Yesterday marked the end of an ear-piercing, tween-infused era, thanks to the final episode of TRL airing last night — and it was live, which is more than we can say about it over the past couple of years. Has-been Carson Daly hosted the finale, which is fitting because the years he ran the show were the Glory Days for not only Carson but TRL itself. After many years of pimping out boy bands and Britneys, the show took a turn for the worst, no longer filming live, losing host after host, offering a haven for sad tweens who eat their hair — and making life miserable for Mollygood editors who braved the masses for their favorite singers.
MTV's last vestige of hope for any sort of music video programming ends this Sunday, with the finale of Total Request Live. Though the show was oft-annoying and gave birth to the monstrously bland juggernaut that is Carson Daly, let's take a moment to remember together: don't visit Times Square tomorrow afternoon.
Don't worry though! MTV will still keep their facade going at 1515 Broadway, despite the rent hike and despite the fact that they no longer need those giant windows for their tween fans to scream up to.
Just when you thought MTV couldn't become more of a soulless corporation without transforming into subplot fodder for a John Grisham novel, the former hipness barometer outdid itself in one week by:
1) Canceling TRL, and with it the last shred of reasoning behind calling the Viacom subsidiary a music station.
2) Signing a contract that would allow them to stay at their Times Square location (that really only made sense to inhabit when TRL was on the air) with a $35-per-square-foot rent increase.
3) Destroying the rainforest for the sake of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge show that no one knew was still on the air:
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"Without 'TRL,' MTV Soon to be Music Free." That's the title of this afternoon's Washington Post live chat, where staff writer Monica Hesse will be answering your questions about the network in its post-TRL form. To be fair, MTV does air Friday night's FNMTV, a commercial disguised as a music video run down, and The Hills is responsible for breaking more bands than, well, TRL.
It's not that Total Request Live is ending for good — it's just that MTV has completely abandoned its commitment to showcasing music videos, and they'd like to take a moment or decade to reconfigure things after 10 years of counting down the Top 10 music videos that record labels lobbied the network to promote.
Right now, Mollygood associate editor Whitney is waiting in line to attend a taping of MTV’s desiccated flagship TRL, where she will profess her love to musician Gavin DeGraw. Predictably, the poor girl’s losing it out there amid the droves of hormonal sycophants that go to those things. Via BlackBerry, Whit notes, “I should have brought a gun.”
• Leelee Sobieski wears underwear because she's a class act. Hollywood Tuna puts a can of tuna fish over vag because they are too.
• Maroon 5 the David Sedaris circa Me Talk Pretty One Day of the modern music, performs on TRL. Related, last night at a gym at 23rd & Park, we overheard two girls talking about the spinning classes in Syracuse. We were left to contemplate whether they were actual people or just living stereotypes.
• Britney Spears has multiple personalities? Definitely maybe. Whatever, can we got off suicide watch? It's kind of depressing.
• Stars are just like us: Here's a picture of Bruce Willis picking something up. Gravity gets us all.
• On the other hand, Amy Winehouse stops by McDonalds, coked out of her mind, and after attending her husband's hearing today, which was nothing like our morning.
• Clay Aiken is creepy looking. Just saying the facts.
• The mental picture of firecrotch Danny Bonaduce "shoving his junk" into a stripper's face is enough to make us vomit a little. But for those of you with strong stomachs, there's also a video!
• Has anyone else noticed how utterly transparent Courteney Cox has become?
• Sienna Miller bonds with Keira Knightley while filming The Edge of Love, a.k.a. the film that booted Lindsay Lohan for being a total shitshow.
• Paulina Rubio performs on TRL. Rubio remembers her lyrics, forgets to wear pants.
• Meanwhile, Calum Best is vying to become the next K-Fed.
As part of MTV's "cost-cutting measures" – that PC term thrown around to describe the slashing of 250 jobs – the beleaguered "music" channel is downgrading its flagship afternoon marketing gimmick Total Request Live from a five-day-a-week whoooooo!!!-athon to a two-day-a-week sprint to get something on film.
Two weeks ago, MTV began taping "Total Request Live" two days a week in an effort to save money. After live shows air Monday and Wednesday afternoons, shows are then taped for the following day.
"Total Request Taped"? No, the show's title won't be adjusted for the less-than-live days, spokeswoman Marnie Black said Tuesday.
"We're not editing anything," she said. "We're not changing anything. The spirit of the show is going to be exactly the same."
Of course it is! Well, at least while it's still around.
"But you said TRL is canceled?!," we've heard you whine, which was immediately followed by, "But MTV is denying it!!" And yes, indeed they are. Here's MTV prez Christina Norman on what will "actually" happen:
We also made the tough decision to streamline our production process as well as personnel in our studio. TRL will air as always - and we'll continue to bring our audience the celebs they love and special weeks like Spankin New and much more — but we will now operate more efficiently downstairs.
Except when she says "as always," what she means is "at least until we launch its replacement." We've heard from multiple MTV insiders that the network handed down the decision to remove TRL. So is it a goner today? No.
But we hear they are working on a super-jazzed replacement for the show and, naturally, when that day comes, they'll announce they hadn't been planning it all along. All of which will be wildly more entertaining when MTV exits its Times Square haunt at 1515 Broadway, effectively removing the backdrop of cultural relevancy. And Virgin Megastore.
Chris' email to staffers, after the jump.
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• A boozy Paula Abdul teaches us all an important lesson about the dangers of interviewing while intoxicated.
• No doubt Gwen Stefani isn't thrilled about these un-Photoshopped pics of her circulating the web.
• The next time you fall down and break your hip, get your lazy ass up and start running a 5K.
• Not one month after Vanessa Minnillo drops the F-bomb on-air and there's already talk of TRL being cancelled. Ho-hum.
• Dame Helen Mirren rushed through her interviews on Friday so she could have more time to booze it up;. "Drinking after the interviews," mused Paula Abdul. "Wow, what a concept!"
• Congratulations to Cord on a successful first day of splaying celebrities over at sister-site, Mollygood.
As you all know by now, Tom Cruise hit up TRL for a spicy second today to chat with Vanessa, give the audience tickets to Mission Impossible: 3 and kick off his New York tour. Oh, and introduce Kanye West.
Yes, he could have just yelled "I love black people" a'la Jerry Maguire … but no. Instead he waved up to Kanye from his fire truck and said something along the lines of "hey brother, we'll catch you up in Harlem. See you in Harlem."
It was pretty much the most stupid white guy thing we've ever heard. First off, we hightly doubt Kanye lives in Harlem. And we doubt even more that Tom Cruise would be caught dead on 125th … actually, maybe if he goes up there someone will shoot him and end our misery.
A well placed mole has just informed us on the happenings inside the radius of Times Square, where Tom Cruise is currently promoting his baby/movie on TRL.
This is going on right now.
Tom Cruise isn't' retreating to the VIP area during commercial breaks like most celebs and is instead hanging on stage with the high school kids from Connecticut. The audience is loving it.
Oh, the ignorance of youthful innocence. If only they were a few years older you know at least the girls would be running in fear of the impregnating kidnapper.
Editorial Director
