Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove
Remember when MTV first started out? It was a small network that began in the 80s and revolutionized the way music and television were viewed. Literally. It was the first time anyone saw a real music video.
Teenagers secretly snuck into their television rooms while their parents weren’t looking and watched the hippest video versions of their favorite songs, making them feel instantly cooler. Stars like Madonna, Pat Benetar, and the Buggles ruled the screen. Then things started going awry…
When MTV introduced their first reality show, things started to go downhill. The Real World was a look inside a world where seven strangers came together to live. Everything the college aged party animals did was taped with very few things held back. The show was a great success, so the network kept airing more shows like it.
These days, there are more reality shows on the network than there are actual music videos. In fact, it’s a rare thing to witness any occurence of music at all. We can thank the television channel for raunchy shows like Jersey Shore (douchebags pictured above).
As a result, the network has decided to take the ‘music’ out of its logo. In an article from the Los Angeles Times, David Howe, president of the SyFy channel, says the name ‘music television’ is too limiting and outdated. MTV’s head of marketing, Tina Exarhos, believes that people don’t refer to the channel as ‘music television’ anymore and the network should move on.
I spend a lot of time reminiscing about simpler times, and this is certainly one of those cases. Reality shows make America dumber! Not to mention, most people who watch MTV’s reality shows are mostly teenagers. An entire generation, wasting their brain’s potential on this stuff.
Good thing I cancelled my television service.
They took the music out of that channel years ago, even if they’re just getting around to changing the name. I think its a shame that the person in charge thinks “we need to turn into a total reality channel” instead of realizing that they’ve deviated from their roots and become soul sucking network that profits off other people’s misery and drama. The strange thing is that MTV2 plays music videos (at least, it did for a little bit) and they charge for it. Wouldn’t they make more money if MTV2 were basic cable, and the reality channel were charged for? Isn’t that what all those ravenous reality show watching dogs out there would want so bad they’d pay more money for? Oh well, at least they realize their name is bullshit!