Despite the mega-success of MTV's unscripted series Jersey Shore, the network took the
opportunity to tout its upcoming slate of scripted programming at its upfront
presentation Wednesday at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
After an intro from teen heartthrob Justin Bieber and MTV
News correspondent Sway Calloway touting the power of millennials to the
audience of ad buyers, the net first previewed This Is Awkward, a new scripted series about a typical anonymous
high school girl who finally gets noticed only after a freak accident leaves
half her body in a cast.
Following a performance by Bruno Mars, the net previewed Teen Wolf, a remake of the Michael J.
Fox movie, adapted for the Twilight
era, about a boy who turns into a werewolf and must fight his urge to kill
while pursuing the girl he likes.
MTV did not show a clip of
the controversial Skins. The teen
cast came out on stage, but only to introduce MTV's upcoming animated series,
the return of Beavis and Butt-Head
and the new Good Vibes. One cast mate
acknowledged the elephant in the room saying, "we'd tell you what our show is
about - but we think you've already heard."
There was a handful of unscripted programming too, though. Quiet Campus, on mtvU, follows students
at Gallaudet University, a college for the deaf. MTV also has a second season
of Teen Mom lined up as well as the
new I Used to Be Fat, which shows
overweight teens as they try to slim down the summer between high school
graduation and college.
Then there's Ridiculousness,
a sort of Jackass meets Tosh.0, where the host runs through the
top Internet videos featuring people injuring themselves or otherwise wiping
out.
But of course no MTV upfront would be complete without an
appearance by the cast of its pop culture phenom Jersey Shore, who appeared onstage just long enough to, what else,
invite the audience to the after party.
