So we’re still on the topic of the major “Ex-Plosion” twist. While the new concept is getting a mixed bag of feedback, it’s not the only season that tweaked the format of The Real World. Let’s be honest, The Real World Portland was dramatically different from the first season in New York. Here’s some other seasons that introduced changes.
Miami
Miami was the first season where the cast was required to have a job. Before this, cast members were free to pick up a side job at the location of their choosing. By organizing a job prior to the cast’s arrival, production could ensure they’d be able to film while the cast was working (it would also avoid the difficulties that the London cast had finding jobs in a foreign country). The organized job stuck…for the most part. Most seasons following Miami required the cast to slave away at a super cool job.
Back To New York
Much like the upcoming San Francisco season, New York was a repeat location. For the first time The Real World was not touring new parts of the country or the world. Rather, production was relying on the cast to provide entertainment.
Las Vegas
Long time fans of The Real World regard the original Vegas season as a major shift in the editing and focus of the show. Rather than just documenting the lives of individuals in their early 20’s, Vegas took a group of sexy kids and pumped them with as much alcohol as possible. The season took place inside a Vegas hotel and made sure to allow the cast to milk all of the sin out of Sin City. After this season, there was definitely a stronger emphasis on the party lifestyle.
Hollywood
Hollywood changed The Real World in a couple of ways. Firstly, it introduced hour-long episodes rather than half-hour episodes. This meant viewers were able to get deeper into some storylines, while other story lines were left on the cutting board. The hour-long format is still used in current seasons.
Hollywood also placed an emphasis on including an online/interactive component to the show. Greg was voted into the house by fans (this was only repeated one other time when Ayiiia was voted into Cancun). MTV also uploaded more clips to their website. We will likely see an increase in online content this season because the cast was given smartphones to use during the season.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn was the first season to start with 8 people in the cast, proving that production was willing to be flexible with the number of people cast on the show. While the show returned to the original 7 roommates (the upcoming season starts with 7), we will find that production is willing to let the cast grow beyond just 7.
Stop Being Polite 
The online voting aspect first happened in Back to New York where we voted Lori onto the show. They also got the 2way pagers in New York. Brooklyn was the first Season since Jobs started where the cast wasn’t given a job.
Good call with Lori being voted onto B2NY. Completely forgot about that. During Hollywood, they also utilized the Real World Dailies site and I Am On MTV site so online interaction was at its peak.
I miss the dailies site. Best thingthat happened was the 1hr episodes. I ccouldn’t commit to 22 weeks of 1 season.
Lori wasn’t voted onto the show itself. She was voted into the final round of casting, which was ripping off the Making The Band format at the time.
The original Real World Las Vegas was the first and only season to have a reunited season which was only 6 episodes.
Miami – it was not the first season to require a job. They had to start a business. It ultimately failed.