Big Brother Free Summer/The Real World

This is going to be the first summer since 2001 that Channel 4 won’t be dominated by Big Brother. It’s a programme that long outstayed its welcome as the formula became increasingly tiring, but at first it was good TV as it seemed more of a televised sociology experiment. Well, that’s what people who were embarrassed to admit liking it said anyway.
I admit it, I watched every episode of the first series. With Nasty Nick and his backhanded tactics, the smug one who raced go-carts, Darren with his non reasons to vote for people, the Irish Lesbian who used to be a nun, and Craig the Scouser who spent most of the day asleep. I watched all of series two as well, and the third, some of the forth, then I usually only watched the first show of each series to see the freak show of wanabees enter the house.
You see the first few series you would grow to dislike the housemates, the last few series you disliked them while they were still walking in. The turning point was the fifth year when to counter the incredibly dull fourth year Chanel 4 cast a whole bunch of celebrity hungry brainless attention seekers.

But Big Brother wasn’t the first reality TV series that I got hooked on. That was MTV’S The Real World. The premises is six strangers from different backgrounds live in a house ‘A place where people stop being polite, and start being real’ as the tagline goes. Well to a certain degree. How real is having MTV put you up in an apartment and film you go about your day to day buisness? But anyway, to get on this show it helps if you are a certain type of person who will be sure to do certain things.
Here are some examples:

A girl the country who has never left her family before and is a fish out of water in the big city. She will be shocked by the decadence but will get dragged out to a club one night where she’ll have one drink and then to the shock of her on looking housemates will get up and bump and grind on the table.

A boy from the country who has never left his family before and is a fish out of water in the big city. He is scared of anyone who doesn’t look like people from back in Hicksville County (Blacks/Latinos/Gays) but eventually he will learn that he can get along with people who look different. In one episode the gay guy in the house will drag him out to a gay club where after originally feeling awkward he will soon seem to be having fun.

A girl who is always analysing her relationship with her boyfriend back home. She will talk on the phone to him constantly and will cry in every episode. They will break up and she will get drunk and make out with random strangers in the club. Then cry some more.

A sexually frustrated religious guy who is a virgin and says he will be until he gets married.

A gay guy who will be loved and hated by his housemates in equal measures. He will drag the country boy or Frat boy or religious boy out to a gay club for his own amusement, though he will say its to show him his lifestyle so they can understand him more.

All housemates will say that they are on the show to ‘learn something about themselves’.

I’ve been watching a few random episodes online. I should really be watching something more educational, like catching up on that Wonders Of The Universe series on BBC Iplayer and pretend to understand it like other people pretend to.