DaytonDailyNews.com

I want my MTV.

The network has clawed its way back from the brink of late. Before its recent display of relevancy, MTV was destined to join outed evangelists and plundering presidents in the annals of embarrassing history. Video may have killed the radio star, but MTV, with its heavy schedule of shallow dating shows, extinguished an entire generation's hope of being taken seriously.

So how has MTV saved its crumbling legacy? By airing the music videos for which the network is named? Of course not.

MTV has atoned for introducing Joe's Apartment and Carson Daly with its documentary and reality-based fare (No, I don't mean The Real World, Road Rules or the skank stew of reality television, Real World/Road Rules Challenge).

MTV's new offerings include the docu-drama Juvies, tracking young offenders as they ricochet through the juvenile detention system, and Engaged and Underage, which chronicles the nuptials of couples who, as any married person can tell you, are far too young to marry.

Juvies, which features tired re-enactments of the transgressions that landed each youngster in an orange jumpsuit, should be pared down from its bloated 60-minute run to a tidier half hour. But the show finds its poignancy in the despair adolescent inmates display at their confinement and their dawning realization that impulsive actions can be followed by unpleasant consequences. The juvies often forge friendships with fellow inmates. More-seasoned prisoners advise green ones about what to expect in the uncertain days ahead. They talk about what to tell the judge and missing their beds at home.

Like other reality-based MTV fare, each episode of Juvies ends with an update about the progress of each prisoner. Sometimes the juvies transcend their troubles and return to normal life. Sometimes they don't. Juvies captures troubled teens at a crossroads we've never explored in this forum: that dangerous time when youthful indiscretions can derail adulthood.

Engaged and Underage explores the relationships of pairs who are (you guessed it) engaged and underage. Although their fledgling unions teeter on disaster, there is something sweetly optimistic about their promises to make it work. They may be jaded, spoiled or woefully naive about what they're getting themselves into. But at least they're trying.

The anchor of MTV's reality lineup is documentary series True Life, which for nearly a decade has chronicled the situations of adolescents and young adults. Topics True Life has tackled include coming out, bitter sibling rivalry and obesity. Sometimes the subjects overcome what has blighted them. Sometimes they don't. By showing us fascinating interior lives of ordinary citizens, True Life is a reminder that struggle can be as meaningful as the accomplishments that may follow.

It's reason to forgive the frivolity of the network's less compelling programming. It's reason to want your MTV.

Contact Christy Reynolds at

christyreynoldsddn@yahoo.com.