Shake the dust off the young adult’s angst machine. MTV’s “The Real World” gears up for a new season of real-life, documentary-style discourse in the opulence of a really cool crib.
But don’t talk up the negatives to a Chicago-born woman who co-stars with six other housemates as the series launches its seventh season Tuesday.
“It’s such a cheesy thing when you say `it was a really valuable experience,’ “says Janet, 21, who is one of four women and three men who shared a sharp, 4,500-square-foot dream house on Pier 70 in Seattle.
But the truth of the matter is, it was a really valuable experience for Janet.
“You just do a lot of growing up, and I’m probably more secure and stable now than I ever have been,” she explains. “You get here and you really have to abandon all of your insecurities. You start focusing on them so much because you’re so afraid (of the public attention), so you have to get rid of them.”
Janet didn’t want her last name given to protect the privacy of her parents, who live in the western suburbs. And she says that to say she’s made friends for life sounds like a cliche.
But . . .
“All of us are very friendly with each other and we all plan on keeping in touch,” she says, “and it’s a really stable, solid bond that we’ve got going on.”
It might not look that way in the season premiere, a special hourlong episode set for 9 p.m. Tuesday.
In it, little seeds of dissent seem to sprout among the rambunctious bunch, which is made up of David and Nathan, two buddies who come to Seattle from the same military school; Irene, who has struggled with Lyme disease; Lindsay, a flighty sort who immediately bonds with Janet; Rebecca, who at varying points is introverted and outgoing; Stephen, whose insecurity over Nathan and David’s friendship flashes early; and Janet.
“People always think that people are chosen for this show because they’re confrontational or they’re controversial. But it’s not that way,” says Janet, who will soon graduate from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism.
“When you have seven people, regardless of whether they’re boring or amazingly entertaining or whatever, I think you’re going to run into all that drama in the process anyway, with or without the cameras.”
Janet ended up with the rest of the roomies when she happened by an audition at the Viacom store on North Michigan Avenue one night last September, part of a nationwide search that attracted 15,000 hopefuls.
She told the interviewers that she “had no idea what I’m doing here,” but might have caught their initial attention when she said she told them that “my life is kind of monotonous right now and I’m looking for a change.”
Several interviews later, Janet found herself in a house with steel fixtures, a high-tech bathroom, a sunken Jacuzzi and fireplace, a gym with a rock-climbing wall, a mechanical shark that wiggles and an automated dog that barks when the doorbell rings.
Even though the experience was grand, Janet won’t become the next Puck, a former, notorious Real Worlder whose 15 minutes of fame extended a couple of extra minutes before the unkempt slacker’s time ran out.
“I definitely just want to move on,” Janet says. “I don’t plan on living my life vicariously through these past six months.”
– Flipping through the channels: ABC will unleash its wacky “TV is Good” campaign again for the fall season, renaming it “We Love TV.” Some critics thought the marketing ploy, which goofed on the bent notion that watching television is really a beneficial part of your life, was a little too flippant.
But how can you not chuckle at such upcoming tag-lines as: “Hello, it’s free,” “If TV’s so bad for you, why is there one in every hospital room?” and “TV–so good, they named a frozen meal after it.”
Lighten up, people. It’s just television.
– Given that the desired advertising demographic is 18- to 49-year-olds, no one should be surprised that in the world of television, according to a recent study, the majority of characters are young and vibrant, taking care of kids is a snap, and family and work hardly ever creates a conflict.
This is from a two-week analysis of prime-time shows and TV movies conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families. Results also found that 34 percent of TV mothers work for pay, compared to 67 percent of real-life American mothers; and 62 percent of adult TV characters are male, as opposed to an American population that is 49 percent male.
It could be worse. There are more U.S. citizens who don’t solve their disputes by throwing chairs the way those on “The Jerry Springer Show” do. Wait, they don’t do that on Jerry’s show anymore. You see? It’s getting better already.
– Where’s the remote: It’s the end of the line for CBS’ “Michael Hayes,” David Caruso’s failed attempt at a return to TV. The crusading prosecutor series limps to its series finale at 9 p.m. Monday on WBBM-Ch. 2.
