2008 Woodie Awards
Television without TRL signals universe's collapse
Liz Riggs
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Amusement
My prolonged adolescence just officially ended. I'm choking back tears, dipping my hand directly into a vat of chocolate icing and giggling uncontrollably--all at the same time. The TRL finale has just aired, and my life has reached a simultaneous apex and nadir.
How does the world move on after a show that has shaped so many lives and touched the hearts of millions is canceled? Perhaps TRL was never an integral part of your life as a prepubescent middle-schooler, but not all of us were cool enough to be raised listening to elitist indie rock and classic rock on vinyl.
Some of us were impressionable enough to succumb to the mindless trap of MTV, and more importantly, TRL. I'm not ashamed to admit it; TRL was my adolescent breast milk. I'm not sure my eighth grade year would have been the same without Carson Daly's black nail polish, The Backstreet Boys closing down Times Square and the persistent desire that I too could become an MTV veejay.
Yet the success of TRL is mind-blowing. Only on TRL could Dave Holmes become some sort of hyper-celebrity with his own spin-off show (Say What Karaoke, anyone?!). And only on TRL could the world's biggest tool, Carson Daly, emerge as sex symbol from the planks of a barren studio in Times Square.
The show itself didn't really do anything particularly innovative: they played music videos, they interviewed celebrities and they broke news. Still, its success was overwhelming. In fact, TRL, at some point, began to transcend itself. The show became less about the bands that were on the show, the music videos that weren't playing (playing 14 seconds of the video does not count), and more about the fact that TRL was the place to be for everyone who was anyone. Being on TRL became the ultimate display of celebrity status--despite the fact that its fan base seemed to consist largely of 13-year-old girls.
For me, TRL ended when Carson Daly left the show for bigger and better projects. Although the show certainly began to crumble as *NSYNC began to disintegrate (the reunion will happen). Still, it seemed necessary to watch every day to see what video would be at number one. Would Kid Rock usurp the throne from Britney? Would the news that Backstreet Boy A.J. was entering rehab affect their placement on the charts? Would anybody ever be able to understand why Korn fans were watching the same show as BBMak fans? NO! TRL had an inexplicable ability to transcend musical genres and emerge as an extraordinary pop culture phenomenon that helped to shape the youth of America.
So, it goes without saying that the end of TRL signifies the end of an era. MTV's reign is slowly crumbling, and only an orgy including the 16-year-old version of Britney Spears, the "Dirty" Christina Aguilera and two Gwen Stefanis could bring it back. TRL is being replaced with smut like Paris Hilton's My New BFF and Other Terrible Crap that will never, ever compare with TRL.
This was a place where miracles happened. Justin Timberlake stopped frosting his tips, and Mariah Carey chose to never age past 27 even though she's 40. Videos got retired, fans cried. Normal people became VJs, and the word VJ came into existence. Pop culture and Music videos will not be the same without TRL, but we must trudge onward as the Backstreet Boys are getting ready to perform on the repeat of the finale and Eminem is about to make a guest appearance. The times they are a-changin'.
How does the world move on after a show that has shaped so many lives and touched the hearts of millions is canceled? Perhaps TRL was never an integral part of your life as a prepubescent middle-schooler, but not all of us were cool enough to be raised listening to elitist indie rock and classic rock on vinyl.
Some of us were impressionable enough to succumb to the mindless trap of MTV, and more importantly, TRL. I'm not ashamed to admit it; TRL was my adolescent breast milk. I'm not sure my eighth grade year would have been the same without Carson Daly's black nail polish, The Backstreet Boys closing down Times Square and the persistent desire that I too could become an MTV veejay.
Yet the success of TRL is mind-blowing. Only on TRL could Dave Holmes become some sort of hyper-celebrity with his own spin-off show (Say What Karaoke, anyone?!). And only on TRL could the world's biggest tool, Carson Daly, emerge as sex symbol from the planks of a barren studio in Times Square.
The show itself didn't really do anything particularly innovative: they played music videos, they interviewed celebrities and they broke news. Still, its success was overwhelming. In fact, TRL, at some point, began to transcend itself. The show became less about the bands that were on the show, the music videos that weren't playing (playing 14 seconds of the video does not count), and more about the fact that TRL was the place to be for everyone who was anyone. Being on TRL became the ultimate display of celebrity status--despite the fact that its fan base seemed to consist largely of 13-year-old girls.
For me, TRL ended when Carson Daly left the show for bigger and better projects. Although the show certainly began to crumble as *NSYNC began to disintegrate (the reunion will happen). Still, it seemed necessary to watch every day to see what video would be at number one. Would Kid Rock usurp the throne from Britney? Would the news that Backstreet Boy A.J. was entering rehab affect their placement on the charts? Would anybody ever be able to understand why Korn fans were watching the same show as BBMak fans? NO! TRL had an inexplicable ability to transcend musical genres and emerge as an extraordinary pop culture phenomenon that helped to shape the youth of America.
So, it goes without saying that the end of TRL signifies the end of an era. MTV's reign is slowly crumbling, and only an orgy including the 16-year-old version of Britney Spears, the "Dirty" Christina Aguilera and two Gwen Stefanis could bring it back. TRL is being replaced with smut like Paris Hilton's My New BFF and Other Terrible Crap that will never, ever compare with TRL.
This was a place where miracles happened. Justin Timberlake stopped frosting his tips, and Mariah Carey chose to never age past 27 even though she's 40. Videos got retired, fans cried. Normal people became VJs, and the word VJ came into existence. Pop culture and Music videos will not be the same without TRL, but we must trudge onward as the Backstreet Boys are getting ready to perform on the repeat of the finale and Eminem is about to make a guest appearance. The times they are a-changin'.
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