"...When people stop being polite, and....."

I started the 5th, most recent of Jen Lancaster's books this past weekend. I have to say that her dedication of this book to Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray has probably made me laugh harder than anything I've actually read in the text of the book thus far. If you don't know who those two people are (without Googling them), then you don't get to - nor deserve to - laugh at that reference. Those two names were synonymous with the classic reality television that created the monster that is here today. I never watch reality t.v. (ok, I do watch Ghost Adventures and Cooking Channel....does that count?), and maybe my disdain for what is out there now stems from the fact that it doesn't get any better than the original Real World: New York. I'm a purist in many ways. I much prefer This Side of Paradise to any of Fitzgerald's other works; Bottle Rocket is BY FAR Wes Anderson's best film (with Fantastic Mr. Fox running a close second); and, who could argue with me that anything of Quentin Tarantino's is better than his epic debut, Reservoir Dogs? When you get it right the first time, it's just really hard to up-the-ante in any/all later attempts (unless you are Coldplay). 

Gouda!!! And, is that a cellphone that Eric is holding?
My, how time flies...

The Real World: New York set the bar, and everything thereafter fell short. But, you know, even though it got worse with each new passing season, I would still find myself watching. Just a little bit here and there, now-and-again. I think I was waiting to finally see a season that matched the wonder of initially tracking the daily goings-on of that first fabulous cast. Kind of like how I pretty much knew what each subsequent season of Newlyweds was going to be like, based on the first show, yet I still bought all 3 full seasons on dvd anyway (after watching them all on MTV to begin with). And then.....I watched the dvds that I'd bought after I already saw them on t.v. Could. Not. Stop. Watching. 

But, that is where I draw the line. No American Idol for me, thank you very much. Who gives a crap about Kendra, I have no idea who Snooki is, and who is really keeping up with the Kardashian's anyway? Not me. But, were they to replay every episode of that first RW (or the 10-year's-after season, Back to New York), you bet I'd be watching. In fact, it has now been 20 years since that first season was aired in 1991. Shouldn't there be a reunion show in the works somewhere (with Julie and Eric present, this time)? A girl can dream, I guess.