Most college students can probably recite the opening lines of MTV's The Real World by heart: "This is the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house and have their lives taped..." yada, yada, yada.

I used to actually look forward to watching the show, each season with its own exotic locales and invasive cameras, but now I cannot stand it. So what happened through the years to cause this sudden change in heart?

It is hard to believe that the show is in its 17th season -- making it the longest-running reality show out there. It all began back in 1992 -- a time when reality TV wasn't the norm and when I was in second grade, more interested in Mattel products than anything on MTV.

I guess you could say our generation "grew up" with The Real World (even though it may have been a bit racy for our pre-teen peepers). Back in the day, MTV seemed pretty darn innovative with its fresh look at the way things really are for young people in America -- something that has disappeared years later with gems such as There and Back.

When the first set of seven strangers shacked up in SoHo, the show did a better job at "keepin' it real." The characters seemed to come from more varied backgrounds and actually resembled actual 18- to 24-year-olds. The tension was anything but fake, discussion was intelligent, relevant issues were addressed and "drama" was reserved for movies or plays.

For example, Pedro from the San Francisco season put a face on the AIDS epidemic and drew attention to gay issues. Interracial relationships, religion, politics, socio-economic struggles, etc., were what the characters used to dish about instead of just drinking and sleeping around. There was a "je ne sais quoi" about the early seasons of The Real World -- a sort of genuine innocence that disappeared faster than Ashanti's career.

Unfortunately in recent years, the show has become less like reality and more like a four-month long spring break. Need proof? Go on MTV.com and look at the cast from the first couple seasons and compare that to the cast of the last couple seasons. There have definitely been many improvements in the looks category in recent casts; it's as if the show has been invaded by really, really ridiculous good-looking people as Derrick Zoolander might say. I guess MTV thinks The Real World now only consists of beautiful people who like to party and get laid 24/7.

As applications for the show grew in number, it became possible for MTV executives to pick out people they wanted because they had more people from which they could choose. Rather than casting to portray reality, they began to cast for craziness and combustion. This became blatantly obvious when everything that happened when The Real World went to Vegas definitely did not stay in Vegas.

Aside from the model bomb that exploded on The Real World, it seems there are certain character molds into which the seven strangers now think they have to fit. It has been become so obvious I'm sure most people can name them, too.

There is "the token minority," "the token gay person," "the token jock/prep/hotty-totty," "the token outspoken bitch," "the token pretty, insecure girl who may or may not have a boyfriend" and "the token goofball."

The new faces on The Real World seem to fit so perfectly into these personalities it is a little creepy. How can people forcing themselves to fit a certain mold for industry ratings be even remotely real?

MTV has created its own artificial reality that, unfortunately, reflects how superficial America's youth has become -- concerned only with beauty and sex, and seemingly clueless about everything else going on in the world around them.

This alternate universe that MTV has coined extends to old cast members pretending they are actors who are famous for doing nothing, which is more annoying than having an 8 a.m. class on Friday.

It's sad that The Real World had everything going for it at one time -- it had potential to make a difference, to be compelling and not just a joke. When will MTV go back to the days when people stopped being polite and started getting real? The world may never know.