Either MTV is much smarter than us, or they have completely lost touch with America's youth. There's also the chance those two possibilities are not mutually exclusive. But when MTV announced, in December, that they were teaming up with the producers of High School Musical to create The American Mall, we were immediately skeptical: Isn't mall culture dying?

The financial woes of most retail stores would say so, as would the acceleration of teens and tweens' time spent sitting in front of a computer, television, or iPhone screen. But MTV charged ahead its new romantic dramedy TV film, already done filming and in post-production, about two teens falling in love while one tries to save her mom's record shop. The obvious appeal to the walking commercial that is MTV, of course, are the marketing opportunities; placements for Hot Topic and Torrid stores are no-brainers.

CONTINUED »