This week, a part of my childhood was laid to rest---and I have to say, it didn't really bother me at all.

Total Request Live, the MTV video countdown show, ended Sunday after about 10 years on the air. I have fond memories of coming home after school each day to watch a pre-late night/pre-weight loss Carson Daly, surrounded by shrieking girls and that giant window overlooking Times Square, introduce the top 10 videos of the day. If 'N Sync had a new single out, you could be sure that not only would the video be on TRL at No. 1, but that Justin and company just might stop by to introduce it (and at 12 years old, that might have been all it took to make me a loyal viewer).

Much like the VMAs, however, (or maybe even the MTV network as a whole) in the last few years, TRL has become a pathetic shell of its former self. Maybe it's because I'm not 12 anymore. Maybe it's because I don't understand the appeal of Fall Out Boy or the Jonas Brothers (at least 'N Sync and pre-meltdown Britney never pretended to be anything more than pure sugar-filled pop). Or maybe it's because I can get all my music videos on Youtube now (the ENTIRE video, without Katie from Long Island interrupting to dedicate the song to all her best friends and WHOOOOOOOOOOOing into her microphone until the end of the 30-second clip). I might just be a jaded college student now, but MTV and its flagship program just don't have the edge or the fun anymore to keep me watching.

Incidentally, I think it was those constant video interruptions, as well as the mob of fans outside holding signs, that really did it in. They went from the show's signature to an overused gimmick, highlighting the brain-dead, commercial consuming youth of America and alienating the once young fans of the show that were growing up and looking for a little more substance. A friend of mine just summed it up for me via instant message a few minutes ago: "They would play full videos, or at least mostly full. It wasn't about which celebrity they could get on the show. It wasn't about the DJ (though Carson was popular before he got all weird with the nail polish). And they didn't have screaming tweens interrupting the videos every three seconds. There is very little music involved at all." There you have it.

And so, with the death of TRL (the only program running on the Music Television channel that actually has to do with music), dies a piece of my childhood. I'll always have a special place in my heart for Carson, that John guy who used to read the news and the videos, no matter how much of them they played, when videos actually mattered.

-- Kristen