MTV Memories

Ok, it’s late and I’m really short of ideas right now so I’m going to do something a little different. It’ll kind of be like Forgotten Television Shows except none of these shows had enough history to warrant a full page on their own. Instead, let’s look back on MTV series that I watched while in college. (Thanks to Wikipedia for refreshing my memory on this one).

Dead at 21: The story of a guy with a computer chip implanted in his brain that will kill him when he turns 21. Obviously this connected with me in college as I a) was nearing that age and b) had a professor who was working on implanting computer chips in people’s heads. (Not kidding there, he would discuss it in class). I honestly think the only thing I remember about the show was that the actor’s name was Jack Noseworthy and the guy had a rather large nose. What are the odds of that?

The Head: One of many great cartoons, this one featuring a guy with an incredibly large head which contains an alien who would drive him around (with controls and everything). This was during MTV’s time period where they were trying to come up with a lot of cult, original programming and this show actually made it to a second season (though that one kind of sucked). Mainly remembered for the side character who had an entire goldfish bowl in his mouth, which is a fact that I remember more than anything I learned in Advanced Calculus.

The ½ Hour Comedy Hour: Also known as “What you watch in your dorm room until it’s time to go to dinner”. This is back in the early nineties when seemingly every channel would dedicate time to stand up comedy routines that involved someone you’ve never seen before standing in front of a fake brick wall. Those unknowns ended up being Drew Carey, Ray Romano and every other successful sitcom star of the late 90’s. This should also get credit as being one of the launching points of Paulie Shore’s career. Okay, maybe credit isn’t the right term here.

(Oh, and technically once Fox put Tiny Toons, Animaniacs and Batman: The Animated Series that became required pre-dinner entertainment. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a dozen guys discussing the physics of Batman along with “Who is hotter: Catwoman or Poison Ivy?”)

Sandblast: Ok, even I completely forgot about this one. Honestly, this was the precursor to all of the Real World/Road Rules challenges. It was a game show featuring college students where they competed mainly by jumping off of trampolines and springboards and flying around. Oh, and there was two on two beach football. Doesn’t sound exciting but when you only have basic cable any excuse to see good looking women in swimsuits playing football works. I also remember an event where the contestants were a human field goal, launching themselves over goal posts. Look, I’m not saying it was high quality television or anything.