It’s that moment when you’re sitting in class and things go from boring to kill-me-now. Your attention starts to drift outside the window because it’s not like anything interesting is going on inside the classroom anyway. Your mind starts to wander, and without even realizing it you’re tapping your foot as the “Jersey Shore” theme song slips from your brain to your tongue and you start to mouth the words “ Get crazy! Get wild! Lets party! Get loud!” and Snookie’s face pops into your head saying “I’m on the ‘Jersey Shore’!” It’s like Music Television has engraved theme songs into your head and there’s no getting it out. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

When MTV first started it was all about the music, hence the name Music Television. But over time people changed and so did the channel. Reality shows have overtaken the channel and I’m loving it. Don’t get me wrong, music is my life and I love everything it brings to the world, but honestly I get way more excited about a new episode of  “Jersey Shore” or a new season of “America Best Dance crew” then I do about the premiere of a new Rhianna video.

The issue of MTV not living up to it’s name is partly true, that I can admit, but it’s not like MTV has completely forgotten about the music. Every morning MTV has a section they call AMTV. They show all music videos and even have a segment that they call Throwbacks where old school music is featured. If somebody just has a dire need to constantly watch music videos produced by MTV and if they have digital cable then they can just flip over to MTV Hits or MTV Jams because those channels play music non stop.

Some reality shows on MTV have a positive effect on people our age. They have “Made,” a show where regular high school teens are transformed into what they want to be but are the total opposite of. For example, a girlie girl into a fierce volleyball player, or a math geek into a hip hop dancer. It tells all those kids out there who believe they are confined to their little personality bubble that they can branch out and be whoever they want to be. Or like the show “If You Really Knew Me,” it’s a show that challenges high school students to get to know a person first and judge later, because you never know what someone is truly going through.

I can recall participating in a similar thing here at Stagg last school year. Because I watched the show I, and I assume others, recognized the importance of taking it seriously, and I got that understanding from watching one of those reality shows that are supposedly taking away from what MTV is suppose to be.

I can admit that a lot of reality shows that are played make no sense and have no type of point, but who cares! It’s entertaining and fun to watch. Everything doesn’t have to be so freaking serious all the time, NEWS FLASH it’s OK to kick back and let your mind relax, you’re not going to become brain dead from watching a few reality shows and if you don’t like it just don’t watch it. It’s as easy as that.

There is so much controversy about the content of the shows that are played, and people complain about Music Television barely having any music, but when MTV was playing music people still had negative things to say. Starting in 1983 people were complaining that MTV was taking the value away from the music and putting more emphasis on the flashy stuff like dozens of back-up dancers and huge elaborate music videos. No matter what, MTV has always been criticized.

I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard people say “why do they call themselves Music Television anymore? They don’t even play music.” Well, if that’s the issue then The Learning Channel, better known as TLC should change their name because the show “Saying Yes to the Dress” and “What Not to Wear” doesn’t show the educational content the show was originally suppose to have. I’m not trying to knock TLC I’m just saying, yes MTV doesn’t have as much music as they used to, but things change, and just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s the end of music as we know it.