MTV Puts “TRL” on Hiatus, Two-Hour Special Planned For November
More than 10 years after its debut, MTV’s flagship music program Total Request Live will vacate its Times Square studio and leave the airwaves, executive producer Dave Sirulnick said. The show will say goodbye in grand fashion with a two-hour special to air in November. Sirulnick hopes to recruit some of the artists responsible for TRL‘s lasting success to appear on the show’s finale. “I’m going to miss TRL,” Eminem said in a statement. “Where else will I be able to start feuds, defend my honor vigorously and act like an angry teenager on national TV? Oh wait … The VMAs!” The show’s audience peaked in 1999, when 757,000 viewers would watch the afternoon’s countdown of the top 10 videos. In recent years, however, the show became less about the music videos, and the show’s prime studio spot overlooking Times Square became a mere conduit for celebrities to plug their current projects or a place where teenage girls could scream at the Jonas Brothers. Videos won’t exit the airwaves completely, though — Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz and his FNMTV program will be brought back for another run in November. Sirulnick said that TRL isn’t ending for good, but will go on extended hiatus. “We want to close this era of TRL in a big celebratory way, and 10 is a great number,” Sirulnick said.
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