You kids are too young to remember, but before the Internets there was TV, the biggest thing ever. You see, we didn’t have YouTube and Facebook and all, we only had MTV’s Real World. Hollywood came to town, rented a house on one of the most touristy blocks imaginable, and then stuffed it full of video cameras and castmembers, like Puck (the fans’ favorite), Pedro, Rachael, Judd, Cory, Mohammed, Pam and Jo. (Was UCSF Medical School grad Pam Ling really the most irritating actor on this show?) Reality television was a newer idea back then, so this show got lots of attention.
People certainly paid attention to AIDS-activist Pedro Zamora. Read up about him here because a movie about his short life will premiere on MTV, mtvU, LOGO and MTV Tr3s on April 1, 2009. See the news below.
This is the actual Pedro Zamora, from 1994:
And this is the movie Pedro Zamora:
So yes, it’s a scripted drama about a Bunim-Murray Productions reality TV show, but there you go, your choice. You might be surprised with what you see:
“MTV’s “The Real World” is now in it’s 18th season but it has never reached the kind of social significance and importance it did after it’s third season. Today’s “Real World” is a far cry from what it used to be. Whereas before it was filled with important social commentary and significance, today it’s degenerated simply into a bunch of snot nosed twerps having sex, and getting drunk with no socially redeeming value of any kind.”
OK then.
Here’s today’s news:
World Television Premiere Event: The Film ‘Pedro’ Airs on MTV, MTV Tr3s, mtvU & LOGO on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00 PM ET/PT
Introduced by President Bill Clinton, BMP Films and MTV Bring Academy Award-Winner Dustin Lance Black’s (“Milk”) Story of The Real World’s Pedro Zamora To Life
MTV and World Class Partners to Help Mobilize Young People to Get Tested During STD Awareness Month
MTV, mtvU, LOGO andMTV Tr3s, withsubtitles in Spanish, will present the world television premiere of Pedro, a movie based on the remarkable life of The Real World’s Pedro Zamora, on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00 PM ET/PT. BMP Films, in association with MTV, produced this biopic written by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”). For more information and to view the movie trailer, please visit www.pedro.mtv.com.
In 1994, Zamora captured the hearts of millions as the first-ever openly gay, HIV-positive main character on TV — on MTV’sThe Real World: San Francisco. Zamora’s time in the house on Lombard Street brought a face to the AIDS crisis. President Bill Clinton has long credited Zamora with personalizing and humanizing the epidemic, and he will introduce Pedro when it makes its world television premiere April 1st.
“To this day, Pedro Zamora remains an extraordinary example of what a huge impact one young person can make in our world,” President Clinton said. “I’m glad to have known him, and I’m grateful his life has been able to inspire and enrich so many others.”
More deets after the jump.
