November 2, 2001
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
Say goodbye to the Wicker
Park cast of "The Real World." It's confirmed: They wrap filming today
and will remain in town through the weekend to meet the press on Monday,
an MTV source has confirmed.
But it looks like not all
the kids will head directly home once the interviews are over.
"There is going to be a
big blowout at the Dragon Room on the 16th that they are going to stick
around for," says an insider at the club, where cast member Theo got a
job a few weeks ago. "Then they all head home for Thanksgiving."
We're not sure how all this
will play out once MTV begins airing the Chicago installment of "The Real
World" early next year. Previous cast members have complained that their
lives are edited to peg them as certain types: the virgin, the gay guy,
the angry black man, the slacker, the slut, etc. Things should be no different
once the producers get done editing the heck out of this cast's stay in
Wicker Park.
But don't count on MTV to
show the unwelcome wagon that greeted the cast members in July when they
moved into their swanky digs. The protests and general dislike for the
Chicago Seven most likely will be cut, pronto, which is a shame. Not getting
along with your neighbors is a part of the real world.
On previous seasons, MTV
appeared anxious if there wasn't enough sexual tension between the cast
members. But they've also glossed over threesomes (remember the Miami tryst?)
in a fairly tasteful manner (for MTV--remember, this is the network that
makes a staple out of tacky, sexist Spring Break programming). I'm sure
there's no way the camera crews were allowed to film the menage a cinq
that one of the cast members enjoyed in the relative privacy of the cast's
Wicker Park digs. But I'm betting there will be plenty of footage of the
others sitting around dissecting this event.
"The Real World" isn't about
reality as much as it is a glossed-over version of what these kids' lives
could be like. By now, any cast members who complain about being used by
MTV or not knowing what would be involved need to get ahold of themselves.
The cast of the first couple of seasons couldn't have known how popular
the series would become, or that their young adult embarrassments would
be airing almost 10 years later ad nauseum on MTV and now in syndication.
But as long as there are
kids who want a taste of fame, "The Real World" will do just fine. Because
there are plenty of people out there who enjoy watching them live out their
fictionalized real lives.
Got a scoop about "The Real
World" in Wicker Park? E-mail me at realworld@suntimes.com
Read more Real World Confidential
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