MTV

Could There Ever Be Another Britney Spears?, asks MTV.com's Jennifer Vineyard.

It's a question whose time has come. Just as The Boston Daily Globe asked WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER GREAT WAR in April 1893, people have been wondering similar things for as far back as Google searches will allow writers to search after 6 p.m. on a Tuesday.

- Will There Be Another WPA?, The Christian Science Monitor, December 8, 1942.

- Will There Be Another Christmas Is Thought of All in Pacific Area, The Hartford Courant, December 25, 1943.

- Could There Be Another Holocaust?, The New York Times, March 6, 1977.  read more »

Apparently, Britney Spears took a stroll on the streets of New York last night while her newsless, yet somehow touching documentary For the Record aired on MTV.

She updated her Twitter just a few minutes ago:

britneyspears I enjoyed a relaxing walk last night around NYC. Even though it was raining, it was a lot of fun! ~Britney

This might actually be the real Britney too. Her assistant Lauren, usually signs off on posts she writes, and Brit has been updating as herself for awhile now.

"Social media" tools like YouTube and Facebook have a new name: "killer apps" or powerful platforms for extremist groups to smear messages of hate. But those same companies are hoping to counter that those negative cabilities for good.

From December 3rd to 5th, Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, and Howcast will sponsor a summit to mobilize young people against violence and oppression at the Columbia Law School. The global network, called the Alliance of Youth Movements, aims to craft a "field manual" on how to create social change using online tools. (Yes we can... Twitter!)

"The field manual will stand in stark contrast to the Al Qaeda manual on the basics of terrorism, found by Coalition Forces in Iraq," according to the press release.

Whoopi Goldberg, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, MSNBC's Luke Russert, the U.S. Department of State's Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy James Glassman, and others are set to speak at panels, which will include 'How To Build Transnational Social Movements Using New Technology' and 'How To Use New Mobile Technologies.'

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Oh my God! Only four days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes till the last TRL! As we move ever closer to the finale of Total Request Live—the show that defined pop’s pre-millennial resurgence—new details are emerging on who might show up on that last, bittersweet day. Billboard.com is reporting that hip-hoppers Ludacris, Snoop Dog, 50 Cent, and the stubbornly irrelevant Nelly will be performing this coming Sunday, as will Beyoncé, Fall Out Boy, and the Backstreet Boys. Kid Rock, Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff, Mariah Carey, and reunited N-Syncers Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez are also planning on stopping by. And, of course, what would a TRL party be without nu-metal fun-boys like Fred Durst and Jonathan Davis? Presumably one without  read more »

Monday: Roman Holiday
Ok, we know: you've probably seen Roman Holiday before. It's one of those classics that hasn't totally slipped through the cracks; it's easy to find on DVD, and it gets semi-frequent play on cable. But since we only saw this film for the first time recently, we wanted to urge all of you who have not seen the Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn Italian romp to do so, immediately. Hepburn-in her debut, Oscar-winning role--is the princess who just wants to be normal. Peck is the American journalist she falls for. Among the many highlights: gorgeous shots of Rome, Hepburn's short haircut, and a long tracking shot that captures the sadness of the inevitable moment of their separation.  read more »

MTV is sponsoring a contest to promote the upcoming action film Max Payne starring Mark Wahlberg--and talk about the perfect setting for a gritty cop-movie gimmick!

"To celebrate the release of this slick new thriller, MTV is giving one lucky winner and a friend an NYPD trip to New York City. You’ll get flights, two-nights accommodation at the luxurious Hotel Pennsylvania..."

What, you were expecting the posh Hotel Carter?

Now, MTV wasn't around during the Swing Era, but has Kurt Loder and company bothered to peek inside the old Glenn Miller hangout recently?

(Read The Observer's extensive coverage here.)

"Save The Hotel" activist Gregory Jones once took issue with my use of the term "fleabag" to describe the dowdy would-be landmark on Seventh Avenue.

But, come on, luxurious?

MTV announced yesterday that its afternoon video countdown show, Total Request Live, will be going off air in November after ten years on the air. The AP, via the NYT, reports that the show "will conclude in a two-hour special on a Saturday afternoon in November." Dave Sirulnick, executive producer of TRL, also "stressed that the show wasn't ending for good, but [MTV] felt now was the right time to give it a break after an unprecedented run on the cable music channel."

The finale could be a sort of greatest hits special. Mr. Sirulnick is hoping that some of TRL's faves-Justin Timberlake and N'Sync, the Backstreet Boys, Brit Brit or Eminem-might return to relive some memories.  read more »

Tuesday evening, for VH-1 and Vogue's "Fashion Rocks" show, the Black Eyed Peas performed a hip-hop version of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You." Turning one of the sexiest songs of all time into a dead-eyed, fake-funk abomination is a real accomplishment, though to be fair, it's just another day at the office for B.E.P.

Two nights earlier on the MTV Video Music Awards, the night's loud-mouthed, big-haired Brit emcee, comedian Russell Brand, told one too many jokes at the expense of clean tween stars the Jonas Brothers (and their purity rings), and precious American Idol season six winner Jordin Sparks went off script and shot back: "It's not bad to wear a promise ring because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut.  read more »

Our long national nightmare is over. Britney Spears will perform at the MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday according to USA Today. (This comes via TVTattle.com.)

MTV confirms the news it in its inimitable fashion: "Britney’s back — for REALS — and honestly, we’re probably as amazed and eagerly anxious as you are." (Insert your own OMFGs.)

As you may recall, last week, Ms. Spears' manager told the Associated Press, "She's in the middle of recording her next album, which is going amazingly well, and her focus remains on the studio" and would be unable to attend the event.

It's not enough that Brett Ratner, Hollywood's least admired superstar director, has already made commercials for Activision's Guitar Hero videogame featuring those two guys from American Idol whose names you already forgot pretending to be Tom Cruise in Risky Business. Now, according to MTV's Multiplayer blog, Mr. Ratner wants to direct a movie based on the game. (This comes via New York's Vulture blog.)

Here's what the humble Rush Hour director and Entourage self-satirizer told MTV's Stephen Totilo:

I love 'Guitar Hero' and I think it’s a part of pop culture. I would love to do a 'Guitar Hero' movie, if Activision would ever let me.  read more »

The Associated Press is reporting that Britney Spears will not be at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, despite the fact that she's been appearing in ads for the event alongside host Russell Brand.

According to Larry Rudolph, whom AP described as Spears' "manager at Jive Records," "She's in the middle of recording her next album, which is going amazingly well, and her focus remains on the studio."

Last year, Ms. Spears made an ill-fated comeback appearance at the event (the first moments of her performance were an obvious homage to Elvis Presley's 1968 Comeback Special) that was notable for her lethargic dancing and obvious lip-syncing.

Thankfully, the Jonas Brothers—whom you are forgiven for not knowing if you're over 11-years-old or don't read Details or Rolling Stone—are still scheduled to appear at the September 7th Los Angeles Event.

For a "reality" show that's supposed to be all about drama, The Hills hasn't really encompassed much of it over the past few seasons. It seems like the juiciest footage we get is stuff like: Uh oh! Spencer and Heidi sort of broke up, but actually they really didn't! CRISIS! L.C. ruined some expensive dress she didn't have to pay for because she doesn't know how to work a curling iron! Audrina won't come out of that shack she got forced to live in after Lo stole all of her camera spotlight! Snore.

What ever happened to gratuitous post-teenage binge drinking sessions that lead to crazy fights with blonde girls calling each other whores and fratty dudes giving each other bloody noses with their fists? Isn't that what reality TV is supposed to be all about?

Apparently on The Hills, the new season of which premieres on MTV on Aug.  read more »

Williamsburg and Greenpoint residents may soon feel like they are living on the set of a reality TV show. The cast of the Apprentice-style MTV show starring 50 Cent is moving into a three-story, newly renovated loft building on the Greenpoint waterfront, a well-placed source has informed us.

The series will follow 16 aspiring rap moguls as they compete in a series of challenges to determine their "savvy, street smarts, manipulation, power and the art of winning"--"the skills that took 50 Cent from the streets to corporate America." At the end of each episode, 50 Cent will eliminate a contestant. The winner will get a full scholarship to an undergraduate or graduate business program.  read more »

Sweet Transvestite! MTV is planning to remake the Meatloaf-and-Tim-Curry-helmed classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Goths everywhere are horrified at the thought.

According to Variety, the two-hour remake will use the 1975 version's original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien but some new music may be added. Who will they hire to write new music for it? Please god don't let it be Avril Lavigne.

Director and casting haven't been decided yet but a producer said he'd like to see the movie premiere a year from this coming Halloween.

Producers are cobbling together a writing team for the new Office spinoff, and now an MTV sketch comedy actor has been chosen as the first cast member. Suit up, Aziz Ansari! Executive producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur hired the MTV writer, executive producer and performer on Human Giant. Mr. Ansari also guested as a racist fruit vendor on HBO's Flight of the Conchords -- and recently opened for the Conchords on a series of concert dates. He is currently in Albuquerque filming scenes for the upcoming Seth Rogen feature Observe and Report. He'll also be seen alongside Paul Rudd and Jason Segel in I Love You, Man. He'll get jokes from a writing team including Everybody Loves Raymond alum Tucker Cawley, Late Night With Conan O'Brien's Dan Goor and South Park scribe Alan Yang, according to Variety. Will Rashida Jones be joining the spinoff cast? Unlikely...  read more »

Last month this reporter interviewed Amanda Lorber, one of the stars of MTV's docu-series The Paper. At the time, Ms. Lorber, a high school newspaper editor, was savvy enough not to reveal where she would be attending college in the fall. "I don't think I should tell you [where] yet because that's a plotline," she said, laughing. "I will be studying journalism, though."

Finally, her silence has been broken! Ms. Lorber will be attending New York University in the fall according to NYU's Washington Square News. (This fact had already emerged via a commenter on Jezebel last week.) Ms. Lorber tells the WSN's Sergio Hernandez, "I'm ready [for NYU]... I'm a little nervous now because the show has come out, and I kind of don't want to be recognized. I want to have a fresh start, and I want to be kind of a normal student, not a girl that was on an MTV reality show."  read more »

In an inevitable, perhaps even overdue collision of reality and lifestyle, this morning MTV announced it has green-lighted the 21st season of The Real World. It will be filmed in Brooklyn, the reigning home turf of post-teen drama, and broadcast in 13 one-hour episodes in early 2009. No word yet regarding in which neighborhood the attention-seeking hopefuls will reside and manufacture identity-based conflict. We are hoping for the corner of Smith and Carroll but will also settle for Bedford and North Sixth. We would also like to see The Real World: East New York, where things start getting really real, and surely City Councilman Charles Barron of that neighborhood would assist with locations. God speed, young funny-haired applicants.  read more »

MONDAY

There should be something wrong when high-schoolers in Florida start to sound like their geriatric counterparts in Boca Raton. But when it's the stars of MTV’s The Paper [10:30 p.m.], it’s downright heartwarming. Though society seems to be "heading to the Internet and to virtual whatnot," 17-year-old Amanda Lorber, an editor on The Circuit, the student-run newspaper of Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Fla. says she and her mates "really wanna keep print alive.” Aw, we feel you sister! Perhaps the staff of The Circuit will be the perfect compliment to that other popular MTV reality series starring misguided teenagers. The Observer’s Matt Haber summed it up quite nicely in a profile of the show and its cast:  read more »

Ask anyone in the business: These are dark times for the newspaper industry. Dwindling readership and shrinking profits; journalists quaking in their cubicles, wondering if their jobs will exist when the next quarter’s profits are announced. Readers who once looked to the morning paper (not to mention the dimly remembered but extinct evening editions) are distracted by other media that feed them entertainment in news drag.

“I don’t really like the trend of the media right now,” said Cassia Laham, a Florida-based editor. “I feel like we’re becoming too tangled in things unimportant. Like spending four weeks on Anna Nicole Smith or any petty news when there are bigger things happening.”

Her colleague Amanda Lorber worries about the future of their industry as well. “We’re all heading to the Internet and to virtual whatnot. … We really wanna keep print alive.”  read more »

Christina Norman, the President of MTV, will step down at the end of February, according to Variety.

Van Toffler, the head of MTV Networks Music and Logo Group, announced the news in an internal memo to staffers yesterday.  read more »

Via Gawker

Employees at Viacom's MTV Networks (which includes, in part, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Logo, and Spike) are threatening a walkout on Monday, apparently in protest at a new plan from management that would roll back benefits to the networks' legions of freelance workers.

Herein: a partial guide to the 2008 presidential race's new-media-old-media bedfellows.

(a) CNN and YouTube.

(b) ABC and Facebook.

(c) MTV and...MySpace!

To wit: tonight, MTV and MySpace are teaming up for "a dialogue with John McCain", in which viewers and browsers can rock the vote 2008-style by submitting questions to the septuagenarian Arizona senator via IM.

MTV The Hills reality show sweetheart Lauren Conrad, 21, exports her good-girl style to the runway with her upcoming collection.  read more »