MTV to Bring Back 'Total Request Live'
MTV is bringing back its iconic show "Total Request Live" straight from its studio in Times Square, New York, starting this October.
It has been announced that the program that ran from 1998 to 2008 will return to deliver what the viewers want in terms of their daily music and pop culture needs. The new "TRL" is set to air on Oct. 2 and will reportedly run an hour everyday at first. MTV revealed that the show may shift to a longer format later on.
Taking over Carson Daly's place as host are a bevy of VJs including rapper/comedian D.C. Young Fly, radio host Erik Zachary, DJ/actress Amy Pham, writer/producer Tamara Dhia and actor/producer Lawrence Jackson.
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The network's original Time Square studio is currently under construction. MTV president Chris McCarthy has revealed that once the work is done, it will be able to contain a bigger audience and sets. The improved 8,700-square-foot multi-functional studio is also said to accommodate simultaneous productions, as well as digital extensions of "TRL." These extensions will offer premium contents in different platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Musical.ly.
McCarthy said that bringing back the program is a step in the right direction. He revealed to NY Times that there have been artists who frequently asked him when they planned to bring back "TRL."
"Who's not going to support a platform that's covering all of the buckets of social media and cable to allow your artist to go on, play a video, perform a song and to talk about their new music that just got released? How do you say no to that? We're going to give it a shot, a big shot," McCarthy said.
"It's the right route. When you talk to artists and they say to you, unaware of what we're doing, can you bring back 'TRL'? We'd be crazy not to reinvent that," he said. "MTV's reinvention is coming by harnessing its heritage."
