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BET’s College Hill franchise is one of the most influential in television history. It was the first reality TV show of its kind to center the Black experience while also giving prospective students of the early 2000s an authentic look into HBCU life. The original College Hill rarely pulled punches. It wasn’t a highbrow or sanitized look at the college experience; oftentimes, it felt too raw.
We saw relationships play out on screen, as well as the highs and lows of student leadership and Greek life. We saw roommate dynamics as a social experiment of sorts, especially in Season 4, which featured a cast of students from California and the Virgin Islands. We also saw well-intentioned moments, such as at College Hill: Virginia State, where the cast rallied to honor Rosa Parks’s contributions after her passing in October 2005.
It was as rich of a depiction of college life, specifically HBCU life, as you could get on cable. But after Season 4, we saw that the College Hill cast members were no longer tied to one specific school. From Season 5 onward, they were students from multiple institutions, and the show was set in a city, such as Atlanta or South Beach, before it was canceled.
News of the return of College Hill electrified HBCU supporters and fans of the original series in different ways. Some HBCU alumni were skeptical about the show returning, as many believed it portrayed HBCUs in a negative light. However, fans of the original series longed for a new-age interpretation of the show and how it would depict HBCU students in the social media era. Both detractors and supporters were shocked to find that the reboot of College Hill actually featured celebrities.
College Hill: Celebrity Edition had three eight-episode seasons from 2022 to 2024, with a fourth season not yet announced. While “Celebrity Edition” saw its share of fanfare and viewership success on BET and in subsequent BET+ airings, many people still long for the return of the original concept, which centers on regular college students.
A viral tweet by @whatbunnysaid posted on February 10 echoes the sentiments of many reality TV viewers when she said, “BET had the opportunity to revamp this show, highlight and support HBCUs, and usher in a new generation of college kids. But instead, we got Ray J and Santana on there fake going to school for a check. So ridiculous.”
The tweet, seen 268,000 times as of this writing, drew a chorus of social media users who agreed with her sentiment. She’s not far off in her take. A reboot of the original College Hill concept would be interesting. We’ve seen several HBCU students rise to prominence on social media as TikTok stars, Instagram influencers, or even YouTube vloggers and podcasters. You have celebrity children who attend HBCUs and highly touted athletes who either join HBCUs out of high school or transfer from bigger institutions. It would be interesting to see their stories play out.
According to Deion Sanders in 2020, College Hill: Jackson State was nearly a reality but never came to fruition. It would likely have centered on the Sanders brothers, Shedeur and Shilo, as they navigated their lives as HBCU football players during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The 2022 edition could’ve possibly featured Travis Hunter, Kevin Coleman, and Shelomi Sanders, the sister of the Sanders brothers, who committed to Jackson State to play basketball.
I would also love to see a reboot of the original College Hill concept, but I don’t think it will happen. We have to accept that a real reboot of College Hill is a slippery slope for our institutions’ perception. As HBCU alumni, we are fiercely guarded over the images of our schools. For decades, stereotypes have run rampant about the quality of education, the intellectual capability of our students, the centering of extracurricular activities over education, and even the merit of an HBCU education in the modern world. This has led to scrutiny of any HBCU media project, especially one of the ilk of College Hill.
Although College Hill was a fun viewing experience—and Seasons 3 and 4 are available to stream on BET+—there was significant controversy surrounding the show during its original run, when it was hosted at HBCUs. To this day, full episodes of Season 1 and Season 2 at Southern University and Langston University, respectively, are not available online. A DVD of either season was never released, and they will likely never be available on streaming services.
And we can’t forget the moment that occurred in Season 4 that ultimately changed reality TV forever. In Season 4, Episode 8, cast members Krystal Lee and Vanessa Hamilton got into a harsh fight that ultimately resulted in Hamilton bleeding and being subsequently removed from the show. Lee and Hamilton have since reconnected and reconciled in the years since the show, but their fight has exacerbated concerns among HBCU supporters.
That’s why a return to the show’s original concept would be complicated. It couldn’t be what it once was because the show would be in jeopardy if the depiction of HBCU life were too far off. It would have to be recalibrated, almost akin to a docuseries.
Along with popular influencers and internet personalities, I would love to see student leaders highlighted again. It would be great to see the life of an SGA president or a member of the royal court played out. Seeing the real grind of a football, basketball, or track player would be interesting. But what about the view of a student activist?
I think there’s a way to cover and document the lives of today’s HBCU students without being pervasive and disrespectful of Black institutions. It would also serve as a great development opportunity for HBCU students looking to jumpstart a career in media.
College Hill: Virginia State alumnus Ray Cunningham took the success of the show and turned it into a thriving media career, where he’s been on Love & Hip Hop as well as embarked on several opportunities as a host. That same type of opportunity could be extended to a new generation of students in an often uncertain job market, and to a media industry where traditional and digital outlets are laying off staff and seeking inventive ways to make money.
But would BET want to take that risk? Would they want to experience the backlash, possible lawsuits, and boycotts of advertisers? If they didn’t depict HBCUs in a holistic light and mitigated the salaciousness and drama, would people even want to watch the show? It’s something to think about as the calls for a reboot grow louder. But in these conversations, we can stand to admit that it is, indeed, very complicated.
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