself a spinoff of Laguna Beach, broke ground in the meta-scripted genre that MTV helped pioneer. It led to a spinoff of its own, The City, starring cast member Whitney Port.
