• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 8, 2005

MTV viewers may have short attention spans, but they still want to hear the song and how it ends. MTV's Live 8 concert producers thought otherwise and during this past weekend's coverage of the worldwide event, which staged concerts in six cities, trigger-happy producers switched quickly between parts of live performances and live interviews. Rarely did viewers hear complete songs.

You might excuse Live 8 producers, as quickly edited MTV shows have been a staple at the network and its sister network, VH1, for some time now. MTV's programming intention has been clear for years: less actual music and video coverage in favor of unscripted series such as "Punk'd" and "Pimp My Ride."

In pre-production meetings, producers may have leaned over their black coffees and cigarettes and used phrases such as "fast-paced" and "always moving," in order to give the sense that MTV was everywhere.

But all this went nowhere.

Viewers didn't even see the complete live performance of Pink Floyd, a band that hadn't performed together in years and who was billed as a top act of Live 8. Immediately, MTV Networks Music Group President Van Toffler said the network felt the backlash from viewers.

MTV is now seeking to remedy the situation, offering what amounts to a make-good to viewers. This weekend MTV and VH1 will each air five hours of commercial-free performances - complete performances of songs -- which will cost the networks each a couple of million dollars in advertising sales.

Now Live 8 is about a different good cause - lessening the heavy dose of guilt-ridden, anti-poverty messages and increasing the amount of pure entertainment for its loyal viewing fans. MTV's delicate balance crashed; important cause-related messages and actual entertainment didn't equally share the same stage.

If that wasn't enough, MTV was also criticized for its weak coverage of the poverty problem itself. Perhaps MTV should revisit its roots and get back to playing a few music videos once in a while.