RW Homecoming: New Orleans (2022)

[shantown]

The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans premieres Wednesday, April 20, on Paramount+

[Bastet]

Let me guess - Julie is going to be the one who hasn't changed a bit.

Jamie must be boring as hell; at first I thought he wasn't there, but when I re-watched I saw seven people in a few group shots, so that must be him.  But they showed us nothing of him individually, while they did of everyone else.

I love that they used "Come On, Be My Baby Tonight" as the soundtrack for this promo.

[DearEvette]

19 minutes ago, Bastet said:

love that they used "Come On, Be My Baby Tonight" as the soundtrack for this promo.

This made me cackle.  I love it!

[Black Knight]

I'm way more excited for this than I should be. I'm a little surprised Kelley is participating, but perhaps she wants to promote her book. Melissa looks great. Julie...does not. I can't believe Matt is still trying to wear basically the same hair. David annoyed me on the show, but I think I'll be amused by Tokyo. I hope Danny has found happiness. Jamie who?

[Asp Burger]

Shallow: Kelley looks incredible. Matt, Danny, David, and, Melissa all look just about exactly as I'd have imagined fortysomething versions of them would look. Jamie...more or less that, but he hasn't maintained quite as well. He's gone from frat dreamboat to dad type. Julie appears to have had a lot of rough road. Don't hold me to any of that; I'm just going on the bits we see in the promo. 

The trailer makes it appear Julie is again going to be the season's focal character, but not in such a good, happy, "sheltered innocent thing learns stuff" way. The others seem to have a lot of resentment and distrust of her, and then there are those scenes of her Paula Walnuts-like behavior, some of it in public. Do I want to watch someone in her forties acting that way? It's bad enough when it's a kid.

But I have to see this show. It was one of my favorite seasons. Y2K kids, reassemble.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Asp Burger

[Hiyo]

I know there was some bad blood between Julie and Melissa, but I didn't know it also extended between Julie and much of the rest of the cast.

 

[starri]

Since they obviously won't do a San Francisco Homecoming (and that's the correct, respectful thing to do), this was honestly the one besides the original that I'm looking the most forward to.  I have more affection for this bunch than I do just about any other group, apart from the aforementioned.  I think it's in large part because this was the final time the show seemed to be cast because they wanted to see an interesting mix of personalities, instead of casting specifically for theatrics.

And one of favorite parts was Danny and Kelley's friendship, which was one of the most genuine this show produced, and one that they've maintained for more than 20 years.

9 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I'm a little surprised Kelley is participating

She and Danny were apparently both very reluctant initially, but decided together to do it.

[Asp Burger]

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I know there was some bad blood between Julie and Melissa, but I didn't know it also extended between Julie and much of the rest of the cast.

I did know it included Kelley and Danny. Both made comments supportive of Melissa and her claims way back in the 2001-03 period (that is, after their shared RW season and at the time of early elimination Challenges).

I was not aware of David, Jamie, or Matt ever taking a position, so we'll see what they say. 

[snarts]

3 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I know there was some bad blood between Julie and Melissa, but I didn't know it also extended between Julie and much of the rest of the cast.

 

From my hazy memory, Melissa and Kelley compared notes after filming and realized that Julie kept them from being close by purposely driving a wedge between them.

In terms of the other castmates, I'm sure they also got to see Julie's true colors at some point, maybe while filming challenge seasons?  Julie, Matt & Jamie were on a few, correct?

In any case, I'm excited to watch this one. From the press release, Paramount will also have the original season available for streaming beginning April 13th, a week before the Reunion premieres.

[ljenkins782]

6 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

But I have to see this show. It was one of my favorite seasons. Y2K kids, reassemble.

Here!! I'm so excited for this one.

Quote

Shallow: Kelley looks incredible. Matt, Danny, David, and, Melissa all look just about exactly as I'd have imagined fortysomething versions of them would look. Jamie...more or less that, but he hasn't maintained quite as well. He's gone from frat dreamboat to dad type. Julie appears to have had a lot of rough road. Don't hold me to any of that; I'm just going on the bits we see in the promo. 

I think Kelley and Melissa both look incredible. Melissa had the bone structure to age well with the cheekbones and fixing her teeth made such a difference in her appearance right after the show. I wouldn't have expected Kelley to age as well as she did, she was always so skinny, I figured she'd get wrinkled quick In the "at some point, a woman needs to choose between her ass and her face" vein, but I'd peeked at her instagram recently and saw that she looks just the same. Julie actually looks pretty much the same to me too, she had one of those faces that seemed to line in the forehead even at a young age. I think it's all the faces she pulls.

David probably looks the same under all that getup, but hard to see under all the accessories. I'm afraid that he's playing another character like he did the first time, which would be disappointing. When he was himself on the challenges, he was likable, if a bit low key. The outfit and the name change seem like the new character to replace Playa David from '00 but not necessarily his actual self. Matt looks the same to me and like others mentioned, I didn't even see Jamie. He must be there in the group shots, but I watched on my phone and it's too quick and tiny to make him out. 

Was that Julie falling out of the car? I have to assume it was although I only saw the back of a blonde head, I can't imagine Kelley ever getting that sloppy. But if it's Julie, I guess she's come a long way down from the girl who wouldn't even drink caffeine. I know Kelley has a career as a life coach and a book coming out, so I can see her eyeing this as an opportunity for publicity and what looks like her outreach to Julie has my cynical side wondering if it's a calculated thing.

The trailer was way too short, I can't wait for this to premiere!! 

[Black Knight]

2 hours ago, snarts said:

From my hazy memory, Melissa and Kelley compared notes after filming and realized that Julie kept them from being close by purposely driving a wedge between them.

There was also some drama with Julie and her mother booking as many speaking/appearance gigs for Julie as they could by telling people at schools and such who reached out to book a cast member that the other cast members were not available on the date in question. I used to read Melissa's blog way back when, and I remember her writing about that. She had copies of emails from Julie's mother that she had sent saying stuff like "Danny's schedule is full that week" and such, acting as if she was the booking agent for all the cast members.

[starri]

2 hours ago, snarts said:

In terms of the other castmates, I'm sure they also got to see Julie's true colors at some point, maybe while filming challenge seasons?  Julie, Matt & Jamie were on a few, correct?

I don't think that any of the others were on at the same time she was.  Danny and Kelley did the Battle of the Seasons (by far the best one I watched) and Matt did The Gauntlet.  I know Julie did at least two.

55 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

I wouldn't have expected Kelley to age as well as she did, she was always so skinny, I figured she'd get wrinkled quick In the "at some point, a woman needs to choose between her ass and her face" vein, but I'd peeked at her instagram recently and saw that she looks just the same.

Plus, she's so fair and that might lead to sun damage.  But honestly, even if she's had work done, it's incredibly subtle, which shows admirable restraint on her part.  And as a consequence, she looks amazing.  She reminds me of Elizabeth Banks--similar coloring, similar facial features--who also looks about a decade younger than her real age.

And for real, she and Scott Wolf have been married for almost twenty years.  Mad props to them for being able to keep a Hollywood marriage together that long.

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, starri said:

Danny and Kelley did the Battle of the Seasons (by far the best one I watched) and Matt did The Gauntlet.  I know Julie did at least two.

I remember Kelley totally acing a climbing challenge on the challenge season she and Danny did! She wasn't expected to win it and instead she practically rocketed up there.

I remember two challenges for Julie for sure - the one where Katie's team was trying repeatedly to get her eliminated, and Julie lost to Katie in the jumping rope elimination, and the one where Julie almost killed Veronica trying to unhook her harness on a zipline. She might have had another challenge in between, but I don't think she was asked back after that stunt.

[choclatechip45]

Wow I am so excited for this! They all look really good! Good for Matt I remember at the Real World Bash not looking so great. I’m sort of intrigued by his broken man comment. I hope Julie is doing okay. I liked her on her original season, but couldn’t stand her on the challenge. 
 

It was rumored they were all offered over six figures to do this. They were going to do Hawaii minus Matt, but Colin and Kaia dropped out the latter ghosting everyone (which doesn’t surprise me at all). 
 

Who was making out at the end??? 

[snarts]

7 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I remember two challenges for Julie for sure - the one where Katie's team was trying repeatedly to get her eliminated, and Julie lost to Katie in the jumping rope elimination, and the one where Julie almost killed Veronica trying to unhook her harness on a zipline. She might have had another challenge in between, but I don't think she was asked back after that stunt.

Curiosity got the better of me and Julie was on five challenges: Extreme with Jamie,; Battle of the Sexes with Melissa/David/Jamie; Inferno, Inferno II, and Gauntlet 2 also with Jamie.

Outside of that, Kelley & Danny were on Battle of the Seasons together and Matt was on the Gauntlet,

[ljenkins782]

2 hours ago, snarts said:

 

Quote

I remember two challenges for Julie for sure - the one where Katie's team was trying repeatedly to get her eliminated, and Julie lost to Katie in the jumping rope elimination, and the one where Julie almost killed Veronica trying to unhook her harness on a zipline. She might have had another challenge in between, but I don't think she was asked back after that stunt.

Curiosity got the better of me and Julie was on five challenges: Extreme with Jamie,; Battle of the Sexes with Melissa/David/Jamie; Inferno, Inferno II, and Gauntlet 2 also with Jamie.

Outside of that, Kelley & Danny were on Battle of the Seasons together and Matt was on the Gauntlet,

No, as noted above, one of Julie's 5 challenges was after the harness incident and I don't believe Julie was even mildly threatened with being sent home, the incident occurred in the very first mission of the season and she stayed til whenever (can't recall if she won or just went home in a later elimination).

There's a theme in all of Julie's challenge appearances where she does every morally questionable move under the sun and then smiles at the camera that she can't possibly cheat because she's a good Christian girl. The harness incident was the most egregious, her pathetic response was that she couldn't have gotten the safety harness off if she wanted to. First of all, that doesn't explain what she WAS trying to unhook if not the harness or why she was messing around with Veronica's line at all. The mission itself was just getting from one building to the other, it wasn't intended to be a dogfight in the air, IIRC. I recall Emily Bailey having major problems with Julie's cheating as well. My dream All Stars challenge team would include a room for 3: Veronica, Emily, and Julie. lol

Kelley and Danny are the 2 I would have voted least likely to ever even go on a challenge, let alone win one, but Battle of the Seasons was the perfect one for them, they got to be together and there were a lot of OG cast members on there from the better days of RW and RR.

Quote

Wow I am so excited for this! They all look really good! Good for Matt I remember at the Real World Bash not looking so great. I’m sort of intrigued by his broken man comment. I hope Julie is doing okay. I liked her on her original season, but couldn’t stand her on the challenge. 

I'm curious about Matt's broken man comment and also curious if he's still a virgin like LA Jon. I haven't kept up with him beyond his challenge appearances, so not sure if he's married or not.

[choclatechip45]

1 hour ago, ljenkins782 said:

No, as noted above, one of Julie's 5 challenges was after the harness incident and I don't believe Julie was even mildly threatened with being sent home, the incident occurred in the very first mission of the season and she stayed til whenever (can't recall if she won or just went home in a later elimination).

There's a theme in all of Julie's challenge appearances where she does every morally questionable move under the sun and then smiles at the camera that she can't possibly cheat because she's a good Christian girl. The harness incident was the most egregious, her pathetic response was that she couldn't have gotten the safety harness off if she wanted to. First of all, that doesn't explain what she WAS trying to unhook if not the harness or why she was messing around with Veronica's line at all. The mission itself was just getting from one building to the other, it wasn't intended to be a dogfight in the air, IIRC. I recall Emily Bailey having major problems with Julie's cheating as well. My dream All Stars challenge team would include a room for 3: Veronica, Emily, and Julie. lol

Kelley and Danny are the 2 I would have voted least likely to ever even go on a challenge, let alone win one, but Battle of the Seasons was the perfect one for them, they got to be together and there were a lot of OG cast members on there from the better days of RW and RR.

I'm curious about Matt's broken man comment and also curious if he's still a virgin like LA Jon. I haven't kept up with him beyond his challenge appearances, so not sure if he's married or not.

I read he was married and has four daughters. 

Jamie, Melissa, Kelly and Julie are also married. No idea about Tokyo! 

Danny is divorced. 
 

 

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, choclatechip45 said:

I read he was married and has four daughters. 

Jamie, Melissa, Kelly and Julie are also married. No idea about Tokyo! 

Danny is divorced. 

Is the name change part of gender identity change or just a name choice, does anyone know?

[choclatechip45]

1 hour ago, ljenkins782 said:

Is the name change part of gender identity change or just a name choice, does anyone know?

No idea. It’s in the trailer.

[Asp Burger]

5 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

There's a theme in all of Julie's challenge appearances where she does every morally questionable move under the sun and then smiles at the camera that she can't possibly cheat because she's a good Christian girl. The harness incident was the most egregious

Becoming a Challenge regular bit her in the ass. Maybe she thought she could compete for money and prizes and still keep up the wide-eyed innocent performance she more or less got away with on her RW season, but right from the first Challenge she did, the façade was crumbling.

I was watching Extreme Challenge at the time, when she was on the team with Dan, Jamie, Kameelah, Rebecca, and Syrus. That was before they adopted the Survivor format of sending people home each week. I remember a lot of people in the audience who had liked her before turning on her, because her antics were starting to look more and more performative. She had to make herself front and center by protesting the sending home of Ayanna (from the other team!) for assault. The fetish fashion show mission in Germany had to become all about her religious objections (and of course she went ahead and competed and hammed it up as much as anybody). She also cheated on that belaying challenge vs. Emily and tried to talk her way out of it.

[Black Knight]

21 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

The harness incident was the most egregious, her pathetic response was that she couldn't have gotten the safety harness off if she wanted to. First of all, that doesn't explain what she WAS trying to unhook if not the harness or why she was messing around with Veronica's line at all.

What I remember most about that is that while Veronica was crying in terror, screaming to know what Julie was doing, Julie had this creepy smile on her face while she kept picking at the harness. It made me think she was a possible psychopath. Few viewers liked Veronica, but nobody wanted to see her a smear on the ground either.

I'm not really sure why anyone in the cast apart from Julie, who loves attention, agreed to do this show (well, $$$ I guess). Knowing Julie is there would have kept me away. They have to know it's going to be endless drama from her, although I suppose Melissa wants to confront her. It's no wonder Kelley and Danny were reluctant. They stayed the farthest away from cast drama during their season.

Speaking of, I wonder if Matt will do the same thing on this reunion that he did during the season, which was act one way in person and then be really judgmental in his confessionals. I remember Melissa calling that out on her blog after she watched the season.

[Asp Burger]

I haven't added Paramount+ to my streaming services yet.  Do the older Real World seasons on Paramount+ have the original music? I remember long ago when some of them were sold to syndication, all the pop songs were replaced by a generic score (or else complete silence) because of the expensive licensing rights. It made a bigger difference than I would have guessed, and it kind of killed the mood. Part of the fun was hearing "period" music. Like, it just wasn't Real World: London without watching edgy punk rocker Neil stroll through the streets of London while Ace of Base played.

[Bastet]

10 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

I haven't added Paramount+ to my streaming services yet.  Do the older Real World seasons on Paramount+ have the original music?

Yes.  At least the London season, which I am almost through re-watching, and thoroughly enjoying how sly many of the song choices are.

[seltzer3]

It looked like one the scenes have the 7 of them in some studio with some microphones.

I have a feeling they are doing a remake of "Come on be my baby tonight".  Which would be hilarious.

[Asp Burger]

This is more unverified rumor, but allegedly the cast bad blood was such that taping ended earlier than originally planned. Everyone was just over it and wanted to clear out.

[seltzer3]

 

[Bastet]

I love that "C'mon Be My Baby Tonight" is the star of this reunion so far.

But, y'all, just the sight of Julie's stupid face is making me angry when I watch these promos - I'm going to need to double my blood pressure meds to watch the actual show.

[snarts]

Cute interview with Melissa on the Reunion.

Anyone else re-watching the season?  P+ has it loaded. 

[Black Knight]

Here's another interview with Melissa.  Is she the only one doing interviews? LOL It's almost like the old days!

[ljenkins782]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love that "C'mon Be My Baby Tonight" is the star of this reunion so far.

But, y'all, just the sight of Julie's stupid face is making me angry when I watch these promos - I'm going to need to double my blood pressure meds to watch the actual show.

Seriously, that clip was great except for Julie. I will say that she's got a great haircut in 2022, but her face, voice, and mannerisms are instantly triggering.

I'm really looking forward to Melissa, I hope there's someone there that she can just hang and be funny with. Or at least that she does a lot of confessionals. Can't quite get used to Jamie and the silver swirl of hair.

This is the reunion that's really gonna make me feel old. NY and LA both aired while I was in middle school so them looking old didn't hit me as hard. But NO aired while I was in college so these people are my age and I'm still in denial that 2000 was 22 years ago, the evidence of time is going to make me sad. 

[Bastet]

From that latest interview with Melissa, I am looking forward to this:
 

Quote

Consequently, look for the subject of race to come up in the New Orleans reunion, as it has, quite contentiously in the first two iterations of Homecoming. "I knew that that particular topic was going to come up," Melissa says. "I knew that the onus of the discussion was probably going to be on me, and so I went into that knowing that and understanding that. I remember they showed the [clip of the "n-word bird" incident], and the open ended question was 'Have your views changed 22 years later on race and on discussions of race and racism?' And when I tell you the package went off, and it was crickets! It was seven people in the room like [blank stare]. And I remember all eyes were on me, and I remember opening the conversation like 'Well, whites? [Laughs] How y'all feeling now?'"

"I wanted to reiterate to these people, I was like listen, when this show came out, and I was upset about the N-word being used in the house, and nobody else was upset about it, that was actually the story. But they made it that I was annoying because I was upset. And the reality of the situation is all y'all should have been upset, and I shouldn't have been the one getting hate mail."

People better step the fuck up and take responsibility for their attitudes back then.

It's touching that she watched the NY homecoming and got sad that those folks knew each other's lives afterward -- when someone got married, had kids, etc. -- and her group didn't; they did this show together and then they bounced.  She didn't mention it, but I've seen it referenced several times over the years that only Danny and Kelly remained friends.  Which makes sense, because obviously when Julie turned out to be a backstabbing, manipulative jerk, Melissa's friendship with her ended, and those were the only real friendships that formed in the house.  Other people may have gotten along and had some fun moments together, but there were no other one-on-one connections that would last once they were no longer roommates formed.

Edited April 16, 2022 by Bastet

[Black Knight]

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

Which makes sense, because obviously when Julie turned out to be a backstabbing, manipulative jerk, Melissa's friendship with her ended, and those were the only real friendships that formed in the house.  Other people may have gotten along and had some fun moments together, but there were no other one-on-one connections that would last once they were no longer roommates formed.

I remember back when I used to read Melissa's blog, she posted a picture of herself and Jamie with a caption of Friends Forever, but obviously that didn't actually continue. It's interesting how these things go. I would never have expected the Boston cast to be up there in terms of staying in touch, for instance, but they have that group text that only Sean isn't part of because he didn't participate for obvious reasons and so they took him off to avoid blowing up his phone.

In some ways that makes for a better homecoming because the cast doesn't already know and have talked about things that the viewers would like to know and hear talked about. Kelley and Danny, as the true continuing friendship of the show, obviously do know all about each other, but it's not like they really had conflict or issues between them on the original show that we want/need to see addressed.

It will be interesting to hear David's perspective as well. I hope despite all the accessories he's willing to be himself rather than putting on a persona.

[choclatechip45]

On 4/16/2022 at 2:13 AM, Black Knight said:

I remember back when I used to read Melissa's blog, she posted a picture of herself and Jamie with a caption of Friends Forever, but obviously that didn't actually continue. It's interesting how these things go. I would never have expected the Boston cast to be up there in terms of staying in touch, for instance, but they have that group text that only Sean isn't part of because he didn't participate for obvious reasons and so they took him off to avoid blowing up his phone.

In some ways that makes for a better homecoming because the cast doesn't already know and have talked about things that the viewers would like to know and hear talked about. Kelley and Danny, as the true continuing friendship of the show, obviously do know all about each other, but it's not like they really had conflict or issues between them on the original show that we want/need to see addressed.

It will be interesting to hear David's perspective as well. I hope despite all the accessories he's willing to be himself rather than putting on a persona.

Jamie did an interview with Susie from Road Rules for her patreon a few years ago and somehow Melissa came up and Susie mentioned she had interviewed her recently. Jamie asked her for Melissa's phone number and said I would love to get back in touch with her we were really close and then we both got busy with life and fell out touch. 

[seltzer3]

Just watched the first episode.

Sad they don't get to go to their old house

Kind of concerned this is going to go down towards the RW LA homecoming route as opposed the RW NY homecoming route.

Julie....oh boy.

I will say I really like David a lot (Tokyo, I'm glad he somewhat addressed it why he changed his name....but it still has a bit of the Asian fetish issue).

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by seltzer3

[Glade]

This was interesting, I'm glad this cast is back. 

Danny was so magnetic and adorable on his original season, it's sad to hear that his life has been really difficult since then and he's been living in isolation. Wish we could see him without the beard.  He's definitely the person I most want to hear from, and so far I'm not disapointed!

Melissa still has her witty, hilarious quips, and I like the way she's handling Julie and not accepting her gaslighting B.S.

Julie is not mentally healthy enough for this experience.  Her extreme emotional reactivity and exaggerated, clueless antics are a real chore to watch, and I expect they will continue to be.

Matt does look exactly the same.  Unfortunately he seems the same in other ways too; preaching and bragging about his sexual repression (Who the fuck cares? Does he notice that no one else is talking about how many sexual partner's they've had?), and joking about the number of kid's he's had; I bet one of them will turn out to be LGBTQ.

Kelly also looks the same, but I feel like she has a higher chance of adding something valuable to the conversations.

Tokyo seems to have grown into a more likeable person, and I assume that the manga etc he talks about writing actually exists, which is cool.

Jamie...was apparently in the house through the whole episode?  I don't know why the producers insist on all 7 room-mates coming back when there's always at least one warm body (i.e. Andre from New York, Glen from L.A, and now Jamie.)

Edited April 20, 2022 by Glade

[choclatechip45]

I just finished the first episode and I enjoyed it. 

I thought it was weird that Julie wanted to room with Jamie, but then I just heard Jamie say in an interview he reached out to everyone besides Kelley so maybe she thought he would be on her side?

I loved the opening scene was Danny meeting Melissa just like how they met in the original. You could tell they were both super nervous. 

Tokyo seems like he really matured which was nice. I liked what he had to say to Julie at the end. 

I felt like I didn't get a sense of Matt, Kelley or Jamie. It did crack me up though when Melissa said  Kelley is a celebrity wife now. 

I also liked Kelley's hug when Tokyo walked in. It seemed really genuine.

 

[funnygirl]

I'm glad all of the roommates are there and participating.  Heard Melissa say it's going to be a long two weeks. Two weeks... NY and LA got a week, right?

I love Melissa. 

Julie is as irritating as ever.

ETA: Tokyo emphasized a week in his conversation with Julie. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by funnygirl

[Bastet]

Julie is just a garbage human being, and I'm sad this performance of hers is going to succeed in dominating the experience.  The only thing I can't figure out is if she's still knowingly lying or if she has actually convinced herself the lie is the truth. 

Melissa's commentary is giving me life, though.  I loved the way she and Danny both immediately shut down Julie's gaslighting, and calmly - because, as Melissa said, she's going to, again, be presented as petty and bitter if she dares put any emotion into this - said no, here's what actually happened, here's what an actual apology would entail, you have not done that, and now you're sitting there crying making it about you.  Let's go eat instead.

Melissa and Danny at the airport were great; I love her having a package of toilet paper this time instead of a bag of rice.  I think the room with them and Kelley is going to be the best.  They could just wall off the rest of the house and record that room, and I'd enjoy it.

Tokyo does seem to want to be more open and engaged this time, as does Kelley.  I'm not terribly interested in Jamie - so far, as then, he hasn't given me anything to get interested in - and Matt, unfortunately, seems not to have evolved any, but it's early and, of course, the focus was on the Julie drama, so we'll see how things go. 

[Tatum]

I had to turn off the episode after Julie walked in. Just so uncomfortable. And I agree with Danny- she's apologizing right off the bat, putting him in a position where he has to either like, reject her apology, or tell her it's okay, and it's really not.

 

And while I can kind of understand not reaching out in 20 years (first, you're too embarrassed about what you did, and then, you feel like your reopening old wounds apologizing when the other person has likely moved on), but if I were Julie and I knew I was going to be on the show with someone I had wronged 20 years ago and never apologized, I would not have gone about making the apology the way she did. Danny was absolutely right, it was totally self serving.

 

I wonder how many more of these we will see. I wonder if they have just gone down the line and New Orleans was the oldest cast (in terms of when the show aired, not their ages) that would agree to do it. I'd like to see Boston and Seattle. I am assuming they'd have no shot of assembling Chicago, which is another one I'd really like to see.

[Tatum]

On 4/1/2022 at 2:20 PM, ljenkins782 said:

There's a theme in all of Julie's challenge appearances where she does every morally questionable move under the sun and then smiles at the camera that she can't possibly cheat because she's a good Christian girl. The harness incident was the most egregious, her pathetic response was that she couldn't have gotten the safety harness off if she wanted to. First of all, that doesn't explain what she WAS trying to unhook if not the harness or why she was messing around with Veronica's line at all. The mission itself was just getting from one building to the other, it wasn't intended to be a dogfight in the air, IIRC. I recall Emily Bailey having major problems with Julie's cheating as well. My dream All Stars challenge team would include a room for 3: Veronica, Emily, and Julie. lol

I remember Veronica was in tears after that incident, and Julie kept acting like Veronica was such a drama queen and did that thing where she made a pouty face to the cameras and rubbed her eyes with fists, mocking Veronica for crying. It may have been true that Veronica was never in serious danger of falling out of her harness, but she's 20+ stories up and she's clearly frightened and everyone is frantically yelling at Julie to back off, and Julie felt no guilt at all. Then in a later season, when Julie is doing her talking head about coming back and running into Veronica again, Julie said she's "over" Veronica's histrionics and if Veronica "can keep her legs closed this time" they won't have any problems. Um, how does what Veronica is doing with her legs impact you any, Julie? Oh it doesn't, you just want to call her a slut to deflect what an asshole you are, Julie.

[Miss Slay]

That was a great first episode! What a fantastic return to form after Los Angeles which was just uncomfortable to watch. 

It was fantastic to see this cast again. They might not be the one of the casts that people mention first but they were a great group of people with dynamic personalities. 

I'm really glad they addressed the situation with Julie and Melissa and then Julie and Danny. I remember hearing about it on the challenges but I'm glad they went into depth about it. I always had a feeling that Julie was acting a bit more naive than she actually was at age 19 -- she knew what they were looking for. In truth, she's smart and very savy. She knows what she did was backstabbing and awful and didn't want to admit to it.  She also knows the power dynamics. She was ready to say it didn't happen when Melissa brought it up but she listened and apologized when Danny said his grievances. I'm so glad Tokoyo, the artist formally known as David, schooled her.

Fantastic first episode. 

[Tatum]

I went back and finished the first episode, and I don't think my blood pressure can take any more of Julie. I was willing to consider that maybe she's grown up in the 15 years that she's been away from TV, and she clearly hasn't. She's still denying any wrongdoing, still blaming phantom people, crying when she's called on her bullshit, and then leaping over any semblance of logic to apologizing for the general struggles marginalized classes feel, rather than admit she exploited this marginalization for her own gain (ie telling a school that was already wary of hiring openly gay men to speak that he would be inappropriate with the students). I can't tell if she's being willfully obtuse or not. She's just an awful person. It isn't enough that Melissa just be civil- Julie needs Melissa to reassure her. The victim has to go out of her way to assuage the discomfort her perpetrator feels! She is a complete garbage person.

[starri]

Goddamn, while I was aware what happened between Julie and Melissa, what went down between Julie and Danny was one million times more fucked up.  I cannot come with strong enough words for what I'm thinking about her at this moment.

[Tatum]

13 minutes ago, starri said:

Goddamn, while I was aware what happened between Julie and Melissa, what went down between Julie and Danny was one million times more fucked up.  I cannot come with strong enough words for what I'm thinking about her at this moment.

What is really frustrating is that if Julie just said, yes, I wanted all the speaking engagements I could get because I didn't want to get a real job at that time, and I knew I could discredit you and Melissa pretty easily, so I did. There is not a day that goes by that I am not ashamed of what I did, I was greedy and selfish and it honestly never even occurred to me that this would have lasting consequences to you other than the missed money opportunity, because I was not only greedy and selfish but completely out of touch with what other people's lives are like- I think Danny would forgive her. Melissa, maybe not, but I think it would still be good for Melissa to hear. But Julie continues to cry and deny it, making herself out to be the injured party.

 

And her face just lit up when David told her, even if it was someone on your team, you are responsible for it, and you can see the wheels turning in her head, like, yes! I can apologize on behalf of someone on my team without directly admitting I did anything wrong! And she wanted to repeat David's words verbatim not because he was so damn articulate, but because she thought that's what would get her past the awkward stage with Danny and Melissa. I thought it was very telling when she asked David if he thought they'd ever be friends with her again. It's pretty clear she isn't remotely sorry for what she did, she just wants to not be the bad guy and have people dislike her.

 

[Asp Burger]

3 hours ago, Miss Slay said:

I always had a feeling that Julie was acting a bit more naive than she actually was at age 19 -- she knew what they were looking for.

She was 20, but...same. She never added up, to me. A  lot of people, even on the cynical MBTV boards, were taking her at face value when Real World New Orleans was airing, and these were viewers who had seen the other Real World seasons. I was always thinking, can't you tell she's different from someone like Julie in New York, Jon in LA, Cory in San Francisco? They were legitimately naïve and "artless." NO Julie was self-conscious, as if she knew her role and were playing scenes.

I feel she exaggerated her homophobia in the casting special to get on the show, and I think she lied about lack of familiarity with the series before she was on it. (If she had never seen it before 1999-2000, she must have marathoned the hell out of it afterwards. She was way too familiar with other casts in the 2001 reunion. Among other things, she talked about how much watching Elka and Walter's sex-free relationship in the Boston season had meant to her.)

That doesn't mean I think every emotion or relationship she had in New Orleans was fake, but I never bought (or liked) her. However, I only started thinking of her as legitimately awful during Extreme Challenge.

[shantown]

Jamie used his same yellow North Face bag! That made me smile. As did Danny meeting Melissa in the lobby the same way. And Kelley and Tokyo's hug when he walked into the house. It's got to be such a weird rush to be back with these people in this sort of situation again.

Julie is so frustrating. She is self-aware enough to know that she owes people apologies, and that 20 years passing makes it even harder to do so. But then is completely unaware of how she comes across to others or on screen. She was so committed to the narrative she built up in her head, and how she wanted these interactions to go - I don't even think she necessarily wanted them to go well, but she wanted the drama to skew in her favor. She hasn't emotionally matured much since the original season and it's apparent that most of her castmates have.

(Probably not Matt though, judging by the preview for the rest of the season)

So excited for another reunion season. I love watching these reunions to snark and reminisce with all of you!

[starri]

It was interesting to hear Kelley talk about not wanting to hold herself back this time.  I never really got that impression from her originally.  She just seemed like a really chill, mature woman who I would have wanted to be friends with.  Clearly both being from the South may have been what drew her to Danny, but I never doubted for a second that they had a real friendship.  

She's legitimately one of my favorite cast members ever, and it's largely because she was drama free while still being interesting.

Aside from the original and San Francisco, New Orleans was by far my favorite season, and I'm just so happy to catch up with most of these guys again.  Tokyo included.

Except Julie.  Fuck Julie.

[snarts]

You've all covered most of my thoughts while watching episide one but am I misremembering that Julie's mom was involved in calling the schools badmouthing the other cast mates & telling them that Julie was the only cast member available for their events? 

Also, did Julie say she wanted to room with Jamie as follow-up on the attraction she had for him? Aren't they both married? 

Finally, who was making out in the previews? 

[Asp Burger]

@starri could be my Primetimer Real World twin. "Yes to all" of that post. 

It was interesting to hear Kelley talk about not wanting to hold herself back this time.  I never really got that impression from her originally.

Sometimes those so-called "invisible" cast members were favorites of mine, and they're a bigger part of the season when you actually watch it than they have the reputation of being. Like, Pam was gone from the SF house a lot for obvious reasons (medical school), but she still added a lot to the cast. Even though Kelley was with Peter a lot of the time in New Orleans, everyone remembers her friendship with Danny, and she's a big presence in the NOA-TV storyline.

[Tatum]

3 minutes ago, snarts said:

You've all covered most of my thoughts while watching episide one but am I misremembering that Julie's mom was involved in calling the schools badmouthing the other cast mates & telling them that Julie was the only cast member available for their events? 

Also, did Julie say she wanted to room with Jamie as follow-up on the attraction she had for him? Aren't they both married? 

Finally, who was making out in the previews? 

Yes, I am 99% sure Coral also accused Julie’s mother of this- either she said Coral wouldn’t do it for $XX, but Julie would, or she found out what Coral had already booked somehow and called up the school and said Julie would do it for less. 
 

I think Julie referred to her and Jamie as having unfinished business and she also said she never entertained having a crush on Jamie because she felt he was way out of her league. I find it pretty shocking she would be so frontal about this so I do wonder if those two comments were taken out of context.