Before "Big Brother" there was another reality series where people went and lived in a house while cameras followed their every move. Unlike "Big Brother", the cast of "Real World" can leave the house, have people over and lead "regular" lives. Now in it's eleventh season, "Real World" heads to the windy city of Chicago. Unfortunately I haven't seen this season of the show so I can't comment on the amount of recycled footage, but the footage included is very entertaining. Join Annesa, Chris, Keri, Kyle, Theo, Cara and Tonya in Chicago.
Video
Shot on video, this release is free of any problems like dust or scratches you'd expect from a show shot on film. The colors are nice and clean and the video only suffers from the a bit of video noise. There are 19 chapters and the names are provided so you can get an idea of what's covered on the disc: "And the most naked person is..." "What are the cameras for?" "Going for the natural look," "Showering with friends," "That's gotta hurt," "The lobster zone," "Crossing the line," "Becoming Chris," "One flew into the Real World nest," "Good vibrations," "The game is on," "The Real World language," "I got moves!" "This message is for Tonya..." "Who is Jippy the Hand?" "Aneesa's multiple personalities," "Keep that to yourself!" "The not so haunted house" and "The crew gets even." Yes, there's a lot of nudity in the disc, but it's all blurred (darn it!).
Audio
The audio for "The Real World You Never Saw: Chicago" is nice and clean. Every fart, burp and joke is picked up by the mics the cast wears, and the boom mics that follow them around with the cameraman. This is a Dolby Surround 2.0 track which is mainly driven by the center speaker (dialog). The rears are occasionally used for music, but that's all. One thing I noticed right away is the absence of BEEP, BEEP when the cast members swear. Thank you Paramount! I agree that these words should be kept off the TV, but when you purchase a DVD you expect it to be beep free. If this was a test to gauge reaction, consider this one vote to keep the audio BEEP free!
Cast Profiles
I was expecting this to be like the "Back to New York" disc I previously reviewed. That disc contained a single screen text writeup and a link to the cast member's submission tape. This release doesn't contain the single screen text, but instead gives us a short (roughly 1 min) piece cut together from submission tapes and interviews. Here are the exact times of the video pieces: Aneesa (1:02), Chris (1:22), Keri (1:04), Kyle (1:06), Theo (1:20), Cara (1:12) and Tonya (0:57). Total time is 8:03.
House Tour
While watching the feature I was looking forward to this extra. This would be such an amazing place to live in! A freight elevator with a view of the bathroom and fish tank and it goes up; a HUGE shower; the hidden confessional. Cara and Theo lead this 9:55 long tour of the place they lived in for 4 months.
Blueprints
3 screens containing the blueprints for the house. I plan on taking these to an architect and getting a similar place done. Well...maybe not.
Art Gallery
This house featured some amazing pieces of artwork donated by local artists and 12 of the pieces are displayed in this 2 min video piece. I'm not exactly sure why, but Paramount Home Video decided not to create still frames that could be controlled by the remote, but as a video piece that runs without music. I think photos should be still images, or if they're turned into a video piece there should be music that accompanies them.
Summary
I really wish I had seen "Real World: Chicago" to report on how much of the content is new, and also because it looked like an interesting cast. It's nice that Paramount Home Entertainment releases these DVDs for the fans, but I'd still rather have a disc like this bundled with a season set. I mentioned in my "Back to New York" review that I thought season sets could be coming since Paramount was releasing "WWF Tough Enough: Season One", but apparently I was wrong.
Easter Eggs
From the main screen of the disc, press down and enter to access hidden clips. The clips length are: "MTV" (0:30), "Real World" (0:14) and "Chicago" (0:13).
