A Renewed Enthusiasm

MTV sure doesn’t want me to lose my buzz.

On June 30th, just three weeks after the Challenge finished airing, we are treated to a brand new installment of the Real World. New Orleans reprises its role as the host city, which is good because I didn’t watch the first season in New Orleans.

It pains me to say that as each year goes by, I am less and less excited about the coming season of the Real World. I used to circle the date on my calendar (not actually, who has calendars anyway?) and eagerly await a new season of interesting, sexually permissive twenty somethings. No matter if I had a test the following morning or there was a big party that night, I knew where I would be. I remember recapping the episode with my buddy Josh, analyzing the new cast members like they were hot prospects for the Yankees.* It was inane, harmless fun. And I feel like I’ve really lost that, and I’m not sure why.

* Side note: Evaluating Real World cast members really is like evaluating prospects in professional sports. The advent of fantasy baseball and fantasy Real World/Road Rules Challenges further the parallels. Think about it. When you are looking at a new baseball player, you look at many factors, such as hitting, fielding, speed, clutchness, etc. This is similar to looking at a new Real World cast member. Are they good looking, bitchy, stupid, obnoxious, psychotic. Baseball experts will throw around the phrase “5 tool player” which signifies they are above average in 5 major hitting categories. I’m sure we could develop an equivalent rating system for cast members. I really just want to be able to say in a sentence “Wow, CT hooked up with a lot of girls, got into a few fights, lost his job, and shouted racial slurs at locals. He really is a 5 tool player who will entertain for years to come!” Since the Real World is now a feeder system into the Challenge, we could judge how they perform on their season and determine if they would make good Challenge participants. I’m definitely pitching the idea to MTV of hiring me to be the Real World talent scout. I’m made for this position.*

Why has Real World fallen off? It’s a subjective question, to be sure. So many times you will hear people complain that their favorite band has gone sour on their last two albums, and then the other half of the fan base completely disagrees. But there are objective facts that support my claim that the show isn’t what it used to be. For instance, the season finale of Real World DC was the lowest rated finale in the 23 seasons of the show, and that season had the three lowest rated and 5 of the 6 lowest rated shows of all time. But a case could be made that this was an anomaly owed in large part to the new direction the producers took the show. They were trying to show the more “socially conscious” and “idealistic” part of being a young twenty something. Turns out, the people who like the show aren’t interested in that. The numbers support this argument as previous seasons did relatively the same as earlier seasons.

(Ironically, one of my favorite episodes in recent memory was the episode where Mike (the gay or bisexual one, depending on if he’s drinking beer or appletinis) had to deal with his boyfriend’s family disowning him. I thought that was a powerful episode that harkened back to the beginnings of the Real World.)

It’s tough to admit that I am getting older and just am losing my adoration of this show that has been so great to me for so many years. After most episodes, I am just left disappointed that it didn’t meet my expectations. But if you were to ask a 17 year old, they probably loved Real World: Cancun. There are certain seasons that are just going to appeal to the younger demographic, which I am slowly being phased out of. Every new season just further reinforces the notion that this show is not geared towards my sarcastic disposition on life. And that is why I criticize the show constantly. It’s a show I now love to hate. I love to pick apart the shallowness and idiocy of the cast. It is genuinely fun to watch an episode and then make fun of everyone with my buddy Josh. To continue with the sports analogies, the Real World has turned from a championship winning team to a perennial loser that you keep watching and talking about. I know my team sucks and that they will only disappoint me this season. The only true pleasure I can derive from them is to make fun of their woeful ineptitude and regal myself with tales from the glory days.

So now another season of hope of greatness, but ultimately disappointment and mockery, is upon us. Will this season be my 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, a group of individuals who come out of nowhere and shock the reality tv world? Or will I be at my computer, two weeks from now, discussing how much fun it is to watch a college dropout-turned club promoter argue with a media and communications major (translation: hostess) over the existence of God? I just don’t know, and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.