I want my MTV back

This Sunday, MTV will air what is arguably its most popular program, the MTV Video Music Awards. Always full of debauchery and unpredictability, MTV is taking it one step further this year by holding the event in the cesspool of sin, Las Vegas. \nSadly, with this change MTV is continuing down a path it’s been on for years. And that’s not a good thing.\nIn the late ‘90s MTV garnered criticism for shoving boy bands and teen queens down its viewers’ throats. Sure, it was annoying to watch Total Request Live to see tweens screaming at the top of their lungs every two minutes, but at least it highlighted some music. Yet, over time, instead of playing whole videos, TRL began to show seconds-long clips. Thankfully, that gave everyone more time to ogle at the dreamy Carson Daly. It was the beginning of the end.\nIn the past few years, MTV has been sucked into the reality show black hole, and its music coverage has been almost non-existent. \nAlmost all the new programs the network has created have failed. Anyone remember “Burned”? How about “The Wade Robson Project”?\nEven worse, once it figured out what programs worked, MTV decided to create one off-shoot after another. “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” became a huge hit because it followed the “unscripted” lives of rich, white, blonde kids. MTV’s demographic ate it all up and the “real” people on that show became D-list celebrities. \nSo what does MTV do? Create five more shows that are exactly the same. “Laguna Beach” is done. MTV moves the camera crew down the coast to Newport where life is totally different. It then took quality programming such as “The Real World” and transformed it from cutting-edge to drunken sex fests with only extremely attractive people allowed. No longer did “The Real World” change lives or teach anyone anything unless it was about how many sex partners were too many or how to mix drinks.\nMTV has become a derivative version of its former self. Nonmusic programs run for the majority of the day. Technological advances such as the Internet and its cogs such as YouTube and MySpace have completely passed by MTV. The Internet allows for more music to be heard than ever before, and no longer do people tune in to MTV to find out about new music when they can find it themselves. It’s sad to see something that was so influential in the music world erode into an unfunny joke. The MTV generation grew up and went to work, while the network failed to capture the attention of its younger siblings. \nMaybe this year’s VMAs will celebrate the past year that was great for music and head MTV down the right path. \nOr maybe Britney Spears will show up sans panties to lip-sync her comeback single as midgets wrestle in honey while Akon commits actions worthy of an FCC fine. \nSounds like the true definition of music television to me.