On the 'Laguna Beach' reunion, this former love triangle is back for nostalgia, not drama

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It feels like a relic from a bygone age of simplicity: an entire season of reality TV hinging on the social lives of a group of unpolished teenagers.They gossiped, cried, partied and fought.

They worried about college admissions and which shade of polish to choose at the nail salon.They cast longing looks from across the room.That was “Laguna Beach.”Series creator Liz Gateley had just started working at MTV in 2003 when she pitched an unscripted series following a real group of high schoolers in Southern California.“The logline was, ‘90210’ and ‘Heathers’ meets ‘Dawson’s Creek,’’’ because we knew we wanted music to be a big part of it,” Gateley said.

“We didn’t know it would be the phenomenon it became.”Shot more like those glossy dramas than a reality series, every “Laguna Beach” episode opened with Hilary Duff’s “Come Clean” playing over the sun-kissed credits and a title card that let viewers know “the people, the locations and the drama are real.”For the most part, they were.At the heart of the first season was a quasi-love triangle between on-again, off-again Laguna Beach High School couple Stephen Colletti and Kristin Cavallari, and Colletti’s close friend (possibly more), Lauren Conrad.When the series premiered on MTV in 2004, it became an instant (and controversial) hit, made millennial household names out of Cavallari, Colletti and Conrad, and led to the spin-offs “The Hills,” “The City” and “Newport Harbor.”Now, 10 original cast members, including those stars, have reunited for “The Reunion: Laguna Beach” premiering Friday on the Roku Channel.(The special was originally planned to coincide with the cast’s 20th high school reunion in 2024 but is now loosely timed to the anniversary of the show’s 2006 finale.)Hosted by actor Casey Wilson, the reunion is an upbeat, feel-good affair, highlighting some of ...