MTV Get Off The Air

What the hell happened to MTV?

I am not going to be grumpy old new-waver who complains that they don't show videos all day long. But for a network that constantly wanted to define the cutting edge, they seem to want out of the game.

They stopped showing videos 20 years ago, but created some of the best shows on television to take their place. That may seem hard to believe, but a roster of their best (Beavis and Butt-head, Daria, True Life, Wonder Showzen) outperforms the shows created by most basic cable outlets, and their constantly creative bumpers, ads, etc, were far ahead of the sentimental dreck created by Lifetime.

Even when the started showing unwatchable reality TV like The Hills, they could still create a double-edged sword of a show like My Super Sweet Sixteen, a perfect show for an era where instantly indulging a child's every whim takes precedence helping a child become a fully functioing adult. Trust me, someday the subversive genius of My Super Sweet Sixteen will be fully appreciated.

But I flipped by MTV the other day, and they were showing South Park reruns. South Park is a great show, but when did MTV start re-running culturally relevant shows instead of creating them? And "culturally relevant" is a changing term, as the rerun was about 10 years old. What teenager is going to want to watch that?

While re-running South Park is somewhat defensible because of the quality of the show, the next show aired was Grounded For Life. Grounded for Life? A failed sitcom from a few years back is now in rotation on cutting-edge MTV? Even a crappy video made in the last three months would be a better choice than Grounded For Life.

And MTV is going to keep going down this road, as it announced plans to air reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer next year. Buffy is a classic show, but "classic" is not what they do best (and we have niche channel VH1 Classic should we feel the need to go that route).

The title for this post comes from a song by The Dead Kennedys that came out over 20 years ago. "20 years ago" is starting to look like the audience MTV is shooting for. I don't know why they would abandon their brand image they have worked so long to create. No one my age is watching MTV, even though they seem to want to program to that demographic.

I guess MTV grew up, wants to settle down, and think about the glory days of its past. Maybe they should just show the video of "Glory Days" 24-7. (Do the kids still say "24-7?")