Total Request Live
During the same time period, MTV aired a countdown show simply called
Total Request, hosted by
Carson Daly.
Total Request was far more subdued, as Daly introduced music videos from an empty, dimly lit set. As the show progressed and gained more momentum with viewers tuning in, it was soon added to the list of daytime programming during MTV's
Summer Share in
Seaside Heights,
New Jersey. The countdown would end up being one of the most watched and most interactive shows in recent MTV history that summer, proving that it had potential to become an even larger success by combining with the element of live television.
By the fall of
1998, MTV producers decided to merge the real-time aspect of
MTV Live and the fan-controlled countdown power of
Total Request into
Total Request Live, which made its official premiere from the MTV Studios in New York on
September 14,
1998. The show has since grown to become MTV's unofficial
flagship program.
The widely known acronym of
TRL was adopted as the official title of the show in
February 1999, after former VJs Carson Daly and
Dave Holmes began using it on air regularly. The program is now rarely, if ever, referred to as its original title,
Total Request Live.
TRL spent its first year developing a cult-type following, by spring
2000 the countdown reached its peak, becoming a very recognizable pop culture icon in its first two years of existence; however, its influence seems to have greatly diminished since. A weekend edition of the show known as
TRL Weekend, with a countdown consisting an average of the week's Top 10, aired for a short time in
2000.
TRL receives a significant amount of criticism. Some viewers complain of its habit of not airing complete videos.
As a "Top 10" show, TRL repeatedly plays the same videos every day with little variance (except when a new video enters the countdown), which has led critics to speculate that the show only showcases a certain, profitable, kind of music video programming and is used to promote mainstream artists and make them more popular while leaving the more serious music for
MTV2. When MTV personality
Tom Green created a novelty song
Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song) it was vaulted into
TRLs #1 spot after Green (at the height of his popularity) beseeched his audience to request it. According to Green's biography, MTV insisted he pull the song from TRL
, lending credence to the idea that MTV had specific music it wanted to promote through TRL
.
The general format of TRL
has also drastically shifted from its originating premise of showing the day's top ten with one or two guests and an MTV News segment. In comparison to its debut, TRL
has added a large amount of star promotion for upcoming movies, TV shows, and albums, entertainment-related news outside of music, and fan-oriented activities.
Another frequent criticism that TRL
faces is that it only panders to the so-called teenybopper and urban brackets. Sketch comedy shows like MadTV, Nickelodeon's All That, and Saturday Night Live (SNL
) have mocked TRL
in the past. On SNL
, Jimmy Fallon (portraying Daly) would proclaim that he was a "massive tool." On All That
, they would call the show TR Yell
', and parody all of the screaming fans. They would also make fun of Carson Daly's determination to be "cool."
So far, TRL has been strongly supported by the young adult fan base devoted mainly to popular music and the current trend. For example, during the mornings in the US, there is a 5 hour video line-up of music videos to be shown. Now, a small amount of criticism has been shot against this, due to the reason that the line-up only shows music videos that are on TRL, and videos that have been on much demand such MTV websites and programs. These videos only feature popular and the current trend videos.
TRL is MTV's prime outlet for music videos nowadays as the network continues to concentrate on
reality-based programming. In addition to the music videos,
TRL has daily guests as it is a popular promotion tool used by many musicians, actors, and other celebrities to promote their newest works to the show's target teen audience.
Music videos that air on
TRL are subject to a general "retirement" rule, that they may only remain on the countdown for a limited amount of days, the current cap is 50 days (previously 65, this number was reduced in
2002 in order to promote more diversity and give other artists a chance to enter the top ten). Artists who do manage to hang onto the countdown and reach retirement are awarded with a plaque, commemorating their achievement.
Many view this show as the show that launched the careers of many teen artists from the late 1990s/early 2000s. Even though boy bands
The Backstreet Boys and
'N Sync were out before
TRL made it on air in mid
1998, both groups didn't reach their commercial peaks until after their videos were seen on
TRL. In
1999, The Backstreet Boys' second LP.
Millennium achieved the highest first week sales ever from an LP, thanks in part to the many
TRL fans who closed down the streets of times square in order to see the group live on the show. 'N Sync did the same thing in
2000 when their second LP,
No Strings Attached topped The BSBs' first week sales, and fans closed down the streets of times square once again. For the most part of 1998, 1999 and 2000, The BSB and 'N Sync would always fight over the #1 position on the countdown.
Detroit rapper,
Eminem made his mainstream debut on the show in
1999 with his video for
My Name Is. The video became the first rap video to gain the #1 spot on the show.
TRL eventually retired the video after thirty days in a row at the top spot.
Pop princesses
Britney Spears,
Christina Aguilera,
Jessica Simpson and
Mandy Moore, all made their debuts on
TRL as well. Britney and Christina specifically became huge after their videos became hits on the countdown. The two became regulars on the show and would appear live often. If The Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync did not have any videos out, then it would usually be Aguilera or Spears in the #1 position. Simpson wouldn't see the same type of success until five years later, when she starred in an MTV reality show
Newlyweds, which helped her videos become hits on
TRL.
On
October 23,
2002,
TRL celebrated its 1,000th episode (with the #1 video being
Christina Aguilera's
Dirrty). The show reached its seventh anniversary in
September 2005, maintaining its stake as MTV's longest-running live program, and second longest in the network's entire history with
The Real World continuing to claim ultimate superiority.
In
2003, Carson Daly stepped down as the host of
TRL in order to host
NBC's
Last Call. Hosting since has been a revolving door of VJs including
Damien Fahey,
Vanessa Minnillo,
Quddus,
La La Vasquez,
Susie Castillo, and
Hilarie Burton.
The current hosts (as of July 2006) are
Damien Fahey,
Vanessa Minnillo,
Susie Castillo,
La La Vasquez, and
Stephen Coletti. Stephen Coletti has been on
TRL many times before. He had been promoting
Laguna Beach. The rest of the VJs are currently working on separate projects.
La La Vasquez is now working of what is going to be her debut rap album.
Hilarie Burton is currently working on episodes of
One Tree Hill, and
Quddus is now working on a movie set to be released soon.
Registered voters may vote online for
TRL videos at MTV.com. Only one vote per day is allowed. Votes are no-longer taken by phone as stated on the
July 10,
2006 episode.
The show has been parodied countless times on
sketch comedy shows, like
MADtv,
Saturday Night Live, and
All That. More recently, the show was parodied on the
MTV2 program
Wonder Showzen. In the first season episode "Health", the show was parodied as
Total Racewar Live, hosted by
Wonder Showzen's
black supremacist chacacter Rufus Truthfist.
*The first international version of
TRL was created in Italy,
November 2,
1999. Hosts include:
Marco Maccarini,
Giorgia Surina,
Federico Russo,
Alessandro Cattelan and
Carolina Di Domenico.
TRL Italy now is live everyday from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in
Piazza Ferrarese,
Bari (As well as in
Rome, Venice, Naples, Genova, Turin, Padova, Rimini).
*The
British version known as
TRL UK was hosted by
Dave Berry,
Alex Zane,
Jo Good, and
Maxine Akhtar. It was broadcast live from
Leicester Square in
London. Following the 1st series broadcast from Leicester Square, the top 10 countdown was scrapped. The last series finished at the end of 2005. Although the TRL UK website stated they were preparing for the next series, the show never returned, and its studios are now being used for weekly talk show fronted by
Russell Brand (also on
MTV). Althought
TRL UK has finished its run it still airs the American version every weekday morning at 10am.
*The
German version of
TRL is also very successful troughout Europe and is known as
Total Request Live Germany.
TRL Germany has the highest television ratings from all other
TRL versions in Europe. The show is hosted by Joko and Mirjam troughout the week from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
TRL Germany is set in
Berlin.
*The
Polish version of the show,
TRL Poland, started on
July 11,
2005. This is the newest international version of
TRL which is hosted by
MTV Poland VJs: Kasia, Paulina and Adam live from
Warsaw. Mon-Fri 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
*The
Australian version started out as only a weekend show but is now on live Monday to Friday. It is hosted by
Maz Compton,
Lyndsey Rodrigues,
Nathan Sapsford and
Jason Robert Dundas. In early 2006 it moved back to being only on Friday evenings.
*The
Latin TRL is called
Los 10+ Pedidos' (The 10 most requested) is hosted by "Gabo" in the Northern Region (Mexico) and the Central Region (Central America, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile and Bolivia) and by Cecilia in the Southern Region (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and parts of Brazil that receive the signal) and airs everyday. The Central region was recently revived after being fused with the Northern region; thus, while a new VJ is found and the voting process gets underway, the Northern
10+ is shown in those countries. A spin-off of it called
Los 10+ Rock is also shown everyday and it focuses on the 10 most requested rock videos based on the voting for
Los 10+ Pedidos. Two more spinoffs have recently appeared:
Los 10+ Pop in the Southern Region and
Los 10+ Metal in the Central Region. Mon-Fri 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
*In
MTV Brazil there is a very similar program, that is often compared to
TRL, called
Disk MTV. This program was created before
TRL, existing since the launch of MTV Brazil in 1990, and has never changed its format (a top ten request show) over the years. Mon-Fri 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
*In
Canada,
MTV Canada airs
MTV Live, a
talk show comparable in many ways to
TRL, but with very limited musical content. (MTV Canada is licensed as a talk channel, not a music channel.)
MuchMusic's
MuchOnDemand is closer in format to
TRL.
*
Much On Demand (Canadian version)
Updated:
August 10,
2006Airs on:
Monday to
FridayIf it was
Monday to
Thursday:
*Updated:
August 11,
2006*
Refreshed Site*
Official Site*
AbsoluteTRL The largest TRL fan site to date.
*
"Merchants of cool" -
PBS 
