Still want your MTV?

Twenty years ago, today, a new concept in television was introduced — Music Television. Now, back in 1981, we were still watching TV off an old black and white 13-inch with a dial. No remotes, at the most ten channels, and crappy reception. TV was far from the center of our universe, simply because there was nothing to watch.

As far as MTV goes, I’d heard about it on the playground. “Have you heard of this new cable channel called Music Television?” The format was unique, they’d play music videos all the time. It was sort of like a radio station on TV. It had five Veejays, who rotated throughout the day, and they played their five videos, drumming up interest in the station. This is back when MTV actually showed music videos — you know, you could actually turn it on whenever you wanted and you’d see a video.

So, after twenty years, it’s kind of disappointing to see the direction MTV has headed in. Of course, its not disappointing for those that weren’t around in those early years, afterall, most of you grew up on the MTV of today. Of course, in the past ten years or so, MTV has gotten off of its original video format and has moved into games shows, series, and reality shows. MTV was probably the pioneer of reality shows with the very first Real World back in 1991.

At that point, I was graduating from high school, and flipped on this new show called Real World to find out what it was all about. I was hooked. A show about people living in a loft in New York, their lives taped, to find out how they’d act and interact. And so it began. A bunch of people put into the loft, never having seen a show like it, and just being themselves. Great television. Here we are ten years later, still having Real Worlds, but its just not the same.

Like MTV, the Real World has become, for the lack of a better word, less real. After ten years, these people have all seen the Real World’s of the past, they’ve learned from those past mistakes, they’ve watched the reunion shows. They doll themselves up for the cameras, they play to the cameras, its become stale. In 1991, those people had no idea how the final shows would be pieced together and that’s what made it good.

Also, the loft seemed less glitzy and glamorous back then. There wasn’t a Powerbook sitting on the table, and the furniture didnt look like a commercial for IKEA … it was pretty bare bones. Of course, with anything, over time commercialism takes over and the shows become less about content and more about making money for the network.

Still want your MTV … ugh, probably not.