"Scripted" or Scripted?

Submitted by Bianca Posterli on Sat, 03/03/2007 - 9:00pm.

MTV, the mother OF reality television, with Real World and Road Rules, is suffering. Mass firings and revamps of their website and TRL still can’t bring them back to the fame they once had.

Maybe they should bring back the music? Remember those days where you could actually watch an entire music video, instead of the 5.4 seconds, approximately, of what they show now? I think the longest videos I’ve seen on MTV recently are the ones they show while the credits roll.

But no. MTV has decided to go back to scripted programming. Right, cause everyone still believes Laguna Beach is totally how they, like, normally talk. Perfect lead in questions and contrived conversations. C’mon!

Their first original drama in five years will star a teenage girl and her band that have just become famous. Wait, wasn’t this the Ashlee Simpson reality TV show?

I think MTV can stick to the "unscripted" reality TV shows. They just need to learn their audience, which is vast and indefinable, it seems. For example, I loved Laguna Beach Seasons 1 and 2, but have yet to watch one episode of 3. I love both seasons of The Hills and Ashlee Simpson. I was too young for the early Real World, but watched at least five whole seasons and hated Road Rules all together.

MTV, you DO have reality TV shows that work. Just don’t try to air them until they ruin the good seasons. Laguna Beach Season 3, that’s you.

Kristen OGorman @ Sat, 03/03/2007 - 9:28pm

I totally agree. If they stopped putting out so many crappy reality shows and just stuck to the few that are actually pretty good, they'd be a lot better off. Shows like Parental Control might be amusing when it's 2 in the morning and there's nothing better on, but it's not exactly quality television.

Sarah Herse @ Sun, 03/04/2007 - 1:27am

Really? You think a move towards scripted shows is a bad thing? I thought we would all be happy to see less "Date My Mom" and more "My So-Called Life," "Daria," or "Beavis and Butthead." I prefer writers to oversexed insecure teenagers any day.

Bianca Posterli @ Sun, 03/04/2007 - 8:33am

I think there's a difference between Daria, My So Called LIfe and the scripted TV shows MTV put on more recently like Undressed and 2gether.

If MTV comes up with an idea and has a script that rivals Daria or My So Called Life, I'll be a fan.

~Bianca

Cari Wolfert @ Sun, 03/04/2007 - 9:25am

Also, I think MTV has a pretty poor definition of what they consider "scripted." I heard that MTV considers Laguna Beach a scripted show because they will give characters scenarios and ask them to act it out, or reinact events that the cameras missed.

I think that this scripted show can really go either way, MTV has always done a good job of reinventing itself. They started reality TV... maybe they will end it.

Katy Donoghue @ Sun, 03/04/2007 - 11:41am

I'm not sure if you really can call Daria scripted. Daria belongs more in the category of Bevis and Butthead, two cartoons that MTV put forth that became extremely popular and really spoke to their generation.

I'm really wary of MTV's ability to put out a good scripted show. They've failed a few times, with shows like Undressed and Spider Games.

I'd be interested to see if they can pull it off. I think they have found their mix of scripted and reality, that Laguna Beach and the Hills have cleverly mastered.

Anonymous (not verified) @ Mon, 04/30/2007 - 4:47pm

I think Parental Control, Next, and all of those scripted "Reality tv shows" are horrible... i have to agree on the bringing back music videos deal.... TRL isnt helping them win back their audience bacuse they play 1 minute of the music videos. MTV is not NEAR as cool as they used to be... get rid of the teeny bopper gay tv!!!!

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A group blog exploring our media world. Produced by the Digital Journalism: Blogging course at New York University, Spring 2007.

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