Shock No longer Has Value: Has MTV Lost Its Appeal?
Posted September 11, 2007 — in Music News
MTV Video Music Awards has many people wondering whether the longtime popular cable network has completely lost its appeal.
The ratings for the VMAs over the past few years have steadily declined. Even though MTV Video Music Awards scored a 6.4 Rating Up 23% From 2006 it won’t change what really lies ahead. So you recruit a glorified highly talked about TRAIN WRECK to capture the EYES for a second - now what? This is nothing more than a crack head feeling a RUSH for that one second before he hits rock bottom.
Exploiting Britney Spears for ratings is not a long term strategic plan - thats not even a band aid. Thats called a desperate act - the last breath before you die - if you listen close enough you may even hear the DEATH RATTLE. Not only that, its a shameful inhumane tactic. MTV must have a struck a deal with the DEVIL but the DEVIL doesn’t have partners, only VICTIMS…..
Hearing insane statements from a rapper who is having a meltdown and who claims that MTV does not support black people is no longer shocking. We watch it once, laugh, forget about it and go about our day.
MTV programming isn’t what it used to be, pop culture experts told ABCNews.com, but then again, neither is the entertainment industry.
Viewers have many more options for entertainment, and no longer rely solely on MTV, making the audience even harder to impress and the seats even harder to fill with celebrities who are spread thin across various outlets.
“[MTV's] biggest problem is that, in 1981, they were the only game in town, there was nothing like them,” said Bob Thompson, pop culture guru and professor at Syracuse University.
“But that bird has flown. In the 80s, if you were a kid, MTV was where you went,” said Thompson. “Now, kids have Comedy Central, Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network — there are so many other places providing entertainment.
“I don’t think MTV is ever going to reach the cultural heights where it was in the 1980s,” said Thompson. What makes these cable networks work is a few good hits. Nothing is the same as getting a big hit that everyone is talking about.”
Overall, some critics said this year’s show was also less glamorous than years past, set at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, rather than more upscale locales like New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
“In the 80s and 90s, the VMAs were really elaborate, and the amount of money spent was truly extravagant,” said Phil Gallo, associate editor of Variety
The Bottom Line: The overall consensus from bloggers and media outlets was that MTV lost its appeal and was tame and lame. The shock value has replaced artistry. The problem is that there is no more value in shock.
You should do a follow-up post now that the ratings are out…
Comment by tannylyle — September 11, 2007 @ 9:10 am
I think the bigger problem that MTV and its programmers have is that they are completely out of touch. Nothing illustrated that fact more so then VJ John Norris.
What the hell was he wearing? A man in his 40’s wearing combat boots, eyeliner and bleached hair? MTV and Viacom as a whole have struggled with who their audience is since the late 90’s when grunge was on the way out.
Kids see through this lack of substance by the network and by the artists and programming they chose to hype.
The music and shows aired are so transparent and lack in substance other than being rich, beautiful, shallow and famous.
Younger people are entertained for a short period, but don’t have any substance to get behind.
Its easy for any smart person to see why “emo” & “Christian music” got to be a nation wide trend. They are trends that have a built in manifesto. How to dress, what to believe and what defines you can all be obtained by a trip to the mall.
I admit that is a broad generalization, but most of Americas youth are a broad generalization.
Comment by RIKKI — September 11, 2007 @ 11:08 am
The 2007 MTV Video Music Awards sucked
Comment by holla — September 11, 2007 @ 11:21 am
MTV has an indentity crisis. Also, not alot of great artists today. KOAR, i cant agree more, we are suffering from a creative drought. Its the culture. Our culture lacks creativity to busy with distractions. The END PRODUCT is MTV VMA’s. Thanks for the insight..
Rach xox
Comment by rachel — September 11, 2007 @ 11:26 am
I watched about two minutes of it and changed the channel immediately. What a bore.
Comment by shawnie — September 11, 2007 @ 11:27 am
I really would not call it an awards show, they hardly gave any out. It reminded me of a circus
Comment by jamie — September 11, 2007 @ 11:28 am
the people who put it on are all in their 60’s and don’t have a clue.
Comment by steve — September 11, 2007 @ 11:29 am
They just keep getting worse and worse. JT was right they should just stick to what they used to do….play music videos.
Comment by lizzz — September 11, 2007 @ 11:30 am
Raw footage of Kanye West throwing a tantrum backstage at the VMAs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-631TgPP2s
Comment by Dave — September 11, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
the people who put it on are all in their 60’s and don’t have a clue.
no…they run VH1.
Comment by larry anderson — September 11, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
MTV is the worst - nothing to offer…
Comment by Tom — September 11, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
“I really would not call it an awards show, they hardly gave any out. It reminded me of a circus”
And I really would not call MTV a music channel. To MTV, music is only something they run for the 30 minutes a day they can’t fit another Hills or TRL in.
MTV stopped having any relevance to music listeners about 15 years ago…{yawn).
Comment by mondogarage — September 13, 2007 @ 7:39 am
It’s Coming to an END. Thank GOD for little Things!!!
Comment by Michael Barile — September 14, 2007 @ 12:27 pm
agents of Viacom are trancing amerikan sloths on frontal lobe junk food, dangling fake teens and hollow lifestyles on screens so fat dolts with hollow minds can slurp up their high fructose brain fix. the vma’s are exercises in roman decline, purposely without a single politcal or social value, las vegas palms is a serpent realm, id rather be in iraq. we’re on the verge of starting another war and millions of sheeple are oogling a bald turkey lip synching in cheese cloth. wake up : fox news and MTV are linked. run by reptiles. agents of the NWO. They Live! Snakes on a Plane was an inside job. haha ha.
Comment by 777 — September 21, 2007 @ 9:30 am