Reality is the new MTV

April 23, 2010  
Filed under Uncategorized

MTV is known as one of today’s most popular cable television channels. MTV is home to shows such as Truelife, The Real World, The Hills, and Sixteen and Pregnant. A lot has changed since MTV has been around, including what is broadcasted.

It was midnight on August first of the year 1981 when MTV was first aired to viewers. MTV was a gateway for musical artists to be broadcasted throughout the nation.  The original purpose of MTV was to play various music videos (hence the name Music Television). On-air hosts called VJs introduced these videos. Although MTV was originally designated for playing music, nowadays, the channel plays primarily mindless, tasteless, and boring reality shows.

MTV has changed musical history for many around the world. In 1983 Michael Jackson’s video to the song Thriller came out which made a huge impact on MTV as everyone knew it. Thriller was considered to be the groundbreaking video for MTV.  MTV helped the rise of Madonna’s stardom in 1983. In 1984, MTV produced it’s first MTV Music Video Awards, which may be some of the only glimpses of music we get to see on the channel today.

The start of the ridiculously dramatic reality shows on MTV began in 1992 when the still famous show, The Real World first came into our living rooms. From then on, MTV gave up on being the channel that was solely devoted to playing a block of 24-hour music videos. Today we see shows such as The Hills, a semi-reality series based on a group of young, wealthy, and extremely dramatic individuals. The show is as big of a hit now as it was when it made it’s premier on MTV in 2006. The Hills mainly appeals to teenage girls, why? Because they want to live the glamorous lives of Heidi, Lauren, Stephanie and Audrina. These teen girls find the lives, the drama, and the relationships featured on the Hills to be way more entertaining than their own lives. The only problem is this: although the characters featured on The Hills are real people, their jobs, lives and even relationships are often scripted. In reality, the lives of The Hills stars are not as glamorous as we perceive them to be.

MTV is just one of the many channels that features reality television shows, channels like Bravo, CBS, VH1 and TLC also feature a great deal of reality TV. Reality television has been on the rise recently due to many aspects, some of which include, not enough money to pay hired actors and the increased ratings of reality television. Reality TV is on the rise because people can often times compare themselves to real people, rather than hired actors who are just reading off of a script.

The problem with reality television is that people are often so consumed with everyone else’s lives. They thrive on watching other’s failures and accomplishments on national television. These reality shows give the nation false perceptions of reality, and lead by horrible examples. For instance, the semi-hit/controversial reality show Jersey Shore which was filmed in August of 2009. Jersey Shore is like a spin-off of The Real World, which includes eight young, wild, and obscene housemates. Jersey Shore became mainly notorious due to the characters “The Situation” and Snooki. The cast members glorify things that aren’t necessarily socially acceptable like excessive partying and unfaithful relationships.

Although Jersey Shore became a huge hit for MTV, the channel that was once devoted to playing music constantly is now known for being the home of scripted and distasteful reality shows. MTV: slowly demoralizing our generation.