Total Request Dead

One of MTV's last programs that actually deals with music videos, "Total Request Live", will soon shut down after a decade on the air. What's the 'M' going to stand for now?

The music video show will conclude in a two-hour special on a Saturday afternoon in November, said executive producer Dave Sirulnick. He stressed that the show wasn't ending for good, but felt now was the right time to give it a break after an unprecedented run on the cable music channel. Yet the show will conclude...strange.

"We want to close this era of `TRL' in a big celebratory way, and 10 is a great number," Sirulnick said. "And 10 is the number that `TRL' counted down every single day for 10 years, and we hit this 10th (anniversary) and we thought, `You know what? This feels like the right time and let's celebrate it and let's reward it. And let's let it have a little bit of a rest for a minute.' Let it catch its breath! Been working hard — for 10 years!" That wasn't well rehearsed spin!

When "TRL" debuted in September 1998 it became the splashy center of the teen pop music scene with Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, N'Sync and other acts. From its heydey until 2008, it's been a destination for musicians, movie stars and celebrities promoting their new music, movies and other projects. Sirulnick said "TRL" lost some luster as it aged, but that's another savvy way to say the show peaked a year after debuting. Really. It maxed out with 757,000 viewers tuning in daily in 1999.

For the finale, Sirulnick said he hopes to celebrate with many of the "folks who helped make `TRL' what it is — whether that's Justin (Timberlake) and his guys in N'Sync, the Backstreet Boys, Britney, Eminem — I think we would love to see all of them here." That includes former host Carson Daly. I tell you, that last show will be a 14 year old girl's wet dream. A 14 year old from a decade ago.