New York Magazine gives a primer on the meta-whirlwind surrounding Whitney Port and her Hills spinoff, The City, which premieres tonight on MTV.  Besides the usual “reality” debunking required of this type of piece, NYM details the happenstance creation of the new series, as catalyzed by fashion publicist and now Hills-regular Kelly Cutrone, whose suggestion that Whitney leave her firm to go to work for NY designer Diane von Furstenberg set things in motion for the producer’s east coast revival.

Though of course Cutrone is angling for her own show - working with the production team behind Project Runway and Top Chef to pitch a series entitled Kell on Earth - she’s not the only City affiliate hustling for their own piece. When Whitney’s new castmate and “co-worker” Olivia Palermo was asked by producers why she wanted to be on the show, she answered, “Because I want to be a brand.”