ATLANTA — In 2004, MTV introduced the world to the uber-rich but morally bankrupt kids of “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.” Within weeks of the first episode, teens around the country were referring to Kristen, LC and Stephen as if they were their best friends — or at least making a connection between them and the drama-riddled cliches at their own high schools.

And now, four years later, EmoryVision is introducing us to “Druid Hills,” a “Laguna”-esque show complete with the same style of opening credits and pop music breaks. The biggest difference is that you could actually befriend these kids pretty easily, or at least sit behind them in chemistry.

“Druid Hills” is the brainchild of College sophomore Stephen Beehler. He thought it would be great to bring the popular concept of pseudo-reality TV to Emory and was soon recruiting a flock of freshmen to form his cast, with Brad Pruente, Liza Carter and Sarah Noyes as the central characters.

The premise of the show is simple: Brad is dating Liza, but his best friend, Sarah, is not-so-secretly in love with him, which causes a lot of tension between everyone.

And just like “Laguna Beach,” “Druid Hills” isn’t scripted - well, not technically. Beehler created the basic premise of the show, modeling it after the first season of the reality show.

Pruente said that “Druid Hills” parallels the first few episodes of “Laguna” very closely.

“I watched the whole season before we started shooting, for research purposes only,” he joked. “If you change the location, it’s like the exact same show - obviously with cuter people on the Emory one.”

Carter explained how the cast went about filming the first few episodes. “We had certain things that had to come across in the show, but it was just a matter of us improving to get it there,” she said.

This doesn’t mean that the cast doesn’t get the occasional direction from the man behind the camera.

“It’s funny because a lot of times while we’re shooting, I’ll be supposed to be venting about Sarah and Stephen will stop me because I’m not being mean enough. So while we’re filming, Stephen has hand signals to indicate to me that I need to be meaner because it’s not really in my nature to be that bitchy and rude,” Carter said. “He’ll stop and be like, ‘Liza, take what you just said and make it like a hundred times more snobby and cold and terrible’.”

Pruente said that the cast members are given a great amount of freedom when it comes to their specific lines and directing the story line, despite Beehler’s overall vision.

“It’s not scripted so it’s never wrong,” he said. He often uses personal experience to come up with his lines. “A lot of times, I try to put myself into a situation with an ex-girlfriend or something, like when I’m having an argument,” he explained.

Admittedly, some of the scenes have to be reshot, but the production crew tries to keep this to a minimum. Beehler said that he sometimes has to shoot a scene a few times if the actors were making eye contact with the camera or mumbling their lines.

Carter explained that some scenes for upcoming episodes need to be reshot simply because the actors have become more comfortable in front of the camera, as well as with each other, since they first started filming. For example, Carter and Pruente had to reshoot what Carter refers to as “a steamy racquetball scene” because the original was shot when the two hardly knew each other and Carter looked far too awkward on camera.

For a student-run TV show, “Druid Hills” is causing quite a stir on campus. Beehler estimates that about 1,500 people tuned into the show’s premiere on April 3. In addition, more than 300 people visited the show’s website to watch the episode within the first three days that it was posted.

“The other day, me and [fellow cast member] Preston came into the DUC and some guy was like, ‘Aren’t you the guys from ‘Druid Hills’?’ and that was pretty sweet,” Pruente said, laughing.

Carter said the show is spawning plenty of gossip. “There are so many rumors circulating about me and Brad right now,” she said. “Like, apparently we were spotted walking to CVS holding hands on Friday night, which is funny because I went home Friday morning and was not [on campus] this weekend. But someone claims they definitely saw us together.”

“Druid Hills” might not have the open ocean and trips to Cabo of “Laguna Beach,” but it has the frat parties, Wonderful Wednesdays and dorm room beer pong games that defined so many peoples’ freshman year at Emory. Even if you watch the show for these nostalgic purposes or to try to find yourself in the background of one of the scenes, “Druid Hills” makes a great study break.