What happened to MTV?

Growing up, I was effectively blocked by my parents’ HBO password from watching any adult movies. However their ignorance of MTV entitled my babysitter and me to a cornucopia of music videos and edgy documentaries. If you ask me, I think I got the better end of the deal. I would much rather watch TLC dress up in condoms than watch Richard Gere and Julia Roberts idealize prostitution.

MTV was both daring and informative in the 1980s and 1990s. It aired documentaries about real people with real sexually transmitted diseases. It promoted freedom of expression and gave youth a forum to discuss matters that were important to them. Even the first seasons of The Real World, the absolute peak of MTV, were designed to explore issues of sexuality and race in the hope of enriching the public’s understanding. Clearly, this differs from the more recent episodes where nymphomania seems to be the only problem that the casting directors embrace.

MTV has always been oversexed but, in the good old days, it seemed to care about representing the voice of youth. Its recent focus upon the rich is an unwelcome change.

My unease with MTV began a few years ago with the debut of Rich Girls. Having formed a strong bond with MTV, I stuck with Ally Hillfiger and her equally spoiled sidekick long enough to watch them buy everything in sight in LA and make pseudo-profound comments about starving children in Ethiopia. If Rich Girls was MTV’s way of showcasing ignorance, then fine, I could have dealt with it. In fact, I probably would have even called it a brilliant social commentary on vanity. However, the lineup that has followed over the last few years makes it clear that MTV has officially abandoned its social and political agenda.

With the creation of such shows as Laguna Beach and Sweet Sixteen, MTV has joined the competing networks’ quest to celebrate the most worthless human beings. Being a broke college student who has worked a slew of miserable jobs since high school, I find the teenagers’ sense of self-entitlement on these shows absolutely insulting. It is appalling that so many 16-year-olds feel justified to scream at their parents for not buying them a new car.

Old habits die hard, and I still flip to MTV at the end of a mind-numbing day hoping to find an inspiring show--the kind that they used to feature. Or, at the very least, a program that is entertaining in an informative way as opposed to a “I can’t believe these people really exist” way. But I am consistently dissapointed.

In all fairness, MTV’s Rock the Vote is an excellent project, and their series True Life does usually feature individuals who are struggling with serious crises. However, these types of programs seem to be on the way out the door while there is no end in sight to Sweet Sixteen, Cribs (check out a funny mock of Cribs), The Ashlee Simpson Show and other programs that pander to the wealthy and self-absorbed. MTV may have earned my loyalty in the '90s, but I think I may cancel my cable package if I watch one more adolescent spend the equivalent of my weekly salary on a pedicure.