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MTV’s next reality focus: Marriage.
After earning a ton of viewers with its Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant reality shows, the network is developing a new series that could be seen as a natural next step.
MTV has ordered a pilot for Married Young, a one-hour docuseries following the trials and tribulations of newly wedded couples. The cameras tune in after the couple’s honeymoon and follow the couple through their first year as husband and wife.
The show will feature a range of couples and will show that grown-up responsibilities can be tough on young people, even without a kid in the picture.
If greenlit, Married Young (which is a working title… hmm, how about Teen Spouse? Teen Wife? Desperate Houseteens?) is expected to be less of a lightening rod than Teen Mom and 16 since there are no babies on board, and it has a different tone from those shows. But MTV taking on the institution of marriage is sure to spark at least some conversation.
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Didn’t they do a show like this a few years ago? I can’t remember the title but I was pretty sure it was about teens that got married.
You’re thinking of Underage and Engaged… sounds similar but UE was mostly about the lead up to the wedding. This sounds more about the after.
That was it Courtney, thank you!
Boy do I miss the days when MTV was a semi-decent network for music. Just another waste of television air space.
Matt:
Have you seen the pilot of this program? If you haven’t, how can you judge it?
And are you MTV’s target audience (16-24 women)? If you aren’t, they don’t care what you think.
You don’t need to see the show to form the opinion, or state the fact, that MTV USED to be MUSIC TELEVISION. If they actually still had music on that channel I’d still watch it at 35. Heck, I can’t even watch VH1 or MTVHits for that matter… because they don’t have music anymore either!
MUSIC TELEVISION is Matt’s point.
I was just thinking the same thing. I remember the days when MTV just played music videos and had Kurt Loder giving music news updates (dating myself here). Now it’s all crap reality shows. And those teen pregnancy shows haven’t done a thing to dissuade teen pregnancy. I have TWO friends whose teen daughters are currently expecting, and they watch these shows!
If you want videos go to MTV2. It all comes down to # of viewers, ratings and ad revenue. Videos don’t pull the viewers (which equates to advertisers = revenue) like the shows do. Simply economics.
How will this be different from “Engaged and Underage”?
Engaged and Underage was before the marraige, This is probably what happens after.. I Expect lots of failed marraiges
The show was Engaged and Underage. It was about young couples getting married and everything leading up to the wedding. Sounds like this will be more of a “what happens after the wedding” kind of show. Very similar but perhaps a little more interesting. I think they should do a “Where Are They Now?” episode of Engaged and Underage to see how many of those young couples are still together.
MTV: THE DUMPSTER NETWORK OF TELEVISION
What makes people think that only teens struggle with marriage or being pregnant? I’m in my 20s and have the same struggles as any of these ‘teen moms’ and just because I’m not a ‘teen’ I’m supposed to be able to handle them? Find me a couple that doesn’t accidently get pregnant, doesn’t have money or home or family issues. As a product of a teen mother I feel like her and I both beat the odds, I married at 24 had my child at 25. But I still struggled and still ‘fight’ with my husband. Where’s my tv show?
Oh Manda, your to normal to have your tv show.
I guess so!
I am 28 and could not agree with you more. I married at 25 and and am expecting my first this summer. Life does not get easier just because you are older.
I do think it’s different when you are young. First of all, you aren’t finished with high school. Second, you have the maturity level of a teenager. Third, the societal judgement is very different. We all have challenges, and find marriage and parenthood challenging. But when teens do it, there are extra layers of complexity and complication that go along with it.
I wonder how you get on the show? I just got married and I’m 21 with a 13 month old daughter.
mtv should be ashamed of themselves, they have the worst programming, they air 1 girls 5 gays on mtv canada but they refuse to air it in america, where mind you it can be a HUGE platform for the gay youth as mtv does not have one show about the subject yet the will air a show about being married and being young when they ALREADY had a similar show called engaged and underage, its quite sad, if the were to air the 1 girl 5 gays episodes not just in Canada but in America I believe it would have such a positive impact.
I married at 21 have two kids and have had a great eight year marriage. Sure it isn’t perfect, but we have grown and struggled together and I am glad when I found the right person that we got married.
Unfortunately, people suck more than MTV. MTV wouldn’t keep making these shows if people didn’t keep watching them.
This sounds fascinating, riveting even. Can’t wait to tune in!
yep I guess I was thinking of Underaged and engaged sounds just as boring
Anything except music videos. MTV sucks now. They should change the name to ABV. Anything But Videos.
MTV is an orphan acronym at this point, even the network acknowledged that they’re no longer “music television”.
I don’t know why everyone’s so worked up about this. The MTV we know has been dead & gone for 10+ years now. Get over it already.
If they do make this show it will be interesting. I got married at 15. Now Im 16. So far it has been going great!
I would like to be in the show .. im 22 years old and my husband is 23 years old and we do not have any children. People think that getting married is easy and fun but it isnt, its easy to get married the challenge is staying happily married. We have our ups and downs but deep down inside we love each other but it is hard i must say.