When the boys literally wigged out over a stupid prank by the girls on the Real World: Brooklyn finale last night, i was thisclose to saying peace out, Brooklyn, I’m so done with you. I’ve watched the entire season faithfully — after meeting the whole cast in person when I toured the house, I felt like I had to watch to see how each of their stories would play out, because I was genuinely impressed with how down-to-earth they all were — but I got to a point where I just couldn’t deal with the inane bickering anymore. Especially when it came to Ryan and his defensive and unnecessary tirade about the girls all "letting" J.D. take the blame for a prank. I mean, come on, the boys had already put vermin in people’s beds, padlocked the kitchen cabinets, and moved furniture all around the house. Apparently, when the jokes on them, it’s not nearly as funny.
I don’t think the Great Brooklyn Prank War was ever fully settled, and when each of the roommates departed the house and said their goodbyes later in the episode, I felt myself not really giving a crap. (I’ll admit it, some of the finales of past Real World seasons have actually made me cry. I’m total sap for goodbyes.) My apathetic attitude toward the show all changed, however, when the reunion show aired last night following the finale. Setting aside the drama between J.D. and both Sarah and Katelynn, the most compelling part was seeing Ryan in his army uniform because it all of a sudden became real to me that this kid is actually going to be going back to Iraq. For some reason I just never really believed he was actually going to have to go.
I assumed Ryan’s impending departure overseas (and the fact that he, um, had a girlfriend) ruled him out of the possible roommates who had been "secretly" dating since taping ended — reunion show host Maria Menounos gave us a teaser at the beginning of the show. I for sure thought it was going to be Devyn and Scott, but boy was I was wrong. Ryan and his GF Belle had broken up, and since then, Baya and he have been getting hot and heavy. I thought it was adorably awkward to watch them try to define their relationship, and I got kind of annoyed at Maria when she completely cut Baya off after asking what was going to happen to them with Ryan going off to war.
In the end, the Brooklyn season felt like the calm before the storm. Sure there was pettiness, arguments, and outlandish personalities (a.k.a. Chet), but there weren’t a ton of the typical hookups, lewd behavior, or drunken debacles. Who wants to bet that all of that absurdness will return to the Real World when season 22, which is currently filming in Cancun, premieres? Oh, and MTV recently announced that four more installments of the realty show have also been ordered. I have no idea how the network is going to continue to make this series work — after all, they’ve already had a transsexual and a war vet — but god knows, I’m probably still going to watch.
What about you, Pop Watchers? What did you think of the Brooklyn season? Were you compelled by Ryan’s storyline? What about his new relationship with Baya? Finally, do you really think the series deserves four more seasons? Or are you over it?
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worst real world ever… i dont like the Real World shows… but i love love love the challenges shows like the gauntlet…
I just watch the Challenge ones now. Low rent Survivor, bring it on. Crying about your feelings all day cause you have no job like on RW- I’ll pass
I really enjoyed this season, although it sucked that some people got more air-time than others. I liked that they werent overtly superficial and no one got naked and no one got arrested or made a complete fool of themselves. Sure there were the typical roommate fights and people overreacting but they were all pretty much down to earth.
I have been over The Real World since they went to hour long episodes every week.
I cannot watch an hour each week of the same old crap. Partying, fighting and hooking up. BORING
This show is still on?
I loved this season and thought they didn’t get the treatment that other seasons have gotten. They had fewer episodes and no fancy vacation on MTV’s dime. I like Baya and Ryan together and wish all of them the best.
The Real World has long been one of my guilty pleasures and I was super excited at the start of this season to see 8 young people who seemed to be about more than getting drunk and hooking up. However I got so tired of the constant fighting and was disappointed to learn that all 4 boys combined had the maturity of my 4 year old niece. I honestly couldn’t even picture who “Baya” was from the recap above – I had to look it up on the Mtv site -she was so forgetable. I liked Sarah and thought that Katelynn was brave to share her story. Other than that I wont miss them and hope that Chet never does a RR/RR Challenge – he is so lame.
I really liked this season too!I was glad to see Baya and Ryan together on the reunion last night.I hope the MTV network will keep us posted on how Ryan is doing now that he is over seas. Maybe they will even do a show on him coming back home from Iraq.
I thought this season was honestly one of the worst ones yet. I have watched the real world for years and this one was by far the most boring. The only thing that kept the show going was Ryan’s story.
I hate that stupid ugly Transvestite. She/he or it gets all mad at the gay guy for spilling her beans like it wasn’t noticeable. Everybody knew, I knew when I watch the previews. I hate that black girl because she looks like a man with a wig. I hate that dancing girl, why would Ryan want to dig into that nasty smelly taco. The other girl Belle I think was her name, was hot. I would be pissed if somebody tried to blame a prank on me. This should be called Real World:Ryan. It was almost all about him, but he was the best.
This group was pathetic. I’ve been a fairly avid fan of Real World, but this was one punk group. Especially the boys – it was like watching domestic violence without the 911 calls. That’s bad daddy gone wild right there. Really, Baya? That makes a good boyfriend? GET OUT NOW.
And all that propaganda b*s* about Ryan. Hero, my a**. Poor fella bout the propaganda hook, line and sinker. Get a clue, youngsters. He’s not fighting for our “freedom.” He’s not a hero. He’s a killer for hire dressed up like a saint. What a load.
This was just a boring season of immature brats with few redeeming features.
Don’t worry, Adam. I’m sure Ryan will be available soon and you can hook up with him. You obviously don’t like girls either. You two will make a great match. Loser.
Wow what an unbelievably boring and uninteresting group of people. Ryan is a six year old boy, and Chet is such a superficial phony its unbelievable. No really, GOOD JOB MTV, you really know how to pick em’.
RW: Brooklyn rocked. This season got back to basics–they didn’t need booze and a hot tub to entertain themselves or others. Too bad it will probably be the last time MTV picks a group of strangers who help uphold the purpose of the original show, since they have to cater to such a crass audience (see RW/RR Challenge preview: a group of moronic barbarians “fighting for their lives” … give me a break, send those jerks to war and see how they fare).
the season only had three good episodes to me: the finale, the baya dancing episode for obvs reasons, and when jd broke the table. the rest of the season was WHACK!!!
I’ve watched The Real World on and off for years and I’m surprised to see so many people state that they disliked the Brooklyn season! I thought the cast was one of the most interesting they’ve ever selected and really enjoyed that they didn’t spend their entire time in the house drunk, having sex or in the hot tub (hello Las Vegas season). In fact, I thought Brooklyn was one of few seasons (other than New Orleans) that I really enjoyed 100% of the time. I hope MTV continues this trend of interesting, down-to-earth people going into next season with Cancun!
Worst season ever. The “boys” and their rants were so over the top. I swear they were more menapausal than the girls. Chet got on my last nerve, JD fipped like a pancake, from side to side. Ryan is far too immature to go to war. I honestly do feel sorry for him or anyone that is forced to go to war.
Ann, for you to say you don’t care that Ryan or anyone else is forced to go to war is selfish. Do you realize these men and women are putting their lives on the line so you don’t have to? So you can have the freedoms that you do? Get a clue.
It was one of the best seasons over the past few years. The “pranks” were pretty lame but they had to find the drama somewhere.
T0 Grace:
Im sure if it was your sibling, son, daughter, anyone close to you going off to war your attitude would change in a second. Normally, I do not comment when I see such ignorant comments posted on blogs but to sit here and say that about our troops is not only appalling but disgraceful. I suggest you live in a different country if you feel our troops don’t fight for our “freedom” or better yet actually join the service and TRY to live one day in their shoes. I doubt you would make it. My brother was just deployed and his life IS on the line for our country and sadly people like you. He is making a difference over there and being part of a military family when a solider leaves for war the impact it has on everyone involved is indescribable. So next time you want to say something like that remember a mother, father, sister,brother, nephew,niece, grandparent, in this country just lost one of their family members to this war, that troop protected your rights to write that.
I think this was the best real world since Chicago. I was addicted to Ryan’s story and just looking at Baya was enough. I couldn’t stand Devyn and Katelyn but i liked everybody else. Amazing. They need to put it on dvd.
I’m an ‘old school’ Real World fan (stopped watching at Vegas…hello trashy) and I appreciated that they got a group together who were more ‘real’ than the past seasons. This bunch were a good mix, enough petty bickering and interesting personalities to make it worthwhile to tune in. We’ll see about ‘Cancun.’
I thought that is was the most boring season I’ve have seen. All it had were the boys bitching over something the girls did so they would pull a stupid prank, and to get back at them the girls would pull something completely stupid too. I hated the cast, and they were all completely lame. Every episode i watched of it had me falling asleep. I hope next season is actually something worth the watch.
The boys from this season were some of the most shallow, self obsessed, & broken individuals yet. Nothing turns me off more than watching a bunch of shallow, souless guys breaking things & screaming threateningly at girls half their size. The ladies seemed like legitimately interesting people, they just never got much of a chance to shine due to the antics of beavis & butthead over there.