Closer to the ‘Real World’

“I came into the house on uncertain grounds, and I leave on uncertain grounds,” Kyle writes in a letter, oblivious to the cameraman peering over his shoulder.

That scene on the final day of shooting here wasn’t the only uncertain moment. Shooting “The Real World” in Chicago this past summer and fall was a lesson in uncertainty:

* There were protests surrounding the shooting of the MTV reality series, in part caused by opposition to the Wicker Park neighborhood’s overall gentrification.

* There were reactions to the very real events of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 that were caught on tape and promise to provide a different kind of drama that hasn’t been seen in the series’ 11 seasons.

* Finally, there is the uncertainty that staged, unscripted TV in general, with declining ratings, is going through a glut in the genre and the real events of Sept. 11 overshadow TV’s make-believe reality.

Not that any of this is on Kyle’s mind as he writes a letter to a fellow housemate--with whom he shared a brief fling. It is one of six letters that he is working on--one for each of the cast members.

As he writes, several of the 33 cameras that are situated throughout the loft are capturing his moves on this, the last full day of taping.

“A lot of times there’s just things I want to put on paper to give to people,” Kyle, a 22-year-old Chicago native, explains later. “And I needed to write those letters as closure. I had a lot of things I needed to say and wrap up with each one of my roommates.”

With the cameras constantly whirring, little is ever private on “The Real World,” which had its season premiere Tuesday and continues into June.

From Winter to Summer Start

It was MTV’s decision to allow the producers to do a season in the summer (the series usually films during the latter part of winter) that opened the door for Chicago to be picked as the site.

“I think after our third season people started asking, ‘When are you going to go to Chicago?’” says executive producer Jon Murray. “And we were stubborn about it because we really wanted to come to Chicago when the weather was nice. And finally MTV gave us this chance to shoot a season over the summer. I’m glad we waited because I really think this city does become the eighth roommate. It is spectacular looking.”

But not all of Chicago was welcoming. Some of the housemates’ neighbors chose the series shoot as a rallying point for their cause.

“The protests seemed to be directly related to something that was specifically happening in this neighborhood,” Murray explains, “which was there were a small group of artists who were concerned about gentrification.

“I guess I wasn’t surprised because I’ve learned not to be surprised at anything. But ultimately, luckily, where the cast certainly had a week or two there where they were certainly bothered by it, and at times felt a little unsafe, ultimately in some ways it made them bond with each other.”

Because of the protests and a double slaying that occurred nearby, security was tightened at the loft.

“In the beginning it was the safety issue, and we really dealt with that accordingly, like having a security guard here,” says Anthony Dominici, who produced the Chicago filming. “There were some hard times,” says 22-year-old housemate Cara. “Now I can look at it retrospectively and I can say it was great, it was fun. I think if you’d asked me [a few months ago], I would have been like, ‘Get me out of here!’”

Kyle, in defense of his city, says, “It’s important to establish that it’s not how the city reacted. It’s a very vocal, very small group within this section of the city. Chicago did not reject us. A band of people in the area that we live in tried to ... when we went to other areas in the city we were embraced, people were enthusiastic, people were very accommodating.”

But Tonya, a 22-year-old from Walla Walla, Wash., notes: “I think with everything that happened with Sept. 11, those protests seemed so trivial.”

Television Set Brought Into House

They were especially trivial after the uncertainty brought about by the events of Sept. 11. Murray says he broke with the show’s tradition and brought a television into the house in order to allow roommates to keep up on what was happening to the country after the attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

“It’s really the first time this generation has had an event like that, that made them think about their mortality, made them realize that their world is not maybe as controllable as they thought it was,” he says.

“They were getting calls. Kyle’s sister and ex-girlfriend were both in New York, and he’s getting calls from them, hysterical calls about what they had seen because they were down there near ground zero. And Cara’s brother works at the Capitol. So it was relating to them directly.”

Housemate Theo, 20, of Riverside adds: “Being taped on Sept. 11 was really the most time I never at all paid attention to the camera. It was more so trying to imagine what people were going through. We see so much stuff on TV. You would be there watching it, [but] it was like it wasn’t real.... “

Viewers will see Theo and the other housemates as they deal with their emotions on Sept. 11 and other issues--even if the way those feelings come across will be manipulated somewhat via cameras, editing and other storytelling techniques.

Many with the cast and crew of “The Real World” believe the series’ concept remains viable, even if it seems that most other staged, unscripted series, including CBS’ “Survivor,” are losing their popularity with TV viewers.

“It’s a documentary on seven people’s lives at a certain time,” producer Dominici says. “I think that’s the very simple and most basic form of all the reality shows.”

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Allan Johnson writes about television for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune company.

“The Real World” can be seen Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on MTV.