DC's View: A Game-Changer Coming? And What's Ahead Here

By DC Cueva

@DC408dxtr

Okay, another SOTM post here, and sorry for the lack of recent posts here lately. I've been trying to get my sports series up & running, but me being busy with other things, plus having some writers block in writing a number of these posts, are the reasons why DCBLOG has been slacking. But rest assured, I am writing on here...it's just those reasons above that's been stopping me in posting them and bringing you the best possible posts. Of course, when Are You The One? Season 2 kicks off in mid-September with the season 1 cast's 2nd reunion, this site will be abuzz once again. We'll look ahead to what the autumn has in store for DCBLOG coming up at the end of this post. First, I want to get something off my chest concerning the very reason this site has been thriving this year.


If you're an avid follower of The Real World and The Challenge, then you know it's a bit of a lean period around here with no episodes of either show on, but with all eyes on the hot stove. That's baseball lingo of fans talking during the offseason when fans speculate about transactions among players and teams from the end of the World Series until players report for spring training. This comes as right now as I write this, season 30 of The Real World is filming in Chicago and season 26 of The Challenge is taking place outside the U.S. Thus of course, many of good twitter friends are off doing their thing and won't be back in the social world until mid-September.

   If you're brave enough to have looked over that list of those who will be on this upcoming Challenge - and I won't be spoiling on here who these people are, then we'll once again have a good mixture of both veteran and rookie names, people for whom I've had the pleasure of interacting with in the social world a lot during my two great years on twitter. And if that presumed group is correct, and the buzz before this all began is right, then it will be Battle of the Exes 2. And you guessed it, yes a few from Real World Ex-Plosion earlier this year will be competing, and given that the most recent season in San Francisco had the exes moving in, then you'd probably assumed season 26 would be this Exes theme.

   The twist that has got everyone talking in the past couple days is one that involves something totally new that might be coming to Exes II. That would be of the show's production company, Bunim-Murray Productions, and of course MTV, making an unprecedented move of including a number of cast members from outside the bubble of the Real World/Road Rules/Fresh Meat family but from another MTV show not produced by BMP have been invited to compete on this season. And that group happens to be from a show that grabbed my attention like no other one outside the bubble earlier this year, Are You The One?.

There's been a lot of discontent among traditionalist fans among this change from the twitter world, and those are probably the people who I might like to punch in the face (sorry for using that analogy which I don't use often but I had to get my point across there). But for me, I fully welcome this change of direction and unlike most fans, I am not surprised even one single bit about the twist. There's no Road Rules on anymore and who knows when Fresh Meat III might come up next, but if you want to inject the so-called "5th major pro sport" with some great MTV people from outside the BMP universe in addition to whatever new Real World'ers come on down the line, then go for it, I won't be mad. I've grown that huge a relationship with MTV and shows outside the bubble that even if people from a show I don't normally watch might get included on a future Challenge, I'll still be comfortable.

   Just as it was with the exes twist on Ex-Plosion - which drew the best ratings for a RW season since Vegas XXV, this twist will surely help to bring in new viewers to the show and introduce them to a show that's been on longer than any current reality competition show. And if Rivals brought new life to The Challenge franchise three years ago, then having this crossover in welcoming Team AYTO might add both some new life to the show and increasing the draft pool to a new generation of competitors, which we saw a good amount of in Hawaii. By sacrificing bringing people passionate fans are familiar with, including back veterans from past seasons and also some from a cast who were all paired up in the Virgin Islands (RWSTT), this is a bold move to reinvent The Challenge as most of us know.

There was a good number of those in the RW/Challenge fanamily who, just like me, also got to watch that great 1st season of Are You The One?. And those who watched it know that it has elements of The Challenge and The Real World in a dating atmosphere that reminds many of The Bachelor franchise. For those who haven't - and considering everything that I got to see, it's a strong recommendation to spend a day in the next month or so before season 2 premieres, here's a primer...

   AYTO has challenges each week to determine who wins getaway dates, the truth booth that determines if one of the winning pairs chosen by the group is a perfect match, and a matchup ceremony that determines how many perfect matches they have. Plus, there's the money factor in that if they run the table within 10 tries they win $1 million (or don't win any money if they don't,), and of course there's the living element with all the contestants sharing an entire mansion, complete with all the drama we've become used to and love on all the MTV reality shows.

   The challenges we saw in season 1 echoed those that we've become familiar with on The Challenge, and varied from climbing down a waterfall to paddling, taking selfies of body parts to drinking unusual drink mixes. We even had exes of a few giving dirt on some of the contestants around the same time Hailey, Brian, Jenna, Ashley C. & Lauren shacked up with the six strangers in the City. The competitors from Are You The One? rumored to be on Exes II have about the same kind of huge history as those we've seen before on past Real World's & Challenges.

   First is Brittany & Adam, who had a connection throughout the season, went to the alone room to have fun known as Poundtown, and she stayed fascinated with his company even as everyone else wasn't feeling them. The other pair is Simone and John, who like Adittany, also hooked up, went to Poundtown and had an eventful relationship until midway throughnwhen after they were not a match, he moved towards Jacy and created a triangle that also included Chris S., aka Scali. Other couples from season 1 that might've easily been picked for Exes II and weren't perfect matches are just about endless, and they include Scali & Paige, Ryan & Kayla, and the most-popular couple in the house, Chris T. & Shanley.

Another advantage I have over Challenge fans who didn't see AYTO season 1 is that I've been fortunate to follow the rise of that great cast from the start, having talked to every single castmate on twitter & on IG...yes, all 20 of them plus host Ryan Devlin. The entire journey from when I discovered the show, to seeing all the drama of their season play out, and seeing the only perfect match that's still together, Amber & Ethan, experiencing two life-changing moments, is one of the highlights of my MTV career. The moment of them going 10 for 10 in the finale and winning $1 million ranks right up with the World Cup and the Sochi Olympics among my favorite moments of 2014. And of the six editions of DC Fan's View, my favorite post is the one covering their eventful reunion, which now ranks #4 in overall hits to my blog, which along with my SocialPulse diaries generated plenty of worldwide traffic.

   Another person who fully backs this change, and watches the trifecta, is my twitter buddy, fellow reality TV fan and colleague Andrew Kirk (@CSUAKirk). He, like me, took notice of Are You The One? back in January and instantly became hooked on it the same way as RW/Challenges and now with Big Brother. Andrew talked to a number of the season 1 cast on his now-defunct SpreeCast shows, and it's responsible for giving him his highest-rated webcast when Shanley spoke to him right after the episode 6 drama (over 12K views). Perhaps in a harbinger of what has just transpired, one of his fantasy Challenge posts on his Big Time Reality TV blog (bigtimerealitytv.blogspot.com) took a look in the crystal ball of what it would be like if the AYTO group joined the Challenge fraternity. His picks pitted Dre, Joey, Wes, Jessica, Kayla & co. against the likes of Bananas, CT, Zach, Emily, Sarah & the establishment. Well, Andrew's wish of a crossover season may come much sooner than he thought, and perhaps he will have the last laugh over the doubters.

So again, I'm not surprised that BMP, producers of The Challenge and Real World, have made the bold move to inviting people from a show it doesn't produce but airs on MTV - Are You The One? (produced by the same people that produces VH1's Dating Naked - Lighthearted Entertainment) to season 26 of The Challenge, which is apparently Battle of the Exes 2. Given the huge success that season 1 had in following in Chelsea, Jenelle, Kailyn & Leah's coattails and generating a lot of buzz that even had a magazine call Are You The One? "the greatest reality show ever", it has taken for this game-changing move to give arguably TV's most-intense reality competition shows to take notice. If everything's all true, one thing's for sure: my 3rd installment of Who Are These Newbies? will have more Challenge newcomers for me to profile & introduce to fans on this site than first thought.

   But first things first, of course: season two debuts on Monday, September 29 (an hour earlier than season 1 at 10 SPOT) with the new class of 10 girls & 10 guys as they try emulate their predecessors in Puerto Rico, which of course has a tough act to follow. A week before, Brittany, Adam, Simone, John and the rest of their castmates will gather in LA for Amber & Ethan's baby shower.

Outside of Challenge 26, there's also something a bit understated due to this madness, which is a possible twist coming to Real World Back to Chicago. As mentioned above, the exes twist brought new viewers to TV's longest-running reality show, so what about season 30? It's not out yet as the seven strangers have moved into the Windy City, and luckily there's no reports yet of the kind of off-camera madness that hampered production early on in the original Chicago season. As pointed out by a web article just after the end of Ex-Plosion, BMP has plans for another twist for the season coming up that only the folks down at their SoCal headquarters and in production in Chi-town know about. One may suggest that friends or siblings of the roommates might move in to shack up with the cast, or something else we don't know that will make RW XXX be unlike any other up until last season.

   As I wrote before, I've been a huge Real World fan for a long time, and have been able to handle every change - subtle to huge - to the formula the show invented 22 years ago more than others. And no matter what the format, city or cast might be, I will always remain a loyal viewer of the show just as I have been since Hawaii. Plus, I'm a great storytelling enthusiast who's more at home in the Real World's laid-back, storytelling-oriented style; and for which it's the reason why I'm enjoying that one MTV show I'm very interested in - Virgin Territory - that follows in that style. So, I'm able to handle what the landmark 30th season of the great reality pioneer has in store for me.

Now to what's ahead. As mentioned above, I haven't posted as much here since the end of Free Agents, but that doesn't mean I've been hard at work in writing. I have a lot of posts that I have written and queued up covering mainly the sports world, including long-planned posts on soccer, UFC and more. Rest assured, they'll be posted just as soon as I get done with them and making sure that they're the best ones I have. Of course, this site will have wall-to-wall MTV coverage starting with Are You The One? Season 2 and for which the buzz may kick off next week. DC SocialPulse, my twitter episode diaries, returns with the baby shower on Sept. 21 (maybe earlier for the VMA's) and when the buzz for those two begins, DCB will have Real World Back to Chicago and Challenge 26 covered too.

   The VMA's are generally the launchpad to new MTV programming in the fall, and we should get our first look at AYTO2 on Sunday. Especially considering the issues I had earlier this month, hopefully I'll be able to talk with the season 2 cast once they're revealed and that they'll be as fan friendly as the first cast. Also, I may also add to my live tweet rotation a new reality comedy from the producers of Buckwild called Slednecks, which follows along the line of their West Virginia cousins, but it takes place in the state of Alaska. And depending upon what the trailer shows us and having enjoyed Buckwild, I may have as many as 3 TV shows a week to live tweet at DCNOW this fall and may have to clear even more room on my primary hub for our Alaskan friends.

   Speaking of DCNOW at @DC408DxNow, that will be where I will live tweet the Video Music Awards coming up on Sunday, along with the Youth Olympics, NFL preseason action and much more on there. Of course, it's where I live tweet for now Virgin Territory, and later Are You The One?, RW30, Challenge 26, and Slednecks. And of course there's always my twitter & Instagram @DC408Dxtr.


Finally, as I post this early on Saturday, August 23, we've just received some very tough news from People Magazine. Challenge star and two-time ovarian cancer survivor Diem Brown is in a hospital in New York City after she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She collapsed while on vacation abroad, and upon arrival back home last week underwent emergency surgery which found that a tumor was blocking her colon, then had a 2nd surgery a few days later when an infection in her abdomen was detected. For now, she's in the ICU in stable condition under close doctor supervision, and is expected to stay there for two weeks before beginning chemotherapy if she's alright.

   Considering all she's been through, it's our hope that once again Diem will rise to the fore and beat cancer for a third time. Her showing the kind of great courage, strength and spirit she had in her two previous battles with cancer is the most-notable story in Challenge history, Life & family, among other things, outweighs all else when it comes to these shows, and considering the tremendous outpouring of support she received both in 2007 & last year, including the largest twitter support of any RWC cast member, Diem will no doubt need her fans' support more than ever to get through the toughest of these battles.

   So, all of my thoughts and prayers, along with that of her many fans, go out to Diem, the Brown family and her friends during this challenging time and pray for a speedy recovery.

For more on this breaking story, including quotes from Diem's sister Megan, visit http://www.people.com/article/diem-brown-cancer-returns-colon. And for more on ways you can help, visit her charity site MedGift at www.MedGift.com and Twitter @MedGift. There at the site, with the help of E! News' Alicia Quarles, a newly-created page is asking fans to help raise $30,000 by Friday, September 5th to help pay the costs of her medical bills for this visit. So be sure to take a moment and make a donation there and help make a difference.

For now until I talk to you here & on twitter, this is DC saying thanks for reading and good night.

- DC


UPDATED (8/23/14 - 7:00PM PDT):
As posted earlier on various twitter accounts, here's the link to the newly-created page on Diem's MedGift site called "Diem's Next Challenge":
http://www.medgift.com/DiemsNextChallenge
 

The Look: Virgin Territory

By DC Cueva

@DC408dxtr

Nothing like summer television, isn't it? This has traditionally been the spot for broadcast networks to present reruns of popular series. But as of late, summer has provided the opportunity for cable networks to lure viewers to new, fresh original series, and the terrestrial's to air reality shows. Thus, we have Big Brother, America's Got Talent and dozens of other shows too many of which to mention here. And of course, we had the World Cup, which brought record numbers of viewers & NFL-like numbers to this year's tournament, taking place at the halfway point in between Olympics.

   It's with this background that I launch a new feature called, "The Look." And on occasion in between my regular coverage of entertainment & sports and other things that might be of interest to write about here, I'll have the chance to review shows, movies, albums or other things that might pop up along the way. And especially during these dog days of summer, this has afforded me the time to do just that. And we'll start off with something from the MTV world.

Now, although you know me as an avid fanatic of The Real World and The Challenge, I'm also an overall MTV fan too. You would think it might be a drag for someone who's into these shows a lot to not have something to look forward to during this summer, but that's not the case for me. Having grown a great rapport with people from other MTV shows outside the RWC bubble, it has proven my appreciation for being open to the MTV world around me. Plus, the fact that I have social media and that cast members have been very fan-friendly with their followers has also made it much easier for me to sample and eventually become an avid viewer of other MTV programming.

   And while I've become friendly in the social world with people as diverse as crazy kids in West Virginia, Texas bartenders, passionate people in NYC, a young lady & her cross-country friends, and aspiring chefs & nurses; the best example of my strong MTV relationship being expanded beyond the RWC world is Are You The One?. The huge success of that first season, starring its eclectic cast and their improbable run to the $1 million jackpot, is one of the highlights of 2014 for me, and season 2 will air an hour earlier than season 1 on Mondays this fall.

   During what will be a busy period of hot stove talk surrounding Real World 30 in Chicago and Challenge 26, plus the countdown to AYTO Season 2 and doing my best to nurture this blog during the downtime, I have become very much interested in a show that will more than help to keep me company during this offseason before mid-September. And with all due respect to those who follow it and flood my twitter timelines with their & others' commentary on it - no, it's not Big Brother - though this one is giving me a good warmup for when all of those shows return.

Back in the penultimate DC SocialPulse diary for The Challenge: Free Agents in June, we showcased a twitter dialogue I had with Kyle, Lisa, David and Emily from the cast of Virgin Territory. Debuting last month in that same prized post-Teen Mom slot that was occupied by AYTO earlier this year, Virgin Territory has been exploring the real-life stories of young adults across America as they go through the complex situations of being in a relationship. But most importantly, this docu-series has brought up one of those coming-of-age moments which also happens to be, as the MTV presser states, "one of the most complicated and emotional decisions of their young adult lives: whether to have sex or remain a virgin." So far, we have delved into the mindset for four young adults in each episode, and so far we've seen some hang on to their vCard as long as they can by abstaining, while others are doing whatever they can to lose it and have some.

   Through the first month's worth of episodes, I'm really been enjoying Virgin Territory in seeing the stories of these great people play out, having my jaw drop at every kiss we've seen, and even the great camera work in the slo-mo techniques too. Sure, it might not have the kind of big-time impact that the RW/Challenge franchise or AYTO has to me, but nonetheless I'm engaged in this show to the point where I'm comfortable watching it, just like other MTV shows (and I tend to be non-judgmental unlike most other fans). And as has been the case before, I've become good social friends with much of the cast, including that good handful who follow me socially, which makes the viewing experience easier.

Because I am someone who maintains high & strict standards for myself including keeping clear of engaging in behavior that might be detrimental to myself (like not drinking alcohol or smoking), I can relate in a way to the cast members in that everyone does their best to try & stay away from having sex until they get married. Though because of my busy schedule devoting my energies to work & hobbies and doesn't have the time to see anyone romantically right now, I do consider myself a virgin and would always want to save that vCard for after tying the knot. Yes, I will admit that twice I've gone to a strip club with some of my cousins on guys' nights out a few years back - just as we saw with Kyle in the premiere, but I was just an observer to all that and didn't take part in all that fun, shall we say.

   Through four episodes, we've met seven people go through this experience of whether to abstain or to give away the card. In the premiere, we had Lisa, a Florida bride who played it smart by waiting for the night of her getting married to finally enjoy not being a virgin anymore. There's Kyle from Rhode Island who kept his virginity a secret to his friends and eventually gave in with ex-girlfriend Amanda. We saw Mikaela from Oregon, who after hosting an anything but clothes house party then went on a mission to LA to find her man and swipe the card, and Dominique from Maryland, who saw a guy two times on a date but kept true to her phrase, "No ringy, no dingy."

   Further on, we met Lisa's fellow Liberty University classmate Luke, a pastor's son who's called the "Kissing Bandit" but has still stayed being a virgin. We've had Anna, who moved down to Florida from Ohio for college and forged a relationship with a new guy. And last week, we welcomed Dallas sorority girl Shelby, who also leads a group of sisters who are all virgins & have a unicorn as their mascot. Tonight, we'll meet Florida girl Anike; and later on we'll get to know high schooler Abby, Arizona fella Alec, the aforementioned David & Emily, John, VA girl Keyaria, and Marjorie too.

I also like how, in addition to showcasing their love lives & trying to stay being a virgin, they're also making the effort to also include their life experiences. Lisa got married to her fiancé Nick and was fortunate enough to have her ailing war vet dad walking her down the aisle. Kyle was able to balance being the show's resident heartthrob with going to college far from his home in Rhode Island. Plus there was Dominique trying to improve a tough relationship with her mom, and Anna being a model. This is proof that MTV isn't just interested in doing any kind of reality TV, it's interested more in documenting the things & experiences that its viewers can relate to, similar to old-school Real World. And as a storytelling enthusiast, I feel very much at home in all that.

   Then, there's the facts, as pointed out in the MTV presser. As we head towards the beginning of the school year, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (or the CDC), teens are, on average, now waiting longer to have sex. A study from The Alan Guttmacher Institute have shown that less than half of U.S. high school students have had sex, which is 15% less than that of two decades ago. Another finding done jointly by MTV's It's (Your) Sex Life campaign and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy finds two additional facts: nearly 75% of young adults feel "movies and TV did a better job of exploring why people are virgins," and 86% of those polled believe "popular media like movies and TV shows portrayed virginity in a more realistic way." And for a channel that has a long tradition of getting young adults talking about sex on their shows, MTV is doing exactly that with this show.

In all, though this is for now the only TV series I'm live tweeting this summer, it feels like that by enjoying Virgin Territory, there is a show that I can directly relate to. As I tweeted at the end of the premiere on DCNOW, virginity is a very deep issue and something that I can relate to, with some great people and their stories that they have, or will have. We've seen who's been able to stay being a virgin, who decided to swipe their vCard and hear & learn about something that hasn't been talked about much until now. And after what we've seen with Lisa, Dominique, Luke, Mikaela, Kyle, Anna and Shelby, I'm looking forward to listening to the stories that Anike, David, Abby, Alec, Emily, John, Keyaira and Marjorie will have in store coming up. It's always good and refreshening to have a show on that can be relatable and thought-provoking but also entertaining as well.

Be sure to bookmark DCBLOG as we cover the entertainment and sports you love. With filming of both Real World 30 in Chicago and season 26 of The Challenge now underway, and Are You The One? Season 2 debuting on September 29, expect wall-to-wall coverage of all three shows right here. Our coverage will kick off as soon as the AYTO season 2 buzz kicks off sometime soon as the countdown to the fall sequel starts up. Of course, this includes our signature feature DC SocialPulse, which will again provide exclusive running diaries of the twitter reaction to the episodes from cast members and fans like me, plus episode wraps and more. After taking the summer off, weekly DCSP posts return on September 22 when the season 1 cast comes together one more time to celebrate the pending arrival of the new baby of their only remaining couple, Amber & Ethan.

   In addition to complete MTV coverage, I'll be aiming to offer extensive sports coverage here including the huge growth of soccer in America after the World Cup, plus posts on UFC, football, big events and more. And we'll have other posts outside of those worlds too. You can always find me on twitter & Instagram @DC408Dxtr, and my live tweet home, DCNOW at @DC408DxNow. Having done lots of live tweeting of sports, shows and events over the past several months on that hub, be sure to follow DCNOW for the big schedule that's forthcoming in the fall and winter along with Retro Nights.

   Until I talk to you on twitter & back here at the 'Blog, thanks for reading, stay cool and see you then. I AM DC.

- DC

DC Music: The Story of NOW That's What I Call Music

By DC Cueva

@DC408dxtr

As you know, I'm a huge music fan...it's something that's part of my lifeblood. Unlike others who gravitate to one or another's genre or one era, and even though my favorite band is Linkin Park, I'm one of those people who actually likes all kinds of music. If it's something that I like, even if it's something that to some might be a bit unusual, I'll be happy with it regardless. I'll be someone who's comfortable in listening to it and also for longer periods of time. And I can thank my preference in the radio & playlist world of listening to what it's officially called Contemporary Hit Radio, or better known as Top 40. Essentially, that format is simply the best of what's dominating the charts and features the industry's biggest stars and all genres of music from pop to urban, rock to dance & beyond. It's the success of what many also call "pop radio" that has become the basis for this article that looks at the time when they all come together in one compilation album.

Lately, I've been going to thrift shops all over town where I live here in Milpitas, CA. And often one of the first places I go to when I go to either the local Goodwill or Savers stores is to the books & media section. There, I scour all the available CD's, DVD's and VHS tapes and decide which bargains of music do I want to grab for $2.00 a pop. And also, I can admit to also being an eBay junkie too, and sometimes I buy CD's there too.

   Often when I go through the CD section in both areas, I come around a CD from the collection known simply as NOW That's What I Call Music!. There, hits from years past dating all the way back to my sophomore year in high school - 1998 if you're wondering - come into my attention and I immediately grab hold of it and add it to my collection. And of course, when the recent installments of NOW are released in stores, I make it a point to add it to my collection.

   Along with even getting free music through my library account, NOW has become an economically feasible thing for me as it also allows me to save money on my checking account in not having to buy every single track on iTunes, just non-duplicate tracks that aren't available in either source or when I buy an artist's full album.

   Along with buying each recent NOW CD once it drops, I'm now building up a collection of these discs, with the hope that one day I'll have every single edition of the U.S. series in my collection, along with some overseas ones. In all I have 21 of the 50 Now albums that have been released since it started here.

Although it has been around in America since I was 15 years old, the NOW That's What I Call Music story is actually just about as old as I am. It was at the office of Virgin Records in Vernon Yard in Britain in 1983 that Virgin GM Jon Webster and Licensing & Business Affairs head Stephen Nevin came up with an idea of a compilation album featuring the hits of various artists who were on their label. Their concept came to the attention of Virgin Managing Director Simon Draper and then to Draper's counterpart at rival EMI Records, Peter Jamieson, who shared that ambitious passion for doing a compilation and immediately partnered up for the project, whose deal was finalized aboard the boat of Virgin patriarch Richard Branson in Little Venice.

   And what's the oddest story in the history of NOW? The idea of its name came from, of all things, a 1920's advertising poster for a Danish bacon company which showed a picture of a pig listening to a chicken sing "Now That's What I Call Music." That poster was actually bought by the British entrepreneur for his Record label cousin to put on Draper's wall in his Virgin Records office. Oddly enough, the pig became an early mascot for the series, but whose shelf life only lasted a few years.

   Just fifteen days after I was born, the NOW collection officially came out for the first time on November 28, 1983 in British record stores. And unlike the ones we have here in the U.S., that first edition, as well as every subsequent release since then, was a double selection with 30 UK hits put on a double vinyl LP album or cassette. While this wasn't the first compilation of recent chart hits (other British labels had done similar albums since the '70s), NOW marked the first time that two major record labels had collaborated for a venture such as this. As part of their partnership, Virgin and EMI agreed on a number of things including a greater number of major hits to be included in the album, whose 1st one included 11 UK Chart #1's, and for which that first album went to number one.

   The popularity of that series during the '80s was so big, the demand eventually grew to where the British version has and is still released three times a year (in spring, summer and fall/winter) as a double album. That varies considerably to what we have here where Now is released quarterly four times a year and where it's released at just a single album. Thus, the UK series has had 87 releases in its main series since the beginning, and for which there's 40-46 tracks over the two discs. Whereas here in America, about 80 tracks are released per year, about a third less than there.

Thanks to the worldwide reach of the companies whose tracks are heard everywhere you go, the Now collection has expanded to over 25 countries & territories around the world, with its latest addition, South Korea, to join the fold in October with Now That's What I Call K-Pop with their homegrown genre to figure prominently headlined by, of course, Psy and "Gangnam Style." The compilation made its North American debut ten years earlier than its American counterparts up in Canada, but it's 2nd installment didn't come until 1995.

   NOW was finally welcomed into the world's most-lucrative music market in 1998 and featured Janet Jackson, the Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, Lenny Kravitz and Hanson, among others. Ever since, NOW in the U.S. has become an extremely-successful franchise where each of the first twenty-nine volumes received at least platinum certification, and 18 albums have reached #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, which other than for the Beatles is more than any other individual recording artist. And though the recent shift in musical tastes, and of course digital downloads, have seen recent album sales not sell perhaps as huge as back in the day, NOW nonetheless remains a huge part of the scene and a consistent top performer for the industry.

   It's followed the same pattern of featuring all the having the taking the best of pop, hip-hop, R&B and rock from those who are signed to affiliated labels and who's been at the top of the charts. Plus, it's also adapted to the times in adding dance and country to its repertoire as both genres have become more mainstream in recent years? And in exchange for additional hits, recent editions have also included bonus tracks from new artists who've not broken through in America.

   When fans here look over the list of those who have appeared in the 50 U.S. editions of Now, you can see an entire generation of the biggest hits and the brightest stars both of back then and of right now. They've included Britney, U2, Enrique Iglesias, and J.Lo; through Rihanna, B.E.P., Beyoncé, and Bruno Mars; and right up to Pitbull, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Lorde and Miley Cyrus. For someone like me who's grown up a bit since back when I was in high school, this represents my musical yearbook.

   And the latest installment, Now 51 which drops tomorrow on my sister's 35th birthday, once again takes the pulse of the music of the moment with Katy, Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Justin, Pitbull, Paramore and Demi Lovato. Also, breakthrough hits by Magic!, KONGOS, Sia, 5 Seconds of Summer, Sam Smith and Rixton are featured, along with a look ahead to who could become the next ones in Jacob Latimore, Teyana Taylor and Seven Lions.

In much the same way as the VMA's, Grammys and any event that brings all genres of music together, I treat the Now collection in the exact same way: it's compulsory listening for myself much like the music award shows. I treat my love of music the same way I look about my passion for sports and for television: I'm not into just one thing or another, I'm into the entire atmosphere. I'm someone who loves all these genres of music, and NOW brings them all together into one album, just as it has done in the UK since I was born and here in the U.S. for the last 16 years, spanning countless numbers of hits and artists. And as long as we still have pop music, we'll still have the clever idea put together in 1983 by British record executives to bring music's biggest, best and brightest into one album.

For those of you regular visitors to this page who have been wondering where I have been the past few weeks in the blogosphere, I've had a lot happening that's been affecting me outside DCBLOG, and that's why I haven't posted a proper post since my recap of The Challenge: Free Agents. But rest assured, I am still here and is still dedicated & devoted to furthering the success of this blog.

   All throughout this month and into the fall, I'll be aiming to offer a great number of sports posts that will be covering soccer and the huge growth of it in America after the World Cup, plus posts on UFC, football, big events and more. I've been stocking up on sports books lately to provide me with story ideas on what I want to cover, and the sports world will be covered here. And that will fill the gap towards this blog being your go-to destination for wall-to-wall coverage of everything MTV here.

   With filming of both the 30th season of The Real World in Chicago and the 26th installment of The Challenge about to get underway, and with season two of Are You The One? to debut on Monday, September 29, you can again expect plenty of coverage on here of all three shows including our renowned & unique SocialPulse posts bringing you an exclusive running diary of tweets from cast members, fans and me during the episodes, plus wrap ups & more.

   Weekly DCSP posts will resume a week earlier on Monday, September 22 when the celebrated season 1 cast gathers to celebrate Amber & Ethan not only becoming married but also becoming parents to a new baby. And once the cast & the trailer for AYTO season two is unveiled sometime this month, we'll be covering that for you here, along with a look at Virgin Territory.

You can always find me on twitter & Instagram @DC408Dxtr, and my live tweet home, DCNOW at @DC408DxNow. Having done lots of live tweeting of sports, shows and events over the past several months on that hub, be sure to follow DCNOW for the big schedule that's forthcoming in the fall and winter along with Retro Nights that I'm doing during the summer. Until I talk to you on twitter & back here at the 'Blog, thanks for reading, stay cool and see you then. I AM DC.

- DC