MTV...whats worse

[Collier11]

The fact that they air the crap that they do and get away with it or the fact that people actually watch that crap.

I remember not too long ago when I would never watch Vh1 and now ill watch that every second of the day over MTV :mad:

[Veritas]

MTV...whats worse
Lifetime. WE. Oxygen. Any of those weepy housewife or butch lezbo targeted networks.

[StoopTroup]

Ahhhhh...the old days....NSFW

SjeTDA-qU1c

[Boomer_Sooner_sax]

MTV has been dead to me for a long time. The Hills? My Super Sweet Sixteen? None of that sh*t has to do with music. They need to rename that channel in to ****V.

[Fraggle145]

Vh1's bad reality TV is better than MTV's bad reality TV.

[StoopTroup]

It all blows.

The best new music out there isn't getting any airtime IMO.

[Fraggle145]

The internet killed the radio star?

[Veritas]

The Real World was the death knell for the "M" part of MTV.

TRW, however, was absolutely revolutionary; the first few seasons were just amazing. I loved the San Fransisco season with Pedro, Puck, Rachel, Judd, et al and still do. The show now is absolute **** and has been for a decade.

[StoopTroup]

Puck...I forgot about that guy. Wonder if he's still alive?

[StoopTroup]

O9bICJBK3FA

[yermom]

The Real World was the death knell for the "M" part of MTV.

TRW, however, was absolutely revolutionary; the first few seasons were just amazing. I loved the San Fransisco season with Pedro, Puck, Rachel, Judd, et al and still do. The show now is absolute **** and has been for a decade.

once they started casting crazies on purpose and staging the circus it wasn't any good anymore. in the process they killed broadcast TV too

i think it all started when the London one was so boring

[Boomer.....]

MTV has been down the tube for a while now. The only show I can even tollerate is True Life and only some of those.

Vh1 has some pretty good shows on it.

Sad that both do not show music anymore.

[CK Sooner]

The Real World is the only thing I watch on MTV and I really haven't gotten into this seasons that much.

[Petro-Sooner]

Palladia offers decent live music from time to time. I used to enjoy the first couple seasons of Road Rules. And in typical mtv fashion the screw up a good thing.

[Boomer_Sooner_sax]

Palladia offers decent live music from time to time. I used to enjoy the first couple seasons of Road Rules. And in typical mtv fashion the screw up a good thing.

Palladia is good, love watching the concerts they show on there.

[Collier11]

Palladia is awesome, I love the live concerts all day and night

[yermom]

they go through stretches off good stuff, but will play crap for a while

it's still a great channel though. i think they might need some more content

[SweetheartSooner]

Silent Library is freaking hilarious!

[Crucifax Autumn]

I have the internet...I don't need those **** channels, but VH1 has been better than MTV for at least 15 years. They both suck now though, so back to my original point: I'll watch concerts and vids online or buy concert DVDs instead.

[GottaHavePride]

Side question: Is the music video dead as a cultural phenomenon?

I mean really, do people even still make videos?

[StoopTroup]

Side question: Is the music video dead as a cultural phenomenon?

I mean really, do people even still make videos?

Answer:

M65zI9LH-as

[StoopTroup]

lol

E2tMV96xULk

[StoopTroup]

Brittney on an umbrella...:D

JQe1bUeF7_g

[GottaHavePride]

Ok, so people still make videos. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw one on anything other than YouTube.

[StoopTroup]

Don't you have an IPOD?

Itunes sells the downloads.

[49r]

The last good season of The Real World was London. San Francisco was the beginning of the end - it still grates on my nerves the way they tried to pronounce Pedro's name all Latin and always got it miserably wrong.

SpikeTV is another abomination of a channel - it's become the "Ow! My Balls" channel for sure.

[Collier11]

Spike is cool, how can you not like Manswers :D

[soonerbrat]

didn't pedro die of AIDS?

[Petro-Sooner]

Yup. He had the gay.

[yermom]

all he talked about on the show was being gay and having AIDS

[Fraggle145]

Ya that season got old quick.

[the_ouskull]

I think that our country is getting dumber from the bottom up. Most movements start somewhere in the middle and work their way up and down the age ladder. Fashion is notorious for this. Someone that is 20/30ish will start a trend, and then the younger people that like this celebrity, for whatever reasons, will fall in line, and then, older people, desperately wanting to cling to anything young, will fall in line as well. Then, BAM !!! We have an entire country wearing trucker hats and carrying small dogs in handbags just because of their feelings towards the person they saw doing it first.

It's a country where being ignorant, uneducated, and apathetic is okay, because the kids who are growing up in this country see people behaving exactly in that manner every single day on television. It used to be that back-stabbing, greed, and scandal were reserved for soap operas. Now it seems that almost every show on television is a soap opera... and, seeing as they are all also "reality" shows, what, exactly, does that say about the world in which we live?

People used to watch television to get away from real life. Now they're tuning in to watch other people's lives, and, in the saddest twist of all, they have been so dummied-down by what they're seeing that they don't even realize the irony.

The people that you are seeing on TV are not real people. They may be on something called a "reality show," but that does not mean that they are "real" people and it CERTAINLY does not mean that they are to be taken seriously, treated like celebrities, or in ANY way, respected. If you want to respect somebody; look up to somebody, respect that guy that gets up at 6 a.m. five days a week to go to his janitor job to support his family. Don't respect the guy that gets up at the crack of noon, smiles for the cameras, and then starts talking about "how f*cked up" he got the night before and the fights that he got into because he was hitting on someone else's girlfriend. That guy isn't real. In the real world (and notice that I didn't capitalize because the ACTUAL real world isn't the name of a show, it's life) that guy would have gotten the crap kicked out of him by about 5 people and left in a dumpster. If you want a REAL "Real World," then put 6 of those vaccous chuckleheads in a house with ME. Make them sit down with me once a week to tell them what vapid, ignorant dipsh*ts they are. Let me point out, frame-by-frame, the exact points where their acting like whores, idiots, and *ssholes has taken the accountability away from the youth of our country.

How are parents supposed to tell their kids not to lie, cheat, steal, and fight when the people that they're watching on TV, their MTV, are doing just that, and being GLORIFIED for it through their own TV show? Is everybody with a brain being Punk'd? Are the stupid people; the people that think that any of this is REAL; are they the only ones in on the joke? Are these shows actually the epitome of intelligence and high culture because they're tricking anybody who understands why Paris Hilton should be hung, not rewarded?

Call me old, but I remember back when MTV showed videos, and I was there when they stopped showing JUST videos and started having television shows. I was even there (gasp!) in 1992, when they first came out with The Real World. We (yeah, I said "we") used to care about the characters because they weren't characters; they weren't archetypes... they were PEOPLE. They all had their own lives already, and they were just thrown together to live them. We had Eric Nies, who was already a model and an actor. Kevin Powell was the editor of a major magazine. Becky Blasband, Heather Gardner, and Andre Comeau were already performance artists, with one of Comeau's songs being used for the show itself. They had their own lives. They weren't hoping that the show would GIVE them a life. (Of course, it was a factor, but not the ONLY one.) They didn't have to be given jobs, or tasks, to keep them out of trouble. They just lived together and lived their own lives, only around new people. They weren't playing a character; an archetype. None of them were consciously thinking,

"I have to be the drunken slut."
"I have to be the angry black man."
"I have to be the ignorant racist, redneck."
"I have to be the holier-than-thou prude."
"I have to be the frat-boy, wannabe-cool guy."
"I have to be the girl that drinks too much."

etc, etc, etc...

...they were just being themselves on camera. "REALITY" television. Everybody made friends, and learned life lessons, and didn't embarass themselves on a mightly basis. Then Season Two rolled along, and, in casting, rather than go with a cast that would LOVE each other, they cast a crew that would HATE each other. BUT, even then, it was "real." An abortion, people in college, and in bands, etc... These people had lives beyond the show.

In fact, it wasn't until Season 5, when the cast had to be given a task to complete, I'm assuming, because none of them had "real" jobs. A bartender. (Shut up...) A phone sex operator. A student. A waitress. A student and model. A comic book editor. And a guy who wants to be a P.I. Not IS. Wants to be. So, since this group of Generation X, 22-26 year olds, had no "real" jobs, they were given a job by the show. Season 5 was the same thing. The "Slacker" Generation, Gen X, were all job-notless, but-challenged.

This was the rule that the later seasons seemed to follow as well. Apparently, people with lives didn't make for nearly as interesting television as people with no lives. Why? Because, people with no lives create drama for themselves, and drama creates television ratings.

A rape in the house? Highest rated season ever.
Sin City? Second highest.
Sepetmber 11th? 3rd highest.

Don't tell me our priorities aren't screwed up.


"We know Real World is not the real world. I recently met a woman named Irene McGee who quit this show and said not even the house was real. The fridges were all filled to the brim with Vlasic pickles delivered daily by the crate load along with gallons of Nantucket Nectar. If she drank anything else, the crew took it from her hand and made sure the Nantucket Nectar label was facing the camera instead. When she walked out, another guy in the cast of Real World hit her and the camera guy did nothing. When she spoke out, MTV sued her. And Entertainment Weekly rated Irene getting smash mouthed the 47th most interesting event on TV that whole year. Can’t you [people at] MTV think of a better way to raise audience awareness of domestic violence than to make it look cool?" -- Jello Biafra

So what happened? "The show that once seriously delved into hot-button issues like homosexuality, AIDS, racism, religion and abortion was now purposely pushing someone’s buttons to have that person implode on air." THAT'S what happened. When people were *ssholes to each other, the ratings skyrocketed.

Now, gradually, what we've seen is, rather than casting people who will be *ssholes to each other, the show is just casting *ssholes and waiting for the fireworks.


"No longer an outlet for 20somethings to brood about their future careers, the show has become a cyclic three-month on-air party for young adults to mingle in hot tubs and obsess about the present. The locales have changed from creative meccas like New York and London to vacation spots like Las Vegas, New Orleans and Hawaii. MTV has rejiggered the show to require characters to engage in artificial, season-long contests or projects — like putting together a fashion show - which the characters embrace in the way most American teenagers experience spring break: as a big party." (www.wikipedia.com - I didn't write down the original source)

When Real World debuted, it was successful because the people who were watching it were going through the same things, having the same problems... It was successful because the people on those shows, even though there ARE script-writers, and, from time-to-time, the "fourth wall" has been broken, but the people were "real."

Now, look at what the show is:

Once again, from the Wikipedia site for The Real World,

- "...many of the cast members seemed to be merely repeating the behavior and mannerisms that made previous seasons unique." (Re: The Austin Cast)
- "...roommates' consumption of alcohol was the driving force behind many episodes. Nehemiah and Johanna were both arrested for breaking the law while drunk. Wes once slapped Rachel while in a drunken stupor, which caused great uproar among the girls in the house." (Re: The Austin Cast)

(Can you tell I'm an OU fan...? Lol.)

- "...Melanie, somewhat of a loner on the cast, had her own group of friends that she had met in the city. When she invited them over one night, a drunk Landon became enraged and pulled out a knife from the kitchen. He began to walk over to Melanie but was led away by Karamo before he could reach her." (Re: The Philly Cast)

Believe me... the "hits" just keep on coming. THIS is the kind of crap that kids are seeing, and wanting to emulate. And no wonder we can't get them to study for a test, or write a paper... They don't need those skills to succeed in life; to be like the people on The Real World. All they have to do is be ignorant, melodramatic, and unable to handle their booze. Hell... if you act THAT way, you can be on MTV, and then make even more money off of appearance tours, autograph signings (how many cast members have to pen an 'x' instead of a signature, I wonder?) and spin-offs. (Real World / Road Rules)

(And what does THAT say about our world, that reality shows that aren't even "real" anymore are now so popular that they're spawning American Gladiators-style spinoffs?)

When did ratings matter more than morality? I mean, if this was how people actually were, then it'd be one thing, but these aren't "real" people anymore, are they? I mean, surely nobody thinks that it's okay to behave the way that these people do, do they? It has to be fake. Nobody can think that, just because they got drunk for MTV's cameras, they're a celebrity now, can they? Can anybody not named Tucker Max be that stupid?

I know that this is the world in which we live, and, frankly, it makes me a little sad. I think that, mainly, it makes me sad because, even if I sat and explained all of this to a room of 14-15 year-olds, telling them, in great detail, why shows like The Real World used to be so good and now they're so bad... dare I even say dangerous? I know that if I tried to do this, it would be met with all of the same ignorance of the show itself. Kids emulate what they see; what they're ALLOWED to see, that is... (Parents... Don't let your kids watch this crap. Please.) Don't allow your children to glorify a show that sells DVD's entitled "Greatest Fights," and "Hook-Ups" on a network that used to be political, cutting-edge, and innovative and is now solely in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

No wonder Kurt Cobain killed himself.

Nobody wants to be educated anymore... they only want to be entertained. Why read Shakespeare when you can watch people get drunk, do stupid, rude, uncaring sh*t, and then blame the alcohol? Why do your homework when you can watch Paris Hilton ask if Wal-Mart is a place where they sell walls? Why listen in school when there's "The Real World: Hook Ups" being delivered via NetFlix to your door in three days or less?

...but at least (starting in Season 5) MTV gave them something to do with their spare time so that nobody else would be shown getting entered into a substance abuse program, covering up a rape, arrested, fired from their jobs, fighting, and being unresponsibly promiscuous on a network that ranks #1 in people ages 18-34.

Make sure you read that right. MTV is #1.

(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DIZ/is_2002_July_1/ai_89002842)
Even scarier...? They are also #1 in the 12-24 demographic. Let me say that one again too...

They are showing substance abuse, arrests, people being fired from their jobs, fighting, and being unresponsibly promiscuous on a network that is the #1 rated network for "people" ages 12-24.

If this does not terrify you, it should. In this day and age of younger and younger parents, and kids doing things that you used to have to be much older to do, it scares the sh*t out of me. There's a good chance that a single mother in her mid-30's remembers the same Real World that I do. The "good years." She may not know what's on it now, and, when her kids tell her they're watching "The Real World," she thinks about how it used to be and goes on with her day. It's not like that anymore, World. It's time to wake up. I have cousins who fall square in the middle of the 12-24 demographic. There's a REALLY good chance that they watch The Real World. There's an even better chance that their friends do. Do these shows have parental warnings? They didn't "back in the day." (Except for Tami's abortion episode...) They didn't HAVE to have them back in the day.

I guess what all of this boils down to is this: I want MY MTV. Your MTV sucks.

the_ouskull

Post Script - Even I'M going to apologize for the length of this one. Also, I wrote it orignially a few years back, but thought it applied well to this thread.

[sooneron]

I mean really, do people even still make videos?

Can't really answer the first one, but yes, they are made, in a abundance.

I got a call to work a W Houston gig last week.

[Collier11]

I read that cus it was interesting but I can only imagine that putting together a thesis on The Real World has to be an epic waste of time :D

[SoonerJack]

skull that was a pretty interesting read. I stopped watching mtv when they started having mtv news with that one guy with the long face.

I want my Martha Quinn.

[yermom]

Kurt Loder?

do they even do MTV News anymore?

i seriously can't really watch MTV or VH1 now.

[49r]

Yeah, "Remote Control" is what killed MTV.

Pedro. Yeah, it really pissed me off when the rest of the people in the house always said "Paid-a-lo" when they tried to pronounce his name. Made me want to punch the TV.

[yermom]

Remote Control was awesome

at least it was music related :D

[sooneron]

Remote Control was awesome. I always liked Colin's renditions of popular music. That, and Kari...

[KC//CRIMSON]

I read that cus it was interesting but I can only imagine that putting together a thesis on The Real World has to be an epic waste of time :D

Watching MTV & VH1 are both epic wastes of time.

[Half a Hundred]

skull... hate to say it, but American youth have always by large been ignorant, uneducated and apathetic. The story of history is generally limited to a small number of people who didn't have these qualities, but more than that, been incredibly lucky.

The greatest times of civic involvement in the country have come, not surprisingly, after major periods of social upheaval, such as a large war. For example, most of the Populist movements of the 1880s and 1890s were led by people who were involved with the Civil War, either through their own participation or that of family members. Same with the 1960s - many of the leaders (Silent Generation) were those who were too young to fight WWII, but still old enough to see their older brothers go off and potentially be killed, not to mention participate in the home front efforts.

This is what people refer to when they indicate that war has a galvanizing effect on the population. This is what was hoped for in the wake of 9/11. Decisions were made to not follow that path, because given today's realities, it's unworkable (pesky nukes getting in the way).

[StoopTroup]

I think that our country is getting dumber from the bottom up. Most movements start somewhere in the middle and work their way up and down the age ladder. Fashion is notorious for this. Someone that is 20/30ish will start a trend, and then the younger people that like this celebrity, for whatever reasons, will fall in line, and then, older people, desperately wanting to cling to anything young, will fall in line as well. Then, BAM !!! We have an entire country wearing trucker hats and carrying small dogs in handbags just because of their feelings towards the person they saw doing it first.

It's a country where being ignorant, uneducated, and apathetic is okay, because the kids who are growing up in this country see people behaving exactly in that manner every single day on television. It used to be that back-stabbing, greed, and scandal were reserved for soap operas. Now it seems that almost every show on television is a soap opera... and, seeing as they are all also "reality" shows, what, exactly, does that say about the world in which we live?

People used to watch television to get away from real life. Now they're tuning in to watch other people's lives, and, in the saddest twist of all, they have been so dummied-down by what they're seeing that they don't even realize the irony.

The people that you are seeing on TV are not real people. They may be on something called a "reality show," but that does not mean that they are "real" people and it CERTAINLY does not mean that they are to be taken seriously, treated like celebrities, or in ANY way, respected. If you want to respect somebody; look up to somebody, respect that guy that gets up at 6 a.m. five days a week to go to his janitor job to support his family. Don't respect the guy that gets up at the crack of noon, smiles for the cameras, and then starts talking about "how f*cked up" he got the night before and the fights that he got into because he was hitting on someone else's girlfriend. That guy isn't real. In the real world (and notice that I didn't capitalize because the ACTUAL real world isn't the name of a show, it's life) that guy would have gotten the crap kicked out of him by about 5 people and left in a dumpster. If you want a REAL "Real World," then put 6 of those vaccous chuckleheads in a house with ME. Make them sit down with me once a week to tell them what vapid, ignorant dipsh*ts they are. Let me point out, frame-by-frame, the exact points where their acting like whores, idiots, and *ssholes has taken the accountability away from the youth of our country.

How are parents supposed to tell their kids not to lie, cheat, steal, and fight when the people that they're watching on TV, their MTV, are doing just that, and being GLORIFIED for it through their own TV show? Is everybody with a brain being Punk'd? Are the stupid people; the people that think that any of this is REAL; are they the only ones in on the joke? Are these shows actually the epitome of intelligence and high culture because they're tricking anybody who understands why Paris Hilton should be hung, not rewarded?

Call me old, but I remember back when MTV showed videos, and I was there when they stopped showing JUST videos and started having television shows. I was even there (gasp!) in 1992, when they first came out with The Real World. We (yeah, I said "we") used to care about the characters because they weren't characters; they weren't archetypes... they were PEOPLE. They all had their own lives already, and they were just thrown together to live them. We had Eric Nies, who was already a model and an actor. Kevin Powell was the editor of a major magazine. Becky Blasband, Heather Gardner, and Andre Comeau were already performance artists, with one of Comeau's songs being used for the show itself. They had their own lives. They weren't hoping that the show would GIVE them a life. (Of course, it was a factor, but not the ONLY one.) They didn't have to be given jobs, or tasks, to keep them out of trouble. They just lived together and lived their own lives, only around new people. They weren't playing a character; an archetype. None of them were consciously thinking,

"I have to be the drunken slut."
"I have to be the angry black man."
"I have to be the ignorant racist, redneck."
"I have to be the holier-than-thou prude."
"I have to be the frat-boy, wannabe-cool guy."
"I have to be the girl that drinks too much."

etc, etc, etc...

...they were just being themselves on camera. "REALITY" television. Everybody made friends, and learned life lessons, and didn't embarass themselves on a mightly basis. Then Season Two rolled along, and, in casting, rather than go with a cast that would LOVE each other, they cast a crew that would HATE each other. BUT, even then, it was "real." An abortion, people in college, and in bands, etc... These people had lives beyond the show.

In fact, it wasn't until Season 5, when the cast had to be given a task to complete, I'm assuming, because none of them had "real" jobs. A bartender. (Shut up...) A phone sex operator. A student. A waitress. A student and model. A comic book editor. And a guy who wants to be a P.I. Not IS. Wants to be. So, since this group of Generation X, 22-26 year olds, had no "real" jobs, they were given a job by the show. Season 5 was the same thing. The "Slacker" Generation, Gen X, were all job-notless, but-challenged.

This was the rule that the later seasons seemed to follow as well. Apparently, people with lives didn't make for nearly as interesting television as people with no lives. Why? Because, people with no lives create drama for themselves, and drama creates television ratings.

A rape in the house? Highest rated season ever.
Sin City? Second highest.
Sepetmber 11th? 3rd highest.

Don't tell me our priorities aren't screwed up.



So what happened? "The show that once seriously delved into hot-button issues like homosexuality, AIDS, racism, religion and abortion was now purposely pushing someone’s buttons to have that person implode on air." THAT'S what happened. When people were *ssholes to each other, the ratings skyrocketed.

Now, gradually, what we've seen is, rather than casting people who will be *ssholes to each other, the show is just casting *ssholes and waiting for the fireworks.



When Real World debuted, it was successful because the people who were watching it were going through the same things, having the same problems... It was successful because the people on those shows, even though there ARE script-writers, and, from time-to-time, the "fourth wall" has been broken, but the people were "real."

Now, look at what the show is:

Once again, from the Wikipedia site for The Real World,

- "...many of the cast members seemed to be merely repeating the behavior and mannerisms that made previous seasons unique." (Re: The Austin Cast)
- "...roommates' consumption of alcohol was the driving force behind many episodes. Nehemiah and Johanna were both arrested for breaking the law while drunk. Wes once slapped Rachel while in a drunken stupor, which caused great uproar among the girls in the house." (Re: The Austin Cast)

(Can you tell I'm an OU fan...? Lol.)

- "...Melanie, somewhat of a loner on the cast, had her own group of friends that she had met in the city. When she invited them over one night, a drunk Landon became enraged and pulled out a knife from the kitchen. He began to walk over to Melanie but was led away by Karamo before he could reach her." (Re: The Philly Cast)

Believe me... the "hits" just keep on coming. THIS is the kind of crap that kids are seeing, and wanting to emulate. And no wonder we can't get them to study for a test, or write a paper... They don't need those skills to succeed in life; to be like the people on The Real World. All they have to do is be ignorant, melodramatic, and unable to handle their booze. Hell... if you act THAT way, you can be on MTV, and then make even more money off of appearance tours, autograph signings (how many cast members have to pen an 'x' instead of a signature, I wonder?) and spin-offs. (Real World / Road Rules)

(And what does THAT say about our world, that reality shows that aren't even "real" anymore are now so popular that they're spawning American Gladiators-style spinoffs?)

When did ratings matter more than morality? I mean, if this was how people actually were, then it'd be one thing, but these aren't "real" people anymore, are they? I mean, surely nobody thinks that it's okay to behave the way that these people do, do they? It has to be fake. Nobody can think that, just because they got drunk for MTV's cameras, they're a celebrity now, can they? Can anybody not named Tucker Max be that stupid?

I know that this is the world in which we live, and, frankly, it makes me a little sad. I think that, mainly, it makes me sad because, even if I sat and explained all of this to a room of 14-15 year-olds, telling them, in great detail, why shows like The Real World used to be so good and now they're so bad... dare I even say dangerous? I know that if I tried to do this, it would be met with all of the same ignorance of the show itself. Kids emulate what they see; what they're ALLOWED to see, that is... (Parents... Don't let your kids watch this crap. Please.) Don't allow your children to glorify a show that sells DVD's entitled "Greatest Fights," and "Hook-Ups" on a network that used to be political, cutting-edge, and innovative and is now solely in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

No wonder Kurt Cobain killed himself.

Nobody wants to be educated anymore... they only want to be entertained. Why read Shakespeare when you can watch people get drunk, do stupid, rude, uncaring sh*t, and then blame the alcohol? Why do your homework when you can watch Paris Hilton ask if Wal-Mart is a place where they sell walls? Why listen in school when there's "The Real World: Hook Ups" being delivered via NetFlix to your door in three days or less?

...but at least (starting in Season 5) MTV gave them something to do with their spare time so that nobody else would be shown getting entered into a substance abuse program, covering up a rape, arrested, fired from their jobs, fighting, and being unresponsibly promiscuous on a network that ranks #1 in people ages 18-34.

Make sure you read that right. MTV is #1.

(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DIZ/is_2002_July_1/ai_89002842)
Even scarier...? They are also #1 in the 12-24 demographic. Let me say that one again too...

They are showing substance abuse, arrests, people being fired from their jobs, fighting, and being unresponsibly promiscuous on a network that is the #1 rated network for "people" ages 12-24.

If this does not terrify you, it should. In this day and age of younger and younger parents, and kids doing things that you used to have to be much older to do, it scares the sh*t out of me. There's a good chance that a single mother in her mid-30's remembers the same Real World that I do. The "good years." She may not know what's on it now, and, when her kids tell her they're watching "The Real World," she thinks about how it used to be and goes on with her day. It's not like that anymore, World. It's time to wake up. I have cousins who fall square in the middle of the 12-24 demographic. There's a REALLY good chance that they watch The Real World. There's an even better chance that their friends do. Do these shows have parental warnings? They didn't "back in the day." (Except for Tami's abortion episode...) They didn't HAVE to have them back in the day.

I guess what all of this boils down to is this: I want MY MTV. Your MTV sucks.

the_ouskull

Post Script - Even I'M going to apologize for the length of this one. Also, I wrote it orignially a few years back, but thought it applied well to this thread.

You had me at...


I think that our country is getting dumber from the bottom up.

:D

[MR2-Sooner86]

I think another nail in the coffin was Jackass. A show that was named after the target audience.

*sigh* I miss the Beavis and Butthead days which actually related to the M in MTV.

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

I think the Miz is the only one from the show over the last 10 years that has a job