With the whole Time Warner-Viacom face-off over New Year's, the anemic ratings of MTV's two newest reality shows may not have gotten that much attention from MTV executives. But now that the dust has settled, they will most likely be taking a second look at "The City" and "Bromance."

Though the programs themselves have little in common ("The City" follows young fashionista Whitney Port as she tries to make her way in the big city; "Bromance" pits guys against each other in an effort to become BFFs with Brody Jenner), they share a common heritage in "The Hills" (Port was Lauren Conrad's co-worker at Teen Vogue, Jenner, the bachelor err.. bro makes regular appearances as Conrad's on-again off-again love interest). And therein lies the root of the problem…

How can MTV expect these shows that star peripheral characters to continue holding viewers' interest after so many iterations? By definition they're derivative. Just take a look back… before Conrad aka LC took off for "The Hills" she was a part of the high school ensemble on "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," which itself was a take off of the fake Orange County, "The OC." Now, setting aside the irony that a primetime soap created to skewer this privileged community instead launched multiple reality series reinforcing the stereotypes, there is the question of sheer momentum. At this point, it's like copying a carbon copy of a carbon copy, no?

This issue is further compounded by the contrived premises of both shows. Much has already been made of "The City's" fake factor, and I think YAB member Alyx summed up the problem with "Bromance" pretty nicely in his YIR post where he named "Reality Shows" as one of the "Worst Moments" in television: "We’ve learned over and over again that searching for romance, best friends, and other valuable relationships on live TV is a waste of time, so why don’t people give up already?" Teens have clearly absorbed this lesson to the point of saturation; shouldn't the folks in charge of programming catch up?

Chances are these shows will flicker out soon enough, but what will replace them? With 16 new programs on MTV's lineup (the channel's supersized attempt to hold on to its target audience), there are no shortage of contenders. I'm personally curious to see how viewers will respond to a slightly real-er version of reality with the new series "College Life," a compilation of student-produced video footage from the University of Wisconsin (a similar web-only project called "What the Flip?" was recently launched by MTV.com with Flip cameras on a nation-wide scale.) Of course, in the hands of MTV, you have to wonder if both projects won't just end up being more art imitating life…

Today we continue our steady stream of Year In Review coverage with Youth Advisory Board member Alyx Steadman who shares his picks for the best and worst moments he saw on television this year, both from the teen-targeted end of the spectrum, as well as those phenomenons that swept up viewers of all ages across the nation.

The Best

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. No one can deny that Tina Fey is the bomb. Everything she does makes us laugh, and she is a good person (which makes us love her even more)! Her impersonation of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was the peak of the SNL season, bringing in the highest numbers they’ve had in a while. Everyone from students, teachers, and parents were talking about the hilarious skits that made fun of Palin. Just goes to show that SNL still has the spark and spirit that it’s always had. Kudos!

First Transsexual Contestant on America’s Next Top Model. The season of AMNTM wasn’t that great, but just the fact that they had a transsexual female on there was a big positive for me. Regardless of the reason why they brought Isis (the transsexual) onto the show, it shows me that people are finally becoming more accepting of differences on TV. I hope other shows follow this example, (Editor's Note: this season MTV's "Real World" also features its first transgendered cast member) and try to add diversity to their shows because at the end of the day, we are all different, so why not embrace those differences now?

Season Two of 'Gossip Girl'. I might be a little biased when it comes to this show (because it is one of my favorites), but you can’t deny that the people over at GG are having a great season. Every week teens tune into the drama on the Upper East Side that has caught America by storm. I was checking iTunes top-selling TV shows of 2008, and saw that Gossip Girl made it to number one on the list! Teens (and quite a few twenty and thirtysomethings) just can’t get enough of this show. Keep it up GG, because I’ll be watching!!

2008 Summer Olympics. This is the first time in my life that I’ve actually attempted to watch the Summer Olympics, and I found that I loved it! I’m not a big sports person, but watching these athletes strut their stuff in front of millions was an amazing sight to behold. Everything from the mind blowing opening ceremonies to the string of miraculous moments that followed were just beautiful to watch. And the spirit of the Olympics has definitely lingered, for example, with Michael Phelps becoming a celebrity. I know next time the Olympics come around, I’ll be sure to tune in.

Presidential Election Coverage. Usually I wouldn’t bring politics and TV together, but this year was a special occasion. I’ve seen more Gen Y involvement in this past election than I’ve ever seen before in my life. That may be because I’m relatively young so I haven’t seen that many other presidential elections, but you can’t deny that today’s young people care about the future our country. In addition to tuning in, they were also the driving force behind rallies, and dedicated hours to promoting their candidate. This election was so big that I was even invited to a “Barock-the-House” party. Now that’s saying something about Generation Y. So watching the presidential election coverage this year was a big deal to many young people.

The Worst

'90210.' Do people actually watch this show? I know I don’t. For all the press and advertising that the CW put out for this show, I would’ve thought that it would be ratings gold by now, but I don’t think it is working out as well as planned. I’m not saying that "90210" is the worst show ever, but it was a disappointment to most. Oh well, maybe it’ll get better…

MTV’s Video Music Awards. Award shows this year just generally sucked in my opinion. This was mostly due to a lack of quality performances and drama that makes us come back year after year. One of the award shows that fell victim to this downfall was MTV’s Video Music Awards. The host was the worst in years (people, including myself, were even making Facebook Stickers to this effect and posting them on their profiles). One of the main reasons people tuned in this year was the chance to see Britney Spears perform again after her major flop last time around. But even that fell through, when instead of performing, she just made an appearance at the opening of the show. Overall, award shows just need a makeover for 2009. Maybe it can be their new year's resolution!

American Idol. Just like award shows, "American Idol" (A.I.) needs to get a kick in the pants for 2009. Last season was one of the most boring seasons I have ever watched, and even though it was still a ratings superstar, from what I've read people agree with me. Over the years A.I. has lost its shine, and slowly has become a dull, cheesy show that pops out few if any superstars. Watching is no longer a fun experience. In fact, it's more painful than anything else. Luckily, there is news that there will be some changes happening to A.I. (including a new judge!!). Hopefully this will be just what it needs to become the sensation it was before.

The Cutting of Good Shows. Due to a slow economy and not enough people watching TV in the traditional format, many good shows have been canceled, never to be seen or heard from again. One of my favorite shows, "Pushing Daisies" has been cut from NBCABC [thanks Andre!], and this infuriates me. At one point this show was nominated for three Golden Globes, and a little over a year later it is cut. More shows than ever are being canceled, and it needs to stop. Maybe the reason we don’t watch as much TV anymore is because we’re not sure which shows are staying and which ones are being axed, so we don’t want to commit ourselves to a show if it’s just going to be gone in a months time. Just some food for thought.

Reality Shows. I never was a huge reality show person, but this year’s reality shows just really stuck out to me as very bad TV. Shows like "Paris Hilton’s My New BFF," "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad," and MTV’s upcoming new show "Bromance" just seem like a sad way to waste our time. We’ve learned over and over again that searching for romance, best friends, and other valuable relationships on live TV is a waste of time, so why don’t people give up already? My biggest problem lies with "Bromance" and "My New BFF" because in my opinion, anyone who goes on that type of show is looking for fame and fortune, and not any type of real long lasting friendship. Maybe it’s just me, but I think shows like this need to get a reality check.

About Alyx Steadman

Alyx Steadman is a freshman in high school in Montana, and loves every minute of it. He loves reading, writing, acting, singing, and being a social butterfly. In the past people have accused him of being a YouTube addict and a pop culture junkie (and sadly Alyx cannot deny these accusations). His love for teen culture has led him to many hours slaving on the computer soaking up every piece of drama Hollywood has to offer.

Along with a slew of spin-offs, reality shows and some project involving Nick Lachey, MTV announced one new show in their line-up that actually perked my interest: a behind-the-scene series with the crew responsible for CollegeHumor.com. For those of you unfamiliar, CollegeHumor is a site that features videos and articles starring and written by a bunch of twentysomethings who before they were lucky enough to get hired probably were doing the same thing for their college humor magazines. CollegeHumor founder Ricky Van Veen also keynoted at the Ypulse College Mashup.

As someone who has spent a good amount of time on the site and passed along my fair share of their viral videos (love the font conference!) I have to say I'm rooting for them. But, at the same time, as someone who knows they will hardly, if ever, have the chance to catch the show on television, I have my doubts. Making the leap from web to TV is no easy feat. Just ask the well-intentioned minds that brought you 'quaterlife.' And in the case of CollegeHumor, where many potential viewers probably expect to watch online anyway (not only is that what they're used to, but for some it's their only choice,) it could be even tougher.

That's not to say that the show is destined to fail (like I said, I'm rooting), but MTV will definitely have to take some extra precautions to lure the web audiences. One decision they've already made that I think will help their chances is avoiding the sketch comedy format and the inevitable dissection into prime clips a la SNL. Of course, another factor that will determine whether fans follow will be CollegeHumor's presence on the MTV site and what incentives (i.e. full-length episodes or interaction with the cast) they provide. For now, I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Related:

Ypulse readers review quarterlife

In a trend that has not gone unnoticed by television executives, a recent report confirms that more "youths" (a term that seems a bit off here seeing as the report defines "youth" as 18 to 34 year-olds,) have started watching TV online. From BizReport

"Weekly viewing of TV programming online is emerging as a marker for leading-edge media use among this crucial 18-to-34 group," said Bob DeFelice, Vice President for Client Service at Knowledge Networks…"As more and more of the 18-to-34 population moves in this direction, understanding this group's media preferences and habits will grow in importance to marketers."

While there's a few reasons why this development and subsequent observation make a lot of sense (the demo is well-known for being multi-taskers with a partial attention span), one question that I haven't heard being asked is how many of those surveyed actually own their own TVs? I'd be curious to hear the answer, especially from those on the younger, college-going half of the spectrum. In these rough economic times, it seems possible that students (and possibly young professionals living on an entry-level salary) would opt to invest in a nice computer that they can watch TV on, rather than worrying about getting their hands on a TV set and dealing with cable bill that comes with it. Thoughts?

Yesterday I was browsing my RSS feeds when this unsettling and somewhat unbelievable story caught my eye (Thanks Derek!):

The Local, an English language news site based in Sweden, reports that a 15-year old boy collapsed after playing World of Warcraft for nearly 20-hours. The boy's father, after seeing his son collapse and suffer a seizure, called and ambulance and the boy was rushed to the hospital.

Yikes. While the above incident was obviously an extreme case, it may hit closer to home than you think. Recent studies done by the National Institute of Health and Yale University show that too much media intake does lead to negative effects on kids and teens' health, linking overexposure with issues of childhood obesity, tobacco use and early sexual behavior (another hot topic of late.) So, what's to be done post-wake up call?

When we discussed the issue Anastasia expressed concerns with placing arbitrary limits on media use, calling the act of setting limits more of an art than a science. I agree. In the same way that some kids can be trusted with the whole bag of candy on Halloween and others have to select ten pieces and have the rest taken away (obviously the category this poor Swedish teen fits into,) rules should be tailored to the kid in question. Thoughts?

In a recent interview on his upcoming big screen adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are," Spike Jonze admitted that he never intended on making "a movie for four-year-olds." Um, yeah. With a screenplay penned by Dave Eggers and a soundtrack by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, that could have gone without saying. The movie may be based on a children's classic (one that was read and re-read many times in my household), but with those names attached (not least of all Jonze's own) there's no mistaking that big, bright seal of indie approval. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But it did get me to thinking about some of my other recent encounters with pre-school pop culture.

Over the past year in the form of viral videos, I have watched both "Sesame Street" and "Yo Gabba Gabba." The former was when the indie folk singer Feist appeared on the season premiere and performed her single "1234" with revised lyrics that transformed the song into a counting exercise. Honestly, I had a mixed reaction. It was slightly amusing, but I wasn't compelled to watch the whole thing. Of course, that didn't stop me from sending the video along to multiple friends whom I felt would be alternately horrified and delighted by the guest appearance.

"Yo Gabba Gabba" was a slightly different situation. I heard of the show through a blog put out by my college newspaper. The headline read: This Week’s Sign of the Apocalypse: Hipster Kid's TV Show Is a People's Park Acid Trip If that wouldn't pique your interest, what would? For those of you who aren't familiar, YGG was created by two "alternadads" and constantly features appearances by figures that could be considered hipster icons including bands like The Ting Tings and actors like Elijah Wood.

So what's the point of this all? Am I being targeted as a future parent who will want my kids to be cool, or as a current Gen-Yer who can be counted on to pass along the clips to friends and co-workers? Or both?

Note from Anastasia: "The Best In Youth Media" is another new feature from the Ypulse Youth Advisory board where members will highlight a new online trend, website, teen star, blogger, TV show, etc. that is getting teens' attention. YAB member Alyx Steadman is kicking off this new feature with a post about "Ugly Betty." I asked Alyx how he watches the show, and he told me, "I try to watch it on the night it airs, but if not, then I watch it online (even though ABC's media player is really bad)."

Best In Youth Media: 'Ugly Betty'

"Ugly Betty," premiered last Thursday on ABC with a clean slate. Everything is brand new for our favorite fashion-impaired heroine, Betty Suarez. After rejecting two life-changing proposals from her two love interests, Betty is determined to keep her mind on her work so she can climb the corporate ladder to help support her family, as well as pursue her dream of becoming a writer.

"Ugly Betty" is the perfect mix of humor and heart, and makes me realize that image isn’t everything, which is a major reason I love this show. Betty isn’t the toothpick-thin girl celebrated by shows like "90210" and "Gossip Girl." She’s a real woman with real curves [like most women!], plus she has brains and spunk that make us love her even more. She represents what teenage girls should aspire to be: confident, smart, and happy with themselves and their appearance.

Besides featuring realistic characters in the show, it’s also funny. The most comical moments come from the over-the-top acting that makes fun of our society’s obsession with being rich and famous. Our fixation on appearance is what drives teens to extremes to be “pretty” by Hollywood’s standards.
Overall, "Ugly Betty" is anything but ugly. I love "Ugly Betty" because watching this show makes me feel that even if I’m not born rich or privileged, I can become someone without having to change who I am. Teens need to see positive role models on TV. If nothing else, "Ugly Betty" makes us reflect on our society’s values making us ask: What really matters?

About Alyx Steadman

Alyx Steadman is a freshman in high school in Montana, and loves every minute of it. He loves reading, writing, acting, singing, and being a social butterfly. In the past people have accused him of being a YouTube addict and a pop culture junkie (and sadly Alyx cannot deny these accusations). His love for teen culture has led him to many hours slaving on the computer soaking up every piece of drama Hollywood has to offer.

I've blogged here before about the question of whether teen TV that's too gritty or realistic will resonate with teens vs. the rich-teen escapist fare that currently dominates networks like The CW and MTV. Heather Havrilesky wrote a great piece for Salon.com about the potentially negative impact of these "twisted fables that teach teens the countless advantages of being filthy rich." Given the economic disaster we're in and the growing bitterness of "Main Street" towards "Wall Street," I wonder whether teen TV viewers will start to turn on the uber privileged stars of these buzzed about shows.

Part of what made John Hughes movies so quintessentially 80s was the thinly veiled class warfare - Molly Ringwald's character Andie Walsh in "Pretty in Pink" literally lived on the wrong side of the tracks, and she and her friends had open disdain for "the richies." Yet the characters in these movies crossed over - geeks ended up with beauty queens, wallflowers with jocks, etc., without really compromising who they were. The rich kid party scenes were definitely more about excess than success. That's different from the newly rich or middle class fish out of water we see on "90210" or "Privileged" who always seem in awe of everything their uber rich peers have from clothes to private planes to "cribs." Havrilesky notes these middle class characters are shown with the clear message of "what a disadvantage it is not to be able to rub shoulders with the elite."

If I were a TV writer thinking about new scripted teen TV series right now, I would be cranking out script ideas with more working and middle class characters, who like Andie, are creative and thrifty — it doesn't bode as well for product placement if they're not wearing the latest designers, but how fun would it be to click on what this character wore and find out that she got it at Target? They can still interact with and fall for kids on "the right side of the tracks," but maybe they end up being empowered without "help" from their well-off friends and teach them how the rest of us are living. Yes, as Havrilesky noted, Ypulse favorite "Veronica Mars," had many of these traits and was canceled…but that was before the events of the past two weeks.

The Wall Street Journal's Juggle blog raised an interesting question today: What does it take to interest kids in politics? With the first debate set to take place tonight, the WSJ wonders how many teens will tune in. After the drama over whether tonight's debate would actually happen, I find it hard to imagine to that kids will be willing to trade their Friday night plans for a evening in front of the TV. Still, I'm sure that teens interested in this election will watch the highlights, lowlights or other gaffes on YouTube.

To expand on The WSJ's question, everyone from campaigners to candidates would like to know not only whether or not teens are tuning in, but whether youth 18 and up will actually turn out to vote in large numbers. Many websites think celebrity endorsements are the solution to catching the attention of teens and young voters. Rock The Vote has Santogold and Soulja Boy, Declare Yourself has America Ferrera and the cast of "Greek," and Ur Votes Count has Selena Gomez. Teen magazines have also added campaign coverage to their website - Seventeen's "Electionista" and Teen Vogue's "Political Partier" - and write in an accessible, entertaining format that would appeal to teen girls.

The latest election website that's hoping to attract teens is Shop The Vote! The name alone sure caught my attention, but the concept itself didn't quite live up to my expectations. According to the press release, Shop The Vote! is "the first digital out-of-home public service campaign designed to reach these critical citizens before November 4 in the environments that matter to them most: in stores, online and on their mobile phones." The idea is definitely unique, but the downside is that the two stores they're trying to reach teens through are F.Y.E. and Journeys — neither of which I've set foot in for years. To cover all of their bases, Shop The Vote! has a variety of famous names (Olivia Wilde, the cast of "American Teen") attached, too. While it's great that all of these youth voting sites exist, we all know that the real impact will be viral, i.e. reaching teens where they hang out already, on MySpace and Facebook, or connect more directly through cell phones and PDAs.

So….Will all of these youth-targeted promotions work? I guess we'll know November 4th.

Back when I worked at Oxygen TV on a teen show called Trackers, we aired a POV-J (Point of View Journalist) segment about teen boy wrestlers and the insane rituals they go through to "make weight" — everything from running in warm clothes to actually purging after meals. In some circles, this purging behavior is called eating disordered. Still, guys doing radical stuff short term for a sport seems unhealthy but more temporary than guys having full blown eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Whenever we talk about the role of the media in eating disorders, we usually talk about its impact on girls — from the modeling shows, celebrities Mary Kate or Kate Moss to the recent criticism of "90210's" younger female stars. But new research coming out of the UK and Australia reveals that "manorexia" or male eating disorders are a growing problem for young men — and not just jocks. From this BBC report:

One of Britain's leading eating disorder experts says as many as one in five young men are deeply unhappy with their body image.

Dr John Morgan said that for every man with an eating disorder there were 10 more who desperately wanted to change the way they looked.

"One in five young men have some degree of quite extreme distress," he said.

Dr Morgan said he had also seen a big rise in the number of men with anorexia and bulimia.

Dr Morgan, who runs the Yorkshire Centre for Eating Disorders in Leeds, told the BBC's news programme for teenagers, Revealed, that men who were unhappy with their bodies would like to change them.

I know this has been an issue in the gay community for some time, but what's new is the awareness around this trend for younger heterosexual guys. So maybe as we criticize The CW for its stick thin actresses, we should also be critical of how teen guys are portrayed or the lack of realistic teen body types (female or male) in these high school dramas. Did anyone else notice that the returning "90210" characters "Donna Martin" and "Brenda Walsh" look almost-heavy compared to their younger co-stars? Are you seeing or hearing teen guys talk more about this issue? Is it a theme that's popping up on any teen TV shows or in YA literature?