A year-by-year look at the Real World

Saturday, November 18, 2006

It's a simple recipe: Take seven very different, attractive,twentysomething strangers, dump them into a plush pad and turn on the cameras. It's a dish that MTV viewers have eagerly consumed for nearly 15 years. But The Real World's co-creator Jon Murray acknowledges that the show started more as a grand experiment rather than a masterfully concocted television drama. Here's an abbreviated history.

• 1992: The Real World debuts, launching new "reality-based" television genre. Set in a SoHo loft, the cast includes a sheltered Southerner, two aspiring musicians, a young gay man, a male model, a female rap artist, and perhaps, "the original angry black man." Brawls over race abound.

• 1993: The Real World moves to Los Angeles. Features first lesbian cast member. Sparks debate over a castmate's decision to have an abortion while on the show. Marks the first time a roommate is kicked off for bad behavior.

• 1994: Show shifts to San Francisco and becomes cultural phenomenon, thanks in part to a dynamic cast that includes AIDS activist Pedro Zamora. He dies of the disease while the season is still on the air.

• 1995: The series shoots in London. Americans tune out.

• 1996: Miami becomes the series' new temporary home. The cast is forced to work jobs together. Leads to more conflict.

• 1997: Boston shares in The Real World wealth. One of the castmates gets punished for giving wine to one of the kids at the after-school program where the roommates work. Another is chastised for dating one of the kids' mothers.

• 1998: Production moves to Seattle. MTV catches on to grunge craze too late. One cast members deals with a friend's suicide. Another suffers from Lyme disease and eventually leaves. She is slapped by a roommate as she departs — an incident that results in him having to attend anger management classes.

• 1999: Real World invades Hawaii. Cast sheds clothes upon arrival. Nudists rejoice. Marks first time a cast member attends rehab during the show.

• 2000: New Orleans receives the treatment. A Mormon cast member leaves BYU over her participation in the show.

• 2001: The show returns to New York for its 10th anniversary. Newbies can't compete with their old-school predecessors.

• 2002: Chicago hosts the show. Films during the Sept. 11 attacks — episodes that become some of the highest-rated in the show's history.

• 2002: What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. Marks sex-crazed, drunken downward spiral of show.

• 2003: Real World journeys to Paris. Americans tune out.

• 2004: San Diego: Kids drink, have sex, fight, land in jail.

• 2004: Philadelphia: Kids juggle drinking, sex, fighting, while working for Jon Bon Jovi.

• 2005: Austin: Kids juggle drinking, fighting, sex, while filming a documentary.

• 2006: Key West. Weather wreaks havoc on the cast's plans to drink, fight and have sex.