MTV

We want our MMTV!

DTV

MTV VJ Martha Quinn with Zoot.

I Want My Muppet TV!

MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched in 1981, the original purpose of the channel was to show music videos, as well as other music news and events. Today, MTV broadcasts a variety of music, pop culture, youth culture, and reality television shows aimed at adolescents and young adults. MTV is owned by Viacom Media Networks (formerly MTV Networks), the television division of Viacom, which also owns other networks including VH1 and Nickelodeon.

Appearances

• Muppet Magazine issue 11 featured an interview with MTV VJs Martha Quinn and Alan Hunter.

• In 2002, MTV aired the Keep Fishin' music video and MTV2 aired Weezer and the Muppets Go Fishin', the making of special.

• On December 8, 2006, Kermit the Frog appeared in an MTV News interview promoting Before You Leap and commenting on current entertainment news.

• Kermit appeared at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with Lady Gaga as his date.

• In 2011, Jason Segel was interviewed for MTV News' Fall Movie Preview to promote The Muppets.

• On March 14, 2012, Kermit and Walter were interviewed on MTV News to discuss their favorite band picks for MTV's March Madness event. Kermit selects Green Day, and Walter suggests that the frontman for Mumford and Sons was formerly known as the Amazing Mumford. They also suggest a write-in campaign for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

• In 2014, Kermit and Pepe were interviewed by MTV News in promotion with the Muppets Most Wanted video release.

References

• The channel was spoofed as NTV on Sesame Street, where Nora Nicks introduced the music video of "The Letter N" by Nick Normal and the Nickmatics.

• The network was spoofed multiple times in Muppet Magazine with the Muppets' own version, MMTV.

• On Muppet Babies, the episode "I Want My Muppet T.V." spoofs MTV's popular slogan from the 1980s. Baby Rowlf mentions the line during the episode at one point.

• Sesame Street also lampooned the channel as "Mac TV", where Old MacDonald introduced "A New Way To Walk" by The Oinker Sisters.

• In a 1988 Sesame Street VHS, Count von Count hosts a music video countdown show which is presented by "Sesame Street Music Video", yet another parody of the network. Additionally, MTV-style captions appear at the beginning and end of every song featured in the video. One of the songs, How Now Brown and the Moo Wave's "Wet Paint" included different captions in televised airings, as well as an original MTV-parody intro in a longer version of the video.

• The songs used in the Sesame Street home videos Monster Hits! and Rock & Roll! have lower third graphics using the typeface Kabel, the same font used for music videos on MTV for many years.

• In the Muppet Babies episode "The Transcontinental Whoo-Whoo," Baby Gonzo, on board his team's locomotive, yells for the buffalo blocking their way to "bust a move," mentioning he heard it on MTV.

• This channel was also spoofed on Dinosaurs as "DTV."

• Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, dressed in worm costumes, a "Worm TV" television station, devoted to worm music, in the 1994 special Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!.

• The Muppets spoofed the channels The Real World reality show with The Real World Muppets on Muppets Tonight

Sesame (Street) Music Video logo, from Count It Higher.

SMV logo from "Wet Paint."

NTV logo from "The Letter N."

Connections

• Downtown Julie Brown hosted Club MTV
• Peter Chung created Æon Flux
• Carson Daly hosted TRL
• Carmen Electra co-hosted Singled Out
• Jenny McCarthy co-hosted Singled Out
• Stephanie Pratt starred in The Hills
• Jon Stewart hosted The Jon Stewart Show

See also

• MTV Europe
• VH1