when people stop being polite
“The Real World: Austin” hit the airwaves last night. My co-workers and I caught up after-hours thanks to the latest in VHS technology. Episode 1 and we’re looking at a street brawl, a facial fracture, and then some.
The street brawl resulted from frat-boy* soulmates Wes and Danny drunkenly spilling into 6th Street searching for the seemingly level-headed Nehemiah, who had left the bar after Johanna pulled a banshee act on him and ripped his shirt off as he walked away from her trying to fight him. Granted, folks in Austin seemed a bit antagonistic to “The Real World” cast from the get-go, but I honestly suspect that running around 6th completely hammered yelling things like, “Where’s the black guy?” and “Which way did the black guy go?” didn’t really help matters. I would have been convinced I’d just encountered two men on the verge of a hate crime.
In any case, Nehemiah (who Wes claimed had left the bar “in a rage”) was back at the house, stone sober when the two drunk assholes spilled in, and tried to start a fight with him. Ultimately, Rachel (Iraq veteran Army nurse) makes Danny go to the hospital, where he’s diagnosed with a facial fracture.
“The Real World” is fine-tuned for drama, and there have been persistant rumors that bits of the show are actually scripted at this point. The first big surprise for me this season is that there are 2 hard-drinking frat-boy types. I have no idea how Wes and Danny will differentiate themselves. The second surprise is that this appears to be an entirely heterosexual cast.** “The gay one” has been a stock character on the show for numerous seasons.
In any case, this thing’s a trainwreck, plain and simple. I’ll be tuning in weekly.
*No offense to any actual members of actual fraternities. I know some of you are very nice, intelligent young men who take your studies seriously and treat your peers with sensitivity and respect.
**I’m unwilling to count Johanna and Melinda’s hot-tub tonsil hockey, as I’m quite certain that happened solely for the titillation of the men in the group.