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Real World: Brooklyn - MTV Shows

Try as I might, I can't quite seem to stop loving The Real World.  I'm years removed from my own peak viewing era (New Orleans to Las Vegas), but there's something reassuring about the show's tenacity on a network that values youth and novelty above all else.  Working on a paper about the VMAs really piqued my interest in MTV and their constant revitalization versus their embrace of their own history and brand representatives.  Barring some sort of dramatic programming decision on MTV's part, the next few years will see the first housemate born after the initial premiere of the first New York season, which should be a really intriguing milestone for the network.

I love Real World retrospectives, and this one was actually pretty interesting, if a little focused on recent seasons.  Shockingly, this one managed to go an hour and a half without the classic Slap from Seattle (as well as my personal favorite, Dan and Melissa's throwdown in Miami over her opening his mail - it epitomizes the core philosophy that has driven The Real World for so many seasons, namely that twenty-somethings forced to live together will fight over anything and everything). I love the "institutional memory" role taken on by Jonathan Murray - you can tell that he's seen a lot of crazy shit over the years, and he seems to truly love the show and all that has come from it over the years without the mercenary sort of air you get from people like Mark Burnett.  I'm sort of fascinated by the made-for-TV biopic they're apparently making about Pedro Zamora - on the one hand because it seems like a whole new level of self-cannibalization on MTV's part, but on the other because it elevates something that happened on MTV and seems to make the argument that it should be known to people too young to watch it when it happened.  I'll be interested to see what comes of that.

I might actually watch this season, for old time's sake.  Even though the show seems to have gotten trashier over the years, I can still see how a young teen could get something rewarding out of the show.  When I was really into The Real World (like, I bought their behind-the-scenes books, that's how into it I was), I latched onto Melissa from New Orleans and Coral from Back to New York in particular.  At the point I was at in my life, there was something really reassuring about seeing young women of color living their lives and interacting with peers and just generally acknowledging that sometimes it is really difficult to just exist.  I truly believe that there's still value to be gained from The Real World, hot tub shenanigans aside.