Poll: As a Teenager, which did you watch more? Toonami, or MTV?

[Something Amyss]

People forget how bad MTV was in the late 90s/early 00s. (And presumably still is, haven't had cable in about a decade and stopped watching MTV long before that.) The closest they ever got to playing music videos outside of 2AM dead air was the minute and a half snippets they played on TRL, even then you couldn't hear the song over dumbass audience members being super-imposed over it and going "I'm so and so from such and such and this band Rocks! WOOOOOOOO!" If you remember ever actually seeing a music video back then, chances are it was on MTV2 or several weeks after it came out on VH1.

That's not even remotely true. There were still plenty of blocks of music on MTV in the early 2000s. The real shift away from music didn't hit until the mid 2000s.

 

[Ratty]

People forget how bad MTV was in the late 90s/early 00s. (And presumably still is, haven't had cable in about a decade and stopped watching MTV long before that.) The closest they ever got to playing music videos outside of 2AM dead air was the minute and a half snippets they played on TRL, even then you couldn't hear the song over dumbass audience members being super-imposed over it and going "I'm so and so from such and such and this band Rocks! WOOOOOOOO!" If you remember ever actually seeing a music video back then, chances are it was on MTV2 or several weeks after it came out on VH1.

That's not even remotely true. There were still plenty of blocks of music on MTV in the early 2000s. The real shift away from music didn't hit until the mid 2000s.

They must have all been on in the daytime when I was at school then, because I sure never saw or even heard about them. (And I was a kid who scanned the tv schedule in the newspaper religiously to see if any horror films would be on Turner Classic Movies.) Then again after a few months of being subjected to TRL, which another family member insisted on watching, I avoided the channel most of the time. But even if they had music blocks as you say almost never seeing an entire music video on the channel was definitely true of my experience with MTV around 1998 - 2000.

Most of the popular music from the late 90s was terrible anyway though, it was almost all corporate teenybopper trash, "rap rock numetal" or weak hip hop after 90s music peaked with the summer of Ska. With a few notable exceptions like the Goo Goo Dolls and some earlier bands that stayed popular like The Offspring. I actually thought I just didn't like most music in general because there was no way to really explore different music genres back then unless you happened to live near a record store. Which I living in the middle of nowhere did not.

PS- Anyone who wants to debate me about the relative merits of late 90s music.

 

[spartan231490]

The fact that that many chose MTV makes me hate people even more

 

[Marik2]

Toonami all the way. Always watched it at 3 after school and lots of my peers would talk about the cartoons the next day.

Those were some good times.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The fact that that many chose MTV makes me hate people even more

Why's that?

MTV used to really, REALLY good. When it still made shows like these...

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Lunar Templar]

Toonami, by a WIDE margin.

Toonami was part of my daily viewing routine for years, MTV, by then, might as well have not exsisted

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I'm not sure, so I'm just gonna say Toonami. As much as I like music videos, I think I'd prefer to watch action anime more.

 

[DarthSka]

By the time I was a teenager, it was the early to mid-2000's so MTV was already dead quality-wise. I had watched Toonami since the 90's and did so until it ended. I'm happy to be doing so again now that Adult Swim brought it back.

 

[soren7550]

In that time period, neither since I didn't have cable and I wasn't a teenager. But when I was a teenager, I didn't watch much TV, and when I did, I was usually watching G4 TV.

 

[Fijiman]

I've been watching Toonami since it first aired and I think I've only watched like three minutes of MTV at any moment in time, so my answer is pretty obvious. Though, if I remember correctly, by the time I was a teenager MTV had already gone to shit so there wasn't much point in me even wanting to be interested in it.

 

[antidonkey]

For me, it was MTV. Why was it MTV.....it's because Toonami didn't exist. It didn't show up until I was in my 20s. Though being unemployed at the time with nothing better to do, I watched the crap out of it. Mostly because it has shows I watched a child.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Neither, we didn't have cable back when I was a teenager. Took me moving to another country to even be introduced to both, and of the two, Toonami wins.

 

[Sealpower]

While we had both I watched neither...
Instead I watched great documentaries on the Discovery channel. This was in the days before the "angry-men-yelling-at-eachother-on-a-workshop-floor" era, mind you.

 

[krazykidd]

People forget how bad MTV was in the late 90s/early 00s. (And presumably still is, haven't had cable in about a decade and stopped watching MTV long before that.) The closest they ever got to playing music videos outside of 2AM dead air was the minute and a half snippets they played on TRL, even then you couldn't hear the song over dumbass audience members being super-imposed over it and going "I'm so and so from such and such and this band Rocks! WOOOOOOOO!" If you remember ever actually seeing a music video back then, chances are it was on MTV2 or several weeks after it came out on VH1.

That's not even remotely true. There were still plenty of blocks of music on MTV in the early 2000s. The real shift away from music didn't hit until the mid 2000s.

They must have all been on in the daytime when I was at school then, because I sure never saw or even heard about them. (And I was a kid who scanned the tv schedule in the newspaper religiously to see if any horror films would be on Turner Classic Movies.) Then again after a few months of being subjected to TRL, which another family member insisted on watching, I avoided the channel most of the time. But even if they had music blocks as you say almost never seeing an entire music video on the channel was definitely true of my experience with MTV around 1998 - 2000.

Most of the popular music from the late 90s was terrible anyway though, it was almost all corporate teenybopper trash, "rap rock numetal" or weak hip hop after 90s music peaked with the summer of Ska. With a few notable exceptions like the Goo Goo Dolls and some earlier bands that stayed popular like The Offspring. I actually thought I just didn't like most music in general because there was no way to really explore different music genres back then unless you happened to live near a record store. Which I living in the middle of nowhere did not.

PS- Anyone who wants to debate me about the relative merits of late 90s music.

Does music just stop being relevant when you hit 25 because magic?

OT: i never heard of toonami. So MTV i guess. I find it funny that you chose these two channels to go head to head.

 

[Nexxis]

I've been watching Toonami since it first aired and I think I've only watched like three minutes of MTV at any moment in time, so my answer is pretty obvious. Though, if I remember correctly, by the time I was a teenager MTV had already gone to shit so there wasn't much point in me even wanting to be interested in it.

Pretty much the same thing for me. I voted Toonami. I was never interested in any of the things MTV was showing at the time. I was more interested in my actiony cartoons (I didn't even know they were anime until later).

 

[themistermanguy]

Does music just stop being relevant when you hit 25 because magic?

OT: i never heard of toonami. So MTV i guess. I find it funny that you chose these two channels to go head to head.

I chose Toonami and MTV because in the early 2000s', Cartoon Network was the 2nd most watched channel amoung teenagers and tied with MTV durring Toonami's time slot. Plus, even with Cartoon Network's editing policies for it's daytime and early evning schedule at the time, there was a clear pre-teen to teen focus with Toonami. From the shows, to the music, to the games reviewed, to the Midnight Run (Toonami for collage kids), to what they managed to get away with in the shows, to even most of the commercial breaks.

 

[L. Declis]

I watched Nickelodeon because Sabrina the Teenage Witch, bitches!

Saved by the Bell and I think they had other stuff, but I don't remember.

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

Toonami, because i wanted to watch something that was actually made with teenagers in mind, not 13 under to 25+, which MTV caters to. i wanted compelling narrative, grey situations, great action scenes, character development, i wanted some red meat to my entertainment. all MTV airs is Rap (they don't do rock anymore), Celebrity "Reality" shows, and talk shows that all appeal to tweens who want to appear grown up, and the actual 25+ demographic.

 

[themistermanguy]

Toonami, because i wanted to watch something that was actually made with teenagers in mind, not 13 under to 25+, which MTV caters to. i wanted compelling narrative, grey situations, great action scenes, character development, i wanted some red meat to my entertainment. all MTV airs is Rap (they don't do rock anymore), Celebrity "Reality" shows, and talk shows that all appeal to tweens who want to appear grown up, and the actual 25+ demographic.

To be fair, MTV does air some teen dramas and sitcoms, as well as old teen movies, and they used to do a lot of animation in it's earlier years. But yeah, there's too much "reality" garbage on there.