Looks like Indiana is getting in on the Reality TV craze:
A former Indiana journalist has created a TV show that will give viewers a look into the world of the juvenile justice system.The eight-week reality series called "M-T-V-Juvies" will reveal the stories and daily lives of 16 teens in Indiana's Lake County Juvenile Center.
I'm sure the "former Indiana journalist" will tell us that the show will provide valuable insight into how kids go bad. Anybody think it might just be more voyeuristic tripe?
Comments
Whoever thought this would make a clever show title had better be sure they have the legal right to use "MTV." There's no question the use would be judged an infringement when challenged. What's worse, it is normal for the plaintiff to insist that all profits and other gains attributable to the use of the name which they spent billions making a household word be handed over to them.
Having worked in entertainment licensing-merchandising during my employment at one of the largest film studios in Tinseltown, I know the show title WILL be noticed, even in a smallish Indiana market 2600 miles from L.A.
Ask someone who was at Indiana Bank when they decided to borrow "E.T." in 1983-84. There was no mistaking the bank's intention, and the context and premise of the "M-T-V Juvies" program will leave no doubt of its intent to evoke the cable channel's name in this case, I'm afraid.
I would advise the ex-journalist to make sure his ducks are in a row now, before he has so much invested in "M-T-V Juvies" that it will be painful when the "cease and desist" document arrives. (Trust me -- MTV, M.T.V., or M-T-V, it won't matter.)
By the way, there is a superior type of long-form documentary, whose most talented proponent is probably still the legendary Frederick Wiseman, which presents naturalistic looks at the workings of institutions or situations. Among Wiseman's classics are "High School" and "Hospital." In fact, Wiseman has conceived, shot and edited incredible body of work, whose titles clearly identify their content: "The Store," "Meat," "Welfare," "High School II," "Ballet," "Sinai Field Mission," "Juvenile Court," "Zoo," "Public Housing," and so on.
In all these superior documentaries, people are photographed, never directed or influenced, over a period of weeks or months, then the raw video and audio is edited (by Wiseman), without narration, into a fascinating look at the particular world where his subjects live or work.
I don't know if anyone locally has knowledge of Wiseman's work, or the motivation to try to approach his legacy in terms of making better documentaries. I wish someone would try.
On the other hand, we shouldn't become so jaded by cable pablum that we automatically assume every new documentary about human beings will be nothing but more reality TV. Of course, if you do judge in that manner, you'll be right a lot more often than I will be, since there are many more mimics in producing than there are truly creative artists with vision. But for me hope springs eternal, I guess.
Maybe someone reading this will become curious enough to take a look at Wiseman's "High School" or "Juvenile Court" or "Hospital" and discover far better ways to produce serious documentaries than the most unnatural "reality" model.
The show is airing on MTV, you tool.