MTV says 'so long' to 'Total Request Live'

10/07/08 - "Total Request Live" is being cancelled by MTV and the final episode is scheduled to air Nov. 8."TRL" was a huge part of middle school life for me and probably many other people my age. I can remember coming home from school to watch it with my sister. We came to view the show as a competition between our musical tastes. Each episode would be an epic match-up of our current musical idols.

She had her boy bands and pop stars like 'N SYNC, The Backstreet Boys, and Christina Aguilera.

I had my pop-punk bands like Sum-41, blink-182, and Green Day, as well as a brief obsession with Alien Ant Farm and a regrettable one with Puddle of Mudd.

We both had mostly negative reactions to any rap intruding on the countdown and disrupting our musical battleground, although we both liked Eminem's "funny songs" like "My Name Is" and "The Real Slim Shady."

I don't remember her reaction to the unstoppable force that was Tom Green's "The Bum Bum Song," but I remember finding it incredible funny. Granted, this was also a time in my life when I thought The Bloodhound Gang were comedic geniuses.

"The Bum Bum Song" is still the only song to be given an early retirement from the countdown, with Tom Green pulling it because, as he said, "it's not fair to 98 Degrees."

TRL: Where Tom Green defers to 98 Degrees out of respect for their artistic credibility.

Of course, no one can talk about "TRL" without mentioning about Carson Daly. While artists like Lou Bega and Sisqo came and went, Daly was always there. (Until he left of course, but I stopped watching before that).

When I watched the show regularly and with a perverse intensity, I remember thinking that Daly was a tool. I viewed him as a boring stiff who was relentlessly fake.

Now that I'm older, and arguably more mature, I can definitely see that the opposite was true. Daly was the only real thing about the show. The bands were fake. The screaming crowds were fake. The votes were fake. The show wasn't even live. Also, Santa Claus isn't real and there is no tooth fairy.

Carson Daly however, was real. He was there everyday, trying to earnestly host a ridiculous show filled with disposable one hit wonders. He tried to get through interviews with empty headed pop stars while idiotic teenagers screamed at them.

He did all this with a look of sly contempt and always looked like the only one in on the joke.

Fortunately for Daly, he's since recovered from his "TRL" escapades and now has his own late night talk show "Last Call with Carson Daly," who I consider to have the third best late night show, behind Conan and Kimmel.

He's not as funny as the other guys, but he's a solid interviewer and he's always good for showcasing a nice new indie artist.

Fortunately for my sister and me, we've recovered from hours of TRL's mind numbing influence and are actually able to develop taste in music. Though we still have our disagreements, instead of arguing if Mark Hoppus is better than Joey Fatone, we now debate the merits of The Shins versus Vampire Weekend.

Unfortunately for MTV, "TRL" was basically the last bastion for music on the channel. Despite the still deplorable tastes of the current crop middle schoolers, despite the fact the "TRL" continually cuts off videos before they are over, "TRL" still actually played music something that can't be said of "My Super Sweet 16," "The Hills" or "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.