"The Hills" received lukewarm reviews among critics. The series' first season holds a score of 52 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on eight reviews. Robert Abele of "LA Weekly" complimented the program for being "insanely watchable", while "Variety"'s Brian Lowry criticized the storylines as being "as old as they come". The second season garnered more favorable feedback, with Virginia Heffnernan of "The New York Times" opining that Conrad "now registers as charm". After the falling-out between Conrad and Montag in the third season, Heffernan also commented that "The Hills" "is more convincing than "Friends" and just about any other comedy about female relationships because—as anyone who has ever been a young woman knows—undying friendships die".