MTV: Changes We Can Believe In

It's time to bring back Downtown Julie Brown

MTV recently announced that they will be shutting down their Times Square studio. Now that there's no TRL, the space is mostly vacant. Guess those poor "woo-hoo" girls will have to find a new place to stand and scream. The network also announced that they will be launching five more scripted shows this fall. Both these things seem to be signifying the end of an era... an era where this music television network was solely focused on a lot of mediocre (yet addictive) reality programming. But what the network really needs to do is return to its roots. Here are my suggestions of what they should bring back to their airwaves.

Remote Control
The original featured the likes of Denis Leary, Colin Quinn and Adam Sandler. So what they should do is find a bunch of up-and-coming actors and give them a chaotic game show where they can run a little wild and test the trivia mettle of annoyingly dumb teen/college kids.

The State
With this show just finally arriving on DVD, I really remember how much I missed this comedy series. Sure Michael & Michael Have Issues fills that void a little bit, but ideally I'd like the full cast reunited and new episodes of this produced, stat.

Random Talk Shows
Before Jon Stewart became the politically savvy host of The Daily Show, he goofed off on his self-titled talk/variety show on MTV. It didn't last for that very long, but we sure enjoyed the haphazard nature of this show. I like It's On With Alexa Chung, but its a bit too polished. I'd like a show with a comedian at the helm to poke fun at the world and constantly surprise me.

120 Minutes and/or Headbanger's Ball
A show devoted to music that isn't by Asher Roth, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne and other insanely popular fare would be a welcome change of pace. While alternative and metal might not be the rage nowadays, I'd be happy to see a show that features up-and-coming-acts or indie rock or, really, anything would be fine. Yes, I realize that MTV2 has some of these offerings, but I'd like to see a show on the mothership that acknowledges that there is music in the world that isn't played on Clear Channel.

Downtown or Original Flavor Julie Brown
In general, I sort of miss the old-school VJ. I watched so much MTV in my youth that these VJs were practically family members. They didn't just introduce videos, they had style and flair and seemingly genuine personalities, something that is often lacking among the current crop of MTV talent. Wubba, wubba, wubba.

Music Videos
I've been saying for years that I'd like more music videos on the Music TeleVision station, but that seems unlikely. The only videos that get played seem to be either aired in the wee hours of the morning or in between episodes of 16 and Pregnant and Is She Really Going Out With Him?. Even then, there is a remarkably small rotation of videos squashed between shows. It seems that the majority of music on this network actually airs during their reality programming, with a little bug of the artist and song title and a promo for rhapsody. The Hills is not a music video... or maybe it is, and I've just been mistaking it for a reality show all along, and I should stop trying to pay attention to the plots.

What do you miss about MTV that you'd like to see them bring back? Or have you moved on and stopped caring?

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