I'm Too Old For This Shit
It's the classic line uttered in just about every mismatched buddy cop film ever made. The same adage applies to my morbid fascination with all things Real World. Another season is upon us and I find myself tuning in again, just like the battered girlfriend, knowing better, but who comes back for more.
Please sir, can I have another helping of choreographed chaos and pseudo problem children?
I don't know why I do it, but I have attempted to try to figure out why and I think I've come up with a pretty good theory. The reason I tune in year after year, if only for an episode or two, is the same reason you might go to your Aunt Flo's house every Thanksgiving, or go fishing with your dad in August. In other words, it's tradition, plain and simple.
Like I've remarked in the past, The Real World is now something like 14 years old which is crazy because that means I was like 14 when it started. So when you break it down, Real World has been on almost half of my life. Scary, but true.
The kids on it are no exception. If I've grown up around Real World the majority of my life, some of these kids have known of the show for their entire lives.
I guess this is also why now there is such a canned feeling to the whole thing. The cast even knows what they are in store for. There will be a token quiet, sane guy or girl, but everything else is free game. In fact, the more "unusual" the better. A girl I knew of in high school had a yearbook quote that describes the Real World experience perfectly: "You all try so hard to be different, which makes you all the same."
So guys hook up with girls, girls hook up with girls, guys hook up with guys. No one's hooked up with a horse or anything of that nature, apparent even Bunim-Murray Productions have their limitations. And the end result is always the same. There's drama, there's conflict, there are people who just don't gel. Oh and there's always the token minority thrown in for good measure, although more often than not, given next to no screen time.
Then once their five months of not being polite and only being real come to an end, they enter the All Star bandwagon, touring the country and making college campus appearances and, if they're really lucky, mugging for the cameras yet again in one All Star Challenge or another. It's all very been there done that. But just like Uncle Harry getting drunk, making a pass at Cousin Meg and passing out every year at Aunt Flo's house, in some sort of weird way, you look forward to it all because it's safe and it's all you've ever known.
So I tune in to it all, but in the past few years I've noticed I'm bored by the time the shrimp cocktail rolls around and so I rarely stay for dessert. This doesn't mean I'll stop coming by all together though. Come on now. Even I am not one to muck up tradition.
Please sir, can I have another helping of choreographed chaos and pseudo problem children?
I don't know why I do it, but I have attempted to try to figure out why and I think I've come up with a pretty good theory. The reason I tune in year after year, if only for an episode or two, is the same reason you might go to your Aunt Flo's house every Thanksgiving, or go fishing with your dad in August. In other words, it's tradition, plain and simple.
Like I've remarked in the past, The Real World is now something like 14 years old which is crazy because that means I was like 14 when it started. So when you break it down, Real World has been on almost half of my life. Scary, but true.
The kids on it are no exception. If I've grown up around Real World the majority of my life, some of these kids have known of the show for their entire lives.
I guess this is also why now there is such a canned feeling to the whole thing. The cast even knows what they are in store for. There will be a token quiet, sane guy or girl, but everything else is free game. In fact, the more "unusual" the better. A girl I knew of in high school had a yearbook quote that describes the Real World experience perfectly: "You all try so hard to be different, which makes you all the same."
So guys hook up with girls, girls hook up with girls, guys hook up with guys. No one's hooked up with a horse or anything of that nature, apparent even Bunim-Murray Productions have their limitations. And the end result is always the same. There's drama, there's conflict, there are people who just don't gel. Oh and there's always the token minority thrown in for good measure, although more often than not, given next to no screen time.
Then once their five months of not being polite and only being real come to an end, they enter the All Star bandwagon, touring the country and making college campus appearances and, if they're really lucky, mugging for the cameras yet again in one All Star Challenge or another. It's all very been there done that. But just like Uncle Harry getting drunk, making a pass at Cousin Meg and passing out every year at Aunt Flo's house, in some sort of weird way, you look forward to it all because it's safe and it's all you've ever known.
So I tune in to it all, but in the past few years I've noticed I'm bored by the time the shrimp cocktail rolls around and so I rarely stay for dessert. This doesn't mean I'll stop coming by all together though. Come on now. Even I am not one to muck up tradition.
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