MTV’s midday show Total Request Live, or TRL, which premiered in September of 1998 on the music video channel, is closing its metaphorical doors at the Times Square studio. The show arguably peaked in 1999, with 757,000 viewers daily according to the Nielsen Media Research.

According to Dave Sirulnick at MTV, the show’s executive producer, Total Request Live may return in the future but for now they want to “give it a break” after its unprecedented run on the channel. TRL will conclude its run in a two-hour special this November, on a Saturday afternoon yet to be announced, Sirulnick said. TRL, which is best known perhaps for launching future late-night talk show host and Carson Daly into the media spotlight, was known for its combination of artistic and host interaction, as well as live crowd participation, not only in interviews but also for the music video dedication and introductions. It was so popular that in 2001 it even spawned a country spinoff, CMT Most Wanted Live on the Country Music Channel, which lasted until 2004.

Sirulnick notes that he hopes that the show would be celebrated in its ending by the people who became mainstays in music culture because of it such as pop group N’Sync and pop singer and media sensation Britney Spears. Daly left the show to host Last Call With Carson Daly in 2002 on NBC, but the show has continued with a variety of other MTV VJ’s hosting. The current hosts are VJ’s Damien Fahey and Lyndsey Rodrigues.

Stay tuned to Toxic Shock for more on this and other TV news.

By Costa Koutsoutis, source: (Baker City Herald)