Project MTV: Presenting MTV Generation

Writer's Note: I am not, nor will I ever expect to be associated with and employed by MTV and its parent company, Paramount Skydance. This is part of #projectmtv, a fan-made MTV rebranding project. This is not happening in any form, but it's fun to dream. - jh  

Prologue:

Historians recognized the MTV brand as a unifying one for the demographics commonly known as Generation X and Millennials. At its peak, these two generations were the primary audiences for the network and watched the network evolve from an almost underground climate to a pop cultural juggernaut. Wall Street and Hollywood saw these groups as the future of pop media and made MTV the iconic brand it once was. 

These generations witnessed about 25 years of music cultural evolution where they were exposed to. The birth of hip-hop and metal. The impact of rap and grunge. Music icons whose works still resonate with us today. The audience pretty much ruled the culture.

They called this group the MTV Generation, and this is their channel.

This is MTV Generation.


Classic barely describes what the sound and vibe of the MTV Generation has heard and experienced. It was a lifestyle, a cultural shift, and a truly impactful period in history. Classic was a holdover from VH1 Classic, which was more focused on the pre-MTV era music, and while the music of those eras will be acknowledged, MTV Generation will be a premiere destination for fans of music history from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. 

The linear channel would air the best videos and some of the best MTV original series from the eras the network was the nexus point of pop culture. Not just the videos, but the MTV experience with classic interview segments and performance rarely seen but loving restored and digitized for future generations to enjoy.

And while MTV's library will be prominent, I would be remiss if I did feel what sibling network BET was doing in the same period deserves to have a place here. Shows like Video Soul, Video Vibrations, Rap City, and 106 & Park should be mentioned in the same breath and celebrated in the same light as 120 Minutes, Headbangers Ball, Yo! MTV Raps, and Total Request Live. All of these shows should be together at MTV Generation because "separate but equal" has never worked.

While 95% of MTV Generation will be library programming, it will have one series that honors and reflects on the past as well as connects the music of the MTV Generation to today’s music. That intersection would be 120 Minutes. 

The two-hour-long series 

I also feel MTV should rehire VJs from the past as well a few internet music critics and historians to provide programming for MTV Generation on-air and online. I already mentioned a full revival of 120 Minutes as a weekly series that’d air on both MTV Generation and MTV on Sunday nights with a next-day window on Paramount+. 

MTV Generation should also take a cue from the original MTV and bring folks with an appreciation in music history into its fold. Back in the day, they used to be on the radio. Today, these music historians are on the internet. 

Internet music personalities like Adam “The Professor of Rock” Reeder, Todd in the Shadows, Digging the Greats, and Polyphonic, just to name a few examples, should be contributors to whatever MTV wants to do for historical perspectives. 

While these creators should continue their own independent productions and have ownership of their own library of productions, MTV should also license their works and give these creators complete autonomy in producing fare for the MTV brand with no corporate oversight. 

It would be incredible for MTV Generation to air Polyphonic's Hit Record, a retrospective about the history of the music video before and after MTV, uncut on-air and on MTV's digital platforms.

And yes, criticism of the MTV brand itself would be more than welcome because admittedly, the brand has done questionable things that should be officially acknowledged.

MTV Generation is a celebration of the music that made us. The sound, the look, the values, and the culture itself. The MTV Generation truly has a home here. This is MTV Generation, the home of music history. 

Let’s rock.

Now, let's go to a place where music lives. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MeTV TOONS: A Few Pre-Launch Thoughts

Image
  On June 25, 2024, Weigel Broadcasting and Warner Bros Discovery are launching MeTV TOONS, an over-the-air broadcast network devoted to classic animation featuring the best of the best.  You'll have the usual suspects from the Warrner Bros library including Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Jonny Quest, and Wacky Races .  You'll also find some shows that rarely get the airplay or shine from the studio like Silverhawks, Police Academy, Challenge of the Go-Bots, The Mask, and Beetlejuice and surprising shows like Freakazoid. In addition, you'll have some popular shows from other studios like Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, Speed Racer, Thunderbirds, and The Real Ghostbusters. With a lot of support from historians like Jerry Beck and talent like Bob Bergen, MeTV TOONS is a dream come true for older classic animation fans who felt abandoned by kid-...
Read more

Make This Make Sense

Image
There is a very, very stupid rumor out there right now about how Discovery, the second most poorly run entertainment company on the planet (Paramount Global is far, far, far worse, but you'd never know that if you only paid attention to the animation side of social media or only read entertainment rags), is thinking of selling off the entire Looney Tunes brand. I still believe it's a stupid rumor created by someone looking for (and getting) a lot of clicks from an already paranoid fanbase who has seen Discovery take the 300+ Looney Tunes shorts (not even the entire 1000 golden age theatrical shorts was on the site) off of the service that has no problem clogging the once-premium streaming platform with 249 seasons of House Hunters with over 1900 half-hour episodes  (seriously, check that link, there are 249 seasons of that show and counting),  26 seasons and nearly 350 episodes of Curb Appeal , 51 seasons and nearly 550 episodes of Diners , Drive-Ins, and Dives , or every se...
Read more

A Network That I Used To Know

Image
The vacant shell of a building of a network that barely exists. I no longer have Cartoon Network.  For the first time since May 1995, I no longer have access to Cartoon Network. I don't think I'll ever get it back, and quite frankly, I don't think I need it, and they're really not giving any reason to want to resubscribe to the channel any time soon. And for the first time since I heard about the channel's creation back in 1991, I'm fine not having it. I never thought I'd be in a position where I no longer feel the need to watch Cartoon Network let alone support the channel because, for all intents and purposes, Cartoon Network is dead, and Adult Swim killed it. Not David Zaslav because, let's be honest, he's not thinking of what happens to Cartoon Network. Despite what so many people think, I doubt his final thoughts before he goes to bed is "How can I screw over Cartoon Network viewers and fans in the morning?" Way too many animation fans...
Read more