Andy DehnartLate last month, I reported that The Real World’s first seven cast members were filming a reunion in New York City. That followed news that producers had been reaching out to the cast of The Real World Hawaii for a reunion of their cast.
Today, we have word of the official title of this new series: Real World Homecoming, which for its first season will be called Real World Homecoming: New York.
But it won’t be on MTV.
Perhaps that’s because MTV doesn’t have any room in its packed schedule, with most of its days taken up by Ridiculousness. For real: this week, MTV will air Ridiculousness 136 times, and The Challenge: Double Agents just once; last week, it was 230 episodes of Ridiculousness.
No, instead, ViacomCBS, the parent company of CBS, MTV, VH1, and other networks, is instead using the show to launch it’s new streaming service, Paramount+.
MTV has, however, jammed its logo into The Real World’s logo so we won’t forget how sad and pathetic and what an empty shell it now is.
Actually, it’s a re-launch of an existing streaming service: CBS All Access, where you can currently watch every season of Survivor, most seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and the Big Brother live feeds, is becoming Paramount+.
ViacomCBS advertised this heavily during the Super Bowl, with a series of ads featuring characters and cast members from its various networks all climbing a mountain, including a torch-carrying Jeff Probst, Snooki, and RuPaul, plus fictional characters such as Spock, Dora the Explorer, and Beavis and Butthead. And MTV teased the return of the franchise on social media.
Real World Homecoming: New York will premiere March 4 on Paramount+, and was filmed in the exact same New York City apartment as season one back in 1992.
And this will begin a new franchise: Vulture‘s Joe Adalian reported that “next month’s premiere will be the start of a new franchise of Real World cast reunions.”
What the original Real World cast will do during their ‘Homecoming’
All seven cast members are returning:
- Becky Blasband
- Andre Comeau
- Heather B. Gardner
- Julie Gentry
- Norm Korpi
- Eric Nies
- Kevin Powell
While the release doesn’t specify how many episodes will air, it describes it as a “multi-episode docuseries” and says:
“…the original seven strangers will revisit the shocking moments and explosive issues that transpired during the historic season and discuss how they parallel in today’s social climate. After spending decades apart, viewers will reconvene with New York housemates Becky Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie Gentry, Norman Korpi, Eric Nies and Kevin Powell to find out how the series transformed their lives since the cameras stopped rolling and to find out, once again, what happens when they stop being polite… and start getting real.
Celebrated for its diverse casting and honest portrayal of contemporary young adulthood, THE REAL WORLD illustrated a simple yet powerful idea of connecting people from widely divergent backgrounds to find common ground on the issues that divided them and generated conversations that reverberated loudly through media and youth culture.”
Season one director George Verschoor is listed in the press release as a consulting producer, and Real World co-creater Jonathan Murry is listed as an executive producer for Bunim/Murray Productions, which is producing alongside MTV Entertainment Studios.
In just the second paragraph, the press release ties this to Paramount+ and its reality TV offerings, claiming the streaming service “will be the ultimate destination for the biggest hit franchises” in reality TV, including Survivor, Amazing Race, Love & Hip Hop, Jersey Shore, RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Challenge, and other shows.
In other words, they’re (smartly) using The Real World to try to convince reality TV fans to sign up for Paramount+.
That’s echoed in MTV Entertainment president Chris McCarthy’s press release quote, which says, “With Paramount+ being the home to so many global reality hit franchises it seems only fitting to bring back the franchise and cast that started it all for the launch.”