When Beavis and Butthead originally aired, the duo skewered the music videos on MTV. Parents groups hated the show, it was the stupidest thing on television.
When the show rebooted in the 2010s, there weren’t enough music videos so they started skewering other MTV content: teen mom, jersey shore, etc.
It was amazing, because Beavis and Butthead were exactly the same, but as a viewer you realized that Beavis and Butthead were now the SMARTEST thing on MTV.
There’s something to this. Not only did MTV stop playing videos, but shows like The Real World and Road Rules are the direct precursors to the reality TV movement that gave us things like Survivor and the Kardashians.
Real talk, the switch away from playing music videos actually legitimately impacted culture profoundly
Reality television ruined our culture. I stand by this.
Retrofuturism
The WGA strike of 2007-08 saw a brief increase in investment to reality TV shows one of which was The Apprentice, which spurred DT back into the pop culture sphere. I am fully confident in the belief that so much of what we’re dealing with politically today would have been avoided if WGA members just got what they were owed.
