The Real World, all things considered, started the whole reality television craze. Though it's loosely based on the concept of a 1970s PBS program titled An American Family, The Real World, which premiered on MTV in May of 1992, has often defied the standards and norms of what's acceptable to both film and air on television, especially considering it involves real people and claims to be more of a social experiment than a reality show.
In its prime, the show was captivating, inspirational, and above all, made us question and think about issues that, like the title of the series suggests, affect those in "the real world" daily. Though the series unfortunately has somewhat devolved over time from a realistic look at the lives of seven very different people placed under the same roof into somewhat of a frat party that would make even the cast members of Jersey Shore blush, The Real World still does have its share of sobering, riveting episodes to make us seriously ponder our society's more controversial topics.
With tomorrow night's premiere of the show's 27th season, set in St. Thomas, we've combed through 20 years' worth of on-camera drama to rank The 10 Most Thought-Provoking Episode Of The Real World. Hopefully, the new season will unveil episodes as powerful as these like these, because, and we can say this confidently, this is reality television at its best.
Written By Tanya Ghahremani (@tanyaghahremani)
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