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TELEVISION; I Want My MTV (With a Little Geritol); Once a Trendsetter, Cable Network Has Lost Its Way

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

Maybe the M in MTV stands for middle-aged.

The music has long been gone from the cable channel. Now it appears the network that defined cool and cutting edge for the young demographic is being programmed by baby boomers looking to recapture their own youths.

Check out the liver spot: "MTV's The '70s House," premiering tonight at 10:30. Twelve unsuspecting young adults are forced to live in a time-warped home with no cell phones or microwaves and really bad clothes.

It's a reality show inspired by a creaky 7-year-old Fox sitcom entering its final season.

You almost can hear Ashton Kutcher yelling to MTV programmers, "You've been punk'd!"

Why would MTV's core audience - born circa 1990 - care about the '70s?

Drop them into PBS' "Colonial House" and no doubt you'd get the same result - complaints about bad hair, music and clothes.

MTV first showed its gray last month during the MTV Movie Awards show. The producers trotted out the stars of "The Breakfast Club" for a tribute.

Problem: MTV's audience wasn't even alive when the 1985 film was released. The John Hughes film about five loners suffering through Saturday detention is as relevant as a silent film to a generation coming of age with text messaging, video cell phones and iPods.

According to Nielsen Media Research, only two MTV shows made it into the top 15 cable network shows for the most recent ratings period - "Real World: Austin" (No. 4) and "Real World/Road Rules Challenge Inferno II" (No. 6).

The network ranked 10th among cable networks, behind TNT (No. 1), Disney Channel (No. 4) and Lifetime (No. 6).

At 16, MTV's long-running "Real World" has become a caricature. The cast has grown up with the show, so it plays to expectations: drink, dive into the hot tub, duke it out in the street.

MTV Entertainment President Brian Graden is responsible for such subversive hits as "The Osbournes" and "Jackass." But these days, Graden is devoting his energy to getting Logo, a gay network, up and running, and it shows.

A glance at the shows MTV is developing for fall and beyond reveals some worrisome wrinkles.

In "Parental Control," parents pick new dates for their kids. In "Bad Dads, Phat Mums," fans must re-shoot a music video - using their parents as the stars.

These series aren't for teenagers, they're for their parents, the first generation of MTV viewers. They're boomer wish-fulfillment - the idea that this crop of parents is so special, kids will defy the healthy process of separation and want to spend their free time with them.

The one show that may best resonate with MTV's target demo is "True Life," the documentary series that profiles young people in riveting cinema verite. Recent episodes from "I'm Dead Broke" to "I'm Moving Back in With My Parents" have broached the topic of diminishing expectations - how this generation may be the first to fail to surpass their elders and how its members are coping with economic stalemate.

No one can stay young forever, not even a cable channel, apparently. But who'd have thought the day would come when sister station VH1 would seem cooler than MTV?

Source: Boston Herald

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