In its hey-day, MTV’s daily music video countdown show – ‘TRL’ (Total Request Live) – was unquestionably the place to go to know what’s hot and what’s not in entertainment, namely in the music industry. In fact, at its height in popularity, the series regularly pulled in 600,000-750,000 viewers a day. Yet, as technology improved and increased the accessibility of “on-demand” media, the need for shows like ‘TRL’ took the hardest hit – a decline evidenced by its ratings by the time of its 2008 cancellation.
Fast-forward nearly 10 years later, the execs at MTV thought now – a time where on-demand media consumption is at its highest – to be the best time to revamp and reboot the show (click here to see performances and highlights).
If the premiere ratings are anything to judge by, they were wrong:
‘TRL’ Reboot Premiere Viewership: 166,000
To put that figure into perspective, it’s less than half the numbers the show was pulling when MTV decided to cancel it in the first place in 2008! Among those who did tune in, let’s just say the reviews weren’t particularly stellar.
On the other hand (and to its credit), fate wasn’t exactly on the show’s side either as news and social media were dominated yesterday by reports of the Las Vegas terrorist attack – the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
Here’s hoping as time goes on the numbers increase. [source]