The Real World Homecoming Cast Says Show Changed Course of TV History

Paramount+ is getting the first Real World cast back together and they think the show changed the course of TV history. It would be hard to argue that reality shows have taken over television in a big way since that fateful day when The Real World hit the airwaves. Yahoo had the chance to speak with Becky Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie Gentry, Norman Korpi, Eric Nies, and Kevin Powell before the big day today. Well, the castmates recognize that they had no way of knowing how big of a hit this show would be. It's still staggering to recognize just how massive the genre it has spawned ended up being.

"It's profound when I think about it now, just in terms of pop-culture game-changers," said Powell. "Our season literally falls into this category of things that helped to shift an entire culture and created a whole other genre of TV. No one can say that, and no one can take that from us. We are the seven who originated all of this, and it's profound. There was no Kardashians, there's no Paris Hilton. There's so many different things that have come after. Unfortunately, you could also say there was no President Trump without us, as some people would try to blame us [for The Apprentice]. But what I'm proud of is that we were authentically ourselves in our first season. And I think that's why people still talk about it all the time. It's really powerful."

"There was a sea change after our show, and an absolute shift in pop culture too," Comeau offered. "Obviously the whole genre of reality TV changed, and maybe it became, you know, a little more lurid, a little more exploitive. I'm so grateful that I was a part of the first incarnation of reality TV, and that it was more documentary-style. I don't think that I certainly, or many of us, would have participated in the second season, or third season. We were all very serious in our artistic endeavors, and I think that we would have shied away from the possibilities of something negatively impacting our pursuits."

Paramount+ dropped a description of the series:

"Created for MTV by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim of Bunim/Murray Productions, THE REAL WORLD helped shape a generation and sought to spotlight culturally resonant stories like never before — including one of the first LGBTQ+ relationships documented on a TV series, the first televised same-sex commitment ceremony, and its unforgettable portrayal of Pedro Zamora's battle with HIV."

"Celebrated for its diverse casting and honest portrayal of contemporary young adulthood, THE REAL WORLD illustrated a simple yet powerful idea of connecting people from widely divergent backgrounds to find common ground on the issues that divided them and generated conversations that reverberated loudly through media and youth culture."

Will you be catching The Real World Homecoming tonight? Let us know down in the comments!