MTV’s “Real World: Denver” introduced the country to seven beautiful strangers Wednesday night with the sort of hyperventilating drama that has characterized the popular show and attracted a loyal audience.
It also offered the nation a view of Denver from a reality show’s perspective.
“The Real World” kicked off its 18th season with three consecutive showings of the hour-long premiere. The reality show uses the same basic premise for each series: Seven strangers – diverse in gender, ethnicity, race and sexual orientation – live in a house together in a new city. The Denver version was filmed this past summer.
While “Real World” is billed as a reality show, viewers saw little of the real Denver in the premiere. Most of the shots outside the house at 1920 Market St. were of the 16th Street Mall and the patios of downtown bars. Segues between segments featured Coors Field and snow- splashed mountains.
MTV’s vision of Colorado is most obvious in the house decorations. The walls featured deer heads and elk lamps, and the house bar was an off-road Jeep truck. MTV basically stuck to a clichéd view of Colorado: outdoorsy, adventurous and low- key.
Most of the first episode focused on the interpersonal drama.
As usual, MTV cast the housemates to fit certain stereotypes. The seven strangers include Tyrie, a 23-year-old ex-football player; Jenn, 22, a former cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders; Alex, 21, a former swimmer; Colie, 22, former president of her sorority at Tulane University in New Orleans; Brooke, 24, the Southern belle; Davis, 22, a gay Baptist; and Stephen, 22, a Baptist and a Republican who attended Howard University in Washington.
For the first episode, two key story lines dominated: a conflict between Davis and Stephen over Davis’ homosexuality, and Alex hooking up with both Colie and Jenn.
Davis came out of the closet to his roommates – including his conservative, anti-gay roommate Stephen – at the 15th Street Tavern. Stephen told Davis he thought “it’s wrong that you’re gay,” to which Davis replied: “What if I said I thought it was wrong you were black?”
But the latter, sexier conflict seems more likely to dominate the season. Colie confessed to her roommates that she found Alex attractive, and she made out with him the first night.
The following night, after the roommates went out and drank, Colie told Alex she wanted to have another “sleepover,” but the episode closed as Alex slept with Jenn instead.
Oops.
For all the initial drama, the trailers offered a tease of even more: Tyrie arguing with Davis, Colie crying after she hears about what happened between Alex and Jenn, and roommates arguing with Stephen over his conservative views.
In other words, exactly what the audience expects.
Scott Lieber is a former Denver Post intern who covered “The Real World” filming in Denver over the summer. He can be reached at smlieber@syr.ed.
