DC ExtraTime: "Come On Be My Baby Tonight"

*** CAUTION: This Post Contains Spoilers for Those Who Haven't Caught Up with Watching This Season So Far, Please Read with Caution Below. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

The story of MTV Reality represents the history of the non-scripted genre as it is recognized by fans and the industry, encompassing three decades of some of TV's most unique programming. As MTV's reality programming celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, DCBLOG's ExtraTime series will offer timely Flashback posts as we reflect on some of the most memorable moments, greatest shows, incredible personalities and unique backstories that has shaped this entire genre.

Last month, MTV marked three decades since the start of a new phase in its long life as a cable powerhouse: expanding beyond music videos into creating youth-oriented original programming and low-budget shows. Arguably the most notable of those was a series that mixed a documentary with aspects of daytime soap operas, and The Real World was the result of that mashup... and it began the channel's long and proud legacy as the undisputed pioneer of the reality genre.

Both MTV and Real World enjoyed an eight-year headstart on the competition in the genre in the U.S. -- which also included Road Rules and the first iterations of The Challenge, and the year 2000 marked the beginning of the modern era of reality TV... the first season of Survivor dominated the summer TV landscape, while Big Brother also began during what was traditionally a time for summer reruns... and it singlehandedly turned around CBS. That same year, the then 3rd place network was absorbed into the Viacom corporate umbrella for the first time with MTV, which was led by the mayhem that took over Times Square on a daily basis for Total Request Live.

After trips to California, Miami, Boston, Seattle and out of the continental United States to London and Hawaii, the summer of 2000 saw The Real World enter the new century with its first trip into the mid-South. And after a season in the fiftieth state that saw an unprecedented romance, a future Challenger battle alcohol abuse and plenty of blurred naked people, the Season 9 cast that invaded New Orleans made a lasting impact in many ways.

All Real World Pics Courtesy Paramount Global

Whether it's the old-school seasons of the first few years or the recent seasons even those twisted ones, every Real World season has channeled the life of being young during these last three decades. The 2000 season saw something that reflected a facet of American life impacted by having those leaning right on the political aisle ruling Capitol Hill, which included a law that made it criminal for members of the gay or lesbian community to reveal their sexual identity while serving in the military. It was the backdrop to when Danny Roberts' boyfriend Paul came to the house on the condition that his face be blurred out... only part of the show's (and MTV's) many stories chronicling the LGBTQ+ community.

It was with her being in The Real World house and living with men under the same roof that cost Mormon and BYU student Julie Stouffer her college dorm keys. But being deeply religious didn't have to mean that you can have your guard up all the time, and one can marvel at the various outfits that Matt Smith brought with him in that suitcase. New Orleans also saw the beginning of the journey that later saw Jamie Murray go on several Challenges, and for Kelley Wolf before getting married to her much more well-known actor husband Scott... and who can forget Melissa Beck's hilarious parents, Shorty & Mercy, visiting the Belfort? But that seventh roommate gave us NOLA's most memorable moment.

Starting with Season 5 in Miami a group assignment was added to the mix, which eventually morphed into a job when the Bostonians were after-school volunteers to a generation of future TikTok'ers, the Seattle roommates being behind the controls of a local rock radio station during the era of grunge, and the Hawaiians working at a local surf shop. The New Orleans crew were given a task of introducing themselves to a local community before the rest of America knew them: they produced a weekly show for the public access channel on Cox Communications' New Orleans cable system. And it was in the studio behind a keyboard that David Bloom -- who now refers to himself by the nickname of "Tokyo" -- offered us one of the franchise's most unforgettable moments.

The year 2000 in music saw something that may never happen again these days: four artists in Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Eminem and 'NSYNC all notched albums that opened with over a million CD sales in its first week. Christina Aguilera joined them as they all dominated TRL, while Coldplay made their debut as did Linkin Park, and Destiny's Child endured a lineup change to become the biggest girl group on earth. And this was also the year that illegal downloads and Napster helped paved the way for the streaming music world that now dominates music scene twenty-one years later.

So, to think that "Come On Be My Baby Tonight" would be part of your 2000 music playlist, then you'd be lucky to call yourself a lifelong fan of The Real World -- no less, any reality show. As Melissa says above, "Let met tell you something: any song that you have heard on a reality show, you can thank Tokyo for that s___... for real."

Fast-forward two decades, and MTV's rich reality legacy was in the mind of ViacomCBS hierarchy as it plotted its ambitions of expanding upon the established CBS All-Access streaming product to eventually become Paramount+ during the pandemic streaming boom. It has given us three seasons of The Challenge: All-Stars, a bevy of seasons of that show and many more too many to mention, among its offerings of anything from Paramount films and Halo, to SpongeBob SquarePants and Champions League football. And when it launched in March of last year, a retrospective Real World series titled Homecoming debuted with it too, starting with the first two seasons in New York and Los Angeles.

It might've come as a surprise to many that for the third RW Homecoming reunion it would skip over seven seasons all the way to New Orleans... but so far this season having David, Melissa, Jamie, Danny, Matt, Julie and Kelley in the same city for the first time in two decades have no doubt produced plenty of drama. They may be in a totally different mansion than the Belfort (which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina), but Julie's behavior, past history with her & the rest of the cast, newly discovered questionable stuff and the return of Paul and the Beck parents have been among the highlights. And just glancing over at Melissa's Twitter feed, there's no doubt that The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans has stuck a huge chord after all these years... so much so, they're nominated for two Critics Choice Awards.

If you saw the trailer for this season when it dropped back in March, the soundtrack of it was - of course -- "Come On Be My Baby Tonight." And this past week's episode gave a totally new and different take on it -- this one done not on just a keyboard and a mic with him behind those, but in an actual recording studio in the heart of a city that loves jazz music as much as they do partying 24/7 on Bourbon Street in the month of February during the madness of Mardi Gras. Have a listen...

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