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MTV's Sorority Life: fantasy or reality?
By Ryan Eanes
Contributing Reviewer

Huge groups of cute girls competing for social acceptance and hopefully male attention – it’s spring sorority Rush, and the drama abounds.

MTV’s subsequent jump to a reality show on the bizarre social phenomenon of Greek women, Sorority Life, was an easy one.

As for the series itself, it purports to follow the pledge process of Sigma Alpha Epilson Pi, a traditionally Jewish sorority at the University of California at Davis. The series is naturally infused with an ample amount of MTV-esque tumultuous ups and downs.

As I am first and foremost not a girl and secondly I am ineligible (sadly) to pledge a sorority, I really have no way of knowing whether or not the series is all that accurate. The underlying procedures and basic principles that the show covers all seem to be at the very least feasible, if not entirely likely.

But since I (and probably a large majority of the viewing audience) really have no idea what could be considered realistic.

"I think it’s definitely a stereotypical sorority," said senior Jamie Faulkner, a member of the Phi Mu sorority on campus.

"A lot of it’s kind of extra dramatized," she said, also citing the unrealistic quality of the expansive house provided for the 10 pledges.

"I can’t even sit there and watch it because I think it’s pretty ridiculous. I don’t even know anybody like that and I wouldn’t hang out with them if I did," Faulkner said.

The drama-queen aspect of the show made other real-life sisters regular fans. "At first I watched it when they were kind of doing Rush to see if it was similar to what I was going through last semester," said sophomore Katie Reedy of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.

Although the UC Davis Sigmas had a few familiar traditions like big and little sisters and secret initiation rites, the rest didn’t quite ring true.

"There was always drama every week; it was really funny," Reedy said.

Dissenting opinions aside, the show has been something of a hit for MTV. It has been prominent in the network’s daily schedule and on its Web site, with marathons of the series running recently.

With the series virtually completed, MTV is trying to lure as many audience members as it can.

Doubtlessly MTV will re-air the series over and over until they decide to shoot a new series, and then they’ll air the two back-to-back, just like they’ve done with Road Rules and The Real World.

This is part of MTV’s marketing strategy. Their core demographic loves what’s trendy, and a program like Sorority Life remains trendy no matter how many times it’s aired.

This explains why MTV has released several complete sets of its series on DVD, including The Real World; I imagine Sorority Life will follow.

I’ve heard no official word either way, but my guess is that the show will spawn a sequel or two – a hallmark of MTV reality series.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Fraternity Life, which might be a little more disturbing to watch.

If you’ve missed the program’s run, just keep checking the MTV Web site – the network is notorious for re-running successful programs as filler material.

Regardless of your opinion of Sorority Life’s accuracy, it grabs your attention – whether in the car-wreck sense or the catchy pop-single sense, is for you to decide.