The granddaddy reality TV series is starting up again for season 17, this time in Brooklyn.  17 seasons, and all I really remember is San Fransisco, with Pedro and Puck.  Oh, and that all the cast members in Las Vegas were alcoholics.  Honestly, I stopped watching after San Fransisco (season 3), except for when I occasionally got sucked into some marathon viewing session.

You may be saying to yourself, “WTF?  This is the Atlanta Metblog.  Atlanta Metblog. What does the Real World have to do with Atlanta?”  Well, I for one, want to know how out of 17 seasons, MTV never decided that Atlanta was a good location.  Atlanta is regularly listed as a top location for young people, singles, college grads – the same folks who grow up watching the Real World.  It is prime real estate for showcasing your city!  All the show does is follow a bunch of twenty somethings around as they go to bars and clubs, and maybe they’ll throw in some socially conscious “job”.  Well, we have great bars and clubs (just not downtown).

Seriously, look at some of the place the Real World has shot.  Obviously I’m not delusional, and I don’t think Atlanta is as neat as London, Paris, Sydney, or New York.  But San Diego, Austin, and Denver?  Aren’t we at least that interesting?  They’ve now done New York three times, and LA twice.  Some on-line sleuthing suggestst that a Midtown loft may have almost made the cut for Season 16, and was on the short list for Season 19.  What happened?  Give us some love!

One thing that Atlanta is missing that the Real World needs to work is a pedestrian environment.  IIRC, for the most part, the cast is denied cars and they spend their time walking to and from the many bars.  There are plenty of neighborhoods that would work, though.  Put our ardent potential alcoholics in a Castleberry loft with a view of downtown, or in a penthouse in a Midtown condo building like they planned to five years ago.  This shouldn’t be that hard.