Channel: MTV
DISH Network channel number: 160 (available in America's Top 100 or higher and DishLatino or higher)
The DISH: MTV revolutionized the music world, playing the first music video on television in 1981. The channel was an instantaneous sensation among teens and young adults everywhere, becoming the IT channel for music.
But now, we wonder what happened to the days when music channels actually played music videos? If we turn on MTV today, we get a bratty fifteen year old planning an over the top sweet sixteen, celebrities getting duped by Ashton Kutcher in Punk’d, and two exes get down and dirty in a private bungalow while their current significant others watch. Hmm, what do these shows have to do with the music industry again? Perhaps the tide of our obsession with reality television has over swept our interest in music. Out of a 12 hour primetime showing on MTV, possibly 2 hours are devoted to music and 10 hours are devoted to reality television.
As much as I keep ranting, I’m guilty as charged, as I tend to indulge in the occasional rerun of the Real World. Most of the shows aren’t all that bad, abiding to a serving of a pinch of inspiration, main course of drama, and side dish of kookiness. So here’s what’s on the menu:
MTV loves cooking up an array of dating shows with a not so average concept, and a ton of drama to spice it up. Take for instance, Parental Control that has parents, who apparently hate the person their child is dating, set their kid up on two dates while they watch with the current beau. If that’s not enough to break a couple apart, then MTV has really stripped themselves of their morals with their latest new show, The X Effect. They bring together two exes and have them stay in a luxury resort in the honeymoon suite, while, get this, their current loves secretly watches everything that happens from a spy cam in a nearby bungalow. They watch in misery as their boy/girlfriends throw themselves as their exes and rekindle their love. Hm, doesn’t this violate some television ethics code?
The master chef on MTV, of course, does not fail to provide a main course of inspiration. For instance, a stint like MADE coaches a lucky teen to become whatever they wish to be. True Life also takes a sneak peek at a group of individuals, who live a not so normal life. There’s a mountain of other reality television like Road Rules, Engaged and Underaged, and My Super Sweet 16. Believe me, the list goes on.
What about the music you say? I introduce to you the MTV house special: TRL, or a pathetic attempt to squish in an afternoon run of two minute glimpses of videos, and 90 minutes of screaming teen fans. It’s just enough to whet your appetite for music, then on to more reality shows.
So how could a music channel not play music? MTV, clearly realizing that they have a reputation to uphold, created a new channel, MTV2 (Channel 161, available in America's Top 100 and higher) that played music videos, old and new, throughout the day, with an occasional re-run of a show.
If you enjoy listening to music, and MTV just doesn’t do it for you, then Dish Network offers over 100 SIRIUS music channels to satisfy any of your moods. These channels play all types of music 24/7, ranging from an Elvis station, to a Hawaiian station.
So MTV, please put some music on! Best said by Jennifer Lopez in her song, Play: “DJ, play that song, just play my favorite song.”
