The Real World
1992–2019MTVDocumentary
"This is the true story of seven strangers" — the narration that invented the reality format, and the one every parody since has copied.
The Real World opens with a main title sequence of 19 seconds.
At 19 seconds, it opens well under the 37-second median for documentary sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on MTV in 1992, when Æon Flux was also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
19sFan upload of the first season, New York in 1992.
More documentary opening titles from the 1990s
1 sequenceDateline NBC
NBC's newsmagazine, which outlasted every other network attempt at the form by turning into a true-crime hour.
- Season 1
1 sequenceTime Team
Three days to excavate a site, with the clock running in the titles before anyone picks up a trowel.
- Season 1
1 sequenceWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Keith and Matthew Strachan's music, which unusually runs continuously under the questions rather than only over the titles — one of the few game shows scored like a thriller.
- Season 1
1 sequenceThe Beatles Anthology
The band's own account of itself, assembled with the three surviving members.
- Season 1
1 sequenceBill Nye the Science Guy
Science for children at the speed of a music video, with a theme that shouts the presenter's name.
- Season 1
1 sequenceRobot Wars
Twenty-one seconds of sparks and industrial metal, for a programme in which people destroyed their own hardware for sport.
- Seasons 1–4