We run for youthanasia...
I know that parents will say that the worst thing that could possibly happen would be to outlive their children.
I watched a couple of shows yesterday that made me think that this may not really be the whole truth. After reading this, I think you'll agree that pubescent genocide may be permissible in some instances.
After returning home from opening the gym, Katie and Jen (our future sister-in-law who stayed at our place last night because my brother was out of town on business) were watching TV. After we finished the last episode from the season 1 DVD set of Grey's Anatomy, they flipped back to live TV and the channel was set to MTV. I guess they had been watching the new Nick Lachey special before putting in the G.A. DVDs.
Now, however, MTV was airing something called My Super Sweet 16. It's some horridly ridiculous show about spoiled little bitches getting everything they want, and more, on their 16th birthday. It's ludicrous just what these little pains in the asses are allowed to get away with. They whine, they gripe, they cry, they call their parents idiots and worse.... and they get away with it. And MTV is giving them a soapbox from which to decry how "unfair" their lives are, as in this one case, simply because one girl's mom opted for different centerpieces for the party that saved the family $3,000.
$3,000!?!? No, that's not the cost of the centerpieces. That's how much they saved by opting for cheaper ones. God only knows how much they actually cost.
After MSS16 was another show called Tiara Girls about girls trying to win beauty pageants and the parents that feed this obsession. In this instance, I couldn't tell who was worse, the girl or the parents. The girl was spoiled to the point of spending $3,600 on a dress for a single pageant event, but her parents were constantly berating her lack of devotion to "the craft."
Describing it as "the craft" is about the most accurate thing about this whole ordeal. Likening these girls to witches is perfection, simply put.
I'm not the first one to say this, I'm not going to be the last, but what the hell happened to you, MTV? Why are you catering to this bullshit? I can understand the desire to grow and mature as a television network. To spread your creative wings and try something new and daring. But, how does this sort of programming constitute "growth," "maturity," and "daring"?
Somebody recently told me that MTV still plays music.
When?
They play music early in the morning! When nobody is watching! They should probably change their name because they are not Music TV anymore. You should watch Date My Mom. Where mostly young girls have their moms go out on a date with a single guy(Mostly). These moms flirt with these younger guys to get him to pick their daughters for a date. They are obviously California moms. You know, where they want to be friends with their kids and not their parents. Kind of like My Sweet 16, DUDE!
Posted by: MadIrishMan | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 06:55 AM
I'm there with ya, Kevin. Can. Not. STAND. that show. GRRRRR. Those girls should be forced to spend a little time in the real world because they certainly don't appreciate life. It's tv like that that makes me a non-watcher.
Posted by: Chase | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 09:10 AM
I am so with you and Chase. Let those little bitches come into my world for awhile. They change there attitudes real quick.
Posted by: mikey | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 10:23 AM
Ok... Kevin? MTV has not played music videos for A VERY LONG TIME!!! Sorry :( Now it is just sh*t tv shows that make little bitches like my sister think it is ok to be such a bitch all the time. F you MTV.
(PS MadIrishMan - they show Date My Mom here in Italy - it is so awful! Who is coming up with these awful awful awful ideas?!)
Posted by: kilax | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 10:40 AM
I miss the way MTV was back in the '80s, when it really was MUSIC TELEVISION. When anything NOT a music video was called a "special."
Posted by: SJ | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 10:42 AM
I miss quality MTV programming like Beavis and Butthead. Sad part is, I'm not even joking! At least they played videos.
Posted by: Johnny C. | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 12:13 PM
Ah, yes, I yearn for the early MTV days. That prized astronaut planting the MTV flag upon the moon. And quality VJ's such as Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, and JJ Jackson. Oh, and actual MUSIC.
Posted by: Karl | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 12:31 PM
MIM, go figure, eh? Play your bread and butter when no one gives a shit. That seems to be the corporate mentality of MTV at work.
Chase, I would love to see them dumped in the middle of the innercity with a bunch of hidden cameras and no out. Go Darwin!
Mikey, you school 'em, m'man!
Kilax, I know that, but I still can't help but remember the good ol' days. I wish they were back. I saw that "Date My Mom" for about two minutes one time and clicked it off when I realized it wasn't a bad Geico commercial ("Maybe I did flirt with your mom so I could get you in bed, but I also saved hundreds of dollars on car insurance!")
SJ, I forgot they actually used the "special" designation. Now, music is the rare special on the menu.
Johnny, B&B was great! Their video commentary was the best. (To Tool's "sober"... "if I could move my hand that fast, I'd never leave the house.") Great stuff!
Karl... Martha Quinn. Forgot all about her. I'll take the second generation of VJs with my girl, Duff! She rocked!
But I do miss the old days of MTV just as a general rule.
Posted by: Kevin | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 01:48 PM
I'm a television lover but reality show hater of almost any kind. The sad thing is, MTV pioneered the whole reality show genre with the Real World. I loved the early seasons, but can't stand anything they show now. I remember when the idea of "real" people being on TV unscripted was new and unusual. Now it’s worse then formulaic sitcoms like Hope and Faith. Down with reality TV, bring back Arrested Development!
Posted by: Nicole | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 04:32 PM
SNL did a skit on that show... probably wasn't that different from it actually.
And I'd say it's not the kids who need to be smacked so much as their parents who let them get away with that behavior.
Posted by: claire | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 04:42 PM
oh my god, a music tv station that plays music? what a novel idea...
Posted by: suze | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 05:15 PM
Um...so as much as I agree that all of the shows you mentioned are rubbish, I also must confess that I watch them. On purpose.
(hides in corner)
Posted by: sandra | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 05:18 PM
I used to switch on MTV to play in the background while I do stuff. Now it's one of the channels I never land on when I am flicking through the cable trying to find something to watch. I used to love Jackass.... but then that ended... and Daria... but that ended... now it's just full of kids who I have a probably illegal urge to slap.
A lot.
I thought it was just me, getting old and not getting 'it' but VH-1 is getting just as bad! But there again... Pimp My Ride is funny - just for the thought of the re-visit... "Johnny now has to work three jobs and sleep in his pimped up jacuzzi filled van just to pay for the motor insurance."
Posted by: Bec | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 05:31 PM
Remember when MTV was cool? Neither do I. Seriously. Enough with the dumb programming. Can't say that Much Music up here is any better. And can someone please explain all this loving for Flavour Flav... desperation...
Do not get me started on the whole pagent show thing. What I could do with $3K! aaaaaaarg.
Posted by: Nat | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 06:29 PM
Nicole, please bring back AD. I'd sign that petition. I watched The Real World in seasons 2 and 3 and have maybe seen a grand total of three episodes since that time. It just doesn't appeal to me anymore. The idea that they are making them all start small businesses together is just laughable, at best.
Claire, I completely agree. The parents are just as responsible.
Suze, I know. Yet bringing up the very idea might wind up getting you splayed.
Sandra, girl...
Bec, I never got into Jackass although my mother in law was a huge fan. That's still an odd image in my mind. But I did watch Daria. That was a well-done show.
Nat, I like when movies that either came out in the 80s or are set in the 80s show old clips from the heyday of MTV. That's when it was cool. What any of us could do with $3K.
Posted by: Kevin | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 06:39 PM
My Super Sweet 16 -- Four of my friends visited and slept over in my musty room in the basement.
There may have been cake.
I feel so deprived.
Posted by: Rabbit | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 06:51 PM
I feel your pain, Kevin. I've been bemoaning the death of MTV for a very long time. It's all "reality" tv now. MSS16 is the worst! What I would give to be young(er), pretty, popular AND rich. Those bitches really don't know how good they have it. I admit I wish very bad things to happen to those girls. Someone needs to bitchslap them into reality because what they are livin isn't it.
Whatever happened to 120 Minutes? I lived for that show. You have to subscribe to digital cable to get MTV2 where they air all the music-related shows now.
Posted by: nicole | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 06:55 PM
For a recent entry I tried to find music on MTV, and failed miserably. I have no idea why they don't just give up the pretense of being "Music Television" altogether. They're pretty much crappy reality television projects all the time.
Posted by: Dave2 | Monday, 24 April 2006 at 07:45 PM
Rabbit, my SS16 (even though guys don't have those) involved a bunch of my friends going to see Good Morning Vietnam with me. I think that was my 16th. I could be wrong on the timeline. If it wasn't, then that shows just how memorable it really wasn't.
Nicole, I was wishing bad things upon them the second I started watching. Sadly, even negative attention in the media comes out as positive. I debated even writing this post because it's still, in the long run, positive for them. As they say, "any news is good news."
Dave, and the descriptor "crappy" really is the key on that one.
Posted by: Kevin | Tuesday, 25 April 2006 at 06:46 AM
I so love this show. It's a train wreck in the choicest sense of the word. My fave so far is the girl who cried because her parents couldn't get Hilary Duff to play, and then was elated that they paid for Frankie J and two cars from daddy's dealership. Did I mention she had three costume changes during her party? I wish I knew why I got such a kick out of watching the blissfully unaware pilot through life.
(Also, I'm late on this and it's totally off topic, but re: your allergies... Whole Foods has homeopathic medicines of varying kinds that may help you, but another suggestion I got was a product called Garlicin. It apparently works wonders.)
Posted by: Carly | Tuesday, 25 April 2006 at 02:07 PM
They wanted Hilary Duff to play? Just shows they have no clue what constitutes "good taste." Aye aye aye. I'm assuming that, while my immunity to allergies will be much higher, my wife's desire to kiss me will wane a bit?
Posted by: Kevin | Tuesday, 25 April 2006 at 03:41 PM
Thanks to the miracles of modern science, they have odorless garlic (in pill form)!
Posted by: Carly | Tuesday, 25 April 2006 at 05:52 PM
Hmmm... might have to look into it. Anything to cure my sinus allergy problems.
Posted by: Kevin | Wednesday, 26 April 2006 at 08:34 AM