Marc Malkin

Best Hills catfight? It might just come this weekend.

Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag will be seated just 10 seats away from each other in the same row at the MTV Movie Awards, at least as of this afternoon. Brody Jenner and Whitney Port have two of the seats between them.

What else is and isn't in store for Sunday's live broadcast at the Gibson Amphitheatre?

Well, three people who won’t be there are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Even though the White House hopefuls appear on the music network throughout the campaign season hoping to win over young voters, Mark Burnett, the reality television guru and Movie Awards producer, bristles at the mere suggestion that he may have tried to woo the candidates for the golden popcorn statue’s big day.

“I’m not sure any of the candidates know where to find MTV on the dial,” Burnett told me this afternoon during a break from the massive preproduction going at the Gibson.

And besides, politics would likely prove to be a big yawn.

“This is celebrating the vibrancy of young America,” Burnett explained. “This is the only awards show that is really dealing with pop culture and the movies that people go see. While we may watch the Oscars, my kids [sons James and Cameron] don’t. My kids are not interested, but they wouldn’t think of missing this.”

What the young Burnetts will be seeing this year is Mike Myers as host, performances by Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls and, if history repeats itself, some naughty bits of humor. “What makes this show great is it’s teetering on the abyss of bad taste,” Burnett said with a laugh.

But even MTV has its limits. “Naked stuff,” Burnett said when asked what was off-limits come showtime. “There’s someone who would like to do that, but we’re not doing it.”