Not to be a downer, (and I think its a wonderful idea) but you probably need to tack a zero onto your time-frame estimate. I'd say we're at least 10 years away from St. Louis being a viable Real World destination.
Pop culture exposure is important for image making. So, I like your idea. But what I want to know is how can STL get more pop culture exposure without waiting for the networks to take notice? What I mean is, let's export pop culture, not just import it or wait for it to show up. Nelly made a huge difference for the image of St. Louis. When Nelly made it big, I loved seeing guys on the east coast suddenly wearing things with STL logo. Now everybody calls St. Louis "the Lou". I am too old to get used to saying it myself, but that type of exposure is priceless. By the way, we don't need a fancy downtown to influence pop culture. Our gritiness is just sitting there waiting to be marketed to legions of bored surburban kids around the US wanting to piss off their parents.
I just want to add my opinion on the fact that the Real World has gone right to hell. The show is awful now. It follows the same pattern of stereotypes- enforcing the notion that the real world is filled with plastic "perfect" people, must follow clich? "liberal" agendas, and grants jobs to an entire household. Oh, and people must jump into a hot tub naked on their first day into a new home?
Initially, it seemed like they tried to put a diverse range of people in the house - the very first one had all kinds of different people and it was interesting. Then the producers combined explosive personalities so that there would be plenty of conflict. Now they just want everybody to hook up. If they're going to do that, I at least want to see nudity.
I think within the next 2 years is a very reasonable time frame. Washington Avenue is going to be amazing day and night at this time next year. Most of the buildings will be completed, more businesses will be established, and there will be a lot of residents.
St. Louis is very fortunate to have these old buildings so close together so we can have a really good loft district. It is the perfect setting for something like Real World and despite how some may feel about the show, it would bring a lot of attention to STL. Due to the party nature of the show it would show viewers across the country that there is a lot more to STL than the Arch and the Cardinals. You cannot put a price on the exposure that STL would get....Forest Park, Laclede's Landing, Washington Avenue, The Delmar Loop, CWE, Clayton, etc...you can bet all of those areas would be shown on the show.
I've lived in a lot of different areas and travel frequently to cities across the nation and in all honesty there are very few cities that have as much to offer as STL. The only problem is that not many people know about it. A show based in STL would definitely help.
Besides, I'm looking after my own interests here. If they put the RW in one of the penthouses at the Lucas Lofts then I'll be in luck as a resident, especially if they have their normal hot girls on the cast.
I think a "Survivor" East St. Louis would be a lot more interesting than "The Real World". Put 10 suburbanites in EStl instead of some tropical paradise and then you'll really see how people with no money or food survive. I'd also like to see "Apprentice: Clayton", where the contestants perfrom "challenges" throughout clayton in order to win the job of a lifetime: working for a bully in an uninspiring glass tower. Of course, we know that there's been a series of video games that were based off of St. Louis; the Grand Theft Auto series.
In all seriousness, they've done reality tv here (Elimidate), and it doesn't really show much, if anything, of the city. It just focuses on the people trying to hookup with each other, which is really similar to what the Real World is. Reality TV is cool and all, but I'd rather have either a movie or a TV drama filmed in STL over one of these predetermined reality shows.
I love the idea of Survivor in ESTL. Conversely, another good Survivor episode would be to plop some ultrahip, uber-urban, multi-ethnic counterculture peeps in the middle of St. Peters and let them fend for themselves.
codascoram wrote:I think a "Survivor" East St. Louis would be a lot more interesting than "The Real World". Put 10 suburbanites in EStl instead of some tropical paradise and then you'll really see how people with no money or food survive. I'd also like to see "Apprentice: Clayton", where the contestants perfrom "challenges" throughout clayton in order to win the job of a lifetime: working for a bully in an uninspiring glass tower. Of course, we know that there's been a series of video games that were based off of St. Louis; the Grand Theft Auto series.
In all seriousness, they've done reality tv here (Elimidate), and it doesn't really show much, if anything, of the city. It just focuses on the people trying to hookup with each other, which is really similar to what the Real World is. Reality TV is cool and all, but I'd rather have either a movie or a TV drama filmed in STL over one of these predetermined reality shows.
Considering there are supermarkets there, rapid transit, a 75% drop in crime, and schools, I would see many people thinking, "Man, it must be hard to be in the middle of nowhere." The only thing that makes East St Louis so bad is the fact that many Americans haven't left the United States. They haven't seen the conditions in other countries. Many of the murders there are domestic. This means, if you don't know the drug dealer, you won't get killed.
When the whole Survivor craze was going on, I actually thought about some of those scenarios. I figured I was just crazy. Good to know other people thought he same thing.
Let's drop in the dramatic music and lighting, the competitive "voting off" ordeal, the "alliances", and beautiful people, and we have ourselves a reality show.
I don't watch any of these shows, Survivor, Real World, etc. So I have no comment on their quality, etc. However, on NPR yesterday they talked about Real World in Austin. They said the show has brought millions of dollars into the local economy and brought them priceless exposure. So, the idea of bringing Real World or other shows of this type to St. Louis is a good one. Besides, if it were filmed in St. Louis, I might bring myself to watch an episode.
This topic is misleading, I actually thought Real world was coming to St. Louis and nearly jumped outta my chair. Austin has a much cooler and hipper scene. I'd say 10 years is very reasonalble before the RW comes here.
These have been the seasons so far.
Season 16: Austin
Season 15: Philadelphia
Season 14: San Diego
Season 13: Paris
Season 12: Las Vegas
Season 11: Chicago
Season 10: Back to NY
Season 9: New Orleans
Season 8: Hawaii
Season 7: Seattle
Season 6: Boston
Season 5: Miami
Season 4: London
Season 3: San Francisco
Season 2: Los Angeles
Season 1: New York
They'd probably go to places like Denver, Wash DC, Portland, Atlanta, Minneapolis etc and then again to Chicago and Boston, LV before they even think of coming here.
In 10 years STL should be cool enough to host a Real World though!
Here's a blog I was reading about Real World locations
Reality Blurred has posted that BMP is currently scouting locations for their 17th season of the Real World. Reality Blurred specifically mentions Key West as a distinct possibility. However, fans of the series may remember during the Chicago season, similar rumors of a property being bought by BMP in Key West were rampant. Suffice to say, the 12th season of the Real World ended up being in Las Vegas.
Expect other cities to be in the running, with the case most likely being that other cities that have been considered in the past are also being considered. Along with Key West past possible choices have been:
Sydney has been in the running since Back to New York aired. However, don't expect to see another international season aired soon, as London and Paris didn't seem to be the greatest ratings hits.
Washington DC seems to be a potentially great city. When San Diego came around, an IKEA showroom in the Adams Morgan section of DC was heavily rumored as a location for the house. With its nightlife and numerous job possibilities, DC seems like an attractive location.
Atlanta was called as the location for the 13th season for a few months, before Paris was ultimately selected. Mary-Ellis Bunim personally casted and selected the location for Paris, it being the last season she worked on.
Denver/Boulder/Aspen. A Colorado location of the Real World has always been heavily discussed, but nothing ever seems to materialize. BMP has even done casting there and is rumored to have fiddled with the idea.
St. Louis. Other than being listed as a potential front runner, I haven't heard much about St. Louis being selected as a city.
There are plenty more. BMP even entertained the notion of putting the seven strangers on a farm in the middle of nowhere back when Back to New York aired. An announcement should be made close to the end of summer.
STL hasn't been considered because we have not had a place "hip enough" to live. The Washington Avenue Loft District will solve this problem since it's very unique and in the heart of downtown.
The Bottle District opening several blocks away will definitely help make STL more attractive for things like this.
Just came home from D.C. today and in DC I actually saw two shirts in a clothing store - one said "St. Louis and Proud" and the other one read "East St. Louis... yeah it's real"
The "Keep East St. Louis Beautiful" shirt can be purchased at a store in the East Loop located right next to the Pageant. I can't remember it's name now...it had the word "Leather" in it...
Hmm...when I think of it...I'll edit this post, but it is right to the west of the Pageant, and they have it in green and yellow.
They also sell "Keep East St. Louis Beautiful" t-shirts at "Beatniks" in downtown Belleville. In addition to that, they have "I love East St. Louis," "I love Sauget IL (Pretty funny one there), and a number of other local type t-shirts.
just caught an episode on MTV of the show "Made" where this suburban Minneapolis kid wants to rap or something (didn't really catch it all). Well, at the end of the show he performs in a real concert, and he wore a nice white cap with blazing red St. Louis initials. I guess he wanted to look more authentic, goes to show you......
Yeah I saw that show. When I saw the promo I thought he was from STL, but later on of course you realise he's from very "suburban" Minneapolis. Somehow I dont think wearing a Timberwovles or twins hat gives you much street cred.
