I Hate My MTV – The Real World

I was watching TV this past weekend when I saw that MTV was showing some Real World awards show.  Interested in catching up on some of the early season cast members, I put the show on.  It didn’t take long for me to be reminded once again why I hate MTV. 

Remember when the Real World first started?  It was such an interesting experiment…..taking people of different sexes, sexual orientations, backgrounds, etc. and putting  them in a house to live together for awhile and see what would happen.  I remember watching a lot of the first season, which was in New York, and being fascinated by the results of this experiment.  That season, it seemed, everyone got along pretty well.  There were the inevitable arguments and misunderstandings, but everyone stayed pretty civil and no one was kicked out of the house.  But it seemed to me at the time that everyone was just placed in the house and were followed around by the cameras as they went about their business.  None of the cast were obvious lunatics and the house was not stocked with alcohol. 

My personal favorite Real World season was season 3, San Francisco.  Again, all of the people seemed genuine, even Puck, who may be the very person who caused the Real World to down the road it has today.  I’m sure the producers knew from the start that this guy was going to be a problem in the house, but I just get the feeling that this was an added element to the experiment and not a sure-fire ratings booster.  I could be wrong, but that’s just my feeling.  Of course, there was Pedro, who brought HIV/AIDS awareness to the forefront of the show…only Magic Johnson taught me more about HIV/AIDS than Pedro and I was extremely sad when he passed away shortly after the final episode of the season premiered.  I was happy to see on the awards show that Pam and Judd had gotten married.  I liked them both so much on the show and they seem like really great people.

I continued to watch the show for a few seasons and then it seemed that as I got older and the casts remained around the same age, I could no longer relate to them and they just didn’t seem as interesting to me.  Crafty Momma stilled like to watch the show and later I found myself watching an episode or two with her and some sparks of interest popped up again.  It was pretty much the same show, but now they had the casts doing things such as working on projects together for charity or working jobs together.  It was still pretty interesting, but once again, as time went by I lost interest and even Craft Momma lost interest not too long after. 

It wasn’t too long ago that Craft Momma decided to try watching the show again for some reason.  I resolved not to get into it again, but did catch a snippet of an episode here and there and could see where it was heading…..which is exactly where it is today.  I’ve seen enough of the commercials for the latest seasons to know that I have absolutely no interest in ever watching the show again.  MTV has taken what was a pretty cool experiment and twisted it almost beyond recognition.  It seems to me that they go out looking for the most depraved, messed-up people possible for the show……people who are sure to cause trouble and fight with each other or jump in the sack with each other.  Then they make sure alcohol is readily available to make these messed-up people become veritable monsters.  Then they set them free on each other (but of course, the one rule is they can’t hit each other) and act like it makes for great drama.  Well, not to me.

The awards show was filled with these unfamiliar cast members running around drunk while scenes were played of them screaming at each other like maniacs, coming close to death from alcohol poisoning, getting arrested, getting thrown out of the house, jumping on each other in their beds, getting into the shower together, having what amounts to virtual orgies in the hot tub, etc.  I guess this is what it takes to get younger folks interested in watching shows today……which would also explain the Hills.

I grew up on MTV so I remember what it once was and how great it was…..even when they started moving away from music videos.  I do not want anything whatsoever to do with what it has become today.