10 Most Groundbreaking TV Episodes Ever
4. The Real World: New York - "This Is The True Story..."
Historic Impact: Reality TV Breaks Through To The Mainstream
You know the words. "This is the true story of seven strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped. Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real." Those extremely 90s words kicked off a groundswell of reality television, and the eventual overtaking of MTV's music-first mentality.
As I said before, not every groundbreaking bit of television is necessarily "good", but The Real World's low-concept human experiment did at least appear to be grounded in a simple, agreeable idea: We're all different, but we're all the same.
The relatively small confines and smattering of different personalities, upbringings, races, and sexualities melded together for a wholly entertaining and educational -- at least by today's reality TV standards -- viewing experience.
It wasn't the first reality show -- the format can be traced all the way back to 1945's Queen For A Day -- but it's the first reality show that made the world fall in love with watching a bunch of attractive twentysomethings interact with each other for 30 minutes at a time. The Real World: New York set in place the basic formula that all reality television has been following ever since.