This story is from today's issue of Media Life Magazine Media Life Magazine - MTV swings the axe: 'TRL' is now DTD

MTV swings the axe:
'TRL' is now DTD

It's down the drain for its 'Total Request Live'

By Toni Fitzgerald
Sep 16, 2008

MTV’s “TRL” is now DTD--down the drain.

The network has confirmed that its once-signature video request show will be canceled in November, signing off with a two-hour episode.

Producers are leaving open the possibility of future “Total Request Live” specials or perhaps an eventual return for the show, which debuted 10 years ago this month. But they also admitted that ratings for the show, which once drew more than 700,000 viewers per day, aren’t what they used to be.

Its teen audience is barely half what it was during the show’s peak some nine years ago, slipping to just over 100,000.

Filmed in front of a live audience in New York’s Times Square, “TRL” was envisioned as a daily top-video countdown where celebrities also frequently popped in to tout their new releases.

“TRL” was once a must-visit for anyone dropping an album or starring in a big summer movie.

The weekday afternoon show is a casualty of two things, MTV’s decreased reliance on music videos and its audience’s more sophisticated tastes.

When “TRL” first launched, the network was still playing video blocks during the heyday of the boy bands and pop stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. These days, the channel is stocked with original programming, with shows like “Made” and “Making the Band” replacing the video blocks. Kids no longer associate videos with the network.

Instead, they go elsewhere to watch videos, like YouTube or video on demand, where they can watch the videos they like when they want them. Meanwhile, “TRL’s” voting technology that once seemed so up-to-the-minute, like telephone call-ins and online dedications, now seems quaint.

Still, “TRL” did provide countless pop culture touchstone moments, from giving former host Carson Daly his start in television to bearing witness to Mariah Carey’s odd meltdown a few years back, when the rather loopy diva walked on camera without any prior announcement in skimpy attire handing out ice cream to the cheering crowd.

There have been signs for years that “TRL” was nearing its end, among them the near-constant rumors that the show had been canceled.

Hoping to trim costs, MTV began taping the shows in advance a few years ago, which essentially canceled out the “Live” in the show’s title.

For “TRL’s” big signoff in November, the network is hoping to lure back some of the big names that once fueled the show’s popularity, like Daly, who has since begun hosting NBC’s late-late-night show, and Justin Timberlake, a staple during his ‘N Sync days.

Yesterday Eminem, a frequent guest on “TRL,” released a statement lamenting (sort of) the show’s demise: "I'm going to miss TRL. Where else will I be able to start feuds, defend my honor vigorously and act like an angry teenager on national TV?"

Wow sad to hear but the show is not what it used to be!

The show has not been like it used to be for awhile. I stopped watching years ago.

RIP TRL....though I can honestly say I haven't watched it since high school '98-99. That was when it first came out and it was "so cool"!
'Tis the end of an era.
(Ok, just kidding about that last part.....)

It's about time. It went down the tubes after Carson left.

I was on the show in january of 01, it was a lot of fun.

I'm a big NKOTB fan.. (I know.. go ahead and laugh).. and they were scheduled to be on TRL like last week.. but the show aired at 11:00 in the afternoon. That seemed silly. Kids are in school then. What happened to the 3:00-4:00 timeslot.. ? (or whenever it used to air) That made more sense.

RIP TRL and the retarded fake screaming fans.