Asp Burger
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On a lighter Matt-related note, I laughed at the Arizona scene (presumably shot pre-Homecoming) in which he's holding hands with his wife and praying for the other cast members. He can only remember four of six ("Doggone it, I forgot everybody!"), and one of the ones he goes blank on is Julie, who was pursuing him all season. The other is David/Tokyo, another friendship we saw a good amount of. Admittedly, the friendship was a bit one-sided on Matt's part.
He gets Kelley, Danny, Melissa, and Jamie, in that order.
Julie had such a strong reaction to Melissa not remembering that they had both lived in Los Angeles and that Melissa had visited her place, I wonder what her reaction was to Matt having trouble even coming up with her name as a cast member of Real World New Orleans. She was the star! She was making good TV!
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Some of Melissa's followers on her social media were coming after Danny for "whiteness protecting its own" and similar buzzword-laden charges, and Melissa backed that shit off hard, in a multi-part response. She said the couch discussion was a long conversation of which we saw only an excerpt, that Danny really didn't see everything that happened that night, that he said other things in the discussion that weren't shown, and that she had no beef at all with him.
And even in the edited portion, I didn't get "Tokyo, you were violent" out of what he was saying. He was talking about the overall situation of there being no discussion, just suddenly "We're leaving," and his perception of that might not have been the best. Noisy environment, people scattered around, various levels of intoxication, etc.
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A few people have commented that Bobbie was brought out of the deep freeze just to trash Nina, but I didn't see it that way. I thought it was as good as a forecast that the Michael/Carly/Willow side of the Wiley case is going to lose. Classic soap smoke signals. If Carly were going to get the outcome she wanted, they'd never bring on a sympathetic vet to pose "Are you sure about this?" and "What if...?" questions and say "Be careful what you wish for."
I saw Bobbie's role on the Thursday show as twofold: (1) To give anti-Nina viewers a softer landing when the hearing doesn't go the way they're hoping, and (2) to dangle the thought of a reunion for S/C fans who might be over Sonny.
As for the Liz/Finn/Kevin/Laura part of the show: Oof. Maybe Liz and Finn needed some tension or obstacle for the drama, but this is really the best they could do?
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Matt's just very conservative, but the kind of conservative who's pleasant and reasonably gracious on an interpersonal level. I hope I'm not getting myself in trouble here just by dropping some real-world (ha!) names, but I remember a reporter asking Pete Buttigieg about his dealings with Mike Pence (they were mayor of South Bend and governor of Indiana, respectively, at the same time). They don't agree on much, but Buttigieg said that Pence was as nice as could be in the way he treated people individually, and he liked him, but then there's what he stands for and what he wants for the country. That's how I think Matt is. He's the Mike Pence of The Real World.
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When Matt says to the producer, "I think I answered the question. I answered the question," and then nervously gulps from the water bottle, I realized on second watch what it reminded me of. William H. Macy in Fargo when Frances McDormand comes to the car dealership to inquire if there are any missing vehicles from the lot.
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Just now, choclatechip45 said:
Was that the fashion show that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler judged?
They judged a challenge involving improvisation/comedy. Ayanna was still part of the RR team then. The fetish fashion show was later, during the Susie period.
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I do believe Julie on this one. She and Jamie went so quickly from the Belfort to the Extreme Challenge, so they were around each other a lot in 2000. I don't have trouble believing they hooked up in a hotel room and did everything short of intercourse, and it was a big deal to her, less so to him.
Julie might not even have been the only girl in that cast Jamie fooled around with. I have a dim memory of rumors about him and the Road Rules team's Michelle (RIP). I also remember the cheerleading challenge, in which the two teams made up cheers mocking each other. One of the taunts in the RR team's was "Rebecca, you're caught in between / Syrus livin' in a teenage dream / and Jamie hits on our whole team."
Speaking of Extreme Challenge, this episode of Homecoming showed the Jamie/Julie portion of the fetish fashion show in Germany. They were spoofing John and Lorena Bobbitt. That episode aired when it was the new one, and possibly a few more times that week, before being pulled. It didn't get the customary re-airing the following week to lead into the next episode, and it was never seen again, even in marathons. Speculation was that there had been a cease-and-desist letter over unauthorized likenesses of Homer and Marge Simpson. Rebecca and Kameelah (respectively) played them in a scat-fetish skit.
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Because I actually own Real World New Orleans: Unmasked, read it cover to cover when it was published in 2000, and got it out of storage just to brush up for the Homecoming season, you know I was getting everything right on that quiz.
Trivia from the book: Kelley gave David/Tokyo a tarot reading too, and she told him that he was going to be successful in something, but not music. Not something he wanted to hear at the time.
I loved this episode. It connected so well to various things in the season; it was a treat for a hardcore fan of this cast.
Those Jamie/Julie scenes, in which they were so not on the same page but Julie wasn't seeing it, were comedy gold. But then I started feeling a little sorry for him, because he looked so uncomfortable. I like him much more now than on RWNO.
Danny might have the line of the season, which is no mean feat when you're in a cast with Melissa. All the sensitive talk to Julie about intimacy and human needs, and then, "Jamie just had a boner."
When Kelley is glammed up in interviews, she reminds me of Kirsten Cohen on The O.C., and when she isn't and she's just lounging around in her bathrobe, she reminds me of a fortyish Katharine Hepburn. She has good bone structure.
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Ha! Yes. He said he was glad he was able to resist the temptation. That's in the appendix of the New Orleans book. They catch up with Justin, Ruthie, Teck, and Amaya from the previous year's cast.
I still don't understand what Amaya had against her own damn perfectly nice bed, but I'll never understand the choices of the version of her we saw on Real World Hawaii. I watched that season again recently, and I still found her hard to take. I hope poor Pam (Calvin's erstwhile girlfriend, who then had a status change to "Amaya's friend") was getting more out of that friendship than it appeared. It seemed all the poor woman did was listen to this girl's tearful complaints.
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There are quotes from S&M (ha!) in the book. Shorty actually says he was "relaxed" and "just acted normal, like [his] crazy self" in front of the cameras. He says he's glad Melissa did Real World and that she's more confident now ("now" being 2000, post taping). He liked all of the roommates and was impressed by them. He didn't like the house. It looked better on TV than in person. "No feng shui."
Mercy was scared for Melissa, because of all the crazy people in the world who know her now. She had seen Ruthie in Hawaii and told Melissa she had better not take off her clothes. Then she found out about the stripping incident and hoped it wouldn't be too bad. She liked the house, except for the cameras. She liked the roommates, especially the guys. She mentions the church outing.
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Veronica is the answer that makes sense. As things stood, anyway, assuming Kaia and Ruthie had secure places in the Hawaii cast. I just can't see a Real World season of that era with the female contingent consisting of Kaia, Ruthie, and Pua, or Kaia, Ruthie, and Ayanna.
Veronica and Amaya had that intense rivalry on their first Challenge, and it seemed to be as much about things in common as differences.
Imagine an alternate reality in which, instead of Amaya and Colin as the big "romance" of the Hawaii season, it was kleptomaniac Veronica and aggro Karate Kid.
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The highlight of the Frat Matt episode was at the beginning, when Melissa is walking around Belfort all grouchy, saying she's going to go out and find herself a guy, because she's sick of the men in the house being all attractive and unavailable. While she's saying the "attractive and unavailable" part, she turns a corner and walks into Danny, who's brushing his teeth. It was like a sitcom moment.
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2 hours ago, choclatechip45 said:
What where the legal charges?
He (the karate enthusiast from New Jersey) was carrying on with a married woman, and her husband had a restraining order against him, which he violated. They mention unspecified "other charges," and he didn't show for final interviews because he was in jail with bail set at $50,000.
So, the guy sounds violent. In the scene where the Bunim/Murray people are learning this, I keep expecting someone to say they're glad they found out before they put him in the house with six other kids, because I'm still naïve like that. But Mary-Ellis just sighs and says, well, he can't be here for the interviews, like that's the disqualifying thing.
The guy was 20, dark-haired, muscular, and had a boyish face, so it's reasonable to assume Colin got "his" slot.
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I was thinking about the "missing seasons" and the music-rights issues. I wonder how it works with diegetic music choices, which got more common in those years. For example, if Paramount+ put the Hawaii season up, they could easily cut the dozens or hundreds of background choices, but wouldn't they have to spring for "In My Life" (Amaya sings it at the talent show, and there's a whole montage matching the lyrics) and "Kiss Me" (Malo gives Ruthie a CD single and they listen to it together, and it comes back as a theme for them)?
A scene in the Seattle season for Irene and Nathan wouldn't make sense unless they secured that recording of "Goodnight, Irene." Same with the Boston girls and "Wannabe." In both cases, the cast members are talking about the song while listening to it.
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@Black Knight, that was Matt, wasn't it? (Identified onscreen as "Frat Matt" to distinguish between him and the cast member.)
Ryan was her pre-RW boyfriend, who came with the two Michaels for her birthday.
I can understand the confusion, because they were only two episodes apart. The Melissa was heavy.
I wonder if Matt or Kelley hosted anyone from back home. We saw family members, old friends, and/or pre-RW significant others for everyone else. Kelley is hanging out with a young woman her age when she's having the fight with Jamie and he calls her (Kelley) a psycho, but the friend has no lines and we don't see their visit. I don't know whether she's someone Kelley knew from Arkansas or New Orleans.
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New Orleans did show Tokyo/David's mother visiting, in the David-heavy episode in which he was producing his first Real 7 and also preparing to sing the national anthem at the hockey game. So I don't think they left Shorty and Mercy out because of Melissa's race.
I just think they had three other parental visits, and all of those connected better to issues dramatized in the season. David talked about how his mother was struggling back home, how he needed to work and be a success to help her. Then she came to see him and gave him encouragement about singing for thousands for the first time. Danny was newly out, and his parents and Paul were going to be in town at the same time, so that one was a must-do. And Julie's parents had been against her doing the show. Just by being on The Real World, she was putting in jeopardy the future her father had mapped out for her.
I really liked Melissa, but I didn't watch RWNO in 2000 thinking there should have been even more focus on her. A lot of viewers back then were actually complaining when five of the first 11 episodes were focused on her. She was getting called "ME-lissa," etc.
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2 hours ago, MrBuhBye said:
Any word on what the next season will be if any?
I've heard rumors of Vegas or Austin. Blech x2.
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7 hours ago, Bastet said:
I think Sharon would be exhausting to live with, but she was a kind person.
This. Sharon was sweet, but too "too." Kat from that season seemed like a nice person who would wear better over prolonged exposure. I liked her even more on Challenge 2000, which will always be my favorite Challenge. Both teams were such a great mix of personalities.
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Same, @starri. The New York Homecoming made me sad, because I had seen that season in the '90s and I loved that cast. I had trouble completing their reunion. The last two or three episodes just sat there until I could deal with them. The LA one was unpleasant in a different way. I never liked that cast and never thought they jelled in the first place, and this just verified that some things don't change. (That one episode with very little Tami wasn't bad, though. And it was nice to meet the trans teens in the last episode.)
The New Orleans one, I'm genuinely enjoying. I'm sorry when episodes end, and I can't wait for the next one to become available. Even Julie isn't sinking it. It's hard to say why. It's just working better. Maybe they seem more sincere and more genuine in their real connections, or genuine in hoping to be connecting in ways they weren't before.
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Before now, I had never seen the casting special for this season (and Semester at Sea), in which Colin was a reject and then got told he was in the cast. I'd only seen the scenes recycled within the Hawaii season itself.
If that whole story wasn't "made for TV" (and Colin does seem legitimately surprised when he hears the news), I wonder if Colin got his slot because that martial-arts enthusiast they were all so in love with turned out to have serious legal charges pending against him. Yikes. That was a bullet dodged.
A Bunim/Murray Productions woman (not Mary-Ellis) says about Matt that he won't be "the life of the party," but these shows also need "instigators," and if there's drama going on in the house, Matt is sure to be in the thick of it. Not only do I hope that woman rose high in the organization, I want her to tell me which lottery numbers to pick.
Some predictions from other members of the team weren't so astute. A male member of the team says he expects Justin to really dive into the Local Motion performance café assignment and bring a lot of creativity. At least in the parts we saw, he did not. His main contribution was proposing that they screen the comedians for offensive material. And someone says that Amaya will be a great addition to the cast because she'll bring comedy. Not so much. I can't remember her ever being funny, intentionally or unintentionally. She brought...not "tragedy," exactly. Very wet melodrama.
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2 hours ago, seltzer3 said:
Would be hilarious for them to rewatch Tokyo's hot mess of the modeling catwalk where one of the models fell on the stage. Or Jamie's musical interview where he didn't consult anyone and the whole thing crashed and burned.
I still hold out hope for Elton's face to appear on their screen and say hey. They can't pretend The Real 7 wasn't a thing. It was a huge connecting element.
Against all odds, the modeling show with the strippers actually ended up being a good one. Elton was at his most pleased and complimentary afterwards. And, of course, David (I can't make myself call him "Tokyo" when discussing that, because he had such a different personality) only praised his own producing genius in the interviews, when honestly, Matt and Kelley had more to do with making it a success. Their ad libs and commentary were hilarious. It was one of the best scenes for each of them. That's the one NOATV Real 7 episode I would love to see in its entirety.
(DVD was new and hot in 2000. It's a shame they didn't put out the New Orleans season with all the Real 7 episodes as a bonus feature.)
Jamie's show was a mess, no argument, and he even he acknowledges it now. And what a prick he was when Elton was reaming him out for it. Everything about his expressions and body language gave away that he was one of those guys who can sail through life and half-ass things, and even when they screw up, no one really calls them on it. When Elton told him he had done a terrible job and literally commanded him to stop talking, it was new terrain. The privilege was strong.
QuoteSpeaking about Tokyo, I'm kind of surprised none of the incoming messages has him on the hot seat. Everyone being pissed off at Tokyo was a pretty big storyline in New Orleans. I'm guessing they aren't revisiting that because he's getting along with everyone else?
Maybe still to come? I hope that isn't it, because rather than being something un-com-fort-a-ble (tm Julie) for Tokyo, a clip package of his standoffishness and surliness circa 2000 would be a big fat softball over the middle of the plate. No one in the cast holds his old ways against him and would be cross-examining him or demanding apologies. He'd have the floor to talk about his evolution and make the audience love the new him even more.
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Danny's contribution to that discussion put one of his earlier comments in a new light for me. During the club scene, there was an interview insert in which he said something like "I wouldn't have thought it was still necessary to babysit people when they're in their forties, but I guess it is." The way that was edited in, I thought he was talking about Julie becoming such a mess that everyone had to watch over her. But now I think he was expressing resentment at production/the other housemates for herding him and Julie out, and the expectation that everyone had to go at the same time.
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One of the recaps today (Salon's, I think) erroneously reported that Danny was part of the swamp-tour group in 2000. It was just Melissa, Julie, Jamie and his Chicago friends. I remember Danny and Kelley getting the tale from one of Jamie's bros when Team Swamp got back to Belfort.
I miss Kim of TWoP when I read the in-depth post-episode pieces. She knew Real World cold, even seasons she didn't officially cover. I see a lot of wrong information in most of what's out there now. Dave Holmes at Decider (who knows his MTV too, obviously) is the best covering Homecoming, I think.
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1 minute ago, DearEvette said:
She assessed her own mood and decided she needed to give Julie a real apology because she was getting toxic herself. I personally didn't see it, but the fact that she felt it and set to rectify it by going to Julie impressed me.
I did see it, enough that I could understand (and was nodding) when she concluded her own tone had been "stank" and she felt she needed to apologize. At the point when she was saying (paraphrasing), "Well? You just said this is a a 'very important' issue for you. So, come on. The floor is yours," she had crossed over to hectoring. Tokyo seemed to step in then and try to get it back on a more constructive level. And if that scene went on a lot longer, there was probably more of the same.
It's hard in a situation like that to separate the issues at hand from your feelings about a particular person, and Melissa has a lot of reasons not to like Julie. I think she recognized that.
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RW Homecoming: New Orleans (2022)
in The Real World
To be fair, we would have had about 60% less of Matt's thoughts on that topic if Melissa hadn't gone upstairs to talk to him before the tarot reading began. And the producers probably encourage that kind of scene.
I did appreciate that he was polite to Elie.
I think of Matt as a person who has very different beliefs from mine, and his ideal version of America and the world would not be one I would want to see as reality, but he's fundamentally decent and sincere. I remember him trying so hard to maintain a friendship with David/Tokyo when most of the others in the house had written him off as an abrasive jerk, and David/Tokyo had so little in common with Matt, with his "playa" lifestyle at that time.