I can see there's a connection between not following normal thinking and doing creative thinking. I wouldn't have had good scientific ideas if I had thought more normally. | | | | Better days for MTV: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana during the taping of Unplugged, 11/18/93.
(Frank Micelotta/Hulton/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I can see there's a connection between not following normal thinking and doing creative thinking. I wouldn't have had good scientific ideas if I had thought more normally.”
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| | rantnrave:// I grew up on MTV. It's hard to exaggerate the impact it's had on culture since it's debut in 1981. Music, fashion, sports, politics, movies, editing and style. You name it. Before the internet, MTV was the trend magnifier for youth. They would go all over the world into every subculture and brought back what moved them. I worked there from 2000-2006. Mostly great years. But it was a television company first and I was the digital guy. And they never really came to terms with the internet. You see MTV told the audience what was cool. And online is a medium where the audience tells us what's cool. They could have been that platform. But they didn't get it. At the heart of MTV was music. And music was moving online. Music never really rated but it was core to everything about the brand. And the brand was everything. More important than stars or on-air talent. This was a brand that could move from NIRVANA to NSYNC and on and on without looking back. I'm nostalgic for what it meant. But like most businesses that like to ride waves, they allowed others to steal their thunder. Recently, I've been following the brand to see where it is. And I'm sad to say it's stagnating. Or already has. It sounds obvious. But one thing strikes me more than anything. When I was there, we never looked back. There was always the new, new thing. And every 5 years when they suffered plateaus, they figured their way out and redefined the brand and programming for another generation but it was all still very MTV. Now the strategy seems like it's all about looking back. Utilizing successful franchises from the past with absolutely no feel for today, none of the energy or immediacy. And these are franchises that may have no value to kids in 2017. Maybe even no recognition. TRL, UNPLUGGED, VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS. To be fair, there are other shows. I haven't sampled everything. I understand these reboots may need some time to find their legs but it isn’t looking good so far. MTV is looking back. And that kills a youth brand. And TV isn't the youth's first platform. In the last year, I witnessed the channel stacking FRIENDS reruns. The recent TRL reboot was tough to watch. First episode actually featured dead air when they were supposed to go to commercial. Just people walking around. None of the energy of the old show. "How long will it pretend the internet doesn’t exist?" They’re still just making more and more television. They’re not "making internet." And the MTV Unplugged rehash wasn't intimate like the original show was. It was just another band on stage. Above their audience. On TV. Distant. Now, yes, it's ok to reinvent a franchise. But you can't kill it. Go to YOUTUBE. Every music franchise has unplugged shows. Brands like NPR are doing it for pennies compared to MTV dollars and making better unplugged shows by having acts show up in their office and set up behind a desk than MTV is by making actual TV. There are great cover segments at places like BBC 1 RADIO LOUNGE. MTV was so important to me growing up. So innovative for so long. I'm not nostalgic for that programming but I am for the energy and impact. Time plus the same ideas are the equivalent of irrelevance. I can see these scheduling efforts making sense on the spreadsheet. But they make no brand sense and definitely not if you're after the youth demo. If the strategy is "your parent's shows with new talent" it won't work. What is the brand? And if it's about the new and youth, act accordingly and look ahead. Never thought I'd see the day when the terms "MTV" and "classic" would be synonymous. I'm rooting for them at the very least because of good memories growing up and the great times I had working there... Everything JERRY JONES touches turns to gold. The most powerful owner in the NFL has got everything he wants, except what he wants most. SportsSET: "Jerry Jones, the NFL's Kingmaker"... Further proof they should have let BARRY DILLER build his island on the HUDSON RIVER... The dilemma with perfectionists. An advisor will often remark on the extra effort and work.: "No one will notice." But the perfectionist will. And that's enough to haunt them forever... CINEMAX on the creep back... Happy Birthday to LAINE SIKLOS, TISH WHITCRAFT, REBEKAH HORNE, AXEL ROSELIUS, and MICHAEL GAYLORD. | | | - Jason Hirschhorn, curator |
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| | | | | | I love this so so much. This clip sounds, looks, and smells like NYC. |
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