Rolling Stone Does Reality TV

The premise: six aspiring jouranlists suffer the trials and tribulations of network reality television in the hopes of becoming a writer for the well known music and pop-culture magazine Rolling Stone. I must say on a personal level, as an aspiring freelance music journalist, this concept greatly appeals to me. But it seems not everyone would agree. A quick peek at the comments on RS's website show no lack of restraint by people trying to rip the show and the magazine to shreds before the first episode even airs. How dare the seminal rock and roll trade publication think about partnering with the overtly pretentious and teen-worshipping Music Televsion network? Of course, later comments attack earlier ones and the Internet phenomenon known ever-so-descriptively as 'flaming' follows.

But as to the idea that RS and MTV have actually put forth? I am really curious to see where it all goes. Many of us remember Almost Famous (The Foo Fighters have even covered, in a manner of speaking, Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer' as an homage to the famous scene from the movie) and how an early teenaged Cameron Crowe was given the kind of break that most mid-life, Led Zeppelin T-shirt wearing adults would fawn over with reckless abandon. But for those of us like myself who identified with the main character and wanted to be that innocent 70's child given the opportunity of a lifetime during a gilded and lost period of music history, the dream is anything but dead. Needless to say, AtD will be following this series as it develops, particularly this golden nugget:

Think you could’ve done better? You’ll get a chance to prove it, as we’re going to hold online contests based on the assignments undertaken by the I’m From Rolling Stone contestants. And just like on the show, if you’re really good, you might even get to write for Rolling Stone.

I don't think I need to explain how exciting that last bit of news is, given what we're doing here. Rolling Stone, after all, is the premiere music media source of the last 40 years. The opportunity to be a part of their elite team means being literally in the forefront of this prized industry. So the least we can do is go along for the ride and see how all of this goes down, no?

"I'm From Rolling Stone" will air Sundays at 10:00 P.M. on MTV, starting January 7.

On the web: http://www.rollingstone.com/imfromrollingstone