In 1973, An American Family, a show about an average family of two parents and five kids, hit America’s television screens. It was designed to be like one long home video, and to bring viewers a slice of reality on television that was nonexistent on other shows.

Let’s fast forward to 2009. Reality television is no longer an experiment, but a genre by itself. Shows like the Real World, which asks twelve strangers to live in a house and to “stop being polite, and start getting real” and The Hills, following Lauren Conrad and her friends’ lives after they graduate from high school, draw millions of viewers in every week. And starting soon, New York City will be the backdrop for a new slice of reality delving into the lives of high school students. Produced by Scott A. Stone’s Stone and Company, of Tim’s Gunn’s Guide to Style, and airing on Bravo, the new show is expected to follow a similar format to those such as The Real Housewives of Orange County, and The City. It follows a number of independent characters whose lives intertwine, depicting the complex network of high school life.

The “Real-life Gossip Girl,” is a show still in production that will follow the lives of primarily privileged Upper East Side high school students attending various schools in the city, both private and public, including Stuyvesant.

Stuyvesant juniors Rayna Foster and Ayala Mansky, and sophomore Taylor DiGiovanni, are three of the students featured in the show, and currently have cameras taping their lives. Foster, Mansky and DiGiovanni declined to comment on the show. The producers also declined to comment.

There is already a buzz about the show on the internet, with people wondering how big of a success the show will be. The show is somewhat expected to take after Gossip Girl, the television series inspired by the books by Cecily von Ziegesar, which now has a large and dedicated following.

Sophomore Audrey Fleischner, an avid fan of Gossip Girl, isn’t sure that presenting a reality show about teenagers like those depicted on Gossip Girl is even possible. “On Gossip Girl you know it’s fake so you are expecting ridiculous things, but on reality shows, since they are supposed to be real, it just seems crazy.”

Junior Annalise J. Lockhart, a friend of DiGiovanni’s, is “very interested in seeing the show,” she said. However, in her opinion, “it appears that the producers are crafting an unrealistic view of Taylor’s life.”

The idea of filming high school students in New York City is not a new one. However, past attempts have been relatively unsuccessful. CBS News was in the process of producing a show about York Prep High School, but it fell through due to, according to an article by Broadcasting & Cable, the school’s hesitance about the negative attention the show might bring.

The show’s official premier date has not yet been released.