TRL is back and people have mixed feelings about it
- Beatriz Leite
- Oct 22, 2017
- 2 min read
Total Request Live, more commonly know as TRL, the daily MTV show famous when it originally aired from 1998 to 2008, has been back for three weeks and it is receiving very polarized feedback. Originally, the main attraction of the show was the 10 music video countdown based on the audience's requests. Besides that, the show had many celebrity guests throughout the years to make it even more exciting for the fans.
Since its very anticipated comeback, on October 2nd, TRL has been target of very different opinions. If you look on social media, there is one complaint being consistently brought up: the classic music video countdown is gone (which makes us notice that the name doesn't make sense anymore, but the brand still has its value). Instead, TRL has more guests per show, and they get to play games, interact with the fans in the audience and, obviously, perform. Now, the show usually has one internet celebrity everyday as well as actors and singers. Some of their guests for the past weeks were Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled, Pitbull and Fifth Harmony.
At first, seeing the complaints gave me the impression that the show was going to be a flop and that it would be gone quickly. However, I noticed that the negative feedback was coming from adults who used to watch TRL in their teenage years and, actually, the teenagers from today are very excited about the show, especially when YouTube stars like the Dolan twins participate. And let's be honest, they are the target demographic here; they are the ones who interact on social media, participate in the audience and are usually the most passionate fans who won't want to miss a thing.
I can't predict the future, but I believe that TRL has great chances on being as big of a hit today as it has originally been in the late 90's and the 2000's, but in a different way. Things have changed (you can't compare the part technology and social media plays now and back then) and so has TRL; some people are just having issues accepting it.
TRL is on Mon-Fri at 3:30 PM on MTV live from Times Square.
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