RW: San Francisco (1994)

[Stinger97]

The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships. It is the second season of The Real World to be filmed in the Pacific States region of the United States, specifically in California after The Real World: Los Angeles.

 

 

[Lantern7]

Recently, Vulture.com did a "Rumble" which pitted the greatest reality seasons against each other, and RW3 was the representative for The Real World. It's hard to argue with that. The balance was amazing . . . you had a guy with a compromised immune system and an asshole with diseases oozing out of his scabs, a conservative student and a liberal cartoonist, a naive girl and an overacheiving med student, and then there was Mohammed, perhaps the most neutral of roommates.

It's hard to argue with the show's legacy. Although two roommates have been seen on the Challenge (three if you count Rachel on Road Rules: All-Stars), they're a pretty visible bunch. Rachel got hitched to Sean Duffy, and she keeps squeezing out kid after kid. Judd was a mainstay at DC Comics for a while, and he created two memorable characters in Barry Ween and Juniper Lee (who had a series on Cartoon Network), and he married his crush Pam to boot. And Pedro is still a go-to figure in relation to understand AIDS. BTW, I never got the hate about him being a "martyr." To me, he spent his final few years on Earth trying to get people not to make the mistakes he did. If you come across a copy of Pedro & Me, please read it. I know there's a lot of Judd-hate out there, but he crafted a great story on his roommate, and I don't feel it was exploitive at all.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Lantern7

[ub40fan]

San Francisco was the only Real World I watched all the way through and it was all because of Pedro. At the time I had a lot of gay friends with HiV (they are all gone now) and I could really relate to him and his advocacy. I can't begin to tell you how sad I was at his passing even though, at the time, it was a forgone conclusion. And I hated Puck.

[Bastet]

Pedro and Sean's commitment ceremony reminded me of the ones I attended around that time, and I didn't do my usual eye rolling at the warp speed of their relationship given Pedro knew his time was limited.  When he died, it wasn't like losing someone I knew, but it was something more than a general "oh, that's too bad" feeling. 

 

I loved the SF season ... except for Puck.  I didn't like Rachel, but I understood why she was part of the mix.  Casting Puck was a stunt that should never have been pulled. 

 

And I'd have loved to see Pam at work; I understand they shot a fair bit of footage of that but never used it.

[Pickles Aplenty]

I have mixed feelings about the San Fransisco season.  I enjoyed it when it was on and thought the Pedro stuff was very important and needed to be aired, but I think they really blew it by making it The Puck Show.  Puck has some serious problems, and the fact that they cast him at all is/was irresponsible, IMO.  So, that season aired at the right time, and was also one of the worst seasons ever.  Go figure.

[Turkish]

Pedro and Sean's commitment ceremony reminded me of the ones I attended around that time, and I didn't do my usual eye rolling at the warp speed of their relationship given Pedro knew his time was limited.  When he died, it wasn't like losing someone I knew, but it was something more than a general "oh, that's too bad" feeling. 

 

I loved the SF season ... except for Puck.  I didn't like Rachel, but I understood why she was part of the mix.  Casting Puck was a stunt that should never have been pulled. 

 

And I'd have loved to see Pam at work; I understand they shot a fair bit of footage of that but never used it.

I forget how old I was when this season was on but it still stands as the one that made the biggest impression on me as a kid thanks to Pedro and Sean. I still can't believe that they are both no longer with us anymore but at least they are together again somewhere. 

[spaceytraci1208]

Puck has some serious problems, and the fact that they cast him at all is/was irresponsible, IMO.

And ever since, MTV seems to have actively searched for a "Puck" (or several) to put in every house each season. Irresponsible, indeed...

[Maharincess]

This was one of my favorite seasons even though I couldnt stand Judd. He was such a whiny know it all, I hated him.

Its funny watching this season now and knowing where Rachel ended up.

[Lantern7]

Speaking of Judd . . . I picked up a copy of a book he wrote, A Town Called Dragon. The first issue was released a few weeks ago, and you can read about it here. I thought it was an okay read, though I didn't find it as acerbic as his Barry Ween books.

[Lantern7]

Story on the 20th anniversary of Pedro Zamora's death. Anyone else feel really old now?

[OnceSane]

*raises her hand*

[LadyNebula]

I forget how old I was when this season was on but it still stands as the one that made the biggest impression on me as a kid thanks to Pedro and Sean. I still can't believe that they are both no longer with us anymore but at least they are together again somewhere.

I wasn't aware Sean had died. He and Pedro made such an impact. Their love story was beautiful. Edited December 27, 2014 by LadyNebula

[GreatKazu]

I just watched this season this weekend. I recorded the show back when MTV would air the reruns. I hadn't watched it in about five years.

 

One thing that stuck out to me that I didn't notice before or, I don't remember, was how Sean seemed just a tad bit out there with his love for Pedro. I want to use the word "controlling" only because I can't think of another way to describe it, and this feeling is due to what Pedro himself says on camera. Pedro would say to the viewers or to other people how Sean is very upset with him for wanting to return to Miami. He of course never says "after the show is done" because he can't reference the show, but you know what he is saying. Pedro mentions how much he loves his family and his life is his family, but now that Sean is in the picture, he doesn't want to lose him. There were other scenes as well, but overall I just got that "controlling" vibe from what was said and certain scenes that played out such as Pedro having a bit of an argument on the phone with Sean about going to Miami. Pedro seemed so torn and to me, that was just so sad. By the time of the engagement, my feelings were nothing but happiness as I watched how these were so deeply in love.  I was happy as a clam when they married.

 

I was deeply saddened when Sean had passed away. I felt as if all the good people really do die young and we are left with the shitheads like Puck.

Edited May 4, 2015 by GreatKazu

[Bastet]

Their relationship trajectory was so accelerated, it was automatically suspect, but then I’d sit back and realize how profoundly Pedro’s shortened lifespan changed things (and Sean's own health, too; even though he was doing well at the time, that cloud was still hanging over him).  Pedro feeling torn between Sean and his family was quite moving to watch, and I don’t think Sean was as understanding about that as he should have been, but on the other hand Sean was also young, and didn’t seem to have as close of a connection to his own family and thus probably had trouble understanding.  And I'm having trouble pulling up their scenes in my mind, but Pedro's family probably had a "who is this outsider trying to take him from us?" aspect to their reactions, so poor Pedro was just really caught in the middle between two factions who loved him, but had some trouble thinking beyond their own interests when it came to expressing their desires to have him with them. 

 

In a perfect world, Pedro would have had plenty of time to develop his relationship with Sean in San Francisco, making trips home to visit his family, and at some point down the road if they were still together they would decide where they wanted to live.  But that was never an option; Pedro knew he had little time to divide between all the things and people he valued.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Bastet

[Petunia13]

It was so fast and he died so young.

[Lantern7]

I was poking around the New York Comic Con site. I looked through the literary guest list, and I found Judd. Apparently, he'll be  coming that Friday. Also, I think his hairline receded to the point where he said "fudge it" and shaved his head.

[AndySmith]

Unpopular Opinion: while I thought this season was ok, it wasn't one of my favorites. I preferred New York 1.0, Boston, Seattle, New Orleans, and Hawaii much more.

 

Still, it's better than the Real World we have gotten since 2001 onwards, but then again, I feel that way about most of the 90s seasons.

[AndySmith]

I wasn't aware Sean had died

 

So did Pedro's friend, Alex, who was seen in a few episodes, though long before Sean, in 1997. Alex was the one who convinced Pedro to appear on The Real World.

[Asp Burger]

This was always my favorite season. I've always thought that if there had been no Real World before it or after it, it could stand alone as a very cool time capsule of what it was like to be young in the early 1990s. It had so many recognizable "types," and it got into issues at the forefront in those days. Everyone added something. You had your driven overachiever (Pam) and your "searching for direction" type (Cory), your Clintonian liberal (Judd) and your Kemp-boosting neocon (Rachel), and then you had two guys who stood in for the counterculture, one in a mellow way (Mohammed), the other very aggressively and abrasively (Puck). Then, of course, Pedro was talking very frankly about LGBT and public health issues that still in 1994 were not getting enough time on television, certainly rarely so personally.

 

I feel that a lot of people came to care about someone living with AIDS, who before that only thought the "acceptable face" was someone like Ryan White. I can tell you that Pedro had a profound effect on my mother, because Pedro was so obviously intelligent, handsome, personable, and family-loving. That's not to say that she felt anyone else "deserved" AIDS, but him being the way he was made her more open to what he had to say. Just the fact that my mother watched anything on MTV and was hooked was a big deal to me. When I think of her now, it's a nice memory for me.    

 

It used to be that most people thought New York (1.0) or San Francisco was the best season. Now this period of the series is ancient history to a whole generation. It became a very different show. I loved New York 1.0 too, but to me, SF was better because it got away from the excess of people trying to make in entertainment or the performing or visual arts and trying to use the show as a springboard. Every single person in New York was that way, and most of them in Los Angeles as well. Mo was the only performer in SF, and Judd had his cartooning, but the rest of them, not so much. Now, I think the SF cast had agendas in other ways. I'm not saying they went into it for documentary purity. But I related to this cast more, ultimately.  

 

I didn't even think Puck was all bad. It's hard to believe that at first he and Pedro actually got along pretty well. Giving him attention with television cameras, though, was like feeding one of the Gremlins after midnight. Maybe he would have ended up with his present rap sheet anyway, but fame and notoriety did that man no good at all. He was a monster by the time of the first reunion special.  

Edited April 26, 2016 by Asp Burger

[AndySmith]

I loved New York 1.0 too, but to me, SF was better because it got away from the excess of people trying to make in entertainment or the performing or visual arts and trying to use the show as a springboard

 

I have to disagree on that. New York 1.0, for me, because it was the first season, is still the most authentic and "real" out of all the seasons. The people on that first season were people who happened to be in the entertainment/performing or visual arts who were on a reality documentary show (and not all of them were, anyway). It isn't until a few seasons later that people begin to view this show as some type of springboard.

[Asp Burger]

I'd only buy "They just happened to be in the entertainment/performing arts and were on a documentary" if the cast members had been told it was only going to be shown in a classroom somewhere, or at some minor film festival, and then it got picked up by MTV later. Every one of them went into it knowing that MTV was attached, and that they would be on a highly watched cable channel rapping (Heather), dancing (Julie), singing/playing (Andre, Becky), showing their art (Norman), reading poetry (Kevin), and modeling with an eye toward Hollywood (Eric). Julie was one of the most genuine people ever to be on this show in the seasons I watched, but even she said she went into it with hopes of furthering an entertainment career. So that did knock it down a peg in my eyes, because if I pick seven young people out at random, all seven aren't going to be aspiring artists/entertainers.

Then LA was a lot of the same: stand-up comedian, country singer, R&B singer, two actresses. They did start to mix things up a bit with a couple of people who had no obvious game going (Aaron the accountant, short-staying Irene the deputy sheriff). But I really couldn't stand that season.   

Edited April 29, 2016 by Asp Burger

[Lantern7]

Bumping up for tomorrow's marathon on MTV Classic. As soon as I figure out how to change avatars, I'm going to use a sketch I got from Judd in 2002. And I'm probably going to focus on the post-Puck stuff, because I don't need to be aggravated again twenty-plus years later. I do like this joke from the finale: "What's the difference between Puck and the pool table? The pool table is still in the house."

ETA: Had trouble with the avatar size. Here's the full sketch.

[Sister Havana]

I'm watching the marathon and they just showed a scene where Pedro asks Rachel "You don't want to have kids?" and Rachel responds "I want to have kids, I just don't want to be pregnant." Eight children later, I'm pretty sure she's changed her mind on that. : )

[Lantern7]

Would that make Rachel an honorary Duggar? I know she's a few kids shy of a TLC series.

Avoiding the episodes heavy with Puck. Pam's birthday is coming up next. In retrospect, it's funny how Judd stuck her boyfriend in a closet.

ETA: Was this show so innocent where piercing a belly button would be scandalous? Also funny to see Pam talk about Christopher, her boyfriend of eight years. And I always forget how Rachel pronounced "Pedro."

[RealityCowgirl]

Watching the first few episodes again renewed my suspicion that the camera and editing crews were made up of 12-year-old boys. Too. Much. Puck.

[Lantern7]

Cable tech is here to swap boxes, so I'll be missing the birthday. I hope to see the roommate replacement process, just for Mark: Chapter Zero. And does anybody remember Jo aside from her Gauntlet 2 freakout? She didn't appear in Pedro & Me.

[Sister Havana]

I totally forgot that Cory and Puck were so close. 

[Lantern7]

One of the episode descriptions was "Cory falls under Puck's spell." That's something you hope people don't remember. I mean, she's not known for kissing Señor Scabby, so that's good. I hope she's doing well for herself, and that people don't mock her for fashion.

ETA: Holy shit, Mark looks so young. I mean, he's probably in better shape today than most of the old school, but damn. And I wonder how much grief Kris will get coming back to the office on Monday. "Were you on TV? Because I saw a girl that looked just like you!"

[AndySmith]

Oh God, in his own way, Judd was just as annoying and insufferable as Puck was.

[snarts]

I wonder if Rachel regrets her tattoo?

12 hours ago, AndySmith said:

Oh God, in his own way, Judd was just as annoying and insufferable as Puck was.

So true.  I found him completely annoying most of the time.  Pam was/is fantastic, he's lucky.  Mohammed was a cool cat, but I had completely forgot about his girlfriend being featured so much.

Teared up a few times yesterday watching.  So happy about the state of HIV/AIDS treatment today, so sad that Pedro (& Sean) didn't make it.

Once again, I kept checking Twitter to see if any of the old cast members surfaced/acknowledged the marathon, only saw Judd.  Anyone have updates on Cory, Jo, Mohammed?

[Bastet]

I'm so bummed not to get MTV Classic; I would have loved to see these early seasons again.

Quote

Mohammed was a cool cat, but I had completely forgot about his girlfriend being featured so much.

Didn't Cory inadvertently say something offensive about the girlfriend, and then burst into tears when it was pointed out to her?  (Maybe something about whether she was biracial?)  I have a vague memory of something like that.  Cory was interesting to me, such a sheltered person just starting to learn about the world beyond her bubble; she was naive, but kind-hearted.

I liked Judd a lot - he was so my type back then - but I imagine I'd find him harder to take now.  But that's what I loved about these early seasons; with the exception of the occasional cartoon character like Puck, the ways in which people were annoying were all the natural ways in which people are, in hindsight, annoying at that age as they figure themselves and the world around them out.  The show was still populated by people rather than characters.  People were genuinely annoying, not playing an annoying role.  

[BK1978]

I never saw this when it first aired but I caught a few episodes yesterday and from what I had a chance to see I enjoyed.  It is so odd watching these older seasons and seeing what the show has become.  Granted I only watch the newer seasons sporadically and while I did watch both Skeletons and Portland all the way through.  The last season prior to Portland that I watched was Brooklyn.  The show just seems more like Big Brother now and while I am  a fan of Big Brother I am not a fan of the Real World being Big Brother.

I was in high school when these first seasons aired (I feel old even admitting that) and so as someone said in a prior post this is almost the prefect time capsule into that time period.  I remember back then there was so much panic over AIDS and I think Pedro (Along with Ryan White and Magic Johnson) helped to put a human face to the disease.  I mean I knew who Pedro was at the time and I did not even watch the show back then, so it shows you how much of an impact he had. 

[MitaJo]

Quote

Didn't Cory inadvertently say something offensive about the girlfriend, and then burst into tears when it was pointed out to her?  (Maybe something about whether she was biracial?)

That's exactly what happened.

This may sound bad, but here goes: I don't really care for Pedro after rewatching this. He comes off as very condescending and self-important a lot of times. I get it that we didn't know a lot about HIV/AIDS and homosexuality, while not new, wasn't as accepted/commonplace as it is now, but watching with my 2016 eyes makes me want to fast-forward through all of his scenes. He gets mad at Rachel because she didn't come talk to him about something going on in the house. Well, your legs work too Pedro.

That being said, I do respect what he did for the cause at the time. You can say his name and people still know who he is. I'm happy that MTV is re-airing these older seasons so that people who weren't around before can hopefully watch them and see much better The Real World was and how groundbreaking it actually was in the past. Maybe MTV can take a step back and rethink how they move forward with future seasons, if there are any.

[snarts]

Quote

Didn't Cory inadvertently say something offensive about the girlfriend, and then burst into tears when it was pointed out to her?  (Maybe something about whether she was biracial?)  I have a vague memory of something like that.  Cory was interesting to me, such a sheltered person just starting to learn about the world beyond her bubble; she was naive, but kind-hearted.

Yes, she asked Stephanie if she was biracial and Stephanie asked if it was because of her light skin.  Mohammed explained to Cory that Stephanie's had to deal with that her whole life.  Cory was good-hearted but I found to be so needy & whiny.  I think that it was her voice.  At the time, I thought she & Judd should date as they both annoyed the crap out of me.  

[sunsheyen]

On 8/27/2016 at 5:24 PM, Lantern7 said:

Would that make Rachel an honorary Duggar? I know she's a few kids shy of a TLC series.

Avoiding the episodes heavy with Puck. Pam's birthday is coming up next. In retrospect, it's funny how Judd stuck her boyfriend in a closet.

ETA: Was this show so innocent where piercing a belly button would be scandalous? Also funny to see Pam talk about Christopher, her boyfriend of eight years. And I always forget how Rachel pronounced "Pedro."

My two besties and I went to Lollapalooza in summer 93 and they got their bellybuttons pierced....yes, it was a complete scandal in our little hometown and they had to hide them from their parents.

[GreatKazu]

To this day I enjoy watching Judd all over again. There was never anything about him that annoyed me. Nothing. I loved his humor.

Puck. The less I mention him the better. One of those people I could care less about and would not bat an eye if something happened to him. He was another asshole who gave me the whole DV feeling while I watched him. Sad to say, I was again correct. There is another ass who gave me the DV feeling. When his season airs, I will comment on it then.

Poor Pam hardly had any scenes. So much focus on that ass I mentioned above. I hated how MTV allowed Puck to remain part of the show and be counted in the opening credits...8 people. What was up with that whole thing? Did the producers really like him that much? Back to Pam. It would have been great to see more of her work outside the house and any of her other interests. Watching her with her then-boyfriend was not enough for me.

Jo Rhodes. Hard to watch her now after having watched her have a meltdown on the challenge show. Such a contrast.

Cory's voice was grating. My guide information read "Cory falls for Puck" for that one particular episode. I know that is wrong because it was far from falling for Puck.

A quick Google search tells me Toni Cook was (is?) an optician.

Edited August 30, 2016 by GreatKazu

[cpcathy]

Never hated Judd, still remember his, "Like a virus." Don't even know the rest of the comment, but that was perfect!

Cory, yes, so naive and insecure, the trembling voice...

Rachel, could never stand her. Not ever.

And I thought I was the only one who felt Pedro was super self important.

[Lantern7]

Like I said before, Pedro & Me is worth a read. I didn't find it the least bit exploitative. And I highly recommend Judd's Barry Ween books. I tried getting into Hilo, but I'm not the target audience for that,

[eeyore]

I didn't watch any of the Challenges - what happened to Jo?

[Lantern7]

Long story. Go here and check out the recaps to the first two episodes.

[Asp Burger]

Well, that was Puck's complaint about Pedro. He said in one episode that Pedro had gotten "swollen up" as a result of what his life had become.

I always liked Pedro, and I promise, it isn't some sentimentalizing "never speak ill of the dead" bullshit. I liked him when the episodes were new too.  He could be sanctimonious and impatient, yes, but he was still a really young person who was dealing with a lot, and doing it far from loved ones. We've seen some other people who have grown up a little and become more pleasant when they came back for Challenges and reunion shows (Kameelah of Boston, for example), and it's sad that we'll never see that with him. The way he was in 1994 was the last word on him, but there is a lot of good to focus on. He worked hard and tried to do something worthwhile and meaningful to him with the time he had,  and he was a good friend to the people who gained his trust. Also, we know now from behind-the-scenes stories (per Judd and Pam) that he was suffering a lot more than the cameras caught. Pam was helping him hide the physical ravages of his condition with makeup. Considering all of that, I was impressed he came off as well as he did.  

I think that Pam was a relatively minor player because she was working a lot, and even by "early Real World" standards she was pretty stable and no-drama. So she was destined for a supporting role. I still saw enough of her for her to be one of my favorite housemates ever. That one segment where they followed her around in the health van, and she took the homeless guy's blood pressure, was pretty cool.  (He may not have been homeless, but that's the way it is in my memory. It's been a long time.) Another of the "Pam is awesome" moments was when Puck called the house about the soapbox derby, post eviction, and tried to work his mind-games on her about the way the house had turned on him so unjustly, and she just had none of it.  "Oh, yeah, well....I was pretty disappointed in you too, Puck. Well, gotta run." Burn! 

That Jo Rhodes freakout on the Challenge was one of the hammering-home moments for me in how "old-school Bunim-Murray" was so different from "modern-day Bunim-Murray." It was apparent to me that she truly had no idea what she was getting into. You could say maybe that's on her for not keeping up with what those shows are like. But I thought it was chilling when that one younger kid (male) was talking about her and said something, with such hatred, like "What's wrong with that bitch?" The Challenge she fled was another stage in the slippery slope that led to sexual assault with toothbrush. 

Edited September 4, 2016 by Asp Burger

[GreatKazu]

Thinking back on Jo, she endured a short marriage with someone whom she implied was abusive to her. She was even shown going to court to fight her ex about his appealing the restraining order that was put on him by her. Then, her friend Steve ended up giving her a hard time as well. He thought because he helped her, she owed him. I think he wanted a relationship with her. She didn't. Perhaps Jo was dealing with anxiety or other issues pertaining to these relationships. Maybe some sort of PTSD. That may have played a major part in how or why she reacted to what happened in the Challenge.  

[Asp Burger]

I am sure. She thought, "It will be like Real World San Francisco, but just with games and prizes." The atmosphere of substance abuse, sexual harassment, hookups with wild abandon, and, frankly, the cruelty that we've seen over and over escalate into physical violence...that was nothing like what went on during her partial season, and I'm sure it dredged up some painful things. Even if she had been in the Lombard Street house during the Puck period, this would have been on a different level. There's no comparing the things LA David or Puck did to get tossed out to what has happened in the last ten years.

The producers have to share a lot of the blame, because for all their rules and clauses, they want it. Those guys who came out and talked to Hawaii Ruthie on camera during her season, about her drunken mayhem, may have been very sincere and well-meaning, but there are people like those guys as individuals and then there is "The Show" as a ratings-driven entity. They started casting for The Next Stephen (Seattle), The Next Ruthie, The Next Tonya, The Next CT, et cetera. Dysfunction sells. I'm sorry to say that when most people name the most memorable people on Real World and Road Rules, a chill med student isn't going to be able to compete with a drunken mess who tries to strangle a housemate.  We're never going to see Pam taking the blood pressure of the homeless on a "most memorable moments" montage.  

Edited September 5, 2016 by Asp Burger

[carrier76]

This is, oddly enough, my first time watching the San Francisco season and I am loving it. I also wanted to point out that Judd and Rachel were working out on a SOLOFLEX.

[Meatball]

On September 4, 2016 at 10:36 AM, Asp Burger said:

Also, we know now from behind-the-scenes stories (per Judd and Pam) that he was suffering a lot more than the cameras caught. Pam was helping him hide the physical ravages of his condition with makeup.

I never heard this, but it makes sense when you think how soon after filming it was that he passed away. And you made a great point about never getting to see him grow as we have with other cast members. He's forever the way he was in those five or six months. 

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 11:47 PM, GreatKazu said:

Puck. The less I mention him the better. One of those people I could care less about and would not bat an eye if something happened to him. He was another asshole who gave me the whole DV feeling while I watched him. Sad to say, I was again correct. There is another ass who gave me the DV feeling. When his season airs, I will comment on it then.

"DV"?

[Decider]

DV = domestic violence.

[snarts]

I was flipping channels this morning and came across Rachel on Fox News Sunday.  All I could think was 8 kids!?!  

[Lantern7]

For anybody who missed the RW3 marathon, MTV Classic will be splitting it across October 10-11.

[ljenkins782]

Quote

I think that Pam was a relatively minor player because she was working a lot, and even by "early Real World" standards she was pretty stable and no-drama. So she was destined for a supporting role. I still saw enough of her for her to be one of my favorite housemates ever. That one segment where they followed her around in the health van, and she took the homeless guy's blood pressure, was pretty cool.  (He may not have been homeless, but that's the way it is in my memory. It's been a long time.) Another of the "Pam is awesome" moments was when Puck called the house about the soapbox derby, post eviction, and tried to work his mind-games on her about the way the house had turned on him so unjustly, and she just had none of it.  "Oh, yeah, well....I was pretty disappointed in you too, Puck. Well, gotta run." Burn! 

Yeah, I thought Pam was a bit dull to watch mainly because she was so grounded, but I loved her attitude toward Puck. She never got into over-the-top drama with him, but also never allowed him to play the mind games with her that he did with Rachel and Cory. Said mind games were very difficult to watch, particularly when I rewatched this season as an adult. He was a world class gaslighter and the only way to win against people like that is not to play at all. 

Quote

I'd only buy "They just happened to be in the entertainment/performing arts and were on a documentary" if the cast members had been told it was only going to be shown in a classroom somewhere, or at some minor film festival, and then it got picked up by MTV later. Every one of them went into it knowing that MTV was attached, and that they would be on a highly watched cable channel rapping (Heather), dancing (Julie), singing/playing (Andre, Becky), showing their art (Norman), reading poetry (Kevin), and modeling with an eye toward Hollywood (Eric). Julie was one of the most genuine people ever to be on this show in the seasons I watched, but even she said she went into it with hopes of furthering an entertainment career. So that did knock it down a peg in my eyes, because if I pick seven young people out at random, all seven aren't going to be aspiring artists/entertainers.

Yeah, I think that potential for/promise of exposure was necessary to draw the first cast in, as reality TV was not a thing at the time. Now of course, it's a cheap career path to go on RW/Bachelor, etc. and then kick around the reality TV circuit, but there was no such thing then. For someone to sign off on a social experiment of that type, they had to be expecting to get something in return.

They got very lucky that the aspiring entertainers they found in that first season happened to be compelling personalities as well, something that they quickly failed at with season 2's crop. While LA has many memorable moments, the overall tenor of the season is so depressing and there is hardly anyone from that season I'd want to spend any length of time with.

It's interesting though that a springboard to an entertainment career was used as a hook, since appearing on this show has mainly hurt most fledgling careers. For every Jamie Chung (who made it in acting), there's a Jon Brennan (whose singing career never got off the ground).

Quote

Oh God, in his own way, Judd was just as annoying and insufferable as Puck was.

Ugh, Judd. He's one of those people that I WANT to like, as we share a side in a lot of issues and he doesn't seem like a bad guy...but there's something so pathetic about him at the same time. He was so sprung on Rachel and he was so not her type. His frustration that Puck was the one who caught her eye was so obvious. 

Cory and Judd are in the same boat of "hard to watch" for me, particularly with how they both related to Rachel. Like her or not, she was a strong personality and did seem to pull people in, which led to the way she only really hung with Cory or Judd if no one more exciting was available. 

Quote

Their relationship trajectory was so accelerated, it was automatically suspect, but then I’d sit back and realize how profoundly Pedro’s shortened lifespan changed things (and Sean's own health, too; even though he was doing well at the time, that cloud was still hanging over him).  Pedro feeling torn between Sean and his family was quite moving to watch, and I don’t think Sean was as understanding about that as he should have been, but on the other hand Sean was also young, and didn’t seem to have as close of a connection to his own family and thus probably had trouble understanding.  And I'm having trouble pulling up their scenes in my mind, but Pedro's family probably had a "who is this outsider trying to take him from us?" aspect to their reactions, so poor Pedro was just really caught in the middle between two factions who loved him, but had some trouble thinking beyond their own interests when it came to expressing their desires to have him with them. 

This is another theme that didn't really make an impact on me as a middle school or early high school kid (so living with my family, obviously), but as an adult, that tug of war over Pedro is so much more meaningful and sad. I can't fault either side, but poor Pedro to be stuck in the middle like that. If my brother were dying and wanted to move 3,000 miles away in his last days, I'd have a problem with that too, but same goes if it were my boyfriend/husband.

If they'd known exactly how little time was left, perhaps Sean could have found a way to go to FL with him for a bit, but that's a hard decision to make when you don't know how long you have. 

Quote

This was always my favorite season. I've always thought that if there had been no Real World before it or after it, it could stand alone as a very cool time capsule of what it was like to be young in the early 1990s. It had so many recognizable "types," and it got into issues at the forefront in those days. Everyone added something. You had your driven overachiever (Pam) and your "searching for direction" type (Cory), your Clintonian liberal (Judd) and your Kemp-boosting neocon (Rachel), and then you had two guys who stood in for the counterculture, one in a mellow way (Mohammed), the other very aggressively and abrasively (Puck). Then, of course, Pedro was talking very frankly about LGBT and public health issues that still in 1994 were not getting enough time on television, certainly rarely so personally.

Not to mention the outfits! The open flannel shirts with undershirts underneath and short shorts, Rachel's babydoll dresses and clogs, etc. And yes, the shock and awe over a bellybutton piercing is hilarious, plus Rachel's mom's horror at almost every single thing she did. This is a show that would later show someone pooping in an envelope in a moving car and then tossing it out the window, but Rachel's mom thought she was trashy for not crossing her legs properly in a photo or something. I miss the Rachel's moms of the world, I can't even imagine what the parents of some of the more recent casts must think to see their kids acting the way they do on national television.