The Paramount+ streaming services has announced that MTV’s The Real World franchise is returning to kick off the March 4th launch. The first Real World installment of the rebranded series will reunite the original New York cast in the iconic NYC loft for The Real World Homecoming: New York. And it's already in the running for the best shows on Paramount+.
The news comes on the heels of MTV’s 40th birthday. With reality being one of the Paramount+ streaming service's significant genres, the brand that birthed reality television brings it back to where it all began.
The Real World is a reality television series produced by MTV and Bunim/Murray Productions that aired on MTV from 1992 to 2017 and was initially produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. The show first broadcast in 1992, inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family. It’s the longest-running program in MTV history, one of the longest-running reality series in history, and is credited with launching the modern reality TV genre. In the series, seven to eight young adults were picked to temporarily live in a new city together in one residence while being filmed non-stop.
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Many might remember how the series in its early years depicted issues of contemporary young-adulthood relevant to its core audiences, such as sex, prejudice, religion, abortion, illness, sexuality, AIDS, death, politics, and substance abuse, but later garnered a reputation as a showcase more drama, sometimes toxic at that. The series has generated two notable related series, both broadcast by MTV: Road Rules, a sister show, which lasted for 14 seasons (1995–2007), and the ongoing spin-off reality game show The Challenge, which has run for 35 seasons since 1998, thus surpassing The Real World.
The official press release for The Real World Homecoming: New York described the upcoming series as follows:
“In the multi-episode docu-series, the original seven strangers will revisit the shocking moments and explosive issues that transpired during the historic season and discuss how they parallel in today’s social climate. After spending decades apart, viewers will reconvene with New York housemates Becky Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie Gentry, Norman Korpi, Eric Nies and Kevin Powell to find out how the series transformed their lives since the cameras stopped rolling and to find out, once again, what happens when they stop being polite… and start getting real.”
The Real World's multiple seasons are available to stream now on CBS All Access, soon to be rebranded as Paramount+.
Paramount+ will cost $9.99 a month when it launches. (Current CBS All access subscribers will be grandfathered in.) And it'll get a $4.99-a-month option in July, though that won't include the live stream of your local CBS affiliate. You also can expect to find live sports on Paramount+ — including NFL games. (And you should still be able to log in to Paramount+ with a cable subscription for live CBS viewing.)
And Paramount+ will be available on all the platforms you'd expect. You can watch Paramount+ on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, on Apple TV and Android TV, on iOS and Android, and on the web.
