MTV to Interscope: Don't mess with "Total Request Live"

Don't mess with Carson Daly. Or at least don't mess with the voting on his daily video countdown show, "Total Request Live."

That's the message MTV sent out this week after Salon reported on Tuesday that an Interscope-affiliated label was offering two round-trip tickets to Los Angeles, free accommodations and the chance to meet Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, all for the fan who logged the most "TRL" votes for a new rock band called Puddle of Mudd. (Durst executive-produced the band's debut and is directing its next video.)

"We told them to take the contest down and that if they did not we would take the band off the list of videos that people could vote for on 'TRL,'" reports MTV executive vice president Dave Sirulnick. "We're not messing around. The integrity is important to us."

That's because the show's deceptively simple interactive formula -- kids pick the hits! -- has transformed the daily countdown into a pop culture phenomenon, and become a ratings anchor for MTV.

Sirulnick says it's OK for record companies to randomly give away posters and CDs to fan club members who work the "TRL" phones on behalf of their favorite act. But dangling expensive gifts is a no-no. -- Eric Boehlert [9:45 a.m., PDT, Aug. 31, 2001]

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Tired of layoffs? Take a timeout instead.

In these days of global economic meltdown, some corporate parents resort to layoffs and forced vacations. Others just give their employees a gentle but firm "timeout."

As the Industry Standard's still-publishing Web site reported, Siemens' "Information and Communication Mobile" division invites employees to apply for six, nine or 12 months off, while still receiving part of their pay. It's like a paid vacation -- for half the cash.

While reducing payroll costs without canning folks entirely is a goal we totally support, we're a little hung up on the name.

Timeouts.

Has there ever been a more infantalizing euphemism for culling the troops? Should we look forward to daily nap time at 2 p.m. to reduce costly electricity overhead?

Recession-era cutbacks -- whatever you call them -- hurt, but please let's be adult about it. -- Katharine Mieszkowski 12 noon, PDT, Aug. 31, 2001]

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Whither the dot-com Dead Pool when there aren't any dot-coms?

Is FuckedCompany fucked?

The year-old Web site dedicated to feasting on the misfortunes of dot-coms -- a must-visit for the pink-slipped masses and anyone else who wants to laugh at New Economy failure -- has had a high time during the downturn But storm clouds may be approaching. Dot-com job cuts fell 50 percent in August, and while the number of bankruptcies increased, some argue that the most extravagant failures have already occurred.

No one is predicting that the downturn is permanently over, but it's hard to argue with the study's observations that at some point there will be no more dot-coms to tease and kick on their way to obscurity. And what will FuckedCompany do if the steady stream of bankruptcies and layoffs slows to a trickle? What will Phil "Pud" Kaplan, the site's founder, do for a second act when there are no more dot-com failures to write about? True, he has expanded his site's coverage to the larger economy, but doesn't that make him just as vulnerable to economic growth? Will he himself be yet another sign of the times, quick to appear and just as quick to vanish?

These questions will eventually have to be answered. But Kaplan, like so many of the dot-com CEOs he regularly trashes, seems oblivious to the dangers. Call it hubris, call it simply optimism, but regardless of the label, Kaplan is clearly convinced that the Internet's bad times -- and thus, his good times -- will go on forever. When asked (over the course of several e-mails) if he had a contingency plan for a turnaround, he dodged the question.

"When do you think Internet companies will stop going out of business?" he asked. "I think the answer is 'never.'"--Damien Cave [4:15 pm, PDT, Aug. 29, 2001]

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