You be the judge.
Real World Paris
Another season of Real World has been quietly underway for a few weeks now. I don't think I've ever followed an entire season, beginning to end, because my TV watching habits are too erratic to stay with a weekly series. But I've been able to catch scattered patches of episodes here and there throughout the many seasons.
The thing about RW is, by most standards, it fits the genre of trash television pretty closely. Part soap opera, part Jerry Springer. Let's put a ignorant white guy in a house with a strong black personality and see what happens. Are you homophobic? Great, we'll put you in a house with a homo roommate and be shocked when conflict or tension arises. The more mental/psychological issues you have, the better you'll fit in as a cast member. Of course, we'll also have to make sure you are young and attractive, and have no issues with hooking up with the other attractive cast members when you know cameras are around you everywhere. Are you Asian? Well, as long as you're whitewashed and female, come on in. Sorry, yellow males need not apply.
When you think about it, there's very little about the scenario that makes it the "Real World". How many of us in the real world were given a pimped out house to live in for no reason? And how many of us have been offered automatic jobs that have little, if anything, to do with your qualifications?
Even with all that said, you have to give credit where credit is due. No matter how predictable the episodes are, or how stupid the whole thing is at times, I gotta admit that the show has produced many entertaining moments that make it worth watching. And it was reality TV years before reality TV became huge. With all the stupid gimmicks in reality shows these days, it's somewhat refreshing for me to be able to just watch a bunch of people live together and see what happens. You don't gotta trick a bunch of women into thinking some guy is a millionaire. You don't have to make anyone eat moose testicles. You don't need to vote someone off every week. There's no lifelines to use, and no wannabe singers getting ripped apart by a British guy.
So anyways, just for kicks and giggles, I decided to write some short analysis on each character in this season's RW. It's still kind of early in the season, and I already missed parts of some episodes, but oh well. I did the best I could.
Mallory
Looks-wise, she's the only pretty one in this house (except maybe for Simon), but it already seems like she might become this season's version of Trashelle. Maybe she won't be as messed up, but who knows. Some warning signs:
- Says she likes to make out with random guys at clubs
- "Drinks like a fish" and uses drunkenness as excuse for stuff
- Not afraid to lie to people
- Phone call home involves parent worried about her embarrassing family - like Trashelle
- She's from Palatine... cesspool of America's filth
Christina
Don't know why, but I can't stand the way she talks. I think something about how she accents certain words just irritates me. The other thing is, the word "butterface" seems to pop up in my mind every time I see her. (to remind everyone, definition of Butterface: a girl who would probably be hot, based on body, hair, clothes, etc. - "but her face...")
I found the peanut butter episode to be very entertaining. Actually, it kind of made me realize that I am now older and farther along in life than all of these Real Worlders, so to speak. I'm too mature and I have more important things to worry about than someone eating my food. Then again, I don't think there was ever a time in my life when something so trivial could turn into such major drama.
Ace
So far, probably the guy I dislike the least. Maybe a little too in love with being the "cute Southern boy from a small town". I personally hate being called "cute" by anyone, because I believe only girls, babies, and certain animals should ever be considered cute. Nope, not even small digital cameras should be considered "cute".
Leah
Quickly and easily became my most hated cast member of this Real World. I've said it before in this blog, but the worst kind of girl is the ugly biatch. It's one thing to be a biatch if you are attractive and can get away with it. However, if you are not hot, but think you are, and still act like a biatch, then it doesn't get much worse than that.
The ongoing feud between her and Adam is the most compelling reason for me to continue watching the show. Those two characters were meant for each other. It's just fun to observe idiots pissing each other off, makes for a good show. So hopefully there will be more Adam-Leah conflict in the rest of this season.
Simon
"One of these is not like the other...." Everyone else is straight and from the US, and MTV decides to throw in the token gay guy, who is also the only non-American. He's got an interesting British accent/gay lisp combo going on. I'm kind of curious to see if there will actually be any future episodes that involve him, or if he's just gonna be the guy they only show once in a while, a side character to make remarks on the other roommates. That's pretty much all he's done so far. But for now, I guess I'll be content to just be entertained by his resemblance to Keith Van Horn.
Adam
Here's the token angry black guy, with a twist. It's a well-known Real World requirement to include exactly 1 black male cast member who gets mad about stuff - no more, no less. Except this time, it's different. Adam isn't ghetto, he's not intimidating, he's just a whiny loser.
Every time he talks, he makes it seem like he is about to say something brilliant. Actually, almost everyone that goes on Real World seems to always think they have something important to say. But when the words come out, they inevitably make me scratch my head and think "huh?" or "well, duh".
The most entertaining Adam part so far this season, other than the drama with Leah, was him rapping his lame song in one of the first episodes. What a big dork. But I hope they have a lot more episodes centering around him, because it gives me uncontrollable fits of laughter.
CT
I always liked the SNL series with Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch as Bostonians, who have thick accents and rave about Nomaaahh all the time (The best one, naturally, is the one with Britney Spears - "that accent makes you sound retaaahhhded"... haha). But I always figured that their Boston accent was exaggerated, that nobody actually talks like that. Well, I guess CT proves me wrong, because this kid has a thicker accent than what I thought was possible. But other than that, I can't really think of anything interesting to say about him. Maybe we'll see more on the next episode, when we are promised the "biggest lie in Real World history". OOOOHHH BABY
