The Real World San Fransisco (1994)
The cast was diverse without the help of MTV. These days it seems like they have a quota to fill when casting the show (I can imagine the producers looking at the audition tapes thinking "we need one annoying White Guy, one party girl, one innocent virgin..."). The San Fransisco cast included sweet and naive Cory, the Vegan Jo, Republican Rachel, and hard-working medical student Pam. There was also the guitarist Muhammad and artist Judd. Pedro is probably the most memorable cast member of this season, as he brought a lot of attention to AIDs awareness, and was even honored by President Clinton. Pedro passed away shortly after this season aired, and Judd went on to write a graphic novel about his friendship with Pedro 2000 (right before marrying Pam, of course). Then, of course, there was Puck, who got kicked out of the house. Puck, a crazy bike messenger, is probably my favorite real world character to date. I even named my car after him. These cast members all had outside jobs and had to support themselves. They lived in a regular house, with no pool or top notch decorations. They didn't party every single day, and MTV didn't provide them with vacations usually reserved for millionaires. Aside from having 6 roommates, I was convinced real life was like this.
I did spend a school year living in a college house with 3 friends, and while we did have some Real World moments, we spent most of our time eating microwave dinners in our pajamas and doing homework (not something anyone would tune in weekly to watch). I still have hope that some aspect of my life will turn out to be as interesting as young Patsy thought the Real World was.
And remember, it's time to stop being polite, and start getting real.
-Patsy