Was MTV's "The Real World" the worst thing to happen to TV?

[battleknight24]

After all, many consider "The Real World" the beginning of the reality TV era we are now in. And look at all the quality programming it has brought us!!!


Peace,

[Name removed]

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[RoyGBiv]

2. Close ...

The first Iraq war was the worst thing to happen to TV, but _The Real World_ is in the top 5.

[Name removed]

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[ForrestGump]

4. Not lately but, yes, it did help start the rise of 'reality' TV swill

For sure, MTV was the worst thing to happen to music.

[Name removed]

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[BlueIris]

6. It's 90210 I blame for giving us what I see as the worst t.v. of this era:

teen variety/prime time soaps aimed at a 10-25 age group. HATE. Especially their current incarnations which are just appalling.

[JI7]

7. was the first real world series before Jerry Springer and all those

other talk shows which were popular in the 90s ?


i sometimes wonder if these type of reality worthless shows are actually good in that they indicate things are mostly ok in the nation and people aren't fighting over things like they do in the middle east and elsewhere.

what if the biggest news in the nation was who won survivor, american idol, what happened on reality show x.

[JesterCS]

8. Ugh

Everytime i see a new reality TV show, my IQ drops 1 point.

Basically i have the IQ of a jar of mayonaise now. Down from 144

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

9. I lost track of the show

and I think the show jumped shark aftter the San Fran season. Wasn't that the one with the guy who ate his own scaps and boogers, I guess that's the moment of the downfall of TV.

[RedCappedBandit]

10. I like that show

but I do hate most of the reality shows that followed :shrug:

[ikojo]

11. I used to like the "Real" World but then it became

a parody of itself...the San Francisco series was good, with Pedro who had AIDS. He used his appearance on the show to raise conciousness and understanding for people with HIV/AIDS.

I also kind of liked the Seattle series because it sort of addressed the class dynamics of the show. There were two guys from some military academy, one was from a poor family and he felt like he had been placed in with a bunch of rich kids. Iris was also on the Seattle show and she was slapped by the guy, who claimed to have converted to Judaism, after she challenged his sexual identity (she said he was gay).

Now I think the show has been around so long that the producers look for types to optimize the possibility of conflict and sexual encounters....ideally I think they like to have the following character types:

angry black person..male or female but with a HUGE chip on their shoulder
closeted gay man who comes out on the show: have there been any lesbians who came out on the show?
fundamentalist kid who engages in drunken behavior on the show for the first time
spoiled brat rich kid/frat/sorority type who has the hots for anything with two legs

Nothing real about the "Real" World that's for sure. Most of my nieces and nephews are in their 20s and they can hardly afford six months off to live in some swank loft somewhere with a bunch of strangers.

[rug]

12. No, all its sequels were.

[Giant Robot]

13. To put it succinctly

Yes.