So It's Pretty Much The End Of Days For MTV...

Kanye West premiered the video for his latest single, Love Lockdown, on Ellen.

Britney Spears is premiering the video for her new single, Womanizer, on 20/20 this Friday.

MTV is getting rid of TRL next month.

It's official; the M no longer stands for music.

We'll always have the good times...and the hilarious parodies of the good times.

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Travis Barker In Critical Condition After Deadly Plane Crash

Travis Barker, ex-Blink-182 drummer and former star of the MTV Reality series Meet The Barkers, was critically injured in a plane crash early this morning in South Carolina. The Lear 60 jet was en route to Van Nuys when air traffic controllers saw sparks. The plane didn't make it off the ground and crashed on a nearby road.

Four of the six passengers on the plane were killed and Barker was airlifted to the burn unit in a hospital in Georgia. Early reports are also saying DJ AM (best known for being Nicole Richie's former fiance) was also on the plane and may be the other survivor. At this time, that rumor can't be substantiated.

A tragic way to kick off the day. Let's think good thoughts for the families of the dead and cross our fingers for the survivors.

Photo: About.com

TRL Ends Its Run In November

Total Request Live, once a popular mainstay on MTV (and the final place to watch videos on the network) will end its 10-year run in November.

The show peaked in the late '90s with SoCal DJ turned lucky bastard Carson Daly at the helm. Since then the show's had a string of hosts, crappy guests, spectacles, stunts and a fair share of meltdowns. (Remember this? It was one of my favorites.)

Any remember the pre-cursor to TRL, MTV Live? Daly hosted that one too. It was more of a talk show format though with a few videos thrown in for transitions. It was smart, timely and pretty funny. Maybe MTV should bring something like that back. Though it might be too slow for their current crowd. Not enough flashing lights, online voting or text messaging for the young people to stay interested.

Photo: mlive.com

I think I just dated myself.

Hump Day Update

Hey peeps. Lots to write about and just when I think I don't have time to do it all, I remember my dear old friend Hump Day Update.

• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire got a serious makeover for its season premiere this week. There's a time limit on the questions, new crazy life lines, and help from celebrity experts. I use the term celebrity loosely as so far the only celebrity has been Bill Nye the Science Guy, though he is is 2 for 2. It speeds up the show and that time limit makes you second guess yourself on even the easiest questions. I know what you're all thinking, "How long is the time-limit for the million dollar question?" It's 45 seconds plus all of the time you bank during the other questions. So if you only use 5 seconds during a 30 second time period, 25 seconds goes to the bank. Neat huh?

• Ellen Degeneres is the new spokesperson for Cover Girl. I don't wear make-up but I appreciate the fact Cover Girl uses funny, vibrant, down-to-earth celebs like Queen Latifah and Ellen for their ad campaigns. Classy.
  

• Juliana Margulies obviously missed my mother's lesson on dressing your best for every situation...oh and the one on keeping your vagina to yourself.
  

• Michael Phelps is hosting SNL this week. Anyone see him totally bonk before he introduced Little Wayne at the VMAs? Hopefully he can hold it together on Saturday.
  

• Speaking of the VMAs, thoughts on Kanye's new song, "Love Lockdown"? I loved it live, but I'm not feeling this studio version.

Photo: The Remote Island

A VMA Field Guide

The Video Music Awards are on tonight. When watching MTV's self-absorbed awards program, please have these things in mind.

• If you are over the age of 14, this show is no longer aimed for your tastes. You may like the music, you may be a fan of the celebrity guests, but that's where the fun ends. The jokes are awful, the sets are gaudy and there are commercial breaks every six seconds since young people can't focus.
  

• If you're 14+ but still want to get the most out of the show, watch the clips online. MTV runs a great website and their video section has just what you're looking for sans the annoying host and excessive build-up.
  

• Russell Brand is hosting the show this year. It's a kind of left field pick but this could work out for the better. It sure beats my favorite MTV hosting combo, Courtney Cox and Jon Lovitz. See how far we've come?!

• Kanye West is performing at the show tonight which means this could very well happen.
  

• Britney Spears may or may not be performing and I may or may not give a shit. I am just happy she appears to be taking care of herself now. Though like the rest of the viewing public, I'm still secretly hoping she falls flat on her face.
  

Photo: http://cyberextazy.files.wordpress.com/

Heidi & Spencer Gone Forever?

PopEater, an awesome blog on AOL, has had it with pseudo-celebrities Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt of The Hills.

They're leaving it up to their faithful readers to vote on whether or not they continue to cover the most annoying couple in the world.

This could be the beginning of a wonderful trend. PopEater is just one blog but the implications of a poll like this could ripple across the internet. As it stands, 70, 653 votes have been cast and 96% of the voters want to give the Speidi the boot.

So take 10 seconds and let your voice be heard.

Photo: People.com

Puppet Kanye West = Best. Character. Ever.

Kanye West loves music videos. He'll make two or three for the same song, just because he can. He's an artist you know? He's sensitive and what-not.

This time he dropped the BS and went straight for the comedy jugular: puppets.

It's beautiful. Here's the plot: Puppet Kanye is a track star in an Olympics-like competition. He wears little Nikes, he basket tosses on an American flag, he wears little Kanye shutter shades. It's adorable. You just want to hug him. Way more approachable than actual Kanye.

Check out the vid for yourself:


Kanye West "Champion Video" Official Directed by NEON from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

It's a shame MTV rarely plays videos anymore. Thank heavens for the internet and embeddable clips.

News Round-Up!

Sorry for the lack of posts folks. The internet is down so I'm writing from the Student Union. I feel very collegiate.

Let's do a news round-up to get back in the swing of things shall we?

• Everyone is still reeling over the loss of Tim Russert. His empty chair during yesterday's Meet The Press spoke volumes. His son Luke spoke to Matt Lauer on The Today Show this morning. Luke's passion will be a fitting living tribute of his father's best work.
  

• Got an idea for a reality show? This is your chance to get it on the air...seriously!

• Gawker put together a collection of the best Family Guy news clips. These are the last vestiges of what used to be a very funny TV show.
  

• Angelina Jolie's papa, Jon Voight, was just cast as the villain on the next season of 24. Here's hoping he just reprises his role as Coach Kilmer from Varsity Blues.
  

• The Office spin-off is moving forward...for better or worse...and the first cast member was announced last week. Aziz Ansari is a great comedian best known for his work on MTV's Human Giant. You can check out Ansari's personal site here.
  

• And in case you missed this last week (sorry if edubTV is your only source of TV news), Tila Tequila thinks her ridiculous show garnered awareness for the LGBT community in California, thus pushing the civil-union decision forward. There are no words for just how ridiculous that is.
  

It's Memorial Day. Do You Know Where Your Remote Is?

In between grilling copious amounts of brats and burgers, remembering our troops and taking naps outside, please note that Memorial Day also offers a great opportunity for TV watching.

Like the days leading up to Christmas, Memorial Day is rife with TV marathons. If you have an addictive personality, just need to catch up on some old favorites, or if you just have nothing else to do and hate the sun, today is just for you. Here's what's coming on:

• TNT is showing 13 episodes of the original Law & Order today. With so many episodes at their disposal it would have made sense to have a theme for the episodes like "creepiest criminals," "make-ups and break-ups," etc. That was kind of a missed opportunity.
  

• Jon & Kate Plus 8 takes over TLC today.
  

• Oxygen is running back-t0-back episodes of Bad Girls Club this morning followed by Deion & Pillar: Prime Time Love this afternoon. I tell you this just so you can avoid that station at all costs today.
  

• Animal Planet is running their popular advice show It's Me Or The Dog. I always thought this show was truly an ultimatum and a boyfriend or girlfriend would have to decide between the dog and the partner. It's really just Dog Whisperer with a second-hand Cesar Milan. My show would've been a lot more interesting.
  

• In an odd choice, FX decided to run back-to-back episodes of That 70's Show. Even if their original shows (Nip/Tuck, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) are too raunchy for daytime, they could've at least picked a good comedy, or maybe just some old movies.
  

• MSNBC is running one of my favorite series' Lock Up. Sidenote, my roommate and I were watching the show last night and at Kentucky State Pen, prisoners with good behavior can get moved to the minimum security house. The house has cable, a stocked fridge, a vegetable garden and it's on the lake. Basically, it's better than our apartment.
  

• For those of you who like to kick it old school, BET is airing Diff'rent Strokes all day.
  

• And in an odd twist, MTV is running back-to-back eps of American Gladiators. I'm not quite sure how or why.
  

So have a safe and happy Memorial Day. Don't drink and drive, wear sunscreen, and avoid the Oxygen at all costs.

Can We Talk About Real World Hollywood?

Just wanted to get a few things off my chest.

-One Hour Episodes
Cheers: 6 Months of Real World is ridiculous. Anyway to condense that is highly appreciated.

Jeers: When MTV runs the episodes over and over again, as they're known to do, it will take up a lot more time on the line-up.

-Hollywood
Cheers: I liked the recruitment strategy for this one. If the show is in Hollywood, have the entire casts come right out and say they want to be in show business. No sense in beating around the Reality TV bush.

Jeers: Because they all want to be in the industry, all of them are constantly "on." You can't really tell who's being genuine...which brings me to my next point.

-Pretty Boy
Cheers: MTV took a risk when they let the public pick a cast member in an online vote. It's tiny bits of innovation like that that keep a show fresh in its 20th season.

Jeers: I can't tell if Greg (screen name: PrettyBoy) is a giant douche or just misunderstood. I'm leaning towards the latter which makes his roommates look like the former.

-The Rest of the Cast
Cheers: In a throwback move, MTV managed to find people who are actually compelling. Take Brianna, she just got out of an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, she has a warrant out for her arrest back in Philly, and she made it to the Top 45 on American Idol.

Jeers: In a contemporary move, it's revealed that she's also an exotic dancer. She brought zip-up boots in her suitcase.

We'll see how this all shakes out. I'll try to keep the Real World XX (Ha, get it it's like 20 and X rated! Oh MTV you slay me!) posts from clogging the blog. But this season looks better than the previous two already so here's to hoping.

Rob and Big: Retired From Doing Work...Son

So the show that brought you a 400 pound black guy, a lovable bulldog, and a pro-skater hopped up on a little too much redbull, is now over. In the words of Tina Fey...really? I was a little choked up when I heard the news and nothing helps you get over the sadness of losing one of your favorite shows like guest blogging on your sisters entertainment blog.

This show was truly a breath of fresh air from all of the garbage that is spewing out of MTV studios these days. Rob and Big brought smiles to everyone faces and gave us a glimpse at the good life. No, no, no, I'm not talking about living in LA and driving a Denali on 24s. I'm talking about spending every day doing what you love with the your best friends and letting the world get snapshot of what it's like to be you.

Thanks to Rob Dyrdek and Christopher "Big Black" Boykin, my Tuesday nights and the Tuesday nights of countless others were filled with laughter. Their show was real, their shenanigans were hilarious, and the doodoo jokes were plentiful. This is the first MTV show that I will truly miss, but I'm happy that Big Black will be showing his new daughter how to do work...on the playground.

Shockingly, The Cradle Doesn't Rock

Against my better judgment, I watched Rock The Cradle last night. In case you missed my post about it, the show pits the children of B-list celebrities against each other in a singing competition. Hey, not that bad right? Too bad the children aren't talented.

It was a 90 minute premier two nights ago. I suffered through 15 minutes of insufferable host Ryan Devlin. He looked tweaky, kind of jittery and hard to watch. He made awful jokes and the celebrity parent peanut gallery didn't play along. Watching Devlin's jokes fall flat was probably the best part of the entire show.

Anyway, the singing finally got going after a lot of build-up. First up was Eddie Money's daughter Jessie. It was like watching a teenage performer at her Super Sweet 16; She was awful, but wealthy so everyone paid attention to her.

Devlin and all the celeb-kids kept saying, "It's time we make it on our own." Well you're not doing that because not only are you competing on MTV solely because you're the child of a talented musician. Plus you really aren't that great.

Even Idol is better than this. At the very least, those contenders can hold their own on stage. The people just can't. If given the choice, I'd actually prefer to watch a "Best Of" concert featuring their parents.

Please don't give Rock The Cradle the time of day. Almost anything is better...seriously anything.

No More MTV For You McCain!

Heidi Montag, she-villian of The Hills, endorsed John McCain today. Worse? McCain's PR machine gave credence to the comment by churning out this statement:

"I never miss an episode of 'The Hills,' especially since the new season started."

The whole thing would be funny if McCain hadn't made these bonehead comments about contraception and AIDS this week.

Poor old man. Now it looks like he pays more attention to semi-reality dramas than global epidemics.

PS: To make him feel better, I put up the hottest picture of McCain I could find. You were young once Johnny, but CSI is more your speed now.

Things I Almost Forgot About: Rock N Jock

I'm watching the Badger game right now. Basketball is kind of hard to watch but it gets a little easier if your team is winning. I digress.

I'm watching the game with my buddy Joe. He's a red-blooded American twenty-something whose never heard of Rock-N-Jock sports, a mainstay on MTV in the 1990s. I was in shock. Who doesn't remember Bill Bellamy, Rebecca Gayheart, Dean Cain and other Z-List celebs hitting the basketball court, baseball field and even the bowling alley.

The competitions were all in good fun and provided hours, and I mean hours, possibly days of content for the then teenage MTV.

I tried hard to find some footage on YouTube but it was near impossible. (Maybe Joe was on to something.) But I did find this clip of Marky Mark performing at the halftime show. The whole thing was quite a spectacle.

MTV: Enough Is Enough

MTV needs to be stopped.

Their next bright idea is a talent competition for celebrity children. The famous spawn compete to see which one of them is the best rock star.

Are you kidding me? If this is making it through the idea wringer, I have a few ideas of my own for MTV's next celebrity inspired hit.

• Celebrity Pet Match: Celebrity pets fight to the death. Vote with your cell phone to decide who's going in to the ring next.
  

• Hollywood Feed Bag: Young starlets compete in eating challenges. The first person to make it to a healthy weight wins.
  

• Jail House Rock: Celebrities coach teams of dangerous inmates at California's super max prisons. Which ones will rise to stardom? Which ones will end up shanked?

Don't act like they're any worse than what we already have. Is it so wrong that I just want music videos back? Or at the very least...Austin Stories.

Escape Into TV This Holiday Season

Every holiday, television networks work very hard to attract viewers and retain them when their days off are over. The best way to do this is with marathons. Nothing says, "Please watch my channel" like a non-stop block of Cops. These marathons are also awesome for testing the waters on a new show or having a ham coma on the couch.

So in case you feel like tuning in, here are the best and worst marathons on TV the next few days:

• TNT is airing a mini-marathon of ER holiday episodes. ER recognized the importance of the fall finale long before that term existed. These episodes represent some of the best dramatic television of the mid to late nineties. The episodes start Christmas Eve Morning. If nothing else, make time for Hindsight, one of my favorite ERs ever at 1:35 pm CST.
  

• A&E is airing several episodes of Cold Case Files. This show is kind of intense, but well made. If you're into crime shows, might I suggest the Christmas marathons of Cold Case, Monk or CSI:Miami. Brighter colors, cheesier dialogue and less talk about dead children, at least real ones. The latter marathons are on TNT, USA and A&E respectively. Old school CSI is also in marathon form on Spike...but you'll have to sit through their commercials which leave a lot to be desired.
  

• The History Channel is running an all-day tribute to UFOs. Don't ask me how it relates to history. Last week they aired Forest Gump. I think they're running out of content. Anyway, it's a bunch of different shows which is a refreshing innovation to the marathon. You can see Deep Sea UFOS, UFO Hunters, and Beyond War of the Worlds. Just nerdy enough to be cool.
  

• And if you feel like hating yourself this Christmas, you can tune in to The Hills marathon on MTV or the Countdown one (100 Greatest Reality Moments, 100 Greatest songs of the '80s) on VH1. Please don't watch this. Just don't give in to the temptation and subject yourself to irrelevant people pretending to be relevant talking about ridiculous things...and that's just on VH1.

• The best marathon of all starts on the evening of the 24th with 24 Hours of A Christmas Story. For several years in a row, my favorite gift has been this marathon. It's hilarious, heart-felt and bundled up in tradition, just like Randy in a snowsuit. And unlike most movies, I really can watch it over and over again. It has some kind of magic power.
  

And now you have something to do over Christmas Eve and Christmas. Well, outside of family stuff. For some of you, instead of family stuff. And for my chosen friends out there, you just get to enjoy the spoils.

This Just In: The Real World Stinks

I am over The Real World. In my humble opinion the show started sucking after New Orleans. Call me old school.

My suspicions were only confirmed when I saw this video via Reality Blurred. The next season of RW takes place in Hollywood (Hills cameos anyone?) and the cast is employed by an improv company. The video is some of their performance. You can even see the MTV cameras capturing it.

From what I can make out:

• These people are not funny
• They should not be doing improv
• Let alone in public

And supposedly someone else gets kicked off of this season too. RW alternates have been having a pretty good year.

The Hills Have Lies

Lies Lies Lies! I've never been a big advocate for The Hills. Where's the compelling drama? Local rich girl moves out of the 'burbs and into L.A. where she lands a dream job, gets drunk, hooks up with random dudes and starts giant queen fights. It's about as attractive as an ear infection. 

But thanks to a fanatic roommate and an undying need to stay in the cultural conversation, I have seen several episodes of the show. I knew most of it was set-up. I hesitated to use the word fake because the people are still real (for the most part), but the action and results were contrived. 

But this is taking it too far. Apparently, MTV is casting people for "key roles" in Heidi and Spence-Bot's wedding. WHAAA?

When there is an open call for your Maid of Honor, your life is no longer yours. You are an actress in a well-oiled cash cow. (How's that for a disgusting metaphor?) How can MTV ever explain this to the many loyal Hills fans out there who  never stopped believing the whole thing was real? 

It just makes you wonder about the rest of the reality shows out there. It's getting too hard to distinguish between actuality and fiction with non-actors. (Luckily, CourtTV is here to set the record straight.) The implications are alarming. Bad TV-->Fewer advertisers-->Cheaper Programming-->Bad TV. And this writers strike isn't helping. 

It's a vicious cycle rich in game shows and dance competitions...and nothing good can come of that. 

Gimme Less. A Lot Less.

Not only do I use the sleep timer on my TV while I fall asleep, but I use the on-timer to wake up. For those of you not familiar with this device, it's essentially a clock-television. Should my 3 cell phone alarms not do the job, at 6 AM on the nose I am woken up by series of progressively louder beeps and then TBS for the opening chords of the Saved By The Bell theme song. Other than the smell of freshly cooked bacon, it is the best way to wake up.

Last night, instead of setting the TV for TBS, I accidently set it for MTV-Hits, MTV's annoying kid sister that only only plays shitty pop videos.

So imagine my surprise this morning when the piercing beeps weren't the only shrill noise blasting my ear drums. Instead, the first thing I saw this morning was Britney Spears' gyrating pelvis. Color this my worst morning in recent memory.

I don't want anymore of that. No thank you.

Week In Review

Things I just couldn't blog about fast enough.

Pageant Place
How about that? Hot girls living in a house together (pictured), sharing secrets and getting in to bitchy fights. MTV is all about innovation. We haven't seen a show like this in three hours. On the upside, by virtue of the show, the girls are a bit more dynamic than the usual ladies of music television.


Ugly Betty
Did anyone catch the following in last week's episode?

• High School Musical's " Get'cha Head In The Game" during Justin and Daniel's basketball scene. Nice cross promotion Disney.
  
• Marc's (Michael Urie) hot plaid outfit
• Betty singing...almost to Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart."
  
• James Vanderbeek is guest starring next week. I don't wanna wait for that!
  

The Office
Something is a little off about The Office. I'll be happy when the 22 minute episodes are back. There is just too much slack in the long ones. 15 minutes about Michael kidnapping a pizza boy? I call bullshit. If it weren't for Andy's acapella rendition of ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me," I would've fallen asleep. The one liners can't be the only thing that keep this show going. It's not Family Guy you know.

I am excited about next week. We will have a lot of things to talk about. Amy Finley's New Show, Christina Applegate's comedy Samantha Who and maybe I'll finally watch/write about Bionic Woman. We'll see.