Just Thinking Out Loud: The thrill is gone

MTV, however warped at times, used to be fun. The music videos were fun. The specials and award shows were fun. Even their “reality” shows were fun. Heck, I remember when Spring Break was a week-long extravaganza through which millions of young people lived in a vicarious hope that, just maybe, we would one day be able to participate in the fun. It wasn’t as innocent or idyllic as we might prefer to remember, but it was better.

Programming then was more lighthearted, and there was little in terms of ulterior motives to implement a kind of social agenda so commonly seen today. And that’s why MTV sucks now. The days of blithe entertainment have been replaced by Left-leaning PSAs which, all too often, imply that aligning with anyone but the Democrats is unacceptable, if not downright offensive to any freethinking individual.

MTV is still on-air. But the network, despite steady ratings — spawned perhaps by the morose curiosity of one vacuous series after another — has essentially been lifeless for quite a while. And that’s not likely to ever change.

Iconic Shot: A “Dynamite” cast

© Gage Skidmore

I didn’t like Napoleon Dynamite when it debuted on the big screen in 2004. I thought it was just another indie waste that benefitted from MTV-generated hype. But after watching the flick another six or seven times, I am now compelled to drop whatever I’m doing the moment I see it on television.

Taken at Comic Con in San Diego last July, the pic above is a nice candid shot of Deb, Grandma, Napoleon, Kip, Pedro, Uncle Rico and Rex. An outstanding ensemble if ever there was one.

They're back

Beavis and Butt-head return to MTV tonight after a 15-year hiatus. Admittedly it's been a struggle to fully process this information. Rock on boys.

c/o Grizzly Bomb

Probably the latter

The MTV Video Music Awards recently scored its highest ratings in 18 years, but don't expect this once-delightfully eccentric network to break from its nauseating reality-based programing anytime soon.  Thus composing a prolonged diatribe about how the mighty have fallen is unnecessary when this clever little tid bit says it all.

And on a side note, The Clearly Dope is one of the best (albeit somewhat uncouth) blogs on the 'net.  Bar none.  Have a visit whenever you need a good laugh.

c/o The Clearly Dope – August 29, 2011

Self-esteem Saturday

Feeling down?  Struggling to get motivated?  Well, here's a Beavis & Butt-head classic from Phys Ed coach and Marine Corps veteran Bradley Buzzcut to help get you out of that rut:

Guilty Pleasures: A guy named RJ

c/o AV Club

Despite my protests to what this once-remarkable network has become, there is one program that sticks out amid the slew of trash for which MTV has become so closely identified.  This is not to say that The Hard Times of RJ Berger is good, clean family fun.  To be sure, the routine scenarios that stem from domestic absurdity and sex crazed foolishness are in abundance.  But RJ's story is somewhat different because it goes well beyond youthful indiscretions and the inevitable lessons learned of which we've seen aplenty on television and in movies for decades now.

Despite the initially unexpected little-guy-with-a-huge-penis backstory – by which many guys only wish they were so horribly burdened – RJ is generally levelheaded and manages to remain composed amid even the most ruthless nonsense.  You find yourself cheering for the guy.  You want him to finish on top.  You want him to pound the bully into unconsciousness.  And you absolutely want him to end up with the prettiest girl in school – who, on the show, is his tormentor's main squeeze, and, in reality, looks somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 years-old.

The show might be worth the time if you get a chance.

Real Music: Hum

Last year was the first time that a Rock album failed to break into the Billboard top 10.  The same thing happened to Rap in 2009, but which is more surprising?

Music has changed considerably -- some might say the scene has devolved -- over a short period of time.  Although Rock remains driven by established statesmen such as AC/DC, Metallica, and Ozzy Osbourne, along with assistance by the reformation of Alice in Chians, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots, the newer breed can no longer count on the plenitude of support from MTV and mainstream radio stations the genre' once enjoyed for decades.

In fairness, there is also something to be said for a style of music that once-proudly flew the banner of masculinity and Americana which the brand now generally appears to shun.  Indeed being outshined by their quasi-transvestite forebears of hair metal's heyday doesn't seem to phase them one bit.

Whatever the reason, loyalists remain hopeful that the purveyors of Rock find their voice (and power chords) once again before enthusiasts end up cursed with permanent doses of the currently prevalent pseudo-rock from which the genre' may never fully recover.  So here's a throwback to a band called Hum -- an unassuming yet somewhat heavy group that peaked amid one of music's greatest eras -- who showed us that sometimes less can be more:

Is this really a "shift"?

Promoted as a kind of "bucket list" for Generation X, The Buried Life has been selected by MTV executives as the flagship of a reality programming overhaul that will shift from the breathtakingly superficial content that has dominated the network for over 10 years and refocus instead upon the production of more socially conscious media.

Or as a New York Times piece recently referred to it, "MTV for the era of Obama."  Read into that whatever you wish.

MTV's "Jersey Shore"

I've always been curious about the Northeast.  Having never been further above the Mason-Dixon than Maryland, I know little except that the winters are long and brutal, the buildings are tall and stoic, the colleges are old and expensive, and the Democrat strongholds are beyond anything to which the GOP can compare (except for Texas and Utah).

I also know about the Northerners' notoriety for surliness.  Enter Jersey Shore, MTV's newest reality show; a series so crass that UNICO -- an Italian-American organization founded in 1922 -- called for MTV to pull the series before the first episode debuted.  And having recently wasted 10 minutes of my life watching this unabashed reinforcement of every imaginable stereotype, I now understand why.

It's unreasonable to base a general opinion of over 50 million people on television, movies, and even word-of-mouth (as I am equally aware of the South's reputation).  Yet I conclude without reservation that "DJ Pauly D," "JWoww," "Snooki," and "The Situation" have almost singlehandedly quelled any desire to explore their portion of the country.  God willing, I'll keep myself where I belong.