MTV Gets Less Real, More Interactive
By LINDA MOSS -- Multichannel News, 7/16/2000 6:00:00 PM MT
Pasadena, Calif.-With shows like Survivor and Big Brother hitting it big on broadcast, MTV: Music Television will probably turn toward interactive shows and away from its "bread-and-butter mainstay" of reality-based programming, MTV officials said last week.
During the cable portion of the Television Critics Association tour here, MTV president of programming Brian Graden focused on five new shows coming onto the schedule. They are: Direct Effect, or DFX, in which viewers will be able to pick which hip-hop videos they want to see by voting online on MTV.com, as well as three performance shows and a scripted drama.
In the course of MTV's session, Graden was asked about what concerns he had about CBS' Big Brother affecting such MTV series as Road Rules and what he called a "monster hit for nine years," The Real World.
"If I were to make a list of.my top 10 concerns for MTV, that's absolutely No. 1, because you know that with the success of Survivor and Big Brother, we're about to have an absolute explosion of that kind of television," Graden said.
"[Reality programming has] really been sort of the bread-and-butter mainstay for the last five or 10 years," he added. "And on a more esoteric level, it's been so important to MTV because I think it set us apart."
MTV's "point of distinction" going forward will most likely be interactivity-shows such as Direct Effects that incorporate the network's Web site-according to Graden.
"If you buy into the notion that reality was sort of a brand hallmark for the past five years, I think the brand hallmark for the next five years will be interactivity," he added. "That will, once again, put us ahead of the curve in terms of where the audience is."
Asked if he thought Big Brother was a rip-off of Real World, Graden answered: "Sure, and it's a medium where everybody rips everyone else off, so I'm not offended by it, per se. It's just that's kind of what TV is, unfortunately."
Direct Effect will debut Sept. 11, hosted by Teck, a cast member from The Real World Hawaii. It will air live from MTV's Times Square studio. Graden described the new show as "sort of turning MTV into America's giant, sort of large, real-time jukebox."
MTV's three new half-hour music performance series are The Road Home, Making the Tour and First Listen. Both Making the Tour, about how groups prepare for their national tours, and The Road Home, in which performers go back to their roots, will debut during "All Access Week," which is dedicated to the summer's tours and concert specials.
Making the Tour premieres with 'N Sync July 17, while the first episode of The Road Back launches July 23 and features The Goo Goo Dolls.
First Listen, which bows Aug. 29, gives music fans sneak previews of artists' new releases one week before they hit the stores.
Graden said all three shows would finish with performances at the end of the half-hour.
MTV's previously announced first hour-long scripted dramatic series, Live Through This, debuts Aug. 9.
Also at the TCA, MTV's sister network, VH1, told the assembled writers about a host of series and original movies it has coming to its program schedule, many of which had previously been announced.
Like MTV, VH1 has expanded beyond music videos and long-form documentaries to create original scripted series.
"While our programming will always be about music, what that means to our audience has to change," VH1 executive vice president of programming and production Jeff Gaspin said. "We reinvented the channel when we started to consider long-form, music-based programming. And it's time for us to reinvent the channel again."
For example, in December, VH1 will air an anthology movie called Back to Black, four half-hour tales in the creepy tradition of The Twilight Zone that tap into rock folklore. Back to Black will become a weekly half-hour series.
Weekly series Don't Quote Me, which matches quotes with video of music stars, debuts July 17. Sound Affects, a series on how music or a song can change a person's life, premieres July 21. Then, on Aug. 21, comes 20 to 1, which counts down rock's all-time stars and songs. And later this summer, VH1 Confidential will debut.
VH1 also has its first single-camera comedy in development, according to Gaspin.
"It is in the genre of [Home Box Office's The] Larry Sanders [Show]," he said. "It's behind the scenes in the music business."
VH1 also plans to have two animated series on the air in 2001. Gaspin said the network has five animated programs in development. One of the most likely candidates to make it to VH1's schedule is The Agent. VH1 is doing a pilot for the series, and has just signed Rob Reiner as the voice of the lead character.
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