The International ‘Real World’ Homage That You Should Be Watching Is On Netflix

Being a fan of Terrace House feels like you're in on a big secret. The show is like the polar opposite of the reality television that inspired it, removing all the flashy presentation of American television and boiling the concept of "strangers living in a house" down to its absolute basics. Fans from all across the world are clamoring to know if Terrace House: Aloha State will return for Season 5, now that Terrace House: Aloha State Season 4 is streaming on Netflix.

Unfortunately for fans of Terrace House: Aloha State, it appears that there will be no fifth season of the show. The final episode of Season 4, entitled "Bye Bye Terrace House in Aloha State" seems to mark the end of the Hawaii-based iteration of the franchise. Terrace House: Boys x Girls Next Door and Terrace House: Boys And Girls In The City ended in similar fashions, with episodes beginning with "Bye Bye..." to signify the end of a franchise.

Terrace House: Aloha State is the third iteration of the franchise, having moved production to Hawaii after 10 seasons in Japan. The Hawaii debut marked the show's first international season, and it seemed to succeed in attracting an international crowd. The audience for Terrace House is now larger than ever, and Netflix could have their biggest reality TV hit yet on their hands if they continue to renew the show.

Terrace House: Boys And Girls In The City premiered on Netflix on Sept. 2, 2015, but the show didn't start to collect a dedicated fanbase international until 2017. By the end of summer 2017, however, Terrace House had grown from just another Netflix show to being considered a revolution in the world of reality television. Slowly but surely, major websites began writing about the show, which grew the audience, which encouraged more publications to write about it which encouraged even more potential fans to check out the show, and so one and so forth.

First, tech magazine Wired was one of the major publications to cover the show in early 2016, claiming that it was "the future of Netflix." Tech website The Verge and video game website Polygon sang its praises in the second half of 2016. In 2017, culture websites Vulture and The Ringer recommended it, and in the summer of 2017 Buzzfeed published a feature article that declared Terrace "a global hit." Mia Nakaji Monnier's Buzzfeed feature said that Terrace House can feel like "a show about nothing," but it's that quality that has allowed the show to become an international success.

The original Terrace House: Boys x Girls Next Door, not currently available on Netflix, placed six strangers in a house in the coastal Shōnan region of Japan. The next incarnation of the show, Terrace House: Boys And Girls In The City, added an urban twist After the cultural melting pot of Terrace House: Aloha State, there are still plenty of new and interesting ways that the Real World-esque series can take its setting.

Aloha State not only marked Terrace House's first season filmed outside of Japan, it was also the show's first attempt to merge Japanese and American culture to match the show's growing American fanbase. Could the next iteration of Terrace House by Boys And Girls In The American Countryside? It would be fun to see the houseguests take on the continental U.S. Whether the next season of Terrace House will lean further into American crossover territory or return to its roots in Japan, there will be a whole lot of disappointed fans if Netflix doesn't bring back the cult, international reality hit.