By Lisa DiCarlucci
Youth favorite “Total Request Live” came to an end after 10 successful seasons this past Sunday with a three-hour walk down mainstream music memory lane, “Total Finale Live.”
Affectionately known as “TRL,” the video countdown show was responsible for the fame and popularity of several artists including Britney Spears, Eminem and N’Sync.
The years 1999 to 2000 were by far the prime of “TRL.” On average, there were 700,000 in total. The MTV audience’s preference seemed to have turned more toward “reality” shows such as “The Hills,” which has an average audience of 4 million on any given Monday night. Where MTV used to pride itself on being a music television network, in recent years, the network’s content has been more successfully geared towards unscripted programs following rich and privileged teens.
The end of “TRL” was really the end of an era. Teenagers and twenty-somethings who watched Sunday’s finale most certainly felt the pinch of nostalgia as they looked back on the pop stars of yesteryear.
Former (and to some extent, current) teeny-bopper icon and N’Sync frontman, Justin Timberlake made an appearance and reminisced with the show’s original host, Carson Daly and fellow N’Syncer, J.C. Chasez. “This is like a big high school reunion in a way,” Timberlake said, “We kind of all grew up together.”
Although in recent years TRL’s audience has declined, the finale brought back the glory days when kids and teens around the country raced home after school to watch their favorite V.J. announce the top 10 videos. In the final countdown, good ol’ Britney Spears came out on top with her first- ever hit single, “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” She deserved it, after all, for making Catholic schoolgirls everywhere (myself included) proud to wear their uniforms.
Some of this decade’s best came out to pay homage to “TRL.” Performers included Beyoncé, Fallout Boy and 50 Cent, all of whom can hold TRL accountable for much of their success and exposure.
50 Cent was particularly grateful to the program’s role in his success. “It’s a big loss to all of us not to have this platform to promote ourselves,” he said. “But we’ll have to figure out a new way to do it.”
Many feel that YouTube and similar Web services are the future of music video promotion, and probably one of the downfalls of “TRL’s” popularity.
Now that the “TRL” phenomenon has come to a close, Times Square will be a little quieter. The novelty of waiting outside in the cold for a glimpse of your favorite artist from the studio high above is gone for now. The most notable quality of this particular show is the way it affects the guests as well as the fans.
When Justin and J.C. looked out that window for the last time, they had just as much sadness as the fans standing below. TRL was an icon of pop culture for our generation and its departure from the afternoon MTV lineup is most certainly a bittersweet good-bye.