A lot of people are always talking about how MTV isn’t about the music anymore. There are many that are even hateful about it. You would think MTV was a government program that was sanctioned to provide us with music videos twenty-four hours a day. Guess what? MTV isn’t a government program and music videos just weren’t paying the bills anymore. Less money can be contributed to websites such as You Tube and it’s channel(now website) VEVO that have music videos that are just a search away. The day TRL signed off for good, the hopes of music coming back to the channel checked-out without it.
MTV went with the success of their original reality series The Real World and built upon that. While not all shows have succeed, those that have have all put their mark on pop culture. In the past we’ve seen The Osbourne’s, My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Laguna Beach, Jackass, and many more. You probably get the picture though.
Controversy pays really well and that is where we start talking about the 16 and Pregnant & Teen Mom series, and our beloved Jersey Shore. They have all proven that they’re needed to pay the bills. Jersey Shore of course brought unexpected record ratings and was a huge cultural event across the globe. Both show have brought along scandals, shocking moments, and babies.
MTV really hit it big during 2011 when it started to show its own original scripted programming. The first show Skins, a remake of the worldwide hit British show was cancelled. You can’t really blame the program or MTV for this. Those annoy bitches at the Parents Council were the main culprits of its cancellation. These people seriously should watch the British Skins, they would literally go into compulsions if they thought MTV’s version was bad.
Luckily, that show experience didn’t deter MTV from original scripted content. During summer 2011. the network released two shows that have proven very, very successful for the network. The most widely successful show is Awkward., a comedy about a high school girl named Jenna who has a public blog on which she journals her private thoughts for the world to see, and becomes well-known at school for becoming a part of a fake suicide attempt. The show is very funny, and everyone who watches it can’t help but fall deeply in love with it.
The second show is Teen Wolf, which is more of a dark re-imagining of the movie of the same name that was a comedy. The show is pretty self-explanatory with that title and is MTV’s answer to The Vampire Diaries. Teen Wolf has gained a large fanbase as well and continues to do well in ratings. It has it’s scary, suspenseful moments, and its love scenes. All together it is a pretty well-rounded show.
The newest show to hit MTV is Nikki and Sara LIVE!, which is doing very well. MTV was smart to get on the cable, late-night show women bandwagon that was started when E! gave Chelsea Handler her talk show, Chelsea Lately. The shows has two hosts Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer who are both very down-to-earth and very funny women. They just wrapped their first season last night, and hopefully won’t be gone for too long.
I think you can see with all of this success why MTV has chosen to drop music. Despite what many people seem to think, MTV hasn’t dropped music completely. They just don’t show it during peak times when advertising dollars aren’t really a major player. MTV shows MTV Clubland, it is based on the genre of EDM, from 3a-4a; AMTV shows from 4a-6a and 7a-9a, and is Top 40 based, and MTV Jams is on from 6a-7a.
MTV removed the phrase “Music Television” from its logo in the last year and the name MTV really is more of an homage of the channels past than its present or future. I do like how since they are still involved with music, they show what song is playing and what artist during their shows as the songs get played. Take that Shazam app.
I’m not as affected by MTV losing it’s beat, literally, since I’m young enough that I only caught the original show on the very tail-end of that era. When ad dollars are up for grabs, music just doesn’t pay visually anymore. I suppose the channel could have just folded, and that would have upset people as well. I think they are doing well with their late-night comedy and scripted shows and I do think that is the future. The future maybe could feature more music based programming. Ke$ha’s new reality show premieres next Tuesday. I mean, it is music based.
What are your thoughts on MTV and their past, current, or future content? What kind of programming would you like to see in the future on the network? Let me know in the comment section.
