MTV-a-licious!

by Latoya Peterson

Can anyone please tell me what the hell is going on over at MTV?

Their current show line up has me about to buy a damn TiVo so I can make sure not to miss a second of the ridiculousness.

Exiled

The show summary states:

Watching My Super Sweet 16 can give us a glimpse of “the good life.” Amidst the demanding divas and epic meltdowns that lead up to insanely over-the-top teenage birthday bashes, we get a look at the posh lives of wealthy families. And while we take that often envious look at how the other half lives, how many of us sit there wishing that these spoiled teens could be slapped with a serious dose of reality?

Wish no more, because they’re about to get Exiled! Fed up with their seemingly endless mooching, their parents have had enough of this Sweet 16 set and are ready to send them away to learn the lesson of a lifetime. They’ve arranged to place their children in remote parts of the world with host families who have never tasted anything close to the high society life.

A few years after tossing the parties that made them stars in their schools and fueled rivalries among the rich kids, you’re going to see some of the Sweet 16-ers you loved to hate the most — Ava, Sierra, Amanda, Bjorn, Marissa, Chelsi, Meleny and Alex — shipped away from their plush homes and easy lives and Exiled to foreign locations such as the jungles of the Amazon, the tundra of the Arctic Circle, the Andes mountains and remote islands in the South Pacific where they’ll have to live like local commoners with none of the amenities of their normally privileged lives.

Umm, pause.

One, they are only gone for a week. A WEEK! How is a week going to undo a whole lifetime of obnoxious behavior?

Two, if they really wanted to teach the teens a lesson, there are other ways to do this. Here’s one off the top of my head: All eight teenagers are roommates in two semi-decent two bedroom apartments. They are given crappy menial jobs or sadistic internships and have to do mandatory community service. They should do at least a 40 hour work week and about 8 hours of volunteer work each week. They have to pay their own rent and bills, and they can’t leave until they save enough money to cover a month’s rent.

That’s some reality for you.

Three, this show epitomizes the worst assumptions about Americans traveling abroad – and MTV is complicit in this, starting with the show description and premise. I have half a mind to start a “neo-colonialism” watch on this one.

Commenter full of wit sums up the Racialicious team’s view of the show:

FullofWit (06.18.08 | 10:11 PM)

Oh this is disgusting. Spoiled rich kids are being sent, by MTV, on amazing once in a life time trips. They cry, whine, and insult the families and the culture they are staying with. When they go home they will leave behind the consequences of ‘relative poverty’ likely to seriously impact their host family and communities views of their own world, and lack of opportunities. Based on MTVs record of underpayment, and world history’s record of colonialism, globalism, and westernization, you can be guaranteed that the families whose lives were invaded by “Exiled” were NOT given the financial support to actually make any real changes. And I can’t believe their PUNISHMENT is to live someone life. This show is disgusting and all that is wrong with our society. I’m ashamed.

Dances from tha Hood

Did this show escape from BET? I was kind of shocked to see this on the MTV website. The show apparently debuted back sometime in 2007 to little to no fanfare. Many of the videos were unrated. It appears to still be going on, as the most recent video was posted 3/10/2008. It appears that this show was designed to be interactive between both web and viewers, but never garnered enough attention to be truly successful. Interesting note: this is one of the few shows on MTV where the main leads are people of color. (So was America’s Best Dance Crew. Hmmm…) The people they teach at the end are mostly white.

The marketing leaves much to be desired. Some samples from the website text:

This aintcha mama’s aerobics tape. Tweetie and friends walk you through the hottest new hood shuffles.

Always looking to learn some sick new steps? Then check out MTV’s Dances From Tha Hood, where you can learn all the latest hip-hop moves and become the coolest kid on the block!

[...]

Need to dig deeper? On dancesfromthahood.mtv.com, you can watch dope video clips of kids just like you “Gettin’ It In” and working the hottest hip-hop moves. Plus, you can submit your own fancy footwork! Got a video of yourself grooving to the latest jam? Send it in! That’s right, even you can do it too! The top three user-generated videos will be shown on-air where viewers will vote for the dopest dancer.

What’s the worse part? This show could actually be good. The host Tweetie is quite talented and a classically trained dancer. Her energy bounces infectiously through the screen. The dances are silly, but fun and pulled straight from music videos. After watching all of Tweetie’s clips, I found myself uttering a phrase I thought I never would say:

I wish this show was on BET.

I have the feeling they would have a better idea of how to market her.