There’s a whole new ‘Real World’ waiting for discovery on MTV

What happens when four guys and three girls move into a Manhattan loft together?

Find out on the new weekly MTV soap opera The Real World, premiering Thursday.

Told in documentary-style, “The Real World” follows the adventures of seven young adults--age 19 to 25--in New York City. The action and dialogue, MTV promises, will be spontaneous as the group, which consists of real people not actors, discusses the real careers, backgrounds, dreams, loves, hates and ambitions of its members. People in the cast will address the camera, giving viewers the intimate scoop on themselves and their roomies.

“The Real World” also will boast the “unmistakable style of MTV,” which, roughly translated, means it will be fast-paced, have a rock ‘n’ roll score and a contemporary attitude.

“The Real World” premieres Thursday at 10-11 p.m. and repeats Saturday at 7-8 p.m. MTV.

For ages 13 and up.

MORE KIDS’ SHOWS

A lonely, orphaned 9-year-old boy (Sean Marshall) is befriended by Elliott, a 20-by-40-foot fire-breathing dragon with a heart of gold in the 1977 live-action/animated Disney musical Pete’s Dragon (Sunday 7-9 p.m. on the Disney Channel). Helen Reddy, Mickey Rooney, Jim Dale and Shelley Winters also star. The score includes the Oscar-nominated song “Candle on the Water.” For ages 5 and up.

Secrets of the Golden River (Sunday 7-8 p.m. ABC), the latest installment in ABC’s award-winning “World of Discovery” documentary series, journeys down the Rio Negro river in the Brazilian rain forest. The large tributary that flows into the Amazon is home to such rare species of fish as the piranha and the tucusi dolphin. “Golden River” also examines village life and the methods families obtain sustenance from the river and the forest. For ages 8 and up.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner hosts Graffiti Wars: A Matter of Pride (Sunday 7:30-8 p.m.KCET), a video documentary look at graffiti in Los Angeles and those who write it and those who fight it. For ages 12 and up.

On this week’s episode of The Adventures of Tintin (Monday 7-8 p.m. HBO), the intrepid reporter Tintin discovers that one of his old adversaries is behind the kidnaping of an obnoxious millionaire. For ages 7 and up.

Hey dude! Totally awesome! In the 1989 hit comedy Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Monday 8-10 p.m. Fox), those inseparable teen-age airheads, played by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, are flunking out of history class only to find themselves traveling through time where they meet famous historical figures. For ages 11 and up.

Oscar-nominee Kate Nelligan (“The Prince of Tides”) guests on Avonlea (Monday 8-9 p.m. Disney Channel) as the editor of the Journal of the Royal Naturalist Society who visits Avonlea to interview Jasper (R.H. Thompson) about his studies of bats. For ages 8 and up.

Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories (Tuesday 7:30-8 p.m. Showtime) showcases Martin Short’s comedic talents. Short narrates both of this week’s animated tales: “Patrick’s Dinosaurs,” about a young boy who keeps seeing dinosaurs lurking everywhere after he goes to the zoo, and “What Happened to Patrick’s Dinosaurs?,” in which Patrick befriends the imaginary dinos.

For all ages.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford play the legendary outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Saturday 9-11 p.m. Disney Channel) in the 1969 Oscar-winning hit written by William Goldman (“The Princess Bride,” “Magic”). Katharine Ross co-stars as Etta Place, a local school marm who loves them both. Look for Cloris Leachman and Sam Elliott in tiny parts. For ages 12 and up.