Is MTV's The Real World going high definition?
By Richard Lawler 
posted Apr 11th 2006 6:25PM
posted Apr 11th 2006 6:25PM
MTV
announced today that the next season of their granddaddy of reality TV will be shot in Denver, CO. Where is MTV's high
definition station MHD based? Colorado. It makes complete sense to me for
them to use one of their longest running and most popular series (especially since they don't show music videos
anymore) to promote their new station. If MTV does go HDTV for The Real World, this could be a very big step as so far, reality television (whether you love it or hate it) has almost totally been SD-only. The only exception I can think of is American Idol. If The Real World makes the switch, network television will follow. This is not to mention the legions of young people who (like me) have basically grown up with the show and would have an all new reason (like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 aren't enough) to buy HDTVs.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, but it seems like a great opportunity. They've invested quite a bit in their new station, and this could be a push to get cable and satellite operators to sign up for it. As far as viewers go, no matter what your opinion of reality shows are, it would probably be better in 720p.
Well M2 has gone to showing crappy MTV shows instead of playing videos, My not clog up MHD with crap shows also. I can see them doing it
With the sheer number of cameras needed to film a reality show and the amount of storage & editing horsepower needs, I highly doubt they come out of the gate with a reality show in HD first. Studio show makes MUCH more sense.
As far as reality tv goes, MTV has always been ahead of the game as the leader of crappy TV. They have put out every show possible from the "romantic" and dramatic (realworld), serious, stupid, to tottaly absurd (Jackass). So it makes perfect sense for them to take their 'reality' tv to the "next Level", because as far as comming up with new shows to air on tv, I just wish they would stop. They are doing nothing for my generation's intelligence...