MTV’s ‘Moon Person’ is gender nonconforming, and TRL is coming back

MTV has been struggling to stay relevant in the last decade, with a slew of weird reality shows and not much else. However, president Chris McCarthy is determined to bring ratings back up with more socially conscious programming, a “Moon Person” and… TRL?

A recent interview with the New York Times features a photo of Chris McCarthy posing boldly in an otherwise dark space―the old (and now future) studio of Total Request Live (TRL).  McCarthy has some big plans for the millennial network. There are some small changes like renaming the MTV Moon Man (of VMA Awards fame) “Moon Person,” and getting rid of gendered award categories at the VMAs and MTV Movie and TV Awards. In addition, he also has some new shows in the works, including one called We Are They, following the day-to-day lives of trans and gender nonconforming young people. McCarthy is going to great lengths to roll out more socially conscious content for the network.

And as the Times article points out, McCarthy is looking forward by looking back, at what was successful for MTV in the past. TRL ran for ten years out of its iconic Times Square studio, from 1998 to 2008. I was one of many avid viewers in my teens; my friends and I would even build our social schedule around it (“Let’s all go to my place after school for TRL this time, ok? And then we’ll go to the game/the party/the mall/etc.!”). MTV seems to be riding a nostalgia wave, the way many networks and streaming services have been recently with reboots like Fuller House or the TGIF line-up coming to Hulu. Then there are retail brands like Limited Too looking to the ’90s and early ’00s to cash in on that millennial longing for their youth. Dare I call it, the nostalgia industry? Well, I just did.

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I think McCarthy’s making the right move, though—obviously there is already a lot of excitement around it, as E! pointed out. A new generation can connect with their favorite musicians in a new (but old) way, and millennials will probably enjoy watching a revival of an old favorite, at least at first (until that moment of “the music these kids are listening to these days, though… back in my day…” etc.). I, for one, will definitely tune in. The VMA Awards will air on August 27th and TRL is due to be back in October.