I am 38, so I was a part of the MTV generation.  If you think that reality TV has taken over the airwaves in 2011, I can recall a time that it did not.

Once upon a time MTV came up with a ‘radical’ concept.  Toss 7 kids into a house and tape them 24/7 – they called it The Real World.

Season 2 took place in Los Angeles, and I watched religiously.  It was must see TV before NBC coined the phrase.

Season on of the Real World had 2 Black people on it….kind of.  The Black folk were rarely on the screen.  The producers had not yet gotten their groove going and the Black folk just kind of slipped through the cracks.  Perhaps they thought no one would WANT to watch the life of Black folk in Manhattan?  Who knows?

I can tell you that they OVER CORRECTED with season 2 & Los Angeles. Season 2 gave us again 2 Black people to view:

David Edwards

Tami Roman

Dave’s pic is really small & Tami’s bigger in comparison….there is a reason for that.

We hardly got to know Dave on the show.  He was the first cast member ever to be asked to leave the house. 

One night the housemates were clowning around and although other housemates had joined in the fun, Dave caught the bear.  They were in the girls room, and Tami was in her bra & panties.  Jon & Dave were teasing her and trying to rip off the bed spread to reveal her bra & panties.  Dave eventually won that battle, even though Tami had the ‘assistance’ of Beth.  The bra and panties were not that cute, perhaps that is why she didn’t want them revealed.

Most likely?  Dave thought Tami was cute and he would get to see some booty.  I can’t really blame him, since I like to see booty myself.  What no one counted on was that at some point the fun would no longer be fun.  After the disrobing, Tami decided that she was going to pay Dave back by pouring water on his bed.  Dave decided that he would get some get back too.

This is where things get tricky.  Tami had Beth in her ear, who didn’t like Dave, and things quickly escalated from pranks & jokes to motherfuckeres and fuck yous.  At one point Tami swung Dave in the hall like a rag doll.  I wasn’t sure if I should rewind the film and see who exactly had the testicles because Tami was a bad bitch in that moment.

You can hear Beth in the background whomp whomp whomp still talking about an incident that was over and done with…the bedspread.

Dave to his credit rather than putting Tami through a wall (which by the way I would not have faulted him for doing….if you can toss one you can take one is how I live MY life) – he chose to leave the house for the night, and allow Tami some time to cool down.  Seemed like the intelligent thing to do, the mature thing to do…he didn’t realize that Beth would be in Tami’s ear all night and that by the end of the 3rd episode there would be no more David.

Tami made a comparison – at Beth’s prompting – that what David did was akin to sexual assault and that for her safety she would leave the house unless David was removed.  Once again I wanted to run back the tape, because now I was convinced that this girl had a dick.

I didn’t like Tami after that….to tell the truth…I kind of still don’t. I thought it was bullshit, and I thought that Dave deserved better.  Tami would eventually win at least a part of my respect though.

Later in the season, Tami found out that she was pregnant.  Now the child is 22?23?  She works in HIV prevention and she gets PREGNANT.  Yeah I will let that sink in for a moment.  At the end of the day though, she fucked up while fucking.  It happens.  I have a 10 year old who is proof that condoms are not 100% effective.

Tami made the decision to terminate the pregnancy.

Now this is not an endorsement for abortion.  It is my saying BRAVO to the woman for being able to make that decision – the one best for her and her uterus – despite the massive amount of pressure she must have been under.

Choosing to terminate a pregnancy is NOT a simple decision to make.  MTV did a piss poor job of the coverage, but then again it was MTV not CNN. The fact that MTV aired it at all should get a standing ovation.  In 2001 abortion is still a polar topic in the United States, 20 years ago it was no less divisive.

The bottom line though is that it was Tami’s body, Tami’s decision and she made the one she felt was right for her.  By not caving into the pressures from the producers, she gave at least one girl out there the courage to stand up and defend her choices and her body in the same way Tami did.

How do I HATE her for that?  I don’t …. but I still don’t like her all that much.

This afternoon as I went through the chores the Basketball Wives Marathon played.  Tami has returned to reality TV, and is a cast member.  The finale was tonight and it ended in a fight between Tami & Evelyn.  Apparently Evelyn had sex with Tami’s then husband Kenny Anderson. 

That is the inspiration for tomorrow’s blog:  Maybe it is just me 2.0  I think that you will like it.

Right now I am going to get my beauty sleep and decide if this is a love or hate Tami day.