MTV

In the beginning on MTV, there were music videos.Lots of them. Twenty-five hours a day of them, it seemed, featuring the biggest names in pop music. Or at least enough that you could catch a video pretty much whenever you flipped to the channel.But turn on MTV today and you'll likely find a karaoke show with goofy, ordinary people prancing around and caterwauling to the Backstreet Boys. You'll see a show where crazed fans are co-stars when they meet celebrities like George Clooney, Mariah Carey or Snoop Dogg.

If you're standing in line counting down to the day you can buy tickets to "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace," you might want to get somebody to hold your place Monday afternoon. Otherwise you'll miss another premiere -- a music video chock-full of footage from the year's most anticipated film.The video, "Duel of the Fates," serves up scenes with "Menace" stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and the irreverent computer robot R2-D2. There is also behind-the-scenes footage, including clips of composer John Williams meshing the sounds of the London Symphony Orchestra with the movie soundtrack.

How much James Van Der Beek is too much James Van Der Beek?Ask MTV, which has been endlessly promoting "Varsity Blues," the first feature film for the heartthrob of TV's "Dawson's Creek," and you get pretty much the same answer the young actor's doe-eyed devotees would give you:There's no such thing as too much James Van Der Beek, silly. He's positively yummy.Well, they don't put it exactly that way, but the deluge of "Varsity Blues" promos aired over MTV in the past month was enough to cause severe cases of Van Der Beek-lemania in even casual viewers.

1980: Chapman murders John Lennon1981: MTV on the air1982: "Cats" on Broadway1982: LeAnn Rimes is born

When Baltimore magazine published a story about "Homicide: Life on the Street" in 1997, it ran a couple of photographs of rehearsals. The actors Yaphet Kotto and Andre Braugher were identified. The tall, powerfully built and bespectacled director was not.The omission was ironic, since the director, Mark Pellington, would have made a pretty good subject for an article in his own right.The son of Bill Pellington, the Baltimore Colts linebacker who helped his team win the NFL championship in 1958, Mark grew up in Timonium and attended St. Paul's School.

The American viewing public just can't get enough of those MTV awards.Last Thursday's live broadcast of the 16th annual MTV Music Video Awards, live from New York's Metropolitan Opera, was the highest-rated ever, seen in some 8.2 million households -- a 37 percent increase over last year's show.(Those numbers make it the highest-rated program in MTV history, and the most-watched entertainment program to ever air on cable.)There's also no mistaking the program's target audience, or MTV's success in marketing the show to them: 7.9 million viewers ages 12-34 tuned in.A quick review of the particulars: Lauryn Hill led the list of winners with four awards for "Doo Wop (That Thing)

Various ArtistsAmp 2 (Astralwerks 7588)Just as electronica was being declared pop music's next big thing, MTV announced, amid much fanfare, that it was launching "Amp," a music video show designed to capitalize on this new dance-music culture. It was introduced as a look into the future of video music.Or so went the hype. Unfortunately, "Amp" didn't find MTViewers eager to fast-forward past the guitar bands that had long been the cable channel's bread and butter. True, acts like the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and Propellerheads made significant inroads, but let's be honest - three bands do not a revolution make.

Never mind the rock stars. Overlook the movie stars. Forget about the winners. No matter what the stars did at MTV's Video Music Awards last night, they had a hard time outshining host Ben Stiller.OK, so Madonna won six awards, while Prodigy, Will Smith and Aerosmith took home two each. So the Dave Matthews Band did a smooth, sassy version of "Stay," and the Beastie Boys gave an old-school performance of "Intergalactic." That was cool, but not cool enough.No, what mattered by the end of the 15th Annual Video Music Awards broadcast were the moments that were unlike any of the other VMA shows.

On MTV's "BIOrhythm: Princess Di," the soundtrack runs the gamut from Verdi to Nirvana. But it's a lyric from No Doubt's "I'm Just a Girl" that best sums up Di's own tragic kingdom:The moment I step outside so many reasons for me to run and hideAnd indeed, "BIOrhythm" shows the conflicted princess running and hiding from the paparazzi, the judgmental royal family and the celebrity that ultimately killed her."BIOrhythm" is an MTV series that presents a famous life with pictures and video footage along with narrative subtitles and a soundtrack.

People remember different things about MTV's Video Music Awards broadcast.In addition to the expected trophy-distribution rituals, each program features comedy bits, celebrity cameos and performances by some of the biggest names in pop music. This year's show -- which airs live from Los Angeles at 8 this evening -- has Ben Stiller as its host and will include music and mayhem from such stars as Madonna, the Beastie Boys, David Spade, Tyra Banks and Jackie Chan.Some people remember the comedians who played host and will argue passionately over who was lamer, Dana Carvey or Arsenio Hall.

MTV announced Monday that it had won a bidding war to produce a U.S. version of "Skins," the popular, controversial television show about the lives of a group of British teens. But, instead of speaking in an English accent, you can expect the teens in the American version to speak fluent Bawlamerese. "I've been pursuing this project for two years, and we're planning to set our show in Baltimore," says Liz Gateley, senior vice president of series development for MTV. And, as is true of the original series, now in its third season, Gateley says, "we want to join together unknown teenagers to write the story lines and star in the pilot, though we'll also combine those performers with more seasoned faces."

Britney Spears' opening performance at last night's MTV Video Music Awards was supposed to catapult her back into the pop music stratosphere. But it was little more than an overhyped burlesque show that went splat -- and critics quickly picked over the debris. Decked out in a black sparkly bra and panty set and flanked by writhing dancers, a bloated Spears gave a mechanical performance of her new single, the clubby "Gimme More." It was a far cry from her previous mouth-dropping appearances on the show.

Being an adult has its privileges. And you almost have to be 21 or older to remember the days of music videos on television. The lack of music videos on cable's Music Television has become a joke, so much so that 14-year-olds miss the point. For them, the M in MTV stands for something else. Call it Me TV - or even Myopia Television, specializing in the pseudo-reality of shows such as Real World: Denver, The Hills and Bam's Unholy Union. Music videos are the bright snippets that play in small windows during the credits to Laguna Beach - a far cry from the heyday of primetime music-video programming.

Traveling is hip, thanks to the Internet and new rules at some colleges requiring students to spend time studying abroad. This effort to shape global citizens has more students signing up to see the world. The number of U.S. students participating in study abroad programs has almost tripled since the mid-1980s, with nearly 200,000 Americans studying abroad each year, according to the Institute of International Education's 2005 report. As more American students go abroad, travel information is becoming increasingly tailored to a younger demographic.

When MTV turns 25 today, the original cable music channel will be older than the oldest person in one of its prime target audiences: viewers ages 12 to 24. MTV President Christina Norman doesn't put much stock in this tidbit. "It only means something to you guys," she said in an interview last week - "you guys" being the scribes observing MTV's birthday. On TV MTV's programming from Aug. 1, 1981, airs all day today on VH1 Classic.

"I felt like I was trying to push the envelope. That was my punishment, and this is my reward." -- Jay-Z, accepting the award for best rap video at the MTV Video Music Awards for his jarring video for "99 Problems"

Queen Juliana, 94, who presided over the dismantling of the centuries-old Dutch empire and witnessed the birth of a social revolution during her 32-year reign over the Netherlands, died yesterday at the royal palace in Soestdijk, about 30 miles southeast of Amsterdam, the Dutch government said. Her doctors said she died of pneumonia, combined with a general deterioration of health. She gave up the title of queen when she abdicated in favor of her daughter Beatrix in 1980. The Royal Palace was protective of her privacy, but she was known to suffer heart problems and to have been under 24-hour surveillance by two nurses.

For college students, MTV is more reality television than music television. But MTV is returning to its roots with mtvU, a channel broadcast exclusively on college campuses and devoted primarily to music videos. The idea is to scour universities and survey students to discover lesser-known bands that aren't getting airplay on mainstream radio stations. Network executives hope mtvU and its audience will serve as a training ground for those musicians who could graduate to MTV. "Just playing music isn't enough," says Steven Friedman, general manager of mtvU.

The playing field began to tilt two years ago. The operators at MTV's popular countdown show TRL were being inundated with requests for Michelle Branch. Problem was, they didn't have any videos from the young Arizona singer. Her debut CD, The Spirit Room, wasn't in stores yet. So MTV called Branch's record label, Maverick, wondering where in the world kids were seeing her clip. The answer was AOL Music. Along with Yahoo's similarly themed Web site, Launch, AOL Music has become a significant player in the music industry.

Now she has a conscience. After 20 years of in-your-face-and-down-your-throat attitude, lyrics and images, Madonna's concerned about disturbing the public. It was a surprise (dare I say a shock?) when the pop star -- known for, among other things, her pointless pornographic coffee table book and bad movies -- pulled the "controversial" video for her single "American Life." And the veteran pop tart knows exactly what she's doing as she draws attention to her latest project. She'll appear on MTV on April 22 in an "exclusive" interview to "explain" all the hype now circling the video that the American public has yet to see. The clip, ironically available in Europe, reportedly bombards viewers with wartime images and awkward references to American-style decadence and self-absorption.