When Dupont Stops Being a Neighborhood, and Starts Being a Dorm

This past weekend, ARWDC's own Berg did an interview with Randy Gyllenhaal, reporter for Palestra.net, a FOX News company... and no relation (that we know of) to Jake Gyllenhaal.

While we would have preferred not to be followed up by the RWDC equivalent of "Spencer" - a self-proclaimed "stalkerazzi" who has also tweeted that she told Hot 99.5's @kaneshow that she'd "... get nekked in the hot tub!!" - it's a solid piece that might help explain a little more about what neighbors are dealing with, and also why we're here.

Real Worlder for Congress?

Don't worry Real Worlders, your relevance doesn't have to end when the final episode airs. You could do anything with the fame and fortune that being a pop culture icon brings you! While the high status of the ShamWow guy is not beyond your reach, why stop there? Why not try to come back to DC as...I dunno...a member of congress?

That's exactly what former Real World: Boston cast member and current Ashland County District Attorney, Sean Duffy (no relation to the ARWDC ally and all-around good guy of the same name) is doing in Wisconin against House Appropriations Chairman, Congressman Dave Obey. Here's a little bit from the article that seems to capture the incredible substance and depth behind Duffy's candidacy:

"Duffy is active with the Republican Party of Wisconsin, but he is perhaps best known as a former cast member on the MTV reality show "The Real World: Boston" in 1997. His conservative political views were a source of friction on the show with some of his more liberal housemates." - Wausau Daily Herald, 7/2/09

Duffy is actually married to another former Real World cast member so it appears as if the recipe for post-reality TV relevance seems to lie in keeping with your own kind (other reality TV stars) and moving to Wisconsin to become a Conservative Republican. Obviously, scientific evidence would probably support the notion that Duffy's offspring are likely to eventually follow in daddy's footsteps and become Real Worlders.

(Hat tip on this on to WAOW-TV's Katie Rosenberg for the intel on this one!)

Problematic Excessive Drinking = Ratings Bonanza!

Why am I concerned about the Real World being in DC? Joey.

As I was surfing the tubez this morning, I came across an article that had a link to the Real World Cancun bio page. Being the nosy nellie that I am, the link was clicked and I was immediately disgusted.

I haven't read all of the bios yet, and there is little chance I will. Mostly because of this piece about "Joey" from Real World Cancun:

And he's had more than a few bouts with excessive drinking, which will eventually become a problem in Cancun.

Now for the Negative Neds out there, I haven't seen an episode of Real World Cancun so I don't know what the actual case is with Joey. But MTV's PR strategy is to paint Joey as the alcoholic bad boy of the season. MTV is exploiting addictions for the sake of ratings by using his addiction problem in his OFFICIAL BIO. That bio will be with him the rest of his life...but hey what's that compared to an extra 100,000 viewers for "A very special episode of the Real World."

BREAKING: ANC Meeting to Discuss Real World DC, Real World Doesn't Bother to Show Up

Ok,

So lets say you are bringing a very disruptive and expensive reality TV show into a residential neighborhood, and you want to get community buy in, maybe you want to just calm people's fears. The rational, logical course of action would be to bring together community activists, city officials and producers of the show so that everyone could talk through the pluses and minuses and hopefully a reasonable framework is developed that all sides can live with, because the show must go on (and all the real negotiations had already been done behind closed doors anyway).

Well that's exactly what the city decided to do tonight, with one minor detail: No reps from the Real World were present. Let me be crystal clear. I love our city. I like our Mayor, I respect our council for being able to manage a world-class metropolis with an influx of millions of commuters and tourists DAILY on the tax base of 600,000 residents. I TRUST these people to make good decisions. When they tell us everything is going to be ok, I tend to listen. Unfortunately, I don't trust MTV. They lost me years ago when they stopped playing music and became nothing more than a 24 hour commercial for bad products and destructive personal behavior.

The fact that the Real World didn't send a single rep down to attend the meeting and answer community questions isn't just a great big "Fuck you" to the community, it's a gigantic "Fuck you" to city officials. Essentially, MTV has told DC's government that they are on their own, there is no partnership here. God forbid anything bad were to happen, it would be our public officials who can expect all the blame because MTV doesn't give two shits.

And what exactly are we getting for that sort of treatment? Extra exposure so that a few of our bars and hang outs can get on national tv with the coveted 14-21 demographic? I mean I GUESS those kids are the drinkers of the future.

I want to remind my city officials that this is Washington, D.C. This is the most powerful city in the Western World and we don't need MTV's exposure. Our city is better than that...we deserve to be treated better than that. I mean come on Fenty, it's MTV not the fucking International Olympic Committee. For them I'd bend over and take it.

ABCNews 7: MTV Brings 'The Real World' to D.C.

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The camera totally adds 10 lbs. to our blog.

5 Tips for Washingtonians That Will Inevitably Hook Up with a Real Worlder

5) Always carry penicillin with you. Always.

4) Under no circumstances, do NOT wear your oversized Obama '08 shirt to bed. That's weird and guys don't find it attractive.

3) DO wear your Tina Fey/Sarah Palin glasses.

2) If you tweet from the Real World house, you are a fucking douchebag like them. But please do include photos, will ya?

1) Quit your job right now. You're done. It's over. Move back to the Midwest where your loose morals will be received knowledge among the common folk.

Why This Won't End Well

I'm kinda getting tired of hearing "oh they're going to be a great contribution to the community and won't party a lot."

Guess what? If they actually don't party a lot, MTV will probably consider the season a failure. In 18+ years of "Real World" television, has there ever been a season where they seem to say:

"You know what, if the roommates hook up or get in fights or get drunk - it's going to make for terrible television!"

Yeah, thought so...

Here's hoping that they new cast makes for boring television and doesn't keep me up all night!