The Real World turns 20

Hard to believe it’s been 16 years since creators Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim introduced us to Eric, Heather, Julie, Andre, Becky, Kevin, and Norman. It was a groundbreaking social experiment and made for great television. However, aside from a handful of fascinating moments that followed, the show became more of Days of Our Lives meets the NHL, with fans tuning in just to keep tabs on who was sleeping with who, and see which emotionally unstable cast member was going to erupt into verbal or physical violence.

Let’s quickly stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Season 02: Los Angeles (Venice Beach) (1993, 22 episodes)
Cast: Aaron, Beth S., David, Dominic, Irene, Jon, Tami, Glen, Beth A.
* Introduction of “The Confessional”
* David assaults Tami, gets expelled from the house, and replaced by Glen
* Tami has an abortion
* Irene leaves the house, gets married, and is replaced by Beth A.

Season 03: San Francisco (1994, 20 episodes)
Cast: Pedro, Puck, Rachel, Judd, Pam, Cory, Mohammed, Jo
* Pedro, the first cast member with AIDS, brings a tremendous social awareness to show highlighted by his marriage to Sean, but passes away shortly after the final episode aired
* Puck, the series’ original Villain, is expelled from the house for his inability to behave like a human being and is replaced by Jo
* Judd and Pam date and subsequently marry

Season 04: London (1995, 22 episodes)
Cast: Kat, Neil, Jay, Mike, Lars, Jacinda, Sharon
* First exotic cast excursion to Kenya
* Neil gets his tongue bit off during a concert by an adoring fan
* Jay performs his one man play
* Sharon stars as the series first comic relief

Season 05: Miami (1996, 22 episodes)
Cast: Flora, Joe, Melissa, Cynthia, Dan, Mike, Sarah
* First cast assignment challenge (Start a business)
* Melissa moves out after a fight with Sarah
* Mike caught having sex in the shower
* Flora becomes the series’ second Villain

Season 06: Boston (1997, 23 episodes)
Cast: Elka, Jason, Montana, Genesis, Sean, Kameelah, Syrus
* Cast runs an after school program for at-risk youth
* Elka brings back the naivete made famous by Julie in Season One
* Genesis is the series’ first bisexual cast member
* The ever charming Syrus causes trouble everywhere he goes, such as dating the mom of one of the after school program kids
* Lumberjack Sean later meets and marries Rachel (Season Three)

Here’s where things start to get out of hand. Miami may have been a foreshadowing of things to come, but Seattle proved the series was becoming less about the interactions and the life-altering influence of combining people from various backgrounds, and more about the heightened, often unpredictable drama that made good ratings buzz in the much vaunted 12-34 advertising demographic.

Season 07: Seattle (1998, 20 episodes)
Cast: Stephen, Irene, David, Lindsay, Rebecca, Janet, Nathan
* First cast to deal with the series’ public backlash
* Cast works as promoters for a local radio station
* Lindsay’s friend commits suicide
* Stephen becomes another series Villain, after slapping Irene in the face
* Irene moves out after suffering serious health issues

Season 08: Hawaii (Honolulu) (1999, 23 episodes)
Cast: Ruthie, Teck, Matt, Justin, Colin, Amaya, Kaia
* Cast works as entertainment booking agents for a local surf shop
* Teck recaptures the series’ role as most lovable personality
* Ruthie goes into rehab for alcoholism
* Colin and Amaya define the series’ soap opera hookup
* Justin leaves the house as the outsider who never really fit in

Season 09: New Orleans (2000, 23 episodes)
Cast: Julie, Danny, Matt, Jamie, Melissa, David, Kelley
* Cast becomes production crew for local cable station
* Melissa becomes one of the series’ biggest instigators
* Julie’s Mormon faith becomes a point of contention throughout the season
* First crossover with companion series Road Rules, an event that would spark a plethora of special events and spinoff series such as Real World/Road Rules Challenge and the ever debaucherous Gauntlet
* Danny’s boyfriend Paul is in the military and his identity protected by the producers
* Kelley later marries actor Scott Wolf

Season 10: Back to New York (Greenwich Village) (2001, 22 episodes)
Cast: Malik, Lori, Mike, Coral, Rachel, Kevin, Nicole
* Coral becomes another of the series’ great Villains
* Mike and Coral become the season’s oil and water drama
* Season had wrapped well before the attacks of 9/11

While many critics felt The Real World redeemed itself with its sensitive and heartfelt coverage of the September 11th attacks, the increasing number of cast hookups and conflama ignited by unstable personalities clearly had become the show’s primary focus.

Season 11: Chicago (2002, 24 episodes)
Cast: Theo, Kyle, Chris, Tonya, Keri, Aneesa, Cara
* Public backlash culminates in protest’s outside the show’s Wicker Park loft
* Cast works as lifeguards on Oak Street Beach, painting murals, and staffing Daley Plaza’s Halloween event
* First cast to have two openly gay cast members
* Episode dealing with the fallout of 9/11 remains one of the series’ highest rated
* Keri and Kyle become the season’s soap opera hookup
* Homophobe Tonya and openly lesbian Aneesa create cat fight tension
* Tonya’s continuing medical problems become one of the many focuses

Season 12: Las Vegas (2002, 28 episodes)
Cast: Trishelle, Alton, Steven, Arissa, Irulan, Brynn, Frank
* Cast digs are a suite atop the Palms Hotel and Casino, where they worked as a team
* Trishelle and Steven become the drama hookup of the season, highlighted by a threesome with Brynn
* Alton and Irulan continue the hookup theme with a relationship that lasted several years
* Brynn becomes yet another series’ Villain
* First cast to reconvene years later for a shortened Reunion season in the same living quarters

Season 13: Paris (2003, 25 episodes)
Cast: Simon, Ace, Mallory, Adam, Leah, CT, Christina
* Cast works as travel correspondents for Frommers
* Ace cements himself as one of the series’ biggest party boys
* CT is the season’s hot head, creating drama with many of his housemates
* Leah becomes yet another Villain, but a cancer scare changes her evil ways

Have you checked out yet? You’re not alone. As the formula becomes stale, a large segment of the audience moves on, forcing producers to come up with new ways to spark interest before the network pulls the plug.

Season 14: San Diego (2004, 26 episodes)
Cast: Robin, Brad, Randy, Cameron, Jamie, Frankie, Jacquese, Charlie
* Brad gets arrested during a night of binge drinking
* Hookups include Robin and Randy as well as Brad and Cameron
* Frankie’s colorful personality, life long battle with Cystic Fibrosis, and inability to deal with troublesome housemates forced her to move out and be replaced by Charlie. Frankie passed away in 2007.
* Biggest drama comes from off camera as a woman told police she was raped during a party at the house. Charges were never filed as authorities could not come up with enough evidence to validate the claim.

Season 15: Philadelphia (2004, 26 episodes)
Cast: Willie, Karamo, Shavonda, Landon, Sarah, Mel, MJ
* First cast to feature two openly gay men
* Mel joins the growing ranks of series’ Villains
* Karamo has an altercation with police at a local club
* The cast works with Jon Bon Jovi to build a playground for underprivileged kids
* Landon breaks his contract by dating Gina in violation of the show’s non-fraternization clause
* Mel contracts body lice. Yum!

Season 16: Austin (2005, 24 episodes)
Cast: Wes, Danny, Rachel, Johanna, Nehemiah, Lacey, Melinda
* Cast challenge is to produce a feature-length documentary for the city’s SXSW Festival
* Danny and Melinda began dating and later marry

Season 17: Key West (2006, 25 episodes)
Cast: Tyler, Svetlana, Paula, Janelle, Zach, John, Jose
* Cast challenge was to begin a tanning shop franchise
* Paula becomes the intervention candidate, complete with addictions, eating disorders, emotional instability, and a passion for abusive boyfriends
* Neighbors file a lawsuit hoping to have the cast evicted for disrupting their lives. It doesn’t pan out, but the court does impose restrictions for production lighting and camera use on the property.
* Big event was the arrival and resulting damage of Hurricane Wilma

Season 18: Denver (2007, 28 episodes)
Cast: Tyrie, Alex, Jenn, Davis, Colie, Stephen, Brooke
* Cast challenge was working for Outward Bound and Hurricane Katrina displaced teens
* A season marred by sex, binge drinking, and brawls. So what else is new.
* Davis and Tyrie have the series’ smackdown to end all smackdowns, drawing the production crew into the mix

Season 19: Sydney (2007, 23 episodes)
Cast: Ashli, Dunbar, Trisha, Isaac, Shauvon, Kelly, Parisa, Cohutta
* Hookups include Cohutta and Kelly, Dunbar and Ashli
* Isaac is a recovering drug addict and was convicted of robbing more than a dozen homes
* Shauvon moves out to reconcile a long-term relationship. Ashli is her replacement.
* Trisha is kicked out after throwing down with Parisa, a conflict that had been boiling all season

What began as an interesting concept ultimately devolved into drunken debauchery captured for our voyeuristic curiosities. Why do we continue to watch? Perhaps to make ourselves feel better about how much better our lives are than what’s being portrayed on screen. Perhaps, as 30 and 40-somethings now settled into actual lives with responsibilities and families, to vicariously experience what it is to be 20 years old in today’s world. But in all honesty it’s the same reason Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, and Doctor Phil are still on the air — people derive perverse pleasure from observing the misery and misfortune of others.

I wonder if there’s a 12-step program for Reality TV? If there isn’t, there should be. Especially since Season 20 arrives April 16, with the action taking place right here in Hollywood. More on that later.