Two and a half years ago, we explored the early history of Cartoon Network... but it wasn't the only player in the youth television game. As a matter of fact, Fred Seibert -- the man responsible for the most inventive projects discussed in that post -- first stretched his creative legs at the network's truly venerable forerunner: Nickelodeon. Founded as Pinwheel, a six-hour block on Warner Cable's innovative QUBE system, this humble channel struggled for years before Seibert's innovative branding work transformed it into a national icon and capstone of a media empire. Much has changed since then, from the mascots and game shows to the versatile orange "splat." But starting tonight in response to popular demand, the network is looking back with a summer programming block dedicated to the greatest hits of the 1990s, including Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Double Dare, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and All That. To celebrate, look inside for the complete story of the early days of the network that incensed the religious right, brought doo-wop to television, and slimed a million fans -- the golden age of Nickelodeon. (warning: monster post inside) [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Jul 25, 2011 - 116 comments

An archive of (nearly) every 120 Minutes (and its successor Subterranean) playlist. The 120 Minutes archive includes playlists for 585 episodes of MTV's seminal alternative rock show and its successor, Subterranean, spanning 1986-2007. The archive includes links to video search for each track played, interviews with those behind the program, a history of its development and demise, and the full video of the series finale. Looking at some of the early episodes, should be enough to crush you under a wave of nostalgia and longing for the days when MTV was what it says on the tin.
posted by CharlesV42 on Apr 19, 2010 - 50 comments

MTV's Jersey Shore, a Real World-style reality program centered around eight young Italian-Americans living together in a beach house, is garnering charges of racism following their use of the allegedly pejorative terms guido and the feminine counterpart guidette in advertisements. But what exactly is a guido? [more inside]
posted by joechip on Jan 3, 2010 - 232 comments

Can you tell a person on television just what you think? If you live in Columbus, Ohio, you would be able to tell the people at a television station how you feel. All you have to do is push a button. The people in this city are trying out a new kind of television called QUBE TV.
posted by Otis on Nov 7, 2008 - 40 comments

Two stunning minutes of MTV Though, you'll only see it in South America.
posted by parmanparman on Sep 2, 2007 - 53 comments

MTV turns 25 today. Music Television, otherwise known as MTV, was launched with its first broadcast on 1 August 1981, 25 years ago today. Famously, the first video broadcast was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." Ironically, MTV evidently isn't going to acknowledge its anniversary on-air in any way, with a spokeswoman saying that "We made the decision when MTV was founded to always stay young and evolve with our audience. To do that, it has been important to serve our audience at that moment, not our audience of yesterday." This is about par for the course, though, since when was the last time that MTV actually broadcast music videos? A broader question: does anybody who wasn't weaned on MTV (or anybody who was, for that matter) care anymore?
posted by blucevalo on Aug 1, 2006 - 121 comments

Subverting childrens television shows isn't exactly new, but when did it become mainstream?
posted by tighttrousers on Jul 28, 2005 - 15 comments

Yesterday's NYT magazine section (reg req'd) featured a profile of Jack Osbourne---whose family's show premieres its second season tomorrow---and discussed the unpleasant repercussions of his new fame: a prescription to Zoloft, a discontinued high school education and severe threats that warrant his own eye-patched bodyguard. Is this kind of exposure (especially in a reality TV context) too much for a 17 year old kid to handle?
posted by adrober on Nov 25, 2002 - 17 comments

Growing up in the MTV generation. Reading the earlier Eminem link just reminded me how much MTV has been part of my socialization as a child of the 80's. MTV is a business that has effected not only how i look at the world, but also how i view myself. I'm just curious if there's anyone else out there who have felt so strongly shaped by (through reaction to or following of) MTV.
posted by NGnerd on Aug 22, 2002 - 53 comments

MTV has best first quarter ever, thanks in part to The Osbournes. The extremely high, record-breaking ratings of The Osbournes have helped "MTV [score] its highest first-quarter ratings in its history among all its young viewer demographic categories," Mediaweek.com reports. (via Reality Blurred)
posted by ncurley on Mar 29, 2002 - 17 comments

MTV Canada plays too many videos, says rival When is the last time you heard that MTV plays too many videos, if ever?OK, crappy videos, but still...
posted by BarneyFifesBullet on Jan 21, 2002 - 17 comments

Every Third Word Is A Bleep Hey, hey, it's The Osbournes.Yep, Ozzy has his own TV show now.I just thought America needed to see what a normal family was really like says Mrs. Osbourne.Ozzy won't be getting subtitles, though.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet on Jan 16, 2002 - 22 comments

Season 11 of the Real World started tonight! Among guitly pleasures, this one's gonna be good: 2 person showers! lifeguarding! conflicting interests! I'm hooked.
posted by adrober on Jan 15, 2002 - 38 comments

MTV sets Powell for global meeting. "So, like, um, Mr. Powell, the U.S. is the coolest right?" I can't wait to see this one on TV. Maybe he'll explain to these kids that since Bin Laden escaped, we have an excuse to keep fighting.
posted by insomnyuk on Jan 15, 2002 - 10 comments

U.S. wants its MTV to get message out in Arab world. Is this a good way to "encourage dialogue" between U.S. and Middle East youths, as the article suggests, or just antoher example of American pop-cultural imperialism?
posted by gazingus on Nov 19, 2001 - 26 comments

Watching MTV for 24 hours straight so you don't have to. Michael Daddino is a brave man, especially since his marathon's happening during MTV's bikini-heavy, brain-light summer programming. Will his senses blur until he has visions of Christina Aguilera singing "We're Not Gonna Take It"> Will he break stuff after one too many re-airings of the latest Staind video? Tune in to "The Pornography of Semiotics" throughout the day and find out. (This special is part of the relaunch of Freaky Trigger, one of the few places on the Web where the music writing doesn't, you know, suck.)
posted by maura on Jun 21, 2001 - 21 comments

Teens Sue MTV Over Defecation Incident. In addition to a cosmically beautiful headline, this should give everybody plenty of opportunities to gripe about pandering to the lowest common denominator in entertainment, why television is going to hell, etc. Boy, MTV is receiving quite the drubbing these days, eh?
posted by logovisual on Apr 6, 2001 - 13 comments

Are teens a reflection of the media or is the media a reflection of teenage culture? According to NYU prof Miller "The MTV machine does listen very carefully to children. In rather the same way--if I can put it controversially--as Dr. Goebbels, [Hitler's] ministry of propaganda, listened to the German people. Propagandists have to listen to their audience very, very closely. When corporate revenues depend on being ahead of the curve, you have to listen, you have to know exactly what they want and exactly what they're thinking so that you can give them what you want them to have." More about the PBS special here
posted by noom on Mar 3, 2001 - 76 comments

a 13-year-old gets third-degree burns after watching mtv's 'jackass'. Who are these kids? Do you think mtv is responsible for their direct actions?; or are these just silly kids doing dumb stuff?
posted by tiaka on Jan 29, 2001 - 36 comments

Human Multi-Tasking: If you count all the things we do two-at-a-time (TV-and-computer, music-and-reading), the average Metafilterer does 29.8 hours a day!
Considering that the survey was commissioned by MTV, the TV channel most likely to be playing in the background while doing something else, it's a little self-serving. Viacom (owners of MTV, CBS, UPN and Nick) needs some way of measurement that doesn't show TViewing going down...
posted by wendell on Jun 28, 2000 - 4 comments

2GET+HER - Did anybody besides me see this movie on MTV last night? I never would have, since movies about boy bands aren't exactly my idea of a good time, but Leslie told me to watch it and I always trust her judgement... she was right, it was hysterical! If you missed it, it's okay - it's playing once or twice more:
    Fri 25 8:00 PM 2Gether MTV
    Sat 26 4:30 PM 2Gether Pre-Show MTV
    Sat 26 5:00 PM 2Gether MTV
    Sun 27 9:30 AM 2Gether Pre-Show MTV
    Sun 27 10:00 AM 2Gether MTV
    Sun 27 6:30 PM 2Gether Pre-Show MTV
    Sun 27 7:00 PM 2Gether MTV
Be sure to check out the songs Say it, Don't Spray It and You're my Baby Girl...
posted by CrazyUncleJoe on Feb 22, 2000 - 0 comments

Ever since MTV stopped playing videos, I find that I rarely even glance at it while channel surfing. But I do miss seeing amusing and creative videos. Luckily, Launch.com runs musicvideos.com, which offers a couple thousand streaming videos to choose from. The 300k versions are pretty good. The Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" is just great.
posted by mathowie on Jan 18, 2000 - 2 comments