September 16, 2008
MTV Puts an End to TRL
TRL photobooth wall, by Jen Carlson.
MTV is finally canceling their TRL (Total Request Live) series, after rumors have been circulating about its demise for over a year. Variety reports that the show, which has had a long shelf life as is—lasting over a decade—"will depart in mid-November with a two-hour Saturday-afternoon special. Its departure will coincide with the return of another music vid-themed show, Feedback New MTV (FNMTV)." The screams in Times Square have been slowly fading since the show's beginning, but will they now be muted forever?
And as the studio gets stripped of its celebrity photobooth pictures and other memorabilia to make room for a similarly soul-crushing show, that precious golden era when MTV broadcast music videos like these seems to grow ever-distant. Forget reality shows and texting in requests, make the kids call 1-800-Dial-MTV on a rotary phone again to see actual, full length videos. It builds character! And speaking of building character, behold what many contend to be the worst music video of all time, Don Johnson's 1986 opus "Heartbeat," after the jump.
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wait...mtv still plays music videos?
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Where is the cast of One Tree Hill going to go when they are in NYC? Where are people going to get their shout outs from?
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This is long overdue. The show has been a disgrace since 2004.
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I remember watching this show religiously in middle school haven't watched it since then though.
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Thank God!
MTV SUCKS!!!
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Couldn't they just cancel Mtv, or actually play music videos again, instead of airing way too many shows centered around a bunch of spoiled brats?
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That was a great video that Sonny Crockett made. Two of my friends are in that video, albeit for 7/10ths of a second but they are in it.
May you make more of those video's Tom Johnson.
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Yo! MTv's Crap! Remember the golden age of videos? when videos were actually artistic? I blame hip hop for making videos all about louis vuitton,bentleys and kristal. That made all the white people stop watching videos.
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So this means that MTV has finally decided to do away with the whole music video thing.
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Every time there is a post about MTV, there are comments about how MTV does not play any videos. The reason MTV does not play any videos is because when they did, no one watched. Video hours get the worst ratings. "Real World" got great ratings. If everyone who wants MTV to play more videos actually watched those video hours, then maybe MTV would get the ratings enough to keep them.
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I remember back in 99 they had Eminem take over the joint for an entire afternoon and it was great. He made fun of the entire thing and it totally worked. You just knew that he was having a blast doing it too.
That's about when I stopped watching MTV for good.
Oh to be 19 again.
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"Where is the cast of One Tree Hill going to go when they are in NYC?"
brooke's corporate headquarters of clothes over bros, especially now that she was attacked. she's going to use that gun & get back at her mom (you know she ordered that fake robbery).
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TRL has not been the same since Carson Daly left. (sigh)
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Isn't Carson Daly the KING of Late Nights now that Conan is leaving for LA?
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MTV should hire Jen Carlson THEN put an end to MTV.
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I used to watch this show *all* the time back in High School (98-2001) and even a few years after (2002,03).
And the Carson Daly left and I stopped watching.
It made TIMES SQUARE at least a little interesting, I saw the entire cast of the MATRIX, X-MEN as well as Tom Cruise, David Boreanaz, and The Rock on the streets (with a huge crowd around them) back then.
But its been sucking for years now.
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MTV should quit any kind of programming and just run an endless slew of suggestive ads. No one would notice the change.
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Those pictures of the Olsen twins cuddling with each other are disturbing. Does anyone else think those two "experimented" with each other?
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As a channel, MTV hasn't been the same since the 1996-1997. Now they are a channel for rich white brats with problems like "I don't have a boyfriend this week". The real reason they are canceling TRL is because 106 & PARK on BET whipped their ass! Sadly, no one wants to admit it, a young black show that hasn't been on long took out a 10 year white veteran show.
And for the record, I don't watch neither channels. All of these videos shows are played out and just old. If people want to see new videos, they are going to head to youtube or other music sites anyways. A video countdown show is so 1980s.