The battle royale brewing between two a top production company and the unions of a top-five metropolitan area seems to be cooling off, and thank goodness. Had the unions not come around to the wishes of said company, we may have been deprived of a potentially the greatest pop culture moment yet in the history of our young lives. I mean, how long have we waited to see a drunk 21 year old figure out how to have sex with a Cheesesteak? Cheez Whiz is an aphrodisiac, no?
Well have no fear. John Street, the mayor of Philadelphia himself seems to have determined that keeping production of MTV’s The Real World in his fair city is a priority. So much so that he apparently hosted closed-door meetings between Bunim/Murray Productions and the cities various unions on Friday and Monday. According to the AP story (via Yahoo!), “Dozens of 20- and 30-somethings held a protest of their own in front of the ‘Real World’ house last week, carrying signs reading ‘We Want Our MTV’ and ‘Show Philly to the Real World.'”
It’s lovely to see communities accept the show now that it has devolved into an even less-“Real” version of the “World” than it even was during it’s formative years when San Francisco’s Judd voiced the now immortal words, “In the real world, you pay rent!” Back in those early days, the location of the house was always a poorly-kept secret, but at least it was intended to be a secret. Additionally, it wasn’t that long ago when the picketers outside various Real World houses were looking to disrupt the production and get them to leave! Now I have nothing against Philadelphia, I’ve only been there a few times, and maybe they’re suffering some sort of inferiority complex over being the last of the top five US cities to host the show, especially since NYC has already had it twice, but is this really the way they want to “Show Philly to the Real World”? If it’s that important to them to prove that their underage drinking laws are as lenient as everywhere else in the country, more power to them!
Out of Focus 