I was reading the other day about how MTV is “bringing music videos back” to the station. It is Music Television, isn’t it? It seems these days MTV is more focused on reality trash than actual television. A “scripted-life network” if you will. When I read this, I felt good about the fact that music videos will be displayed not just during 30-second commercial break or only to be publicized via YouTube. But then I kept reading. They’re bringing music videos back alright, but during the hours of something like 2 am – 6 am.
I’m pretty confused by this. Artists make music videos so that they can be seen. Videos are meant to be outlets of creativity; used to provoke thought or just make the user feel a connection with the videos. Thousands of dollars are thrown into the production of these vids, yet MTV can’t give them enough respect to play them during the daytime hours, when people are actually awake?! It’s bad enough that they cancelled TRL – which, by the way, I am convinced started to slow in ratings because they started cutting down the videos so much that viewers saw only just a snippet of it before they cut back to Damien Fehey or Vanessa Minillo to chat with John Norris about the latest Britney Spears fiasco. But if you think about it, TRL was one of the only music-related shows still on MTV to showcase their videos. Now it’s gone.
I think everyone could do without A Shot at Love with Cherry Vodka Sour and The ump-teenth unsuccessful season of Diddy’s Making the Band. Take an hour or two during the afternoon of evening time to actually showcase some videos! If anything, do it during the nightly news around 5:00 or 6:00 so that if they don’t want to watch it they can at least be tempted to tune in to the current events of the world.
Enough of that. Now onto VH1 reality show Tough Love. I’m constantly caught up watching this show late at night. I still cannot remember the guy’s name, but he’s a matchmaker and apparently is the end-all of dating. He takes a gaggle of chicks with “issues” and then turns them into dating phenomena… the weird part is these girls don’t seem to have severe issues. They’re all pretty outgoing. A few are bat-shiz crazy, some too caught up on marriage, others too picky, while others might be alcoholics, but they don’t have problems in social settings. They might shoot themselves in the foot a few times, but seriously, they don’t need counseling. What drives me nuts about this show is the “matchmaker” (host) keeps throwing out rules. “Rule #14: Never talk about past relationships.” “Rule #89: Cupcakes and tiaras are not sexy!” “Rule number 31: Keep your pants on during dinner.”
I don’t think that dating needs to be defined and bound by “rules.” If you need this type of help, go to a therapist, not a matchmaker. Only you know who you are compatible with. Others may help to lead you there, and some might help to tell you who you shouldn’t be dating, but ultimately you can’t depend on someone else to tell you how to date and who to date.
Not like you need an explanation for that. But still, why are we consistently being berated with mindless TV? I have to admit, I dabble into Bret Michael’s Rock of Love (it’s like watching a train wreck), but sometimes it makes me wonder if all television marketed towards twenty-somethings are all focused on sex, trash, and celebrities. Shouldn’t we be engaging ourselves in something more informative and stimulating?
Until later…
Kirbie Johnson 