RW: New Orleans (2000)

[Lantern7]

Any word on when P+ would start streaming episodes?

[Teriyaki Terror]

On 2/1/2022 at 5:49 PM, Lantern7 said:

Any word on when P+ would start streaming episodes?

 

On 2/1/2022 at 5:49 PM, Lantern7 said:

Any word on when P+ would start streaming episodes?

I found some episodes on youtube.

[Lantern7]

I meant Homecoming.

[ljenkins782]

On 2/3/2022 at 6:44 PM, Lantern7 said:

I meant Homecoming.

Before the series returns (a premiere date will be announced in the near future), the original season of The Real World: New Orleans will be available to stream on Paramount+ beginning in April. The Mardi Gras celebrations, the job at the TV station, the vacation to South Africa and so much more!

No date yet but the original season will be streaming on Paramount + in April, so I’m guessing May-ish for the homecoming season. 

[Wildcard]

https://ew.com/tv/real-world-homecoming-new-orleans-trailer/

[Yogisbooboo64]

Awwww shit, cain't wait to see this!

 

[Hiyo]

It's not showing in my country, is there anywhere else we can see the trailer?

[Lantern7]

I can't bring myself to watch. How brutal is the trailer?

[Asp Burger]

4 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I can't bring myself to watch. How brutal is the trailer?

Depends on how you feel about Julie! 

[Lantern7]

4 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

Depends on how you feel about Julie! 

She’s still cringe, isn’t she?

[Asp Burger]

12 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

She’s still cringe, isn’t she?

It might be excessive/misleading editing focusing only on the worst moments, but she's cringe in a whole new way. It appears she's entered a "Paula from Key West" phase. 

[Lantern7]

On 4/1/2022 at 8:15 AM, Asp Burger said:

It might be excessive/misleading editing focusing only on the worst moments, but she's cringe in a whole new way. It appears she's entered a "Paula from Key West" phase. 

. . . .Julie Walnuts?

I read a description of the trailer. David calls himself "Tokyo"? Okay, what-the-hell-ever. As for Melissa . . . I'm really hoping she gets paid for this. She was my favorite of that bunch, I felt for her during Battle Of The Sexes, and my fear (or a word not nearly as strong) is that she's not going to look good on this.

I found out she co-hosts a podcast. I'm probably not in the target demographic, but I should get used to her voice again. Julie? Well, I still got memories of her times on The Challenge, and I recapped three seasons. Well . . . four, actually, if you count Battle Of The Sexes. Is it wrong that I'm smiling remembering her going out in the first episode?

Edited April 10, 2022 by Lantern7

[luckyroll3]

How can I adequately prep for this reunion if I can't rewatch the original???? Giving Paramount/MTV the biggest side-eye right now. 

[Hiyo]

This channel has most of the episodes, sadly episodes 1, 6, 9, and 20 to 23 are missing...it used to have all the episodes, not sure why some are gone so get them while you can...

 

[Lantern7]

47 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

How can I adequately prep for this reunion if I can't rewatch the original???? Giving Paramount/MTV the biggest side-eye right now. 

I heard P+ is putting that season up on April 13.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Lantern7

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

I heard P+ is putting that season up on April 13.

So they apparently do have the rights to put this season up, I'm so curious to know why, along with so many other seasons, can't just be up there all the time. It's a paid subscription service, not just a free thing like Youtube, and they have so many other seasons up. I'm assuming it has something to do with music rights, perhaps the rights were negotiated in a different way for the later season since syndication/streaming, etc was already a known entity in a way that it wasn't earlier on? 

[luckyroll3]

4 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I heard P+ is putting that season up on April 13.

Interesting. But still annoying. I also wonder why all the seasons aren't just streaming. What's the point of all these damn streaming services?!? At the very least, the episodes should have been made available as soon as they dropped the trailer for the upcoming season. Bad planning on their part. 

[choclatechip45]

17 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

So they apparently do have the rights to put this season up, I'm so curious to know why, along with so many other seasons, can't just be up there all the time. It's a paid subscription service, not just a free thing like Youtube, and they have so many other seasons up. I'm assuming it has something to do with music rights, perhaps the rights were negotiated in a different way for the later season since syndication/streaming, etc was already a known entity in a way that it wasn't earlier on? 

I think the problem is the type of music they used. Hawaii for example used some Beatles songs (Amaya mentioned this on twitter). If they were using $$ music might be harder to pony up for those songs. In later seasons they were using a bunch of unknown artists. I remember during the Inferno they played Crazy in Love by Beyonce. 

[Asp Burger]

The cast members in 2022 talk about their favorite memories of the 2000 show.

Danny talks about his first glimpse of the Belfort and says "We're gonna be living in Tara" and they've captioned it as "We're gonna be living in terror."

 

[Bastet]

Oh boy, Julie is going to be insufferable.

[Black Knight]

That was something I took for granted.

Did David not have a favorite memory? Julie got to go twice. (Of course.) Julie and Melissa always got the most interview time on the original show and I expect it to be the same here. I remember someone in the cast talking about how on interview days, the producers would have pages of questions for Melissa and Julie and only a few questions for the others.

[Asp Burger]

Melissa dominated the first half of that season, and Julie the second half. Danny was probably the third most featured, because he had the topical storyline with the military boyfriend in the DADT era, as well as stories about his temptation to cheat. David was in and out. He would barely be in some episodes, but when he did get screen time, you remembered it. Jamie, Matt, and Kelley mostly played sidekick roles (Jamie/Melissa, Matt/Julie, Kelley/Danny).

Matt's apparent lack of interest in being Julie's crush object was the quality I liked best about him.

[Asp Burger]

I watched Melissa's interview with podcaster Mike Lewis on YouTube, in promotion of the Homecoming. Lewis actually looks like someone who might have been on Road Rules back in the day. Like a cross between Northern Trail Dan and Maximum Velocity James.

She was describing the process of auditioning for Real World in 1999, and she had to use the terms "camcorder" and "VHS tape." She asked him if he knew what those were. He said he did, but unconvincingly, like he had never touched and wouldn't be able to picture those things. It was an "old" moment for Melissa and for me. I don't know how old Mike Lewis is, but I'd guess he was about four when she was on the show.

Lewis said that the New Orleans season was the point when The Real World became "mainstream," which I don't think is true. San Francisco got a lot of mainstream media attention, and it was thoroughly zeitgeist-y by Seattle and Hawaii. I loved the New Orleans season, personally, but I remember a lot of the commentary at the time being that it seemed low-key (some said "dull") after all the nudity, backstabbing, and alcoholic drama of Hawaii. It aged well, though. People had more affection for the New Orleans cast. Even David, the closest thing there was to a heel, was a funny, entertaining heel.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Asp Burger

[seltzer3]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:19 AM, Asp Burger said:

Melissa dominated the first half of that season, and Julie the second half. Danny was probably the third most featured, because he had the topical storyline with the military boyfriend in the DADT era, as well as stories about his temptation to cheat. David was in and out. He would barely be in some episodes, but when he did get screen time, you remembered it. Jamie, Matt, and Kelley mostly played sidekick roles (Jamie/Melissa, Matt/Julie, Kelley/Danny).

Matt's apparent lack of interest in being Julie's crush object was the quality I liked best about him.

Julie's crush on Matt was a bit uncomfortable.  I watched the extra episode (the hilarious one with Melissa imitating her parents etc.), but Julie really pushed boundaries.  Like touching Matt when he was surfing on the computer, when it definitely didn't look like Matt was really comfortable her doing it, or when Matt was sleeping.  I feel like if this was happening with a guy doing to to a girl, this would not go over well. 

[Bastet]

On 4/9/2022 at 7:49 PM, Asp Burger said:

Lewis said that the New Orleans season was the point when The Real World became "mainstream," which I don't think is true.

Indeed, it's not.  SNL did it's first RW parody in 1993, during the Los Angeles season.  As for season three, no less than the President of the United States commented on Pedro's time on RW, saying at one point, "Now no one in America can say they’ve never known someone living with AIDS.”  Reality Bites came out that year of SF.  The next year, in 1995, Beverly Hills, 90210 did a parody episode, in which the characters film a RW knockoff.  There was another SNL parody in 1996.  She's All That, released in 1999, included a character said to be a former RW cast member.  There was a recurring RW segment on a Muppets sketch show around that same time. The show had been discussed, dissected, and duplicated plenty by the time this NO season premiered in 2000.

[ljenkins782]

On 4/7/2022 at 2:40 PM, Bastet said:

Oh boy, Julie is going to be insufferable.

I'd put her irritating speech patterns out of my mind, but in one short clip, it all came rushing back. Why does everything have to sound like an announcement when she's talking to the cameras? She doesn't appear to have changed, personality-wise, but the wide-eyed ingenue angle that they laid over it in her original season will be gone.

Quote

Indeed, it's not.  SNL did it's first RW parody in 1993, during the Los Angeles season.  As for season three, no less than the President of the United States commented on Pedro's time on RW, saying at one point, "Now no one in America can say they’ve never known someone living with AIDS.”  Reality Bites came out that year of SF.  The next year, in 1995, Beverly Hills, 90210 did a parody episode, in which the characters film a RW knockoff.  There was another SNL parody in 1996.  She's All That, released in 1999, included a character said to be a former RW cast member.  There was a recurring RW segment on a Muppets sketch show around that same time. The show had been discussed, dissected, and duplicated plenty by the time this NO season premiered in 2000.

If anything, NO was the beginning of the end of the original RW, it was one of the last seasons that were recognizable as the original experiment.

Also, I remember Chicago (2 seasons after NO) airing at the same time that American Idol hit the airwaves and it made RW look like a has-been, media-wise. Like, Cara was an aspiring singer/actor (and Lori from B2NY was a singer too) who I think in some ways hoped the RW might open a door or two, but by the time her season aired, the buzz was all around the newer shows. 

[Hiyo]

Quote

If anything, NO was the beginning of the end of the original RW, it was one of the last seasons that were recognizable as the original experiment.

Kind of. I'd say London, maybe, since that was the last season with no group job.

[ljenkins782]

3 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Kind of. I'd say London, maybe, since that was the last season with no group job.

I know what you mean, but I think they tweaked the format continuously in the first few seasons, from casting nearly all locals in the first season to eventually no locals when they realized that people with roots in the city would just disappear when house conflicts arose. Same with taking out TVs when it became apparent that some people would simply zone out for hours on end instead of trying to find something to do. Their casting process and aims for the show stayed consistent in the beginning, they just changed up strategies for getting usable footage.

The NO season was still firmly in the era where you could reasonably expect to see people who could hold a conversation and go five minutes without a drink, but that started to slip away just a few seasons later. 

[Black Knight]

For me, Las Vegas was when the Rubicon was crossed.

I can understand the thought about NO being when the series became mainstream. It depends on what is meant by mainstream. If it's defined in terms of SNL references and such, absolutely it happened earlier. But the earlier seasons were still each fresh and breaking new ground in their ways. NO was a season where the patterns had been established, and was, again, before what RW ended up turning into. I would argue that the time of the SNL references and politicians commenting on the San Francisco season were when the show was new/newer, and hot/edgy in that way. By NO, the show was still hot, as in being popular, but it was also familiar. Well-worn tracks. It was just comfortable.

[Asp Burger]

35 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

For me, Las Vegas was when the Rubicon was crossed.

Same. That's when it stopped being something I wanted to watch. I dipped in and out of the next few seasons after Vegas and finally accepted that this was the new normal.   

I can understand the thought about NO being when the series became mainstream. It depends on what is meant by mainstream. If it's defined in terms of SNL references and such, absolutely it happened earlier. But the earlier seasons were still each fresh and breaking new ground in their ways. NO was a season where the patterns had been established, and was, again, before what RW ended up turning into. I would argue that the time of the SNL references and politicians commenting on the San Francisco season were when the show was new/newer, and hot/edgy in that way. By NO, the show was still hot, as in being popular, but it was also familiar. Well-worn tracks. It was just comfortable.

He didn't seem to mean it critically, but rather that New Orleans was a new plateau in popularity and awareness, and that people who didn't habitually watch MTV were familiar with it. Like, from 1992-99 it had been a cult show, and then it turned into something else. I don't think so. New Orleans was "late prime." 

[Hiyo]

Quote

For me, Las Vegas was when the Rubicon was crossed.

Same here, and the season I stopped watching for good (I was already somewhat checked out during Chicago and was watching it on and off).

[choclatechip45]

On 4/9/2022 at 10:49 PM, Asp Burger said:

I watched Melissa's interview with podcaster Mike Lewis on YouTube, in promotion of the Homecoming. Lewis actually looks like someone who might have been on Road Rules back in the day. Like a cross between Northern Trail Dan and Maximum Velocity James.

She was describing the process of auditioning for Real World in 1999, and she had to use the terms "camcorder" and "VHS tape." She asked him if he knew what those were. He said he did, but unconvincingly, like he had never touched and wouldn't be able to picture those things. It was an "old" moment for Melissa and for me. I don't know how old Mike Lewis is, but I'd guess he was about four when she was on the show.

Lewis said that the New Orleans season was the point when The Real World became "mainstream," which I don't think is true. San Francisco got a lot of mainstream media attention, and it was thoroughly zeitgeist-y by Seattle and Hawaii. I loved the New Orleans season, personally, but I remember a lot of the commentary at the time being that it seemed low-key (some said "dull") after all the nudity, backstabbing, and alcoholic drama of Hawaii. It aged well, though. People had more affection for the New Orleans cast. Even David, the closest thing there was to a heel, was a funny, entertaining heel.

Mike Lewis doesn't really know his Real World history which is why his interviews bother me. He thought the Wes commercial that is on YouTube was a national commercial not a promo for the show. I think he started watching in the middle of Austin.

New Orleans was the last season filmed before Survivor premiered. I think they were also the first and maybe only cast to be on the TV Guide cover. 

[seltzer3]

Finished watching the season.  I don't know how I forgot about this, but the show that David and his group of harem model women cracked me up.  The ridiculousness of David strutting by himself shirtless.  Matt and Kelly deadpan commentary.  One of the models tripping on the runway and Melissa busting up laughing.  Hilarious.  Absolute gold.

Also, the extra episode of the RWNO you never saw was awesome.  I remember Melissa imitating her parents.  But completely forgot about Latterian and David doing their tug of war, and farting the entire time.

[snarts]

Re-watched the season. Surprised by my reaction to the housemates after 20+ years,

Sadly,  I found Melissa (who I originally adored) to be overdramatic & exhausting. Yes, she could be funny, but she was also quite draining to watch.  Another turn, I liked Jamie much more this go around. What I initially saw as arrogance I now see more as assuredness/worldliness. He really knew who he was and stayed out of the drama.

Julie is still obnoxious and Matt, who I really didn't think too much of, annoyed me this go around. So smarmy, almost preachy, especially his commentary on his future wife. He really thought he was the shit. Really curious how he turned out.

Kelley/Danny, enjoyed both on re-watch, much like I did initially.

David, oh David. Woo woo. I understood him a bit more this time. Really just thought he was a selfish asshole but life experience now allows me to see how wounded he was. He's the one I'm most interested to hear about. 

[Black Knight]

7 hours ago, snarts said:

David, oh David. Woo woo. I understood him a bit more this time. Really just thought he was a selfish asshole but life experience now allows me to see how wounded he was. He's the one I'm most interested to hear about. 

I've been reading interviews and articles about RW lately (gee, wonder what sent me down that rabbit hole? LOL), and in the comments section for one from 2019, someone who purports to have worked with him said that he joined the company going by the name of Tokyo. That relieved me since it indicates that this isn't just a persona he's created for the reunion show, but who he's been for at least a few years now. He was also still flirtatious. I don't remember much else from the comment, nothing terrible or particularly interesting was said about him.

[Asp Burger]

9 hours ago, snarts said:

Sadly,  I found Melissa (who I originally adored) to be overdramatic & exhausting. Yes, she could be funny, but she was also quite draining to watch. 

I was following reaction to this season on MBTV (pre-TWoP) at the time, and there were a lot of people who couldn't stand her in the first half, when so many episodes were about Melissa, featuring a steady stream of Melissa interviews/confessionals.

She wasn't as center-stage in the second half, and that's when people warmed up to her more. But maybe at that point they/we were sick of Julie.  

Of course, Melissa had started posting at TWoP shortly before the midpoint of the season, but that didn't keep people from criticizing if they felt she had it coming. I remember people going after her for imitating the way Asian people speak English (shown in the same episode with the swamp tour), and she said she had learned now not to do that.

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, snarts said:

Sadly,  I found Melissa (who I originally adored) to be overdramatic & exhausting. Yes, she could be funny, but she was also quite draining to watch.

When I re-watched this last year, I was struck by how painful Melissa's insecurities were to watch.  I had only remembered the fantastic humor she used to cope with it.

[ljenkins782]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:26 AM, snarts said:

Re-watched the season. Surprised by my reaction to the housemates after 20+ years,

Sadly,  I found Melissa (who I originally adored) to be overdramatic & exhausting. Yes, she could be funny, but she was also quite draining to watch.  Another turn, I liked Jamie much more this go around. What I initially saw as arrogance I now see more as assuredness/worldliness. He really knew who he was and stayed out of the drama.

Julie is still obnoxious and Matt, who I really didn't think too much of, annoyed me this go around. So smarmy, almost preachy, especially his commentary on his future wife. He really thought he was the shit. Really curious how he turned out.

Kelley/Danny, enjoyed both on re-watch, much like I did initially.

David, oh David. Woo woo. I understood him a bit more this time. Really just thought he was a selfish asshole but life experience now allows me to see how wounded he was. He's the one I'm most interested to hear about. 

Melissa was definitely a lot back then. I read in one of those interviews with her that she chose not to revisit her season before the homecoming and that was probably a wise choice. I expect her to be among the most changed and the previews suggest that Julie will be the least changed (in terms of basic personality and irritating-ness, the drunkenness is certainly new). I remember finding her over the top in her need for attention and the constant self-examination, but I do think the show was actually good for her from the standpoint of taking her out of her family environment and making her look differently at her options in life.

Jamie still strikes me as arrogant and a lot of his attitudes haven't aged well. His attitudes toward women, race, and homosexuality weren't the most enlightened (let's not forget his knee jerk response to Kameelah deliberately pushing his buttons during casting when he called her Shakazulu). I watched the episode with the "love triangle" between Jamie/Melissa/Kelley and it was plain uncomfortable. Kelley was all "if I wanted him, I'd have him" in her confessionals while telling Melissa she thought he was into her (Melissa) and Jamie lapping up all the attention, but also kind of treating Melissa like some kind of mascot. The whole thing was icky.

Matt didn't bother me, he never came across like he was trying to force his views on anyone. People with strong religious beliefs can't win on reality tv, their mere existence seems to make people think they're judging everyone. Matt's friendship with David despite their obvious differences in lifestyle suggested that he was okay being himself and letting others be themselves. Also, he had the good sense to not be into Julie, lol. 

David is just as difficult to watch as I remembered. I thought the first episode was interesting, he seemed like a funny guy (his reaction to Jamie saying he was also from Chicago but a different neighborhood was genuinely funny). But later in the season, he went so far out of his way to be obstinate and difficult to everyone. It was all a front for whatever was going on with him, but it's painful to watch. 

[Black Knight]

29 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

Jamie still strikes me as arrogant and a lot of his attitudes haven't aged well. His attitudes toward women, race, and homosexuality weren't the most enlightened (let's not forget his knee jerk response to Kameelah deliberately pushing his buttons during casting when he called her Shakazulu).

One of the annoying things about that was B/M saying that moment is what got him cast, because he'd been bombing in the interviews up to then. In hindsight, they should have stuck with their original instincts. He was just so forgettable.

29 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

Matt didn't bother me, he never came across like he was trying to force his views on anyone. People with strong religious beliefs can't win on reality tv, their mere existence seems to make people think they're judging everyone. Matt's friendship with David despite their obvious differences in lifestyle suggested that he was okay being himself and letting others be themselves.

Going into the show, from the casting special, it's pretty clear that B/M hoped they were getting someone religious and open-minded in Matt who would be a type of person who hadn't really been seen before. The kind of Christian who believes there are multiple spiritual pathways up the mountain and other people don't have to be a specific type of Christian, or even Christian at all, to avoid hell. But Matt didn't really show himself to be that; he was a lot closer to Julie (only Julie was at least willing to go outside of her comfort zone and try to learn), so she got the airtime while Matt faded into the background as largely redundant. I agree he didn't come across in interactions with the others like he was trying to force anything, but he was one for being really judgmental in his confessionals instead, which Melissa called him out on after seeing the season. Matt mentioned after the season that after some time in the house, Danny had come to him very upset about Matt's views on Danny being gay. They talked and worked things out enough that they could get through the season, as Matt thought homosexuality was morally wrong but wasn't in favor of shunning or persecuting gay people for being gay, either, which especially back then still made for better than a lot of people. Matt also said Julie's reasons (like the "I don't see any examples in nature") for being against homosexuality were weak, but clearly felt he himself had stronger reasons. The show, of course, only showed Julie's conversation with Danny about it and not Matt's, even though the Matt/Danny conversation probably would have been the more interesting one to watch. But I seem to recall Julie softened her position a lot (including making an eye-rolling Big Deal out of sleeping in Danny's bed one night as proof of her acceptance or something), so maybe that's why.

[choclatechip45]

I am about halfway through rewatching the season. The episode with Melissa going to therapy confused me. I still can't figure out what her hair was a keyword for. The whole episode is edited very strange. I even looked up the TWOP recap to see if I am missing something and the recapper seems just as confused as I was watching it! 

Melissa is one of my favorite real worlders, but yes a lot of cringe moments which she has acknowledged in her interviews that she has been doing to promote Homecoming. 

Kelley/Jamie are both very boring. I thought the way Jamie handled the N word on the boat was awful. 

I don't hate Matt like I did on The Gauntlet.  I listened to an interview Danny did during the pandemic and he did not like Matt and I can see why. Danny mentioned in those interviews that Matt did not grow up religious which I thought was interesting. The guestbook had me laughing.  I am probably most interested seeing Matt on Homecoming to see if any of his view changed.

I don't hate Julie like I did on The Challenge. I find her storyline interesting. She is already grating on me though in her podcast interviews to promote homecoming.

I think David would be very frustrating to live with. 

I love Danny, but I find him kind of mean when he was around Kelley which I don't really remember. 

Also the mardi gras episode is my favorite Real World episode ever and Melissa's confessional is the best one in the history of the show.

I wish I could watch the preview episode. I didn't watch this season when it aired. The first time I watched it was before RW San Diego. 

Speaking of casting it's hilarious that both Danny and Melissa were asked to be on Road Rules and both said no and were then put on The Real World.

Edited April 20, 2022 by choclatechip45

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, choclatechip45 said:

Kelley/Jamie are both very boring.

I think Kelley could have been more interesting, but she got caught up with Peter and started evading the cameras. I respected her not wanting to put her new relationship on camera, but it did make for boring viewing. I enjoyed her on the Challenge where none of that was a concern. I still remember the moment from the first NO episode where she made a joke that had even the camera crew cracking up.

1 hour ago, choclatechip45 said:

Danny mentioned in those interviews that Matt did not grow up religious which I thought was interesting.

Late-comers/converts are sometimes more rigid than those who grew up in it. It's probably why Julie was more open than Matt. In the end Matt came off as someone who was rigid and fundie but didn't want to look it.

The website joke Julie played on him was mean, but at the same time it was funny listening to him whine about how she made him look like a fool in front of a girl he likes, not realizing he would have looked like a fool to her in any case when she watched the episode and heard him talking about how he "dropped his dubs" on her. Do we get to see spouses on these Homecoming shows? I'm more curious who married Matt than I am about Matt himself. Just the fact he's still trying to work the same hair is enough for me.

[choclatechip45]

4 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I think Kelley could have been more interesting, but she got caught up with Peter and started evading the cameras. I respected her not wanting to put her new relationship on camera, but it did make for boring viewing. I enjoyed her on the Challenge where none of that was a concern. I still remember the moment from the first NO episode where she made a joke that had even the camera crew cracking up.

Late-comers/converts are sometimes more rigid than those who grew up in it. It's probably why Julie was more open than Matt. In the end Matt came off as someone who was rigid and fundie but didn't want to look it.

The website joke Julie played on him was mean, but at the same time it was funny listening to him whine about how she made him look like a fool in front of a girl he likes, not realizing he would have looked like a fool to her in any case when she watched the episode and heard him talking about how he "dropped his dubs" on her. Do we get to see spouses on these Homecoming shows? I'm more curious who married Matt than I am about Matt himself. Just the fact he's still trying to work the same hair is enough for me.

I wonder what Dr. Peter is up to these days. Didn't she sleep over his house constantly?

Sometimes we get photos of the spouses! I did Melissa posted a photo of her husband, herself and Matt which I felt like had to be at the end of filming. 

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, choclatechip45 said:

I wonder what Dr. Peter is up to these days. Didn't she sleep over his house constantly?

I'm not sure. I read an interview with Kelley post-NO where she said she slept in the same bed as Danny every night. (I feel like back then I read more interviews and blogs for/by this particular cast than any other, and it's all coming back to me now.) Now that wasn't quite accurate, as Julie shared a bed with Danny one night and Kelley brought Peter home on the night of Mardi Gras (which led to Melissa's legendary confessional about Danny, who didn't know where to sleep because Kelley and Peter were already in the bed). But she certainly did spend the bulk of her time with Peter once she got with him. I wonder if he dines out on "I dated Scott Wolf's wife." Wolf is far from A-list but certainly well-known to their/my generation. (The fact he's now playing Nancy Drew's father makes me feel so old, though he seems an excellent choice.)

I'd like to see Melissa's husband on the show too. And I guess Julie's, but honestly I have low expectations. I bet she married someone boring who balances her out by not reacting to her dramatics. I wonder if she's going to tell her 9/11 story on the show.

[snarts]

9 hours ago, choclatechip45 said:

I am about halfway through rewatching the season. The episode with Melissa going to therapy confused me. I still can't figure out what her hair was a keyword for. The whole episode is edited very strange. I even looked up the TWOP recap to see if I am missing something and the recapper seems just as confused as I was watching it! 

Thank you for mentioning the editing. While I realized the show has always tried to create storylines over more linear documentary style editing, this season was really the worst. I feel like they took so many creative liberties with the actual timeline of events that it made trying to follow individual conversations difficult. Not to mention the continual "creative" cutaways to shots of skateboarding, New Orleans scenery, etc.

[choclatechip45]

8 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I'm not sure. I read an interview with Kelley post-NO where she said she slept in the same bed as Danny every night. (I feel like back then I read more interviews and blogs for/by this particular cast than any other, and it's all coming back to me now.) Now that wasn't quite accurate, as Julie shared a bed with Danny one night and Kelley brought Peter home on the night of Mardi Gras (which led to Melissa's legendary confessional about Danny, who didn't know where to sleep because Kelley and Peter were already in the bed). But she certainly did spend the bulk of her time with Peter once she got with him. I wonder if he dines out on "I dated Scott Wolf's wife." Wolf is far from A-list but certainly well-known to their/my generation. (The fact he's now playing Nancy Drew's father makes me feel so old, though he seems an excellent choice.)

I'd like to see Melissa's husband on the show too. And I guess Julie's, but honestly I have low expectations. I bet she married someone boring who balances her out by not reacting to her dramatics. I wonder if she's going to tell her 9/11 story on the show.

Julie's husband is a doctor. It's funny both Melissa and Kelley both married entertainers. 

 

3 hours ago, snarts said:

Thank you for mentioning the editing. While I realized the show has always tried to create storylines over more linear documentary style editing, this season was really the worst. I feel like they took so many creative liberties with the actual timeline of events that it made trying to follow individual conversations difficult. Not to mention the continual "creative" cutaways to shots of skateboarding, New Orleans scenery, etc.

No problem. Maybe its more noticeable with Melissa's haircut, but it does feel more noticeable this season.

[Asp Burger]

I thought the manipulative placement of scenes from different parts of the cast's time was worse in Hawaii than in New Orleans. But it was a lot of the same patented B/M stuff: changes in hairstyles like Justin's brown/blond 'dos giving away that something didn't fit the timeline, or another segment of an already-used scene we recognized (Colin and Amaya sitting on the wall talking about their stupid relationship) coming back later. I think they just got more brazen with it through the years. 

Kim of TWoP did an interview with someone in B/M production once, and he said sometimes they might not have the exact footage of something they want for story purposes, so they use something else they have to "represent" that.   

I'm watching episode 1 of the original New Orleans season on P+. I think it's another case of the expensive pop songs being pulled out and replaced by an instrumental underscore. But I have to say, it's a pretty good job as far as that goes. It has Bayou funk and Dixieland jazz rhythms and instrumentation, so it fits. If this is the only obstacle to the other missing seasons (5-8 and 10-11), they should just pull the songs. I miss the period music, but having them this way is better than nothing.  

Edit: It's so nice to have the closing-credits scenes! Those always were cut out in marathons, which is how the series usually played once an episode had had its week of being new. So I haven't seen some of them in a long time.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Asp Burger

[Asp Burger]

Right now I'm watching the one in which Jamie tries to produce a show about New Orleans music. He leaves everything to the last minute, and no one is prepared or knows anything about the guests, so it's a disaster. I know more about music now than I knew in 2000, so it's worse watching it today. They had Alvin Batiste as one of the guests! That was a big get from the New Orleans music world. It sucks that his time was wasted (Matt clearly hasn't read the first thing about him before trying to conduct the interview), and that's all on Jamie. He threw everyone into the deep end. 

Batiste died just several years after this. 

[Black Knight]

Melissa kind of showed her immaturity at the time after that by claiming on her blog that Elton was just an actor. I assume she has a more nuanced perspective now, like obviously Elton brokered a deal with MTV where they paid the (no-doubt-underfunded) channel to give the cast a show, but he really did work there and really is a legitimate community figure.

I haven't rewatched the season on Paramount+ but I did watch a couple of compilations on Youtube the last couple of days, and I was reminded of one of my favorite Kelley moments: She's walking with Julie and Melissa when they start having that big fight on the street, and she just gets the hell out of there and leaves them to their drama. Smart woman.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Asp Burger said:

Right now I'm watching the one in which Jamie tries to produce a show about New Orleans music. He leaves everything to the last minute, and no one is prepared or knows anything about the guests, so it's a disaster.

I was glad to read in the Homecoming thread there's a recent interview in which Jamie says he was hoping Elton would make an appearance, since he wants to apologize for his lazy-ass crap performance as producer.

[Asp Burger]

On rewatch, I think I like Julie's brother Alan more than Julie. He's funny sometimes. There's a scene in his first visit in which Julie wants to get her palm read. Alan thinks palmistry is evil occult business that he wants no part of, so he won't do it with her. He says, "You can have all the hell and damnation yourself." But then when she's actually getting her palm read, he's watching with this hilarious look on his face, like he's completely fascinated by it, looking back and forth between Julie and the palm reader. 

But if he had been cast instead of Julie, he and Matt really would have been a lot of the same thing in one place.