New Seasons of MTV’s ‘The Real World’ to Run on Facebook Watch

MTV Studios is partnering with Facebook Watch to produce three new seasons of The Real World, the first premiering in spring 2019. The seasons will be native productions in the U.S., Mexico and Thailand, exploring the cultural and social environment in each nation. 

Each season will be available exclusively on Facebook Watch, which announced the news at MIPCOM 2018. 

MTV Studios is part of Viacom

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Created for MTV by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim of Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP), The Real World was an early reality series, and one that tackled issues such as race, homophobia and addiction. It had 32 seasons, from 1992 to 2017. 

Bunim/Murray Productions is co-producing the new seasons with MTV Studios. Pre-production is underway in each location. 

“MTV’s The Real World helped to define a generation and created a new genre of television with a simple yet powerful idea of connecting people from wildly divergent backgrounds to find common ground on the issues that often divided them,” said Chris McCarthy, president of MTV. “By partnering with Facebook Watch and BMP, we have the opportunity to impact culture and create a new genre of television all over again, while engaging the next generation of content consumers around the world.” 

Facebook users will have the ability to vote one housemate onto the show prior to air, and there will be opportunities for fans to connect with the cast through Facebook Live, Premieres and Watch Party. Facebook Watch will also release daily drops of scenes from forthcoming episodes leading into the weekly half-hour premiere.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.