I’ve already ranted about my MTV frustration on my News-Press blog, so the 13 people who read it (my dad and whoever he forwarded it to. He’s so proud.) may be wondering why I am continuing this issue further.

Well, as I sat one day watching what appeared to be “The Hills’” couple Heidi and Spencer’s trademark romantic squabbles, in pops Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz. The staged argument and emo posterboy interruption was meant to promote FNMTV, a show that airs at 8 p.m. Friday nights this summer that will feature (brace yourselves) music videos.

FNMTV, hosted by Wentz, has world premiere videos from major and up-and-coming artists, plays clips from MTV’s video archives and features live performances. It’s basically TRL at night, minus the countdown, with occasional online and audience interaction.

Since reality TV has been MTV’s bread-and-butter for the past decade, why suddenly start to show live music and videos in primetime hours? Maybe they’re just experimenting to see if it works. Could be that they have heard music fans’ complaints about the channel’s lack of what made MTV a cultural phenomenon in the first place.

If you ask me, I’d say the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards has something to do with it. The network’s decision to only broadcast last year’s awards show once instead of running it on a loop for the entire weekend, mixed with increased online interaction, more live performances and fewer awards, saw the show’s ratings increase 23 percent in the 12-to-34 demographic, according to Broadcasting and Cable Magazine.

This new Friday night showcase is not the only time the network gives a bit of musical focus. For the people who do watch some of the reality shows on MTV (including myself, sadly), it is common knowledge that some of the most interesting music that MTV plays is in the background of some of these shows, giving relatively unknown artists a chance to get their songs in the ears of a lot of viewers. Now, on shows like “The Hills” and “The Real World,” when a song plays, the artist and title of the track pops up in the bottom of the screen.

For a person who thoroughly enjoys music videos and recalls a time when they carried some controversial and cultural power (the fuss over Madonna’s burning crosses in “Like a Prayer” rings a bell), I am pleased that MTV “appears” to be going in this direction. I would like to think I can tune in to the seminal music network to see music videos instead of searching for them on YouTube. But if the main traces of music only comes in for form of one Friday night show and as a musical footnote to a Lauren Conrad OMG moment, sorry MTV. You’ve still got a long way to go.