In May, Times television fabricator Alessanda Stanley referred to The Hills star Heidi Montag as a "feminist hero." Now, Lauren Conrad gets her own (incredibly accurate) misnomer: "an avatar of synergy." That's how academic Mark Andrejevic, who wrote something called Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched, describes Conrad, for her fusing entertainment and advertising together into one easily consumed product. Andrejevic is talking to Forbes about how MTV's most successful television show has produced a troop of ladies who are brands unto themselves, launching fashion lines and scoring endorsement deals while cameras chronicle their normal lives. But soon, with Hills creator Adam Divello spinning off the show, it won't just be the ladies who are earmarked for synergy.

While Whitney Port may get her own bi-coastal spin-off, working with fashion PR company People's Revolution, series regular Brody Jenner has finally scored what he's been hoping for all along: his own show. (That one episode of Princes of Malibu doesn't count.)

With Bromance, Jenner will hunt for the newest member of his entourage in a reality TV competition. It's unclear, however, how the serial love interest will extend into brand whoring like his female co-stars have been able to. His former manager Spencer Pratt has managed to keep afloat his money making prowess by inking deals with paparazzi agencies and showing up at nightclubs for, ahem, $100k a pop. And while those opportunities could be made available to Jenner (a steady female partner in crime, a la Heidi Montag, could help), something tells us he's aiming higher.

The only question remains, then, is what superlative he will earn. "Apex of machismo?"