MTV= Reality TV No Longer

Oh the water cooler, how it once was graced by discussions about The Bachelor, Survivor, The Mole, Beauty and the Geek...and the list goes on. Reality TV shows have provided endless amounts of dialogue between viewers and priceless opportunities for networks to get their programming covered. For goodness sake, each Survivor winner was mentioned on local and national news outlets around the country!

MTV not only jumped on the reality trend, but one could almost say initiated it with its "Real World" series way back when. Punk'd, Laguna Beach and the Newlyweds, were all the buzz with its teenage target. And who could forget the Osbournes? I remember talking with friends and family about that show, as well as reading articles about it in the newspaper and seeking out online updates about the show.

Taking a look at the MTV that existed before the reality TV push, a major discrepancy exists between that broadcasting line-up and current programming. The network went from music videos and Daria to My Super Sweet Sixteen, Parental Control and the Flava of Love. The reality TV model served MTV well for a period of time, but now the once buzz-producing shows are no longer delivering.

We all knew there has been an excess number of reality shows on MTV for quite some time, but it is shocking to read that MTV hasn't had a scripted show in 5 years. This information comes from the recent Media Post's TV Watch article which explains how MTV's poor ratings and an "executive shake up" are resulting in its first scripted series in quite some time, Kaya.

Although the reality TV genre has lost a bit of its sparkle, it seems to still have a relatively strong hold on popular media. But what does MTV's fizzle of reality programming bode for the genre? What does it mean for the future of good old fashioned water cooler buzz? I guess that is up to Grey's Anatomy and 24.

Check out some reviews of MTV programming on yelp.com. This is a neat site to see what people are saying about a variety of entities. This is probably one of the sites that could become victim to something I discussed in an earlier blog, the new payola of online influencers to inflate ratings. The reviews on MTV, however, seem to be legitimately heartfelt and are a fun read.