MTV Celebrates A Quarter-Century Of Mediocrity
With the phrase "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," MTV ushered in the era of the music video on August 1st, 1981. Although the station would not be caught dead today playing The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star, or any other music video for that matter, plans are still underway at the network for a gala 25th anniversary celebration next month.
"First of all, we are calling it our 15th anniversary, because even we can't believe we are that frickin' old," said Winter Bluestone, president of Viacom, the parent network of MTV. "Since our programming is aimed toward eight year olds, many of their parents weren’t even around yet when MTV began."
The network had originally planned to reunite some of the original VJs for the event, until they realized that "J.J Jackson is actually dead, Martha Quinn has disappeared off the face of the planet, and Alan Hunter looks like he could be someone's grandpappy now."
Instead, MTV plans to devote an entire half-hour to playing "classic" music videos from 50 Cent and Creed, since "we chucked most of the older videos to make room on the shelves to store more episodes of Road Rules," admits Bluestone.
Although MTV originally stood for the phrase Music Television, the network has not actually televised a single music video for well over a decade. Instead, the network is now focused entirely on reality-based programming where pre-teens are assembled together in homes and recreational vehicles, and then filmed reacting to artificial situations for our entertainment and titillation.
In addition, the network also occasionally features hard-hitting original documentaries on Spring Break hotspots, and the dangers of turning up your iPod past the maximum volume level originally set by your parents when they purchased it for you.
Staff writer Marilyn Z. Carolyn remembers watching the first day of MTV programming, but swears she is only 27...
"First of all, we are calling it our 15th anniversary, because even we can't believe we are that frickin' old," said Winter Bluestone, president of Viacom, the parent network of MTV. "Since our programming is aimed toward eight year olds, many of their parents weren’t even around yet when MTV began."
The network had originally planned to reunite some of the original VJs for the event, until they realized that "J.J Jackson is actually dead, Martha Quinn has disappeared off the face of the planet, and Alan Hunter looks like he could be someone's grandpappy now."
Instead, MTV plans to devote an entire half-hour to playing "classic" music videos from 50 Cent and Creed, since "we chucked most of the older videos to make room on the shelves to store more episodes of Road Rules," admits Bluestone.
Although MTV originally stood for the phrase Music Television, the network has not actually televised a single music video for well over a decade. Instead, the network is now focused entirely on reality-based programming where pre-teens are assembled together in homes and recreational vehicles, and then filmed reacting to artificial situations for our entertainment and titillation.
In addition, the network also occasionally features hard-hitting original documentaries on Spring Break hotspots, and the dangers of turning up your iPod past the maximum volume level originally set by your parents when they purchased it for you.
Staff writer Marilyn Z. Carolyn remembers watching the first day of MTV programming, but swears she is only 27...
