The Ridiculousness Network

This summer, it will mark ten years since the premiere of the MTV show, Ridculousness. It stars skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, who has been a mainstay for the network for 15 years, maybe more. The premise is showcasing people getting hurt, pranks, stunts. Produced by Jeff Tremaine, there is that Jackass type of feel to the videos being shown. I don't mind the show. I like it more than Tosh.0. But the trend of marathons has been a lot more open to articles over the last year that it's been a subject more than once.

Sites like AV Club, TheRinger, Cracked, have brought up stuff about the channel airing the show nonstop. Some of the stories are from back in February of this year. It's always been a big show, but the marathons have become much more noticeable in recent memory and personal experience. No joke, but there were weekends where it would be on for 48 hours or more straight. Maybe a break for a movie sometimes, sometimes not. Twitter users will put up schedules of what is airing for the week. Proof is in the pudding. Some do question why they don't air other stuff. 

I have several ideas. I would agree with many that it's very cheap to make and gets decent ratings. Second, and probably the biggest reason if I had to guess is licensing. This is a Catch-22 for certain shows, but this is a backbreaker for MTV. Back in the 80s until the 2000s, they were airing music videos. Obviously, they held a lot of licenses. As time has gone on, my assumption is that it's harder to have shows on because of copyrighted material and the magic of music videos becoming a relic to where it's easier to put online and digitally instead of waiting. The only other thing I can think of is lack of interest of other shows that are currently on the air.

This goes into a larger discussion of cable in general, especially Viacom networks. They will spam the same two to five shows. Comedy Central is a fucking wasteland with only South Park and The Office. Maybe some other stuff here and there, but not even reruns of some of their original stuff like Tosh and Reno 911. Not even Key and Peele. Paramount Network spams Bar Rescue with only a couple other shows. But this should plant the picture in your mind of the issues of cable. This isn't exclusive to Viacom. Other conglomerates are like that as well. Even with movies as well. 

It's easy to see why Ridculousness gets viewers hooked. Just stupid moments from idiots. A more dangerous America's Funniest Home Videos. I don't expect MTV to stop overairing it any time soon. But whenever this pandemic ends, they better have a strategy on what to do.  No network comes close to the marathon binge. The next closest would be USA, AKA The Dick Wolf Network throughout the morning through evening, but they have better restraint at times.