Original subtitles

-Landing on cable,

MTV was about pushing television's boundaries.

-Hi, MTV!

-But in the '90s,

MTV launches an entirely new kind of TV.

- This is the true story. - "The Real World."

-Everything changed after that.

- What are gonna do, hit me? - 'Cause I'm a Black man I'm gonna hit you?

That's what you assume? - No.

-It gave birth to an entire genre of television.

-[ Screaming ]

-It's called "reality TV."

- You're disgusting! - David!

-You're watching real people in real lives.

-I'm going to terminate the pregnancy.

-For better...

-So I love you.

- but often for worse...

-Shut up. You.

- being yourself in front of the camera

can now make you famous.

-That was when it came true to me,

like, this is actually happening.

-And it's like the real weird shit is just about to start.

-Oh! Oh!

[ Laughter ]

♪♪

[ Dial-up modems screeching ]

♪♪

-I'm back in!

[ Man shouting, applause ]

-By the end of the '90s,

the "M" in "MTV" stood mostly for "mayhem."

-Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville, and I have gas.

-This is how you drink fresh milk.

-[ Groaning ]

-I'm lubing up the little toy car

because I'm going to put it in my butt.

-Oh...

- [ Laughing ] - This doesn't happen in nature.

-I can't watch it.

I don't watch any reality TV.

None.

It just gives me the worst stomachache.

[ Laughs ]

-That's how MTV makes parents feel

back when the "M" in "MTV" stood exclusively for "music."

-Welcome to MTV, Music Television.

-The world's first video music channel,

all day, all night, in stereo.

-When it was founded in 1981, its point was to be

a 24-hour music-video jukebox, and there was no structure.

It was truly just kind of a nonstop cycle of videos.

-Almost from the start,

the channel helped to define an entire generation.

MTV, throughout the '80s, was the arbiter of what cool was.

I'm Dave Holmes.

I was a VJ on MTV from 1998 to 2002,

and now I am a writer and editor at-large for Esquire magazine.

MTV just seemed like a clubhouse that you wanted to get into.

-By the late '80s, MTV expands to include shows

that cater to older teens and late-night partiers.

-You're watching the "Headbangers Ball."

I'm your host, Lita.

-You had "Headbangers Ball," you had "Yo! MTV Raps."

You had the "Top 20 Countdown."

-And when grunge explodes,

MTV gives its audience and mostly young staff

a front-row seat to the changing culture.

-My career at MTV started back when I was

right out of high school.

You know 17, 18.

I was going to NYU Film and got me an internship there.

I'm Tony DiSanto, and I'm the CEO of Allyance Media Group,

but most importantly,

I was a long-term former employee of MTV.

It was so exciting being in that basement set, that MTV vibe.

It started really not just reflecting pop culture,

but MTV became pop culture.

-Yet, despite its social prominence,

serving up music videos on TV

faces the same problem as playing songs on the radio.

-Apparently, the viewers at home would change the channel

every time a song came on that they didn't like.

-And that's when they start to experiment

with other kinds of programing.

So they have "Liquid Television,"

which is this amazing venue for independent animation.

-Just peel, lick, and stick.

-My name is Amanda Ann Klein, and I am the author

of "Millennials Killed the Video Star:

MTV's Transition to Reality Programming."

So MTV, you know, constantly has to update its content.

And so that was where they engaged in the work of,

you know, the "political good."

-The '92 presidential campaign, with its generational battle

between George Bush and Bill Clinton,

provides MTV with an opportunity to join in,

with specials like "Choose or Lose."

-We were in the first Bush administration.

Change was in the air.

And for Bill Clinton just to make an appearance on MTV

made a massive difference, I think, in his campaign.

It really showed that this was someone

who could actually speak the language of young people.

-If you had it to do over again, would you inhale?

-Sure, if I could. I tried before.

-And then at the same time, you saw real standoffish.

From the, you know, the Bush side of things.

-Well, I'm a little concerned about 13-year-old pregnancies.

Maybe others are.

I'm very much... May I finish, please?

-And it just galvanized their audience,

you know, the youth of America.

-MTV also launches Rock the Vote

and solicits music's biggest stars to speak out

on issues important to MTV's audience.

-Don't just sit there, let's get to it.

Speak your mind, there's nothing to it.

Vote!

-But politics just isn't as interesting to young people

as what's happening on Fox's recently launched show

"Beverly Hills 90210."

♪♪

So MTV shifts gears

and goes looking for a youth-oriented soap opera

of their own.

Two unknown TV writers living in New York take up the challenge.

What they create will transform television

for the next four decades.

-So Jonathan Murray,

who had a background in documentary filmmaking,

and Mary-Ellis Bunim, who had a background in soap operas,

they are working on a drama

focused on a bunch of young people.

-They pitched MTV that they wanted

to do a soap opera in the vein of "90210,"

and MTV came back, was like,

"Yeah, it's too expensive. You can't."

"Okay, what if we throw the writers out?

That'll save money."

♪♪

It's like, "Yeah, still too expensive."

"Okay, what if... What if we throw the actors out

and we just have regular people and no scripts?"

And, like, you can shoot 100 hours

of this stuff a week for nothing.

-And "The Real World" was born.

- This is the true story. - "The Real World."

-So this was 1992.

I'm a musician, and apparently the casting directors

were going around to where young people worked and congregated.

I'm Andre Comeau.

I was on the first season of MTV's "Real World,"

and we started this whole reality-TV hell.

♪♪

My sister was a promotions executive at EMI Records,

one of the places that they were, you know,

mining for young talent, and one of her friends

recommended me to that casting director.

♪♪

-But Andre's still up against 500 other hopefuls.

After numerous interviews and auditions,

he gets a life-altering call.

-I was super excited.

And, you know, we all went out and celebrated.

♪♪

-It was all young artists.

There were a couple musicians. There was a dancer.

There was a poet. There was a model.

-There is a painter.

And then an aspiring singer-songwriter.

- Hi. - Just walk around.

-This is where we live?

-It was all people who had gone to New York to make it happen.

And it was just like, "Let's watch them live."

- So how old are you? - I'm 19.

- 19? - Yeah!

-Oh! That's a baby.

I'm the baby?

-Despite seeming totally unique,

"The Real World" isn't the first show

to document regular people living their lives.

That honor goes to

a little-remembered PBS series from 1973,

"An American Family."

-They found this family that had five children,

and they filmed them for a period of about six months.

It was just them going about their everyday lives.

The idea that everyday people

are interesting enough on their own.

So "The real World" is a return

to this one moment in the '70s

when people had basically agreed to be part of this fishbowl,

this social experiment.

- "The Real World" format may date back to PBS in the '70s,

but that's about the only thing this '90s MTV show

has in common with that earlier decade.

-Utopia is beautiful, you know what I mean?

-I'm not even talking about Utopia.

- But in a way, you are. - No!

-They were having interesting conversations.

On the networks, we weren't really seeing this.

Everything was, like, super manufactured.

This had the smell of being real.

♪♪

"The Real World" felt subversive.

It felt edgy.

It felt MTV.

-♪ You're sloppy, wishy-washy ♪

♪ It's time to watch me ♪

♪ Yo, I'm good to go, I got the female funk flow ♪

♪ Again ♪

♪♪

-The show encourages castmates to engage

in the country's increasingly volatile social issues.

♪♪

-One of my favorite memories was driving down to Washington

and being a part of the women's rights rally

that we participated in.

-They also went to a political campaign.

And so they were very much involved.

Even if they weren't always getting it right,

they were engaged with it and talking about it.

-But "The Real World" is so unlike anything else on TV,

the cast are flying completely blind.

-If you look back on it,

nobody knows what they're supposed to be doing.

They don't, like, have a bunch of zingers in a notes app.

They just kind of showed up to be normal,

and conflict happened,

but it seemed to happen organically.

-Go, Heather. [ Pager beeps ]

- What is that? - A beeper.

-Do you sell drugs? Why do you have a beeper?

-Once she said the bit about the drug dealer,

I really want to talk to her.

I really want to know what she thinks.

-Okay, so everyone's gonna be against me

because I'm the only Southerner.

I don't consider myself racist in any way.

I don't even know how it ended up like that.

-In early '92, the most sensitive conflicts

in America center around race.

The entire country is awaiting a verdict in the trial

of the four white cops who beat Rodney King.

-It was such a hotbed moment in time.

You know, the United States

was going through such a racial reckoning

because of the Rodney King beatings, which was horrific.

-And so it was very ironic that these very issues

and debates were happening in the loft

as they were happening out in the world.

-But I think there's a lot of opportunity in this country.

-Opportunity for what?

-They took one look at me and they were like,

"No, we can't hire him." You know what I'm saying?

Why not, Becky? The color of my skin.

-Kevin, who is a poet and activist,

is trying to make his white housemates understand

the experience of the Black male in America.

-You called me a racist. -If you and I went to the same job and applied, who would get it?

-I don't know. -You would get it. More than likely.

- How do you know? - I've gone through enough job interviews.

- You just called me a racist. - 'Cause you are.

-And his housemates are often not ready to receive it.

-How many times have you been stopped

and spread against a police car?

How many times? - I've never been stopped.

-All right, then. You don't know how it feels.

-It's very real and honest in that way.

-I just know that the scales are tipped

in certain people's favors and has been for a very long time.

-You don't know until you've walked in somebody else's shoes

who's got a favor and who doesn't.

-As the racism debate simmers inside the loft,

outside in the real real world, a full-on race war is raging.

Outside in the real real world, -2,800 National Guard troops

oand into the night, extending, their dusk-to-dawn curfew.

-On April 29, 1992,

the four white cops who beat Rodney King are acquitted.

-Saturday, the mayor's office

put its conservative damage estimate

at more than half a billion dollars.

-They don't represent the people no more.

[ Sirens wailing ]

-Over the next week,

the L.A. riots death toll hits 63.

-Please, in the name of Jesus, cut out the violence!

♪♪

-Back in New York,

the cast of MTV's "The Real World"

watch in horror.

-The riots that were happening in Los Angeles in real time.

And Kevin, the writer, is an activist.

- of the 1960s.

-What did you say, Julie? "It doesn't make a difference."

Know what I'm saying? And you didn't even apologize.

-No, I didn't.

The Manhattan loft becomes a microcosm

of the country's rising racial tensions.

-You come from a particular background, I come from a particular background.

Wait a minute. Will you listen?

- That has nothing to do with your culture. - Yes, it does.

-Julie, the youngest cast member,

a white woman who had grown up very sheltered,

had not a lot of experience talking with people

from different racial backgrounds.

- Look at Los Angeles. - What are you gonna do? Hit me?

-'Cause I'm a Black man I'm gonna hit you?

That's what you assume? - No.

-I remember just watching it and taking Julie's side

because, of course, I was a young, white,

sheltered, middle-class girl.

-You're 19 years old. White girl from Alabama.

-You call yourself a teacher?! Get out of my face!

- Why you upset? - I'm so sick of this!

-The roommates seem to all take Julie's side.

-This isn't the first time that we've seen him go at someone.

-The six of us bonded apart from Kevin.

♪♪

He was the oldest one by about five years.

So when he did have this brush-up with Julie,

it was like, "Kevin freaked out, Kevin freaked out."

-Looking back on the season now as an adult

and having seen decades of the kind of abuse

that Black men were facing, you can see that essentially

everything Kevin had said to his roommates was correct.

He was saying what needed to be said.

♪♪

-But the show is more than just arguments and racial uneasiness.

♪♪

The roommates are also out pursuing their dreams.

Or just having a good time.

-It was just such a great time to be in New York.

Not with other cast members, no.

The cast was hooking up with the crew.

[ Laughs ]

That's really what was happening.

-Well, there's one thing that did happen in Jamaica,

which, um... happened.

-The only hookup, the love connection

that actually happened

was between Becky and the director, Bill,

and it unfortunately got Bill

into some hot water with the production,

and he had to leave the show.

[ Laughter ]

-On the last day of shooting,

the cast burst into the control room

to celebrate what they think is the end

to this televised social experiment.

-Feel like we've been stranded for three months,

and now we've gotten off Gilligan's Island.

-They showed us the first episode of the show.

When I saw how things were manipulated in editing,

that was very... scary.

I was naively expecting it to be more of a documentary,

and here it is playing out like a soap opera.

-The cast of the first season of "The Real World,"

is the first to then have to see what happens after.

After all that footage goes to an editor

and after somebody decides

what you've said that they're going to use

and what you said that might get taken out of context.

You can almost see at the end

when they're saying goodbye to one another

that they're just like, "Well, that's over."

And it's like, "No, the real weird shit

is just about to start.

And, you know, God, I hope you're okay."

♪♪

-On May 21, 1992, just days after filming ends,

"The Real World" premieres on MTV.

-What I remember mostly was how quickly it sort of caught fire.

And, you know, the cast suddenly becoming stars.

♪♪

-That kind of instant celebrity

often comes with fame and fortune,

but it doesn't quite work out that way.

The grand total was $2,600.

Before the filming, I had my music attorney

read through my contract.

"We own everything. You own nothing."

♪♪

We expected it to air once, maybe twice.

-It becomes a hit show that gets run and rerun

and marathon weekend run for years to come.

They gave up their lives and their images for nothing,

which is tough.

[ Sirens wailing ]

-Fame without fortune is a drag.

You're on call because so many people just walk up to you

and naturally think they know you.

I did not cope well with how it played out.

And it was really heartbreaking.

I felt like I had to get away from myself.

I had one of those crazy suicidal moments in the mirror

where you, you know, you cut off all your hair in a fit of rage.

Not only do I cut my hair, I cut the cord.

I had to get rid of MTV.

It was a difficult time in my life.

-Despite Andre's personal struggles,

many twentysomething fans see "The Real World"

as a new and novel way to get their 15 minutes of fame.

-I'm an attention hog!

-At the time, watching season one of "The Real World,"

I was like, "Sign me up. Sign me up."

Never did make a tape, but I was like, "I could do that."

-I want to be on "The Real World"

because my life is really [bleep] up.

♪♪

-In January 1993, seven new housemates

are on board for "The Real World: Los Angeles."

-It seems like the producers clocked

that people remembered the fighting.

-You pin me down in that argument!

-Stupid bitch.

-And so they were like, "Fighting. Got it.

"You want fighting, we'll give you fighting."

-You don't call somebody trash.

- I didn't call you trash. - Yes, you did.

-They put three of them into, like, a Winnebago

to drive across the country from New York to L.A.

to, like, symbolically pass the torch.

Tami and Dominic, and Jon from Kentucky.

-They are so different.

They are immediately hating on each other.

-So pretty funny if I'd have socked your ass in the head.

-If you're brave enough to do it,

then you're brave enough to get hit right back.

-You need to go to new lengths to to grab viewers.

That's the evolutionary scale of reality TV.

-I'm really good at moving the stick, though.

- I bet you are, Tami. - [ Laughs ]

-Season two is the first group of people to understand

the value of speaking in soundbites.

-Beth. And she was carrying a cat.

I can't stand cats.

-So for the first time you're seeing people

give a little bit of thought to themselves as a character

and what they're giving the editor to work with.

- Aah! David! - David, stop!

-The new cast's desired to be good TV

may contribute to a dangerous confrontation.

-Beth and Tami and David are joking around.

[ Telephone rings ] - Phone's ringing.

-It was, you know, late at night.

Tami's trying to go to bed.

-Don't do that! I swear to God!

Don't!

-Tami says that she doesn't have any clothing on

under her blanket.

And David says, "Well, I'm gonna go find out."

It's one of those moments where everyone's having a good time,

and then there is a shift.

-[ Screaming ]

-No! David!

-Aaah!

-You watch it now from today's perspective,

and it's a woman saying, "No. No.

I'm in my underwear. No."

-[ Screaming ]

- You're disgusting! - Whoo!

-[ Laughs ]

-Things really go off the rails in a bad way.

Tami's so upset, a house meeting is called.

-We want him to leave. We don't want him here.

-There is a discussion of this being a kind of assault

and that the women didn't feel safe.

-And he becomes the first person

to get kicked out of a "Real World" house.

♪♪

-But that first will be overshadowed

by Tami revealing something

never-before divulged on reality TV.

-In case everybody didn't already know by now

that I'm pregnant.

And I'm going to terminate the pregnancy.

-This is a pretty radical moment.

Even today, you do not see

people getting abortions on television.

- "The Real World: California."

-At the beginning of the decade,

the Roe v. Wade court ruling is under attack.

As legalized abortion

becomes an even more divisive issue,

abortion clinics become battlefields.

-It was an incredibly dangerous time

to be an abortion provider.

-Michael Griffin is accused

of shooting abortion doctor David Gunn.

-Doctors were being shot,

people were being harassed walking into and out of clinics.

So it wasn't a small thing

that MTV decided to address this in "The Real World."

-It was like a really hard decision

for me to make that decision, but...

-It was a brave choice for the network,

because for the first time

you saw the human face of a person

who is going to have an abortion.

-Finding out that I was pregnant was a big downer for me

because at this particular point and time in my life, I mean,

I'm not ready for kids.

-Even if you didn't approve of abortion,

which, like, Jon in the house does not approve of abortion...

-I think that Tami's making a mistake.

- he's still her friend,

and this is her choice.

-He's chosen to stick by me

and help me through the situation.

-To compare it to its sort of inspiration,

"Beverly Hills 90210" talked about abortion...

-This is hard enough, okay, so just let me say it.

- but you would never get a character

who actually had an abortion.

They would either lose the baby conveniently,

or they would just decide to go ahead and have it.

- "The Real World" does neither.

It shows Tami making her own decisions

about how to handle her pregnancy.

-I first had to decide how I was going to tell my mom.

-I was very pissed off.

-We see her go to the clinic.

-When I walked into the clinic, the first thing that hit my mind

was that I wanted it to be over very quickly.

-She is the first

and maybe still only person to have an abortion.

-You need to fill these out

and bring them up as soon as you're done.

-Thank you.

-This was a real person,

and it was hard to, like, vilify her, you know?

I don't remember there being any angry editorials

in The Wall Street Journal about it or anything,

in-Go home, get some Advil

or some Tylenol,

and that'll help her.

- Okay. - Get some food.

- You okay? Give me a hug. - I'm fine.

-Tami's abortion in "Real World" season two

had power and impact

because it was authentic and real.

You're presenting real life in an unfiltered fashion

and not imposing artifice on it.

-Are you okay?

-Hmm? No. Sick.

-I think that's reality television at its best.

-Tami's personal experience,

including her work at a local AIDS clinic,

helped to make season two of "The Real World"

a ratings success for MTV.

She also inspires the show's co-creators,

Jonathan Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim

to set season three at ground zero for the AIDS crisis...

San Francisco.

-You know, San Francisco had been, you know,

a part of the epidemic for such a long time.

And in 1994, there was no treatment.

-We had 200,000 people, you know,

in the early '90s who had died of AIDS.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

-And so Bunim and Murray made a point of casting

not only an out gay man but one with HIV.

-His name is Pedro Zamora, and his openness

and authenticity shines throughout his audition tape.

-I just got out of

a three-and-a-half-year relationship, um...

to an asshole.

[ Laughs ]

I had to say it.

-He's funny. He's kind. He's soap-opera handsome.

And he's living with this terrible disease.

I'm Judd Winnick.

I was a cast member on "Real World 3: San Francisco."

All he wanted to do was to show people

what it was really like to live with AIDS and HIV.

He wanted people to understand.

-Where are you from originally?

- Cuba. - Cuba.

How long have you been here? - 13 years.

-He was on the Mariel boatlift in 1980

when, you know, thousands and thousands of Cubans

came over to the United States.

-So are you ready for this?

-I think so.

-Five more people to meet, right?

-The producers at MTV decide not to inform

the other castmates that Pedro has HIV.

-All of us knew that somebody was HIV positive,

but we didn't know who.

I am Pam Ling.

I was cast on the third season

of MTV's "The Real World," San Francisco.

-That's where she's coming from, then.

-Of course, Pedro knew who was HIV positive,

and he did a very kind of artful thing

where he would kind of casually drop, like,

"Oh, I need to show you my scrapbook."

-The reason I brought the scrapbook was because

it was gonna make it easier for me

to let them know that I was HIV positive.

-He'd actually been doing AIDS education in high schools,

and then he'd had his story in The Wall Street Journal.

In Washington, iadvocating for HIV and AIDS.

-But not everyone in the San Francisco House

welcomes Pedro.

-Rachel kind of just got up and left.

I wanted to ask some hardcore questions

about how it affects him,

how it's gonna affect us as his roommate.

None of those things were discussed.

-When Rachel finds out that he has HIV, is like,

"Well, I don't think I should share a bathroom with you."

-There may have been, in the back of my head, something,

"Well, I'm sharing a bathroom with somebody that has HIV."

-At the time it was a death sentence,

so Rachel's fears are not unwarranted.

♪♪

-But it's Puck, a local bike messenger,

who will give Pedro the hardest time.

- Hi. - Hey.

- [ Laughs ] - Hi.

-I am the Puck.

-When production cast Puck,

they knew he'd be pretty outrageous.

-I would never go out like Pedro anyway.

If I did have AIDS, I'd be in, like, the south of France

and Nepal and Switzerland, and then I'd die.

-I don't think they understood that he would eventually

get really, really vicious.

-I know I don't like him, Rachel.

I know in three minutes. "You're a dork."

My stance is this... Unh-unh.

-Puck was just reality-TV villain asshole

who treated him badly.

-The problem is that Pedro got attention from the roommates

and was liked,

and Puck was kind of instantly disliked by just about everyone.

And so there was, I think, this resentment.

-I told you we were the odd couple.

Well, you know, there's a dirty guy and a clean guy.

An unconfirmed gay guy.

-What I really hate is this whole gay thing.

-One guy's dirty, one guy's clean.

You tell me. Are we fitting the bill?

-His personality seemed to change

when he knew he was being filmed.

-Puck's antics become even more problematic

as Pedro's health begins to deteriorate.

-Your total helper T cells are 32 right now.

So that's a drop for you.

-Bad living conditions and stress in the house,

this stuff was negatively affecting his health.

-My T cell count dropped again.

I have like maybe 30 T cells, which is ridiculous.

-He had, like, no immune system left, right?

Normally you have over 500 T cells

to measure your immunity.

-Pedro's declining health

only seems to fuel Puck's bullying behavior.

-He started getting angrier

when attention wasn't being paid to him.

And it started coming out in homophobic remarks.

-All he talks about is how, "Heterosexuals are this.

And [ Spanish accent ] "I can make fun of heterosexuals

because you're heterosexuals."

-And it just tended escalate.

-He just keeps coming off as a dick

to someone who's trying to do something good in the world.

-What I heard you say, not only tonight

but since the first day, is that you don't

give a [bleep] about what I feel.

-What can you do about your choice, Pedro?

-Not live with you.

-The tension in the house continues to escalate

until Pedro issues an ultimatum.

- I am saying it right now. - What?

-Either I get out or he gets out.

So by the time I get back, the decision has to be made.

As long as Puck lives in this house,

Pedro does not live in the house.

-By 1994, San Francisco has been supportive

of gay rights for decades.

The city elected the first openly gay mayor in California,

Harvey Milk.

It also hosts the country's largest gay pride parade.

So when "The Real World: San Francisco" cast is forced

to choose between AIDS educator Pedro

and belligerent bully Puck...

-Shut up. You.

Deal with it or not, but I'm not gonna change.

- their decision does their adoptive city proud.

-I think Puck should leave.

- He should go. - I agree.

-Ultimately he is asked to leave the house.

-I think we would all make the same choice, you know?

Do I want to live with a Pedro or a Puck?

The choice is clear.

-One thing I noticed since Puck has left

is that everyone on separate occasions

has commented about how peaceful the house is now.

-With Puck voted out of the house,

Pedro can once again focus on his life's mission...

Educating the country's youth about a deadly disease.

-I will probably not see the age of 30.

I will probably die before I turn 30 years of age.

And somehow you had to find some type of meaning to your life.

♪♪

-With his health seemingly on the mend, Pedro is invigorated.

"The Real World" captures his budding relationship

with Sean Sasser,

a fellow AIDS educator who's also HIV positive.

-MTV really did honor Pedro's story,

but the genius of it being on reality TV

is that we got to see him fall in love,

and he trusted that they were telling

a complete story.

-But like too many AIDS sufferers of that decade,

Pedro's health eventually worsens.

-[ Coughing ]

-You just got warmer.

-We're gonna have to call the clinic.

-As season three airs on MTV, viewers tune in to follow along

with Pedro's courageous struggle.

-No, it's going up again.

-I found out that my temperature was 104.

-Pedro's incredible fame and illness

came both at the same time.

-Do you know how you contracted AIDS?

-I know that I got it through unprotected sex.

-He went from being

a very highly sought after local speaker

to, you know, an enormous star.

♪♪

And Pedro actually got really sick

in the middle of doing a bunch of this press stuff.

He got PCP pneumonia and he was hospitalized, but he recovered.

-Pedro's recovery opens up the opportunity for Sean and him

to formalize their relationship in another reality-TV first.

-Had a commitment ceremony in the house,

which we basically, like, threw a gay wedding

in the house for the first time.

-And it was a big deal.

You know, it was a gay wedding in 1994,

you know, on television.

-It is a lot easier for me to face my own fears

and face the uncertainty of my own life,

knowing that he's there.

So I love you.

-And we were really proud of that

because it was so meaningful.

And it was beautiful.

♪♪

-And it's a ratings bonanza for MTV.

- "The Real World" season three

was like a cultural juggernaut, right?

-I just felt, like, so relieved that this important story

was gonna be out there.

[ Monitor beeping ]

-But soon after the wedding,

Pedro's health declines once again.

♪♪

-What are you supposed to do when your friend's dying?

-Even the president is moved by Pedro's story.

-President Clinton called just to check in.

-Hello, Pedro. It's President Clinton.

I just called to tell you I was thinking about you and praying for you.

- He might not be able to answer, but he understands everything. - Okay.

-Bill Clinton arranged for his siblings

who were still in Cuba to be able to come to America,

knowing that Pedro was probably dying.

♪♪

-At that time, Pedro was like a significant cultural figure.

And Pedro was, you know, people's friend by now.

So if you're under the age of 30,

"The Real World" was a real event.

-The day after the final episode

of "The Real World: San Francisco" airs on MTV,

America's friend dies in Miami.

[ Flatline beeps ]

-Pedro Zamora, teenage AIDS activist and MTV personality,

was only 22 years old.

-Pam and I were with Pedro when he passed away,

and he died without any pain.

And he died with his family around him.

-Today, 1,500 people attended a memorial service for Zamora

in Miami Beach.

-People really felt connected to him.

And so when, you know, when he died, people were devastated.

-It's very, very rare that you have an experience

where you're a part of something

that is so much bigger than yourself.

And, uh...

And I'm very conscious of that. Still.

-As tragic as it was and is,

it's really incredible what that season of "Real World" did

for everyone's understanding of HIV.

-Now no one in America can say

they've never known someone who's living with AIDS.

The challenge to each of us is to do something about it.

-It really made a lot of difference

and a lot of change.

It's an incredible moment in television history.

-But if the history of television teaches us anything

its that the show must go on.

And as MTV pumps out follow-up seasons of "The Real World,"

the genuine emotion of the first three seasons will be replaced

by something darker and more unsettling.

[ Glass breaking ] - Oh!

-The death of 22-year-old Pedro Zamora

and the attention he brings to "The Real World"

marks a new era for MTV.

-The success that "The Real World" had

begat a hunger for more and more reality programing

from the execs at MTV.

-But the tone of reality programs is shifting.

Talk shows like "Jerry Springer" demonstrate audiences

will show up for confrontation.

-What are you gonna do, [bleep] hit me with your walker?

-No, with this!

-The more fistfights and depravity, the better.

MTV responds with "Real World" spin-offs

where conflict takes center stage.

-If I'm being a bitch, I'm so sorry. I'm human.

I can't be Mrs. Nice Person all the time.

-So "Road Rules," which is "Real World" in an R.V.

And then there's enough alumni from both of those shows

that you can put them back together

and have the "Real World/ Road Rules Challenge,"

where they're, like, beating each other up

and playing paintball or whatever.

-The shift in reality is on full display

when the show's producers shoot a reunion special

and it quickly devolves into performative conflict.

-What'd you say about Pedro when he died?!

-You said, "Good riddance," didn't you?! "Everywhere!

If you're gay and you have AIDS, you deserve to get it." - Get off your soapbox, Judd.

That's what you [bleep] said! Tell me you didn't say it!

-Your mother's my secret lover.

-Looking back on it, it's even more egregious

That kind of personality just does not age well.

-For the second time,

Puck is kicked out of "The Real World."

-Take yourself out of here, then.

-Oh, you know what?

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Youth audience, they devour content

and it burns really bright.

The stuff they love burns really bright.

Then it would burn out, and they're looking for the next thing.

And I think that's why you see things change and become louder.

[ Crash ] - [ Screaming ]

-That's what contestants are doing on MTV's new game show,

"Trashed."

-It became almost like, uh... like crack.

Like, you just had to keep going

and getting your next fix, the next reality idea.

And how do we cut through, how do we make things different,

how do we make things bigger?

-But bigger isn't always better.

For "The Real World,"

the authentic reality on display in its initial seasons

is replaced by vapid battles over airtime and attention.

-By the end of the decade, the show was very focused

on partying, drinking,

hooking up with one another, and getting in fistfights.

-First he was beating me up, but then I start to come back.

-This is the time when "Girls Gone Wild" videos

are being sold.

This all becomes entertainment,

seeing young people gone wild.

And this becomes a golden formula for MTV.

-Turn on the video monitor that has a camera over the hot tub.

They were really enjoying themselves in that hot tub.

-It's all they want. Hookups and hot tubs.

That's what they love.

-It certainly works hand in hand

with the shift in generations from,

you know, the initial generation that MTV was was catering to

was Generation X.

By the late '90s,

it has shifted its attention to millennials.

-I'm back in!

-Millennials are very interested in branding themselves.

[ Laughter ]

-They just wanted to get famous and be seen.

It would make a show suffer.

-That got bad news written all over it.

-Then there's "Jackass."

-Oh! Oh!

-As the millennium hits,

MTV redefines reality TV once again with "Jackass,"

introducing audiences to stunts and pranks

that test the limits of good taste, humor,

and human endurance.

-As happens a lot in pop culture,

something happens that the smart people think

is gonna be a gimmick,

and then it's like... Then it explodes.

Then reality TV is a thing.

♪♪

And now it's 90% of every network,

and there are a thousand networks.

It's crazy.

-Reality TV rolls on,

and its legacy will always be linked

to the pioneers who broke first ground.

-Pam and I went through the nonsense together.

We met on this crazy television show.

We fell in love, we got married, we have two kids.

We have a house, jobs, lives.

That's not what's supposed to happen with reality TV.

-Reality TV has an opportunity

to show people as they really are.

But we're not doing that.

-In the '90s, we had an aspect of our lives

that we were trying to share with people,

not every waking moment of our lives.

-The directive is kind of different now,

but to have been in the nucleus of that thing

during the time that I was is, like, such an honor.

-The power of a kind of silly TV show has

to affect people's behavior for,

you know, three decades after is really striking.

♪♪

-We did go through a lot together

and it's, you know...

we'll always be connected in a very deep and meaningful way.

♪♪

It was a wild experience.