"It does appear there's a little bit of a higher level of interest in D.C. right now," says Josh Friedman, spokesman for the city's Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, which promotes Washington as a venue to filmmakers and broadcasters. MTV's The Real World DC is setting up housekeeping in a Dupont Circle mansion, aiming for airing in 2010. Bravo's Real Housewives is on the prowl for "alluring and discriminating" Washington wives-of to pit against one another for metaphorical mud wrestling.

Meanwhile, movie stars wander local streets-turned-film sets, and nearly every day local celeb-watchers report breathlessly that someone famous has been spotted somewhere around town.

Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian premiered last month at the Smithsonian, complete with red carpet and paparazzi. Angelina Jolie, in town last year shooting the spy thriller Salt, came back recently for more filming, and often drops in to promote her various causes, including an appearance Thursday at the National Geographic Society for World Refugee Day. Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon are here shooting a romantic comedy, so far officially untitled. Witherspoon was seen sprinting down the National Mall for a scene earlier this week, while Wilson has been spotted during off hours touring Jefferson's Monticello, near Charlottesville, Va., and lunching at local cafes.

What's changed? Certainly not D.C., still the unhip burg it's always been.

What's changed is Mr. President — Barack Obama, aka Mr. Cool. And Michelle Obama: She's been hosting events at the White House that have brought in the likes of singers Alicia Keys and Sheryl Crow to speak to high school students, Stevie Wonder to perform, and the Marsalis family to hold a jazz workshop for young musicians.

"Obama has made Washington interesting again — young, smart, out and about," writes Margaret Carlson, D.C. bureau chief for Bloomberg News, in a recent column.

What's Washington's appeal?

Why is Hollywood's spotlight shining on Washington?

"Real or not, the perception outside of D.C. is that it's a happening place with a charismatic new leader in town and a revitalized social scene," says Frances Berwick, Bravo's general manager. The network is currently looking for D.C. women to cast on The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.

As with Rome in ancient times, all roads lead to Washington these days, says longtime Washington Post and Washingtonian magazine gossip columnist-turned-public relations pro Chuck Conconi. "The Hollywood types, the glittery celebrity types, they want to be connected with Washington, to say, 'I was there on such and such an issue,' " Conconi says. "They're coming here because they think this is where the power base is."

Bravo likes to "get inside" communities and show how different groups of people live and intermingle, Berwick says, but don't expect the D.C. housewives to resemble the women already infamous in Real Housewives of Orange County, New York City and New Jersey.

"We're tapping personalities who are ... influential players, cultural connoisseurs, fashion sophisticates and philanthropic leaders," says Berwick.

"Have they been here lately?" wonders Bloomberg's Carlson. "The best-dressed aide on Capitol Hill would horrify the lowest grip at Universal Studios. There are no cultural connoisseurs."

Juleanna Glover, a high-profile lobbyist and frequent party hostess, practically shuddered when The Washington Post asked her if she'd advise her friends to take part.

"I would never want to do something like this because I'm riddled with intellectual insecurity, and I would just be terrified that people would find out that I didn't know what people might think I know," she confessed.

"The charged atmosphere" of D.C. will provide an "electric setting" for the Real World cast to pursue their "passions," declares Tony DiSanto, MTV's chief of programming. District bureaucrats are pleased that Washington's traditionally stuffy image is changing, at least on screen, says Josh Friedman, spokesman for the city's Office of Motion Picture and Television Development.

"It can showcase the city's diverse neighborhoods and give a different perspective of Washington not being just a federal city of monuments but a real city where real people live and work."