Photo by Andrew Wiseman

Tips started rolling in Tuesday afternoon: cast members of The Real World D.C. were spotted variously loading luggage into large SUVs and driving off, or being filmed slowly walking away in dramatic fashion from their Dupont neighborhood house. NBCWashington.com has since filed this interview with the show’s executive producer, who confirmed that after four months, the Real Worlders have at last left the District.

In the run-up to the cast’s arrival in July, there was a real sense that Washingtonians were deeply interested in finally hosting the once popular MTV show after so many years. Local photographers staked out the house at 20th and S Streets NW, and speculation about how the show’s production would affect the city ran wild. Then, when filming actually started, it seemed like it took about three days for the novelty to wear off completely. You might have seen a stray Twitter update here or there about the cast arriving at this bar or that event, but mostly, the city just stopped paying attention. After all, this is an aging show in a TV environment saturated with new and more compelling reality show formats. When was the last time The Real World actually made anyone famous, anyway? 2004? 1994?

In any event, four months later, they are gone as quickly as they came. The show is scheduled to premiere on MTV in early 2010. Will we watch? Probably the first episode or two. After that, who knows how long we’ll be able to keep up interest.