Where should ‘Real World’ go next?

Q:I know “The Real World” is [in] Austin this season, but how much longer can they go until the producers tape the lives of seven strangers in Montana?    —Corie

A:Andy says: The show can go on much longer, and probably will: Besides being renewed through its 20th season, the series has a ton of possible locations to choose from.

After Austin, the show might head to the southernmost point in the continental US: Key West. As I reported on reality blurred, residents said producers were scouting multiple locations there, which they confirmed.

Although it seems like the show has hit all major US cities (and even returned to New York once), there are still plenty of options. While the series has remained rather coast-centered, there are a number of cities in the middle of the nation that would be perfect hosts, plus still more on the coasts. Here are a few possibilities:

Portland: A hip, progressive city with close proximity to nature, although it's unlikely the cast would see much of the green space since they'd be busy drinking and hooking up.

Providence: The home of Brown University is a small but vibrant city. It's also very close to two big summertime destinations in Rhode Island (Newport and Block Island), and not too far from Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons.

Washington, DC: Our nation's capital is often mentioned as a contender for the series. Undoubtedly, someone in the government would offer the seven strangers jobs as interns so they could lend a hand.

Orlando: The city hosted "Making the Band" and gave birth to the boy band phenomenon and a number of today's celebrities via "The New Mickey Mouse Club," but it's more than just a breeding ground for teen idols and boy bands. Besides being home to plenty of theme parks, which might be a good place of employment, there are beaches nearby and plenty of sun. And, perhaps, hurricanes.

Australia: Any of the country's major cities would provide an interesting backdrop for another international version of the series. This time, though, producers need to cast like they did for London, including just a couple of Americans along with people from different nations. Paris, with its single non-American, was an embarrassment, and rather boring.

Vancouver: A visit to Canada might show the series' audience that there's more to our neighbor to the north than just frozen tundra. Montreal and Toronto would also work nicely.

Gael says: I've complained before about the deterioration of MTV's veteran reality show, saying that the show needs to ditch the group jobs and get back to its roots, setting every season in New York City and picking contestants who are already striving towards careers. My thinking there is that ambitious, self-directed kids make for a better show than those who don't have a life goal other than sleeping in and doing innumerable "Real World Challenges" after their time on the show is over. And ambitious, self-directed kids have a million reasons to beeline for New York City. In the first season alone, dancer Julie, painter Norman, model Eric, rapper Heather B., folksinger Becky, rocker Andre and writer Kevin all pursued their own separate dreams in the Big Apple. But those days are gone.  MTV and Bunim-Murray seem quite happy with their current formula of casting for cleavage and alcohol-consumption tolerance, so I doubt that will happen.

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Some other thoughts:

Alaska: It's fearsomely beautiful, unknown to many Americans, and couldn't be confused with any of the other locations the show has been set in. Any major Alaskan city would do, though it would be funny to see the kids set down in a real-life equivalent of Northern Exposure's Cicely. Film during winter though — no bikinis, here.

Phoenix: In summer. Make them work on a road crew pouring tar or something equally sweat-inducing. Show lots of shots of thermometers topping 110. Use the bikini budget wisely saved from the Alaska season to double up on bathing suits for this cast.

Fargo/Cleveland/Detroit/Gary, insert your favorite working-class town here: Please know that I am not dissing the Midwest in any way — I was raised in Minneapolis/St. Paul, after all. But since the majority of the "Real World" cast members — with notable exceptions —are wealthy and pampered, let's shake them up a bit. Cast them with the promise of "Real World: Fiji" or some other tropical paradise, then announce a last-minute setting switch and put them in a real city, with real jobs. OK, so it's a bait-and-switch you could only pull once (or twice, see "Joe Millionaire"), but damn, it would be satisfying.

Q: I've been wondering for years now. Who does that EYEBALL belong to on the opening shots for "Big Brother"? It drives me NUTS!    —David

A: End the craziness! A man's eye does appear on the title screen of "Big Brother" just before the show cuts to commercial. You can see the eye in question on the "Big Brother" application site (though the application deadline has passed).

Although online speculation has noted that the snippet of person shown does resemble contestant Gerry Lancaster of "Big Brother 3," it's not him. A CBS spokeswoman says only that it was someone from the show's production staff. She couldn't be more specific than that.    —G.F.C.

Q: Will they ever do another Joe Schmo or something similar? That show rocked!    —Alison

A: After two seasons, it seems that Spike TV’s hybrid reality show/parody won’t return. Even if the series did return, it’s unlikely we’d know about it until right before it aired. That’s because secrecy is vital to its success; the schmos can never know.

When it aired, “The Joe Schmo Show” provided a perfect send-up of the reality genre, using actors in all roles except one; that “schmo” had to deal with increasingly bizarre personalities and challenges. The first season is out on DVD, so you can relive everything from the cast’s plotting to Matt Kennedy Gould’s stunned reaction when he discovered that everything was an elaborate joke.

By the way, the producers went on to produce a similar series earlier this year. “Invasion Iowa” watched as William Shatner and a film crew filmed a movie in the small town that’s supposedly home to Shatner’s Captain Kirk. There was no movie, though, just a series that focused on the reactions of Iowans to the crew’s over-the-top Hollywood antics.    —A.D.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Television Editor. Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.