MTV was founded on the principle that people would want to watch music videos. This was a groundbreaking and gutsy move that propelled not only MTV, but cable television into the hearts and minds of many American people. But in later years, MTV would play host to too many insipid shows that would divert them from their mission principle, and ultimately alienate their original audience.

One of the worst things about this network is its hopeless schedule. From one day to the next, there is no way to accurately gauge which show will be on at any given time. There are only one or two shows that have a regular time slot, and the flagship of MTV, the terrible "TRL." Now saddled with moronic VJs and poor programs, MTV has had a major fall from grace.

"Total Request Live," which is the most watched show on the network, suffers from a severe case of misplaced priority. Instead of making the video a priority, they make the host, Carson "I-can-do-say-and-wear-what-I-want" Daly and the parade of lackluster guests the priority. It is not unusual to see maybe one verse and chorus of the song, then have it pre-empted by Daly's voice and some screaming girls. If this is the best that MTV has to offer, then they are really in trouble.

But the most surprising thing is the total lack of morals on this network. Shows like "Undressed," as a prime example, scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality. Poorly written, acted and directed, the show probably didn't deserve to get off the drawing board, let alone receive the "marathon" time slots it sometimes enjoys. And the thought that sometimes goes into the programming makes me sick. At 4:00 in the afternoon, you don't know if you are going to see a show about *Nsync, or a show about porn stars.

During time slots when most kids are watching "Pokemon" and "Superman/Batman," MTV could be playing sick documentaries about porn stars one channel up on the clicker. Do you really want your child exposed to this? For the last ten years, MTV has been the trailblazer of sexually explicit programming. Always pushing the envelope of what is accepted and what is not. And while most kids find it so "hip," what they don't understand is that MTV uses subversion and misadvertising. Purported to be the network of the boy bands and Britney Spears, it has fanned out from that to include "I Was A Porn Star" and a totally tasteless rockumentary about the marriage of porn and hard rock acts like Kid Rock and Blink 182. On MTV!

The quality shows are few and far between, and usually short lived. If they don't show sex, they don't last long. The offbeat "Tom Green Show" was a show that I thought had some merit. Even though it was stupid, Green didn't resort to sex and exploitation to get his point across. "Jackass," for all it's intent, is actually a funny show, if you don't think about it. And the most entertaining shows are often the ones that tell us about the behind-the-scenes antics of the first few years of MTV.

So I think MTV should probably be taken off the air. Showing videos is apparently a thing of the past, and if they are shown, they usually feature the Lolita-queen Britney Spears or the insipid BSB and NSync. MTV has overstayed it's welcome.

I can't wait for MTV2, can't you?

Recommended: No

Average Program Rating: TV 14 -- parents strongly cautioned